Daily Thought from the Saints
"Great love can change small things into great ones, and it is only love which lends value to our actions."
— St. Faustina Kowalska
Daily Scripture Verse
"I hold back my feet from every evil way, in order to keep thy word. I do not turn aside from thy ordinances, for thou hast taught me. How sweet are thy words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! Through thy precepts I get understanding; therefore I hate every false way."
Psalm 119:101-4
Daily Meditation
"And it is only by the observance of the first and greatest commandment that we can keep the second. The more we love God, the more we shall love man; the less we love God, the less we shall, in the true sense of the word, love man. Our love will become capricious, fitful, and unreliable—not charity, but passion. If you feel that your love for your fellowman is dying out in the fumes of selfishness, there is but one way to revive it: strive for, pray for, the love of God. As the heart turns toward its source, it will be quickened and expanded. There is no true, no lasting spirit of charity apart from the practice of religion. Therefore, we cannot keep those commandments which teach us our duty to men unless we are keeping those which teach us our duty to God."
— Fr. Basil W. Maturin
Daily Catholic Wisdom
Lent is about letting go of the things that keep us from God so that we can cling more resolutely to him. We have to shed our plans and our fears, and give way to God's designs. In a word, we need to surrender.
—Father Patrick Mary Briscoe
Dominican Friar and Editor, Our Sunday Visitor
Daily Journey with the Pope
“The proclamation of the Gospel does not begin from us, but from the beauty of what we have freely received: meeting Jesus, knowing Him, and discovering that we are loved and saved. It is such a great gift that we cannot keep it to ourselves, we feel the need to spread it in gratuitousness. In other words; we have received a gift and our vocation is to make a gift of ourselves to others; there is in us the joy of being children of God, it must be shared with our brothers and sisters who do not yet know it! This is the reason for the proclamation. Going forth and bringing the joy of what we have received." Let us not forget those suffering from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria. Let us continue to pray for the victims and their loved ones and make a concrete commitment to help the survivors. May the Lord give consolation to the people affected by this terrible tragedy. You can help in the relief efforts by making a donation to the fund" Send help to Turkey and Syria after the devastating earthquake!"
Pope Francis
A Prayer
Rev. Terry Ehrman, C.S.C.
Father, give us the courage to be faithful to Christ and his words in the midst of our own faithless and sinful generation. May we never be ashamed to be called Christians, servants of the kingdom of God and not of the world.
The Abbot’s Daily Lectio Divina
Abbot Austin Murphy, O.S.B., St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, IL
Genesis 11:3b-4
Reading
They said to one another, “Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire.“ They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth.“
Meditation
These words precede the attempt to build the Tower of Babel. The people wish to avoid being scattered: they want unity. People have always craved this. But unity has often been sought destructively, e.g. via totalitarian regimes. We should look for unity in God, but that takes time, can’t be forced, and is only fully realized in heaven. The temptation is to seek it without, or in ways contrary to, God. God mercifully thwarts such efforts.
Prayer
Lord, may I seek to build relationships and communities around You, and that exalt You rather than ourselves. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Contemplation…