Daily Thought from the Saints
"Realize it, my brethren; —every one who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; . . . God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also."
— St. John Henry Newman
Daily Scripture Verse
"Truth is lacking, and he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intervene; then his own arm brought him victory, and his righteousness upheld him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury as a mantle."
Isaiah 59: 15-17
Daily Meditation
"When one is given the Spirit of wisdom, one is able to perceive God’s fingerprints upon the wonders of the world. One is able to see the pattern God has established in history (world history, faith history, and even our own personal history). This should leave us with a sense of comfort, for it means that life is not chaotic. God has a plan."
— Rev. Jude Winkler
Daily Catholic Wisdom
Though we drift apart, we are always near one another, since we are here in the tiny space of this small world that to us—with our small, narrow minds—sometimes seems so huge.
—St. Frances Cabrini
quoted in the book, “Too Small a World”
A Prayer from Notre Dame University
Rev. Herbert Yost, C.S.C.
Thank you for your gift of this season of Lent, Lord, and for the gentle challenges to personal growth that come through your Son’s word. Grant us the grace to continue loving you and our neighbors so that we may experience the fullness of Easter joy. Amen.
The Abbot’s Daily Lectio Divina
Abbot Austin Murphy, O.S.B., St. Procopius Abbey, Lisle, IL
Luke 18:11-13
Reading
The Pharisee took up his position and spoke this prayer to himself, ‘O God, I thank you that I am not like the rest of humanity – greedy, dishonest, adulterous – or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and I pay tithes on my whole income.’ But the tax collector stood off at a distance and would not even raise his eyes to heaven but beat his breast and prayed ‘O God, be merciful to me a sinner.’
Meditation
Since the tax collector ‘stood off at a distance,’ I imagine that when the Pharisee ‘took up his position’ in the Temple, the Pharisee was in front of him. Just so, in his prayer, the Pharisee positions himself ahead of the tax collector. Putting yourself ahead of others is dangerous. Rather than seeing anyone as behind you, it is better to see others as fellow sinners who like yourself, depend on God‘s grace to live up rightly and to avoid sin.
Prayer
Lord, I thank you for those people in my life who have not despised me when I have erred, but who have even helped me. May I go and do likewise to those whose mistakes I encounter. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Contemplation…