GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Friday - March 04, 2022

Friday - March 04, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

March 4, 2022

FRIDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
Lectionary: 221

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Is 58:1-9a

 

Thus says the Lord GOD:

Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,

            lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;

Tell my people their wickedness,

            and the house of Jacob their sins.

They seek me day after day,

            and desire to know my ways,

Like a nation that has done what is just

            and not abandoned the law of their God;

They ask me to declare what is due them,

            pleased to gain access to God.

“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?

            afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

 

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,

            and drive all your laborers.

Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,

            striking with wicked claw.

Would that today you might fast

            so as to make your voice heard on high!

Is this the manner of fasting I wish,

            of keeping a day of penance:

That a man bow his head like a reed

            and lie in sackcloth and ashes?

Do you call this a fast,

            a day acceptable to the LORD?

This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:

            releasing those bound unjustly,

            untying the thongs of the yoke;

Setting free the oppressed

            breaking every yoke;

Sharing your bread with the hungry,

            sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;

Clothing the naked when you see them,

            and not turning your back on your own.

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

            and your wound shall quickly be healed;

Your vindication shall go before you,

            and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.

Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,

            you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19

 

R.        (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

 

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

            in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

            and of my sin cleanse me.

R.        A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

For I acknowledge my offense,

            and my sin is before me always:

“Against you only have I sinned,

            and done what is evil in your sight.”

R.        A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

For you are not pleased with sacrifices;

            should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.

My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;

            a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

R.        A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Am 5:14                     

Seek good and not evil so that you may live,

and the Lord will be with you.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 9:14-15

 

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,

“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,

but your disciples do not fast?”

Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn

as long as the bridegroom is with them?

The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,

and then they will fast.”

 

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HOW DOES FASTING FROM MEAT CHANGE ANYTHING?

Today is the first Friday of Lent, a day of conscious self-purification. We remind ourselves of this by fasting from meat. The idea is to deny ourselves something tasty so we can grow in self-control for the sake of overcoming sinful tendencies.

 

However, in our modern age when we have an abundance of tasty foods, meat is not the luxury food it used to be. The Church asks us to go meatless on Fridays for an important spiritual purpose. We would do well to enhance this ancient rule by fasting from any and all luxury foods. This is not the day to go out to a restaurant and order lobster!

 

The purpose of this is to stop catering to our likes and preferences, thus improving how well we turn outward toward others and their needs. Today's first reading reminds us that fasting is worthless if we're unkind to others and we focus only on ourselves: for example, if we're not releasing those bound by injustices, setting free the oppressed, sharing our bread with the hungry, sheltering the homeless, clothing the naked, and doing good to our family and friends and fellow parishioners.

 

Fasting from luxury foods has no lasting value if it does not help us become more Christ-like to others.

 

Why do we forego meat on Fridays? If it's only out of duty, i.e. if we're only following the rules as dutiful Catholics, we miss the point and might as well eat steak. Either we're Christian for the sake of duty and obligation or we're a Christian of devotion. The dutiful Christian obeys God to the letter of the law. They go to Mass to save themselves from hell. This is a business relationship with God. Our part of the contract would be to obey God and his part of the contract would be to accept us into heaven. But that's self-focused. And it ignores that Jesus is the only true Savior and that salvation is a gift, which he freely and generously gives to everyone who truly wants it.

 

The devotional Christian obeys God because of a loving desire to serve him, which overflows to others.

 

Doing devotions (the Rosary, the Divine Mercy Chaplet, the Stations of the Cross, etc.) doesn't make us devotional. True devotion is an exciting love affair with God in a way that benefits others. True devotion is a love so strong that we cannot look at a person who's suffering without wanting to help. It's a love so strong that even when others hurt us, we hurt for them because they have turned away from God, and if we can, we do something that gives them a dose of God's love.

 

To have this kind of devotion, we have to first know -- really know -- that God is devoted to us. To the extent that we fail to understand how wonderfully God loves us, that's how much we fail to love God, and to the extent that we fail to love God, that's how much we fail to love others.

 

Today's Prayer

 

Lord Jesus, give me the simplicity and humility I need so my mind and my heart may firmly trust in You. Amen.

--------------------------------

God Bless You.....



The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Thursday - March 03, 2022

Thursday - March 03, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

March 3, 2022

THURSDAY AFTER ASH WEDNESDAY
Lectionary: 220

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Dt 30:15-20

 

Moses said to the people:

“Today I have set before you

life and prosperity, death and doom.

If you obey the commandments of the LORD, your God,

which I enjoin on you today,

loving him, and walking in his ways,

and keeping his commandments, statutes and decrees,

you will live and grow numerous,

and the LORD, your God,

will bless you in the land you are entering to occupy.

If, however, you turn away your hearts and will not listen,

but are led astray and adore and serve other gods,

I tell you now that you will certainly perish;

you will not have a long life

on the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and occupy.

I call heaven and earth today to witness against you:

I have set before you life and death,

the blessing and the curse.

Choose life, then,

that you and your descendants may live, by loving the LORD, your God,

heeding his voice, and holding fast to him.

For that will mean life for you,

a long life for you to live on the land that the LORD swore

he would give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  1:1-2, 3, 4 and 6

 

R.        (see 3a)  Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

 

Blessed the man who follows not

            the counsel of the wicked

Nor walks in the way of sinners,

            nor sits in the company of the insolent,

But delights in the law of the LORD

            and meditates on his law day and night.

R.        Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

He is like a tree

            planted near running water,

That yields its fruit in due season,

            and whose leaves never fade.

            Whatever he does, prospers.

R.        Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

Not so the wicked, not so;

            they are like chaff which the wind drives away.

For the LORD watches over the way of the just,

            but the way of the wicked vanishes.

R.        Blessed are they who hope in the Lord.

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Mt 4:17                      

Repent, says the Lord;

the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.

 

Gospel                                                                       Lk 9:22-25

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“The Son of Man must suffer greatly and be rejected

by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes,

and be killed and on the third day be raised.”

 

Then he said to all,

 “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself

and take up his cross daily and follow me.

For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it,

but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.

What profit is there for one to gain the whole world

yet lose or forfeit himself?”

 

**********************************

JOURNEY WITH JESUS ON THE ROAD TO NEW LIFE

On our Lenten road to greater holiness, with Jesus as our companion on the path of self-denial, we pass by those who are taking a different road. Both roads lead to death. One takes us through death to new life. The other is the deadly path of the world; the companions are addiction, greed, anger, and disobedience.

 

As Moses said in today's first reading, by loving God, heeding his voice, and holding fast to him, we choose the path of life. Today's Psalm points out that when we delight in the law of the Lord, we're like a tree planted near running water -- full of life, yielding good fruit, never withering; whatever we do in, through, and with the Lord always prospers.

 

Jesus says in the Gospel reading that on the life-giving journey of following him, we carry the cross of self-denial, i.e., we deny the desires that are contrary to God's desires.

 

Fasting during Lent is meant to help with this. By saying no to eating foods that we desire, we grow stronger in the self-discipline that enables us to say no to more difficult temptations.

 

Giving in to stubborn sins or bad habits while putting off new, good habits is how we keep one foot on the wrong road. Even though we don't believe that it's destructive, it is destroying us. Sooner or later, we lose our balance and fall. In the first reading, God is pleading: "I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. Choose life!"

 

Jesus longs to rescue us from our self-destructive curses. While he waits for us to humbly seek his help, he weeps for us, because he can see the damage that we're causing with our lack of self-denial.

 

Think of someone you know who's been self-destructive. Perhaps it's a family member who's sinking spiritually by no longer going to church, or a friend who needs therapy but is not seeking help. Why do you feel bad about it? Does it pain you to think of the harm that such people are doing to themselves? Of course it does! You care! Now multiply those feelings ten times, a thousand times, a gazillion times! That's how much God feels pain, because God cares far more than you do. This is how much he cares about you.

 

The pain we suffer as we watch our loved ones continue down the wrong road feels even worse if we try to help them but are unable to redirect them onto the right path. God, too, keeps trying to help us avoid sin. He keeps trying to hold our hand and lead us farther down the path of life. But the choice is ours. "Choose life," he pleads.

 

Holiness is a decision to obey God no matter what. This is easier to do when we remember that Jesus is eager to give us his supernatural help. We can't succeed by our own efforts; it's a partnership. When we follow Jesus, we are journeying with him.

 

Today's Prayer

 

To Follow You, Lord, is a battle I must fight every day, but I want no other battle than this one. Your love is the award, the victory and my reason for living. Amen.

--------------------------------

God Bless You.....



The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”

GOOD NEWS OF THE DAY : Ash Wednesday - March 02, 2022

 

Ash Wednesday - March 02, 2022

TODAY'S READINGS

March 2, 2022

ASH WEDNESDAY
Lectionary: 219

 

Reading 1                                                    

                                                                        Jl 2:12-18

 

Even now, says the LORD,

            return to me with your whole heart,

            with fasting, and weeping, and mourning;

Rend your hearts, not your garments,

            and return to the LORD, your God.

For gracious and merciful is he,

            slow to anger, rich in kindness,

            and relenting in punishment.

Perhaps he will again relent

            and leave behind him a blessing,

Offerings and libations

            for the LORD, your God.

 

Blow the trumpet in Zion!

            proclaim a fast,

            call an assembly;

Gather the people,

            notify the congregation;

Assemble the elders,

            gather the children

            and the infants at the breast;

Let the bridegroom quit his room

            and the bride her chamber.

Between the porch and the altar

            let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep,

And say, “Spare, O LORD, your people,

            and make not your heritage a reproach,

            with the nations ruling over them!

Why should they say among the peoples,

            ‘Where is their God?’”

 

Then the LORD was stirred to concern for his land

            and took pity on his people.

 

Responsorial Psalm                                  51:3-4, 5-6ab, 12-13, 14 and 17

 

R.        (see 3a)  Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

 

Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;

            in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.

Thoroughly wash me from my guilt

            and of my sin cleanse me.

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

For I acknowledge my offense,

            and my sin is before me always:

“Against you only have I sinned,

            and done what is evil in your sight.”

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

A clean heart create for me, O God,

            and a steadfast spirit renew within me.

Cast me not out from your presence,

            and your Holy Spirit take not from me.

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Give me back the joy of your salvation,

            and a willing spirit sustain in me.

O Lord, open my lips

            and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

R.        Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

 

Reading 2                                                    

                                                                        2 Cor 5:20—6:2

 

Brothers and sisters:

We are ambassadors for Christ,

as if God were appealing through us.

We implore you on behalf of Christ,

be reconciled to God.

For our sake he made him to be sin who did not know sin,

so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.

 

Working together, then,

we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain.

For he says:

            In an acceptable time I heard you,

                        and on the day of salvation I helped you.

 

Behold, now is a very acceptable time;

behold, now is the day of salvation.

 

 

Verse Before the Gospel                                      Mt 11:25                    

If today you hear his voice,

harden not your hearts.

 

Gospel                                                                       Mt 6:1-6, 16-18

 

Jesus said to his disciples:

“Take care not to perform righteous deeds

in order that people may see them;

otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father.

When you give alms,

do not blow a trumpet before you,

as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets

to win the praise of others.

Amen, I say to you,

they have received their reward.

But when you give alms,

do not let your left hand know what your right is doing,

so that your almsgiving may be secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

 

“When you pray,

do not be like the hypocrites,

who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners

so that others may see them.

Amen, I say to you,

they have received their reward.

But when you pray, go to your inner room,

close the door, and pray to your Father in secret.

And your Father who sees in secret will repay you.

 

“When you fast,

do not look gloomy like the hypocrites.

They neglect their appearance,

so that they may appear to others to be fasting.

Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward.

But when you fast,

anoint your head and wash your face,

so that you may not appear to be fasting,

except to your Father who is hidden.

And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”

 

**********************************

How Healing will Your Lent be This Year?

What victory do you need? What needs to be resurrected in your life?

For Easter to be more than just a day of colored eggs, fattening chocolates and big dinners, Lent needs to be more than just 40 days of obligatory sacrifices like meatless pizza on Fridays.

To experience the joy and power of resurrection, we have to take a journey through the experience of mourning and repentance. We have to experience the powerlessness of death: the death of our selfishness, the death of our worldliness, the death of behaviors that are not Christ-like.

In today's first reading, God beckons: "Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning." Fasting is worthwhile only if it improves our self-discipline so that we can resist sin and grow in holiness. We're hypocrites, like Jesus describes in today's Gospel passage, if fasting produces no inner changes.

What will your journey through Lent be like this year? What daily exercises will promote greater holiness? Here's a suggestion: Identify one fault -- just one for now: one selfish behavior or one fear or one flaw or one unloving habit -- and choose a daily activity or an abstinence for the duration of Lent that will help you overcome this behavior.

Tell God about this fault. He is beckoning: "Return to me with your whole heart, with fasting, and weeping, and mourning."

The readings from Joel and Psalm 51 remind us that God is merciful toward those who recognize their sinfulness and regret it so much that they're truly motivated to change. Dealing with our need to change can feel overwhelming and shameful, but if we keep our focus on God's mercy, we feel helped, healed, and finally resurrected.

By identifying and working on just one sinful tendency as our Lenten project, we can give it to Jesus, and by the end of Lent nail it to his cross and hear him offer it to God as he cries out, "Father forgive them....!" It will die with Jesus, and we'll be resurrected to a new life, a new level of holiness, a new closeness with Christ.

On Ash Wednesday, as you receive and wear your ashes, do it fully conscious of your need for forgiveness, with a commitment to overcome a significant sin by Easter.

Why do we keep the black smudges on our foreheads all day? Not to win the admiration of others. It's a sign that we know we need to change! Otherwise, we should do as Jesus said: "When you fast, see to it that you ... wash your face" so that no one but God will know what you are doing.

Today's Prayer

Beloved Lord! May all my deeds of mercy be the fruit of an intense, deep, humble, and sincere relationship with You. Amen.

--------------------------------

God Bless You.....



The Rosary Family

The mother of Jesus promised St. Dominic that, “one day through the rosary & the scapular I shall save the world!”