Daily Readings

March 26, 2025

Wednesday of the Third Week of Lent

Reading 1

Deuteronomy 4:1, 5–9

Moses spoke to the people, saying, “And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 147:12–13, 15–16, 19–20

Response: O Jerusalem, glorify the Lord!

O Jerusalem, glorify the Lord! 

O Sion, praise your God! 

He has strengthened the bars of your gates; 

he has blessed your children within you. 

Response: O Jerusalem, glorify the Lord!

He sends out his word to the earth, 

and swiftly runs his command. 

He showers down snow like wool; 

he scatters hoarfrost like ashes. 

Response: O Jerusalem, glorify the Lord!

He reveals his word to Jacob; 

to Israel, his decrees and judgments. 

He has not dealt thus with other nations; 

he has not taught them his judgments. 

Response: O Jerusalem, glorify the Lord!

Verse Before the Gospel

John 6:63c, 68c

Your words, Lord, are spirit and life; you have the words of eternal life.

Gospel

Matthew 5:17–19

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfil them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Reflection

In today’s Gospel, Jesus categorically states that he came not to abolish but to fulfil the Law and the Prophets. Jesus is the fulfilment of the Old Testament Prophecies. He completes the Law and the Prophets. Luke 24:27 says, “And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself”. The Old Testament is most clearly understood in the light of the Christ-event. In the teachings of the Apostles found in the New Testament this truth is brought out. In 2 Corinthians 3:15-16, we read, “to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed”. It is with this understanding that we should read the Old and New Testaments of the Bible.

St Ludger, Bishop, Confessor (c.744-809)

St Ludger was born near Utrecht (Holland) of wealthy and noble Frisian parents. At 9, an encounter with St Boniface, the great apostle of Germany, sufficed to decide Ludger’s career. 

In 777 Ludger was ordained to the priesthood and sent as a missionary to eastern Friesland where St Boniface had met his death at Dokkum. But after 7 years the Saxons were incited by Widukind to return to their heathen gods, and to expel all missionaries and burn their churches. As a result, Ludger spent three years in Rome and Monte Cassino until Widukind was defeated by Charlemagne in 787. He then took up his missionary activity again and with renewed enthusiasm. Not long after, the Saxons living in what is today Westphalia, were added to his missionary field, and he established his central monastery at Muenster. 

The “Apostle of Westphalia” — as he came to be known — became famed for his unfailing gentleness and bounteous charities, and these virtues, more than any military subjugation, caused great numbers of the Saxons to embrace the Christian faith. Consecrated first bishop of Muenster in 804, he laboured assiduously at building up a devout and energetic clergy, and gave much of his time to their personal instruction.

Upon his death on Passion Sunday, 26 March 809, St Ludger was buried at Werden, where his relics still remain. The ancient well at Muenster, which St Ludger used for baptisms, was, in 1909, the scene of a touching rededication by thousands of the faithful during the celebration of the 11th centenary of the diocese. 

Reflection: “Eye has not seen nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man, what things God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9).

Daily Readings 

March 25, 2025, Tuesday 

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

Reading 1

Isaiah 7:10–14; 8:10

In those days: The Lord spoke to Ahaz: “Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven.” But Ahaz said, “I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test.” And he said, “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary men, that you weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 40:7–8a, 8b–9, 10, 11 

Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.

You delight not in sacrifice and offerings, 

but in an open ear. 

You do not ask for holocaust and victim. 

Then I said, “See, I have come.” 

Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.

In the scroll of the book it stands 

written of me: 

“I delight to do your will, O my God; 

your instruction lies deep within me.”

Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.

Your justice I have proclaimed 

in the great assembly. 

My lips I have not sealed; 

you know it, O Lord. 

Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.

Your saving help I have not hidden in my heart; 

of your faithfulness and salvation I have spoken. 

I made no secret of your merciful love 

and your faithfulness to the great assembly. 

Response: See, I have come, Lord, to do your will.

Reading 2

Hebrews 10:4–10

Brethren: It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, “Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, ‘Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.” When he said above, “You have neither desired nor taken pleasure in sacrifices and offerings and burnt offerings and sin offerings” (these are offered according to the law), then he added, “Behold, I have come to do your will.” He does away with the first in order to establish the second. And by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

Verse Before the Gospel

John 1:14ab

The word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we have seen his glory.

Gospel 

Luke 1:26–38

At that time: The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God. And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

Reflection 

Traditionally, nine months before Christmas the Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Annunciation of the Lord remembering the moment when the Angel Gabriel brought the message of the Incarnation to our Lady. God chose Mary to be the mother of His Son. Mary on her part freely accepted this divine choice and co-operated with God. That was the great moment of the commencement of the most significant stage of the Plan of God for the redemption of humanity. In Mary’s FIAT, God found worthy reciprocity. She received the Son of God into her womb. And that made the redemption of humanity possible. The Lord intervenes in our lives too. He wants to work out his ways in us. Are we ready to allow him to do so? Are we docile to the Spirit of the Living God?

The Annunciation of the Lord

In the Feast of the Annunciation the Church celebrates the greatest event in the history of humankind, viz., the Incarnation of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We relive the significance of this beautiful event, one of the most important and best-remembered mysteries of our faith, each time we recite the Angelus — “And the Word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us” (Jn 1:14). 

This feast is celebrated on 25 March to precede the feast of Christmas by nine months. It was formerly known as the Feast of the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, until its original, ancient title, the “‘Annunciation of the Lord” was restored. In fact, it is a joint feast of Our Lord and Our Lady, as Pope Paul VI says, the feast of the “Word who becomes Son of Mary, and of the Virgin who becomes Mother of God”.

The Annunciation brings into focus the fulfilment of a dual vocation. The Second Person of the Blessed Trinity had a very specific purpose in becoming man, a vocation, viz., to free human beings for eternity from the ravages of sin and death. In acquiescing to God’s plan for bringing about this reality, Mary assented to fulfilling her own vocation. This act is deeply rooted in a personal choice and decision, one, however, that is essentially preceded by another choice, a choice on the part of God. 

This feast leads us to realize the magnificence of divine grace, the wonder of God’s freely given love. Going deeper, the marvel of Mary, even in the midst of the very ordinariness of her life, is the clarion call of the Creator to each of us to wake up to the marvellous creatures that we all are by divine design.

Reflection: “He emptied himself; though invisible he made himself visible, though creator and Lord of all things he chose to be one of us mortal men. Yet this was not condescension – if compassion, not the loss of omnipotence. So he who in the nature of God had created

man, became in the nature of a servant, man himself” (St Leo).

Daily Readings

March 24, 2025

Monday of the Third Week of Lent

Reading 1

2 Kings 5:1–15a

In those days: Naaman, commander of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master and in high favour, because by him the Lord had given victory to Syria. He was a mighty man of valour, but he was a leper. Now the Syrians on one of their raids had carried off a little girl from the land of Israel, and she worked in the service of Naaman’s wife. She said to her mistress, “Would that my lord were with the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy.” So Naaman went in and told his lord, “Thus and so spoke the girl from the land of Israel.” And the king of Syria said, “Go now, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel.” So he went, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold, and ten changes of clothing. And he brought the letter to the king of Israel, which read, “When this letter reaches you, know that I have sent to you Naaman my servant, that you may cure him of his leprosy.” And when the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his clothes and said, “Am I God, to kill and to make alive, that this man sends word to me to cure a man of his leprosy? Only consider, and see how he is seeking a quarrel with me.” But when Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his clothes, he sent to the king, saying, “Why have you torn your clothes? Let him come now to me, that he may know that there is a prophet in Israel.” So Naaman came with his horses and chariots and stood at the door of Elisha’s house. And Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall be restored, and you shall be clean.” But Naaman was angry and went away, saying, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call upon the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper. Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? Could I not wash in them and be clean?” So he turned and went away in a rage. But his servants came near and said to him, “My father, if it is a great word the prophet has spoken to you; will you not do it? Has he actually said to you, ‘Wash, and be clean’?” So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child, and he was clean. Then he returned to the man of God, he and all his company, and he came and stood before him. And he said, “Behold, I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 42:2, 3; 43:3, 4

Response: My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.

When can I enter and appear before the face of God?

Like the deer that yearns

For running streams,

So my soul is yearning

For you, my God.

Response: My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.

My soul is thirsting for God,

The living God;

When can I enter and appear

Before the face of God?

Response: My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.

O send forth your light and your truth;

They will guide me on.

They will bring me to your holy mountain,

To the place where you dwell.

Response: My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.

And I will come to the altar of God, to God,

My joy and gladness.

To you will I give thanks on the harp,

O God, my God.

Response: My soul is thirsting for God, the living God.

Verse Before the Gospel

Luke 4:24-30

I long for you, O Lord, my soul longs for his word, with the Lord there is mercy and plentiful redemption.

Gospel

Luke 4:24–30

At that time: When Jesus had come to Nazareth, he said to the people in the synagogue, “Truly, I say to you, no prophet is acceptable in his home town. But in truth, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the heavens were shut up three years and six months, and a great famine came over all the land, and Elijah was sent to none of them but only to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha, and none of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.” When they heard these things, all in the synagogue were filled with wrath. And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff. But passing through their midst, he went away.

Reflection

Jesus was not accepted in his own hometown. The people of Nazareth were too familiar with Jesus and his family, their fellow townsfolk. Joseph and Mary were ordinary people busy with the day-to-day affairs of a poor family. The people were not able to conceive the possibility of the much-awaited Messiah being born in Nazareth. Jesus told the people of his own hometown the fact that even Prophets Elijah and Elisha worked wonders for people residing far away from the habitations of the prophets. Even that appeal of Jesus was not heeded by the people. In Mark 6:5-6, we read, “And he could do no mighty work there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and healed them. And he marvelled because of their unbelief.”

St Catherine of Sweden, Virgin (1331-1381)

The 4th child of the Swedish Prince Ulf Gudmarsson and of St Bridget, Catherine was educated at the convent of Riseberg. At the age of 14 she was married, in deference to her father’s wishes, to a pious nobleman of German extraction, Eggard von Kuernen, a life-long invalid with whom, by mutual consent, she lived in continence.

St Catherine was widowed in 1349 and was thenceforth in Rome at her saintly mother’s side, aiding her in all her charitable endeavours and imbibing her ascetical way of life. In 1372 the two widows made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and when Bridget died in Rome two years later, Catherine brought her body back to Sweden and had it interred at the Bridgettine mother-convent at Vadstena. She then became the head of that foundation and ruled it with great skill. She took an active part in resolving the ecclesiastical controversies of her time, steadfastly supporting Urban VI against the anti-pope Clement II. Catherine died as Abbess of Vadstena on 24 March 1381 and, though not formally canonized as such, veneration of her memory as a ‘Saint’ has been approved by Pope Innocent VIII who reigned from 1484-92.

Reflection: “True humility consists in being content with all that God is pleased to ordain for us, believing ourselves unworthy to be called his servants” (St Teresa of Avila).

Daily Readings

March 23, 2025

Third Sunday of Lent

Reading I

Exodus (3:1-8a, 13-15)

In those days Moses was keeping the flock of his Father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” When the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey. Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you’, and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 103:1–2, 3–4, 6–7, 8 and 11

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and never forget all his benefits.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

 It is the LORD who forgives all your sins, who heals every one of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with mercy and compassion.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

The LORD does just deeds, gives full justice to all who are oppressed. He made known his ways to Moses, and his deeds to the children of Israel.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so strong his mercy for those who fear him.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious

Reading II

Corinthians (10:1-6, 10-12)

I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did nor grumble, as some of them did and were destroyed by the Destroyer. Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come. Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL

Mt 4:17

Glory and praise to you, O Christ. Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel

Luke (13:1-9)

There were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.

Reflection

The news about the Galileans murdered by Pilate prompts Jesus to spell out the fact that death by murder or by accident is not willed by God. God does not pick and choose offenders and eliminate them. Jesus rejects the common understanding with a simple negative: this did not happen because the Galileans were more horrible sinners. Jesus uses the occasion to give an additional warning about a more fundamental issue: the threat of a tragic end is present for all. The issue is not when death will happen or why, but avoiding a terminal fate with even greater consequences. Only repentance will prevent the death that lasts. The comparison is between dying tragically in this life and perishing ultimately before God.

In a second example, Jesus mentions an otherwise unknown incident involving the collapse of a tower at Siloam that killed eighteen people. Here too, Jesus rejects the assertion that worse sin was the cause of the tragedy and again issues the warning to repent. Failure to repent definitely leaves one exposed to death. Jesus ends his response with the parable of the fig tree. The parable is about a man checking on his fig tree in his vineyard only to find that it continues to bear no fruit. His dilemma is what to do with this unproductive tree, especially since it takes nutrients from other trees in the vineyard. The fig tree should have borne fruit annually, but it does not produce. The owner’s disgust is indicated by the remark that the fig takes up space in the vineyard and robs the ground of nutrients. Thus, the other vines and fruit trees suffer. It should be cut off. The vinedresser asks to give the tree another chance to produce fruit within one more year. He will carefully care for it and fertilize it. Perhaps additional care will yield fruit, even though the tree has done nothing to deserve such special attention or such hope. The image suggests God’s patience and alludes to the short time left for response. We have to repent while there is still time. The decision is a crucial one, for if time passes without repentance, only rejection remains. God is patient, but the clock will tick only so long before the nation will lose its current opportunity to respond.

The parable becomes a metaphor for the human condition and thus offers a lesson on the human heart’s ability to respond to Christ’s love. Some people respond right away, while others need a great deal of nurturing. The gardener’s patience and skill to induce figs on the tree parallel’s Christ’s attempt to coax the soul with his love. In the end, however, some souls, as the fig trees, may not respond. All persons are guilty of sin, and all stand in need of God’s forgiveness. Rather than taking sober satisfaction in the fact that they did not suffer the same misfortunes of others, disciples should instead look to their own lives and the state of their own souls when they must face God’s judgement.

(Source: The Sunday Liturgy)

St Turibius De Mogrovejo, Bishop Confessor (1538-1606)

St Turibius Alfonso de Mogrovejo was a young professor of law at the great University of Salamanca (Spain) when King Philip II, recognizing his outstanding talents and deep piety, appointed him president of the court of the Inquisition at Granada in 1575. In 1580 he was designated Archbishop of Peru. Duly ordained and consecrated, though much against his own wishes, he arrived in Peru in 1581.

His 26 years in the See of Lima were filled with unbelievable apostolic labours, and his self-denial and limitless energies brought about the eradication of the numerous evils he encountered upon his arrival, his most famous battle cry being, “Christ said: ‘I am the truth’; he did not say: ‘I am the custom’!” It is estimated that he travelled throughout his vast archdiocese — over 50,000 miles! — almost always on foot, everywhere baptizing and confirming the natives, in all nearly half a million souls, including Sts Rose of Lima and Martin de Porres! Innumerable were the schools, hospitals, convents and chapels which his burning zeal saw constructed, and to him is also due the foundation of the first American seminary, at Lima, in 1591. He died on 23 March 1606 and was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726.

Reflection: “Time is not our own! We shall have to render a strict account of it” (St Turibius de Mogrovejo).

Daily Readings

March 21, 2025

Friday of the Second Week of Lent

Reading 1

Genesis 37:3–4, 12–13a, 17b–28

Israel loved Joseph more than any other of his sons, because he was the son of his old age. And he made him a robe of many colours. But when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peacefully to him. Now his brothers went to pasture their father’s flock near Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, “Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them at Dothan. They saw him from afar, and before he came near to them they conspired against him to kill him. They said to one another, “Here comes this dreamer. Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits. Then we will say that a fierce animal has devoured him, and we will see what will become of his dreams.” But when Reuben heard it, he rescued him out of their hands, saying, “Let us not take his life.” And Reuben said to them, “Shed no blood; throw him into this pit here in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him” – that he might rescue him out of their hand to restore him to his father. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe, the robe of many colours that he wore. And they took him and threw him into a pit. The pit was empty; there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat. And looking up they saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing gum, balm, and myrrh, on their way to carry it down to Egypt. Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon him, for he is our brother, our own flesh.” And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite traders passed by. And they drew Joseph up and lifted him out of the pit, and sold him to the Ishmaelites for twenty shekels of silver. They took Joseph to Egypt.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 105:16–17, 18–19, 20–21

Response: Remember the wonders the Lord has done.

But he called down a famine on the land; 

he broke their staff of bread. 

He had sent a man ahead of them, 

Joseph, sold as a slave.

Response: Remember the wonders the Lord has done.

His feet were weighed down in chains,

his neck was bound with iron, 

until what he said came to pass, 

and the word of the Lord proved him true. 

Response: Remember the wonders the Lord has done.

Then the king sent orders and released him; 

the ruler of the peoples set him free. 

He made him master of his house 

and ruler of all his possessions. 

Response: Remember the wonders the Lord has done

Verse Before the Gospel

John 3:16

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life..

Gospel

Matthew 21:33–43, 45–46

At that time: Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people, “Hear another parable. There was a master of a house who planted a vineyard and put a fence round it and dug a wine press in it and built a tower and leased it to tenants, and went into another country. When the season for fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to get his fruit. And the tenants took his servants and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent other servants, more than at first. And they did the same to them. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the tenants saw the son, they said to themselves, ‘This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and have his inheritance.’ And they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. When therefore the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants?” They said to him, “He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the Scriptures: “‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; this was the Lord’s doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they perceived that he was speaking about them. And although they were seeking to arrest him, they feared the crowds, because they held him to be a prophet.

Reflection

Through the parable of the tenants in the vineyard, Jesus describes the negative response of the Jewish people to the prophets and finally to Jesus, the Son of God. They not only did not accept the prophets, but they also ill-treated them and killed them. They killed Jesus, too, the only Son of the Heavenly Father who came into the world to redeem all humankind. This should make us think of our response to Christ and those who bring to us the message of Christ. In Matthew 16:15, Jesus asks us, “Who do you say that I am?” In John 21:15-17, Jesus asks, “Do you love me?” Jesus wants a response from us. We need to take a stand.

St Nicholas De Flue, Confessor (1417 - 1487)

St Nicholas de Flue was born near the Lake of the Four Cantons, in Switzerland. He showed himself a great Christian in various spheres of life before he became a hermit.

As a young man he was for some years a soldier, fighting for his native Canton and rising to the rank of a captain. A respected citizen, he took an active part in the civil and political life of his country and held office as councillor and magistrate, all the while spending whole nights in prayer. Peace of mind, however, eluded him and so he withdrew from politics in 1465. 

But in 1467, at the age of fifty, after a vision of the Blessed Trinity, he resolved that he must leave all and go away to live entirely for God. He spent the last 20 years of his life in prayer and severe austerity. Many witnesses have testified that during those years he took neither food nor drink, but only Holy Communion.

Popularly known as Brother Klaus, Nicholas had a friendly disposition and was greatly venerated even beyond the Swiss border. People high and low, both civil as well as religious, flocked to his cell to seek his counsel and prayer.

Nicholas went to his reward on his 70th birthday, i.e., on 21 March 1487 and was beatified in 1669. Canonized by Pope Pius XII on 15 May 1947, his memory is revered by Protestants and Catholics alike.

Reflection:

“O my Lord and my God, take from me all that keeps me from you!

“O my Lord and my God, give me all that brings me nearer to you!

“O my Lord and my God, take myself from me and let me possess only you”

(Prayer of St Nicholas de Flue).

Daily Readings

March 20, 2025

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent

Reading 1

Jeremiah 17:5–10

Thus says the Lord: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the Lord. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose trust is the Lord. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.” The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1:1–2, 3, 4 and 6

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Blessed indeed is the man

who follows not the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the path with sinners,

nor abides in the company of scorners,

but whose delight is the law of the Lord,

and who ponders his law day and night.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted

beside the flowing waters,

that yields its fruit in due season,

and whose leaves shall never fade;

and all that he does shall prosper.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so!

For they, like winnowed chaff,

shall be driven away by the wind.

for the Lord knows the way of the just,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord

Verse Before the Gospel

Luke 8:15

Blessed are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.

Gospel

Luke 16:19–31

At that time: Jesus said to the Pharisees, “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried, and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not do so, and none may cross from there to us.’ And he said, ‘Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father’s house – for I have five brothers – so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.’ But Abraham said, ‘They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead.’”

Reflection

In Luke 6:20-26, we find Jesus pronouncing Blessings and Woes – Blessings on those who are poor, those who are hungry, those who weep, and those who are hated in this world; woe to those who are rich, those who are hungry, those who laugh and those who are appreciated in this world. We find these blessings and woes realized in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. In 1 Chronicles 29:15, we read, “For we are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on earth are but like a shadow, and there is no abiding”. We are to realize this truth while we are still alive on earth. Nothing can be done after we depart from this world.

St Cuthbert, Bishop Confessor (c.635 - 687)

Brought up by a foster mother named Kenswith, this famous English Saint was a shepherd, a native of Northumbria (England). As a young man, he had to help defend his country against the attacks of King Penda of Mercia; but when peace was restored after the battle of Winwidfield in 651, he carried out his boyhood dream of becoming a monk — he joined the Benedictines at Mailros (Melrose) abbey, and soon became conspicuous for his learning and holiness, which God confirmed by numerous miracles.

He was appointed Prior at Lindisfarne, and was able, by his consummate tact and patience, and through the evident holiness of his life, to win over that entire community which had still obstinately clung to the ancient Celtic customs.

In 685, Cuthbert was consecrated Abbot-Bishop of Lindisfarne by St Theodore of Canterbury and laboured with great success at the sanctification of the faithful; but after only a year, he resigned in anticipation of his approaching death. He died on 20 March 687.

St Cuthbert is the Patron of sailors.

Reflection: “Patience is the root and guardian of all the virtues” (St Gregory the Great).

Daily Readings

March 19, 2025

Solemnity of Saint Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Reading 1

2 Samuel 7:4–5a, 12–14a, 16

In those days: The word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure for ever before me. Your throne shall be established for ever.’”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 89:2–3, 4–5, 27 and 29 

Response: His descendants shall continue forever.

I will sing forever of your mercies, O Lord;

through all ages my mouth will proclaim your fidelity.

I have declared your mercy is established forever

your fidelity stands firm as the heavens.

Response: His descendants shall continue forever.

With my chosen one I have made a covenant;

I have sworn to David my servant:

I will establish your descendants forever,

and set up your throne through all ages.

Response: His descendants shall continue forever.

He will call out to me, ‘You are my father,

my God, the rock of my salvation.’

I will keep my faithful love for him always;

with him my covenant shall last.

Response: His descendants shall continue forever.

Reading 2

Romans 4:13, 16–18, 22

Brethren: The promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world, did not come through the law but through the righteousness of faith. That is why it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his offspring – not only to the adherent of the law but also to the one who shares the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all, as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations” – in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist. In hope he believed against hope, that he should become the father of many nations, as he had been told, “So shall your offspring be.” That is why his faith was “counted to him as righteousness”.

Verse Before the Gospel

Psalm 84:5

Blessed are they who dwell in your house, O Lord, forever singing your praise.

Gospel

Matthew 1:16, 18–21, 24a

Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called Christ. Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. And her husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to send her away quietly. But as he considered these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.

Reflection

Today’s Gospel introduces Joseph as a JUST MAN. This is a rare category. From Genesis 7:1, we understand that Noah was the only just man found on the face of the earth at the time of the deluge. From Genesis 18, we find that in Sodom and Gomorrah, they could not find even 10 just men. In Jeremiah 5:1, the Lord says, “Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, look and take note! Search her squares to see if you can find a man, one who does justice and seeks the truth that I may pardon her.” Saint Joseph was the rarest of the rare. A just man stands out and achieves what all others are unable to achieve. But such a just man has great power. In James 5:16, we read, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working”.

St Joseph, Husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Little definite information has come down to us about the chosen soul who was to be, in God’s providence, the earthly guardian of Our Lady and the Foster-father of the Incarnate Word. All that is reliably known of this “just man” named Joseph is contained in the first two chapters of the Gospels of Sts Matthew and Luke. In the apocryphal writings, which furnish us with many interesting details, it is next to impossible to separate those reports which may be based on true historical occurrences from those which are the product of pious imagination.

From the fact that there is no further reference to Joseph in the Bible after the finding of the boy Jesus in the temple, it has been reasonably inferred that he did not live to see the beginning of Our Lord’s public ministry.

St Teresa of Avila (Spain) chose St Joseph as the Patron of her reform of the Carmelite Order and her nuns were given the privilege in 1689 of keeping a feast honouring his patronage.

Joseph is, no doubt, the greatest and most beloved of all the saints of the Catholic Church next only to Mary. His greatness and that of Mary is measured by their closeness to Jesus Christ when he came to earth two millennia ago as the Word-Made-Flesh, the God-With-Us, to impart eternal life to all who believed in him. Little wonder then that Pope Pius IX, on 8 December 1870, in response to the petition of the over 300 prelates assembled at Vatican Council  I (1869-70), proclaimed Joseph the Patron Saint of the Universal Church. In 1955 Pope Pius XII added the title, “Patron of workmen”, the feast to be celebrated on 1 May.

Reflection: “Some Saints are privileged to extend to us their patronage with particular efficacy in certain needs, but not in others; but our holy Patron St Joseph has the power to assist us in all cases, in every necessity, in every undertaking” (St Thomas Aquinas).

Daily Readings

March 18, 2025

Tuesday of the Second Week of Lent

Reading 1

Isaiah 1:10, 16–20

Hear the word of the Lord, you rulers of Sodom! Give ear to the teaching of our God, you people of Gomorrah! Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause. “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool. If you are willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land; but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be eaten by the sword; for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 50:8–9, 16bc–17, 21 and 23

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices;

your offerings are always before me.

I do not take more bullocks from your farms,

nor goats from among your herds.

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

How can you recite my commandments,

and take my covenant on your lips,

you who despise correction,

and cast my words behind you.

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

You do this, and should I keep silence?

Do you think that I am like you?

I accuse you, lay the charge before you.

A sacrifice of praise gives me honour,

and to one whose way is blameless,

I will show the salvation of God.

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

Verse Before the Gospel

Ezekiel 18:31

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, says the Lord, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit!

Gospel

Matthew 23:1–12

At that time: Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practise. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honour at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the market-places and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

Reflection

We see Jesus using very harsh language when speaking about the Scribes and Pharisees. He pointed out the gap between their teaching and practice. He also found that they were performing good deeds to gain popularity and admiration from the people around them. They were proud of their abilities and achievements. Jesus therefore warned his disciples not to imitate the Scribes and Pharisees although they could listen to what they told them. Jesus did not want his disciples to use the titles of ‘Father’, ‘Rabbi’ and ‘Instructor’. The title ‘Father’ is most fittingly used for the Heavenly Father. The title ‘Rabbi’ is most fittingly used for Jesus. The title ‘Instructor’ can be used for both the Holy Spirit and Jesus.

St Cyril of Jerusalem, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church (c.313 -387)

St Cyril succeeded Maximus as Bishop of Jerusalem at 35, but nearly 17 out of the ensuing 36 years of his stormy episcopate he spent in exile for maintaining firm faith in the divinity of Christ — he was banned twice by Arian synods and once by the Emperor Valens.

In 381, Cyril attended the Council of Constantinople and, for the first time, Jerusalem was recognized as a patriarchal See along with Rome, Alexandria, Antioch, and Constantinople.

Cyril was a man of gentle nature and a peacemaker. It was he who fostered the development of the “holy city” of Jerusalem as a pilgrimage centre for all Christendom. A pillar of orthodoxy and a great teacher of the early Christian era, his primary surviving work is the “Catecheses”, a collection of 23 catechetical lectures to candidates for Baptism — the first 18, based on the Jerusalem baptismal creed, given during Lent, the concluding 5 instructing the newly baptized during the week after Easter. His Eucharistic theology, an advance on that of earlier writers, interprets the Lord’s presence in the terms of the later dogma of transubstantiation, the rite pronounced in sacrificial language.

Thought to have died in 387, St Cyril was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1882.

Reflection: “Let us, therefore, not be ashamed of the Cross of Christ; but though another hide it, you openly seal it upon your forehead, that the devils may behold the royal sign and flee trembling far away. Make then this sign at eating and drinking, at sitting, at lying down, at rising up, at speaking, at walking: in a word, at every act” (St Cyril of Jerusalem).

Daily Readings

March 17, 2025

Monday of the Second Week in Lent

Reading 1

Daniel 9:4b–10

O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel, those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. To us, O Lord, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 79:8, 9, 11, 13 

Response: O Lord, do not treat us according to our sins.

Do not remember against us

the guilt of former times.

Let your compassion hasten to meet us;

for we have been brought very low.

Response: O Lord, do not treat us according to our sins.

Help us, O God our saviour,

for the sake of the glory of your name.

Free us and forgive us our sins,

because of your name.

Response: O Lord, do not treat us according to our sins.

Let the groans of the prisoners

come before you,

your strong arm reprieve

those condemned to die.

Response: O Lord, do not treat us according to our sins.

Then we, your people,

the flock of your pasture,

will give you thanks forever and ever.

From age to age we will recount your praise.

Response: O Lord, do not treat us according to our sins.

Verse Before the Gospel See

John 6:63c, 68c

Your words, Lord, are spirit and life, you have the words of eternal life.

Gospel

Luke 6:36–38

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Reflection

Jesus teaches us that whatever we do to others will boomerang on us. If we do good to others, we will experience goodness and if we do evil, we will experience evil in our own lives. The Lord wants us to live in communion with one another. In Galatians 6:2, Saint Paul tells us that by carrying one another’s burdens, we fulfil the law of Christ. “Let us not grow weary of doing good,” he further says, “for in due season we will reap if we do not give up” (Gal 6:9). In Hebrews 13:16 we read, “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God”.

St Patrick, Bishop Confessor (c.385-461)

St Patrick, the great apostle and patron of Ireland, was the son of Calpurnius, a Roman Decurio in Brittany (Britain), and through his mother was closely related to St Martin of Tours. At 16, he was carried off by some Irish raiders into captivity, whereby he spent the next 6 years as a shepherd in the service of the chief Milch in Dalaradia (Antrim) before he was able to escape and make his way to Brittany and the monastery of Tours.

The British Bishop Palladius was sent to Ireland by Celestine I in 430 “to the Scots who believe in Christ”, but the hostility he encountered at the hands of the pagans compelled him to return to England where he died soon after. Thereupon Patrick, then in his forties, was consecrated Bishop and commissioned to evangelize the land of his one-time captors.

Patrick spent 7 years in the zealous evangelization of Connaught and then wandered through Ulster, Meach, Leinster and Limerick working numerous miracles. He and his companions were thrown into prison numerous times and even threatened with death, but in the end his success was astounding, chiefs and common people coming into the fold by the thousands.

Humble, yet courageous, Patrick’s determination to accept suffering and success with equal candour guided him in winning most of Ireland for Christ. Indeed, by the time he died at Sabhall in 461, he had established the Church in Ireland on a truly solid foundation.

Until his very end, this great man of prayer never relaxed his penitential exercises and mortifications. As for his indisputably genuine writings that have come down to us, his “Confessio” and his “Epistola Coroticum” deserve to be more widely known and appreciated, for they reveal God’s wonderful and providential workings in and through this great soul.

Reflection: “God’s hand for my cover, God’s path to pass over.

                    God’s buckler to guard me, God’s army to ward me” (St Patrick’s Breastplate).

Daily Readings

March 16, 2025

Second Sunday of Lent

Reading I

Genesis (15:5-12, 17-18)

In those days God brought Abram outside and said, “Look towards heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.” And he believed the LORD, and he counted it to him as righteousness. And he said to him, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But he said, “O Lord GOD, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over against the other. But he did not cut the birds in half. And when birds of prey came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away. As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. And behold, dreadful and great darkness fell upon him. When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking firepot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 27:1, 7-8, 8-9, 13-14.

Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the stronghold of my life; whom should I dread?

Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

O Lord, hear my voice when I call; have mercy and answer me. Of you my heart has spoken, “Seek his face.”

Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

It is your face, O Lord, that I seek; hide not your face from me. Dismiss not your servant in anger; you have been my help.

Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Do not abandon or forsake me. I believe I shall see the Lord’s goodness in the land of the living. Wait for the Lord; be strong; be stouthearted, and wait for the Lord!

Response: The Lord is my light and my salvation.

Reading II

Philippians (3:17–4:1)

 Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us. For many, of whom I have often told you and now tell you even with tears, walk as enemies of the cross of Christ. Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and they glory in their shame, with minds set on earthly things. But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. Therefore, my brothers, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown, stand firm thus in the Lord, my beloved.

or:

Philippians 3:20—4:1

Brothers and sisters:
Our citizenship is in heaven,  and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body
by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, whom I love and long for, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord, beloved.

Verse Before the Gospel

Matthew 17:5

From a bright cloud the Father’s voice is heard: this is my beloved Son, listen to him.

Gospel

Luke (9:28b-36)

At that time Jesus took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he said. As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Reflection

The Transfiguration anticipates Jesus’ passion, death, and resurrection. It occurs when he chooses Peter, John and James to accompany him to a mountain which tradition identifies as Mount Tabor to pray. The transfiguration takes place in the context of prayer and it is fitting that Jesus along with the others has an encounter with the divine. His face changes in appearance while Moses and Elijah appear in glory. This is truly a supernatural event and the chosen disciples witness it. It is significant that Jesus speaks about his exodus during this event. The word exodus is replete with references to Jewish Passover and thus deliverance, life and freedom. Jesus’ return to the Father through his death and resurrection guarantees freedom, life and liberation for his followers. The presence of Moses and Elijah, representing the Law and the Prophets, connects this event with the Old Testament for Moses and Elijah are great Old Testament figures. The disciples do not understand the import of the Transfiguration until after the resurrection. That the disciples do not understand can be gauged from the statement made by Peter who wants to raise three tents. Peter is wrong in trying to make the experience permanent by assigning a tent for each one; he treats Jesus as the equal of Moses and Elijah. Moses and Elijah are great Old Testament prophetic figures but they are not equal to Jesus. That is why Peter’s suggestion to make three tents looks silly for he treats Jesus as equal to Moses and Elijah. The cloud covers them and a heavenly voice is heard. It is Jesus who should be listened to. This in short is what

the vision means. A cloud then overshadows the proceedings, and a voice from the cloud announces that Jesus is the Son, and commands, “hear him.” Jesus is then left alone with the disciples, who say nothing of the experience at the time. God’s voice from the cloud therefore corrects the misapprehensions: Jesus only is God’s Son and chosen one; and they are not to control the holy but respond to it: “Listen to him.” The Transfiguration marks an important stage in the revelation of Jesus as the Christ and Son of God. It is an experience similar to that of his baptism for in both instances the voice of the Father is heard calling Jesus as his beloved Son. What is needed is to appreciate the presence of Jesus alone and pay attention to his voice. What do I benefit from the feast of the Transfiguration of Jesus? It is a reminder as well as an assurance that Christian lives should be oriented towards meeting the glorious Christ. But conditions apply and here the theme of the covenant in the First Reading comes to play. Belief in the resurrection is the basic tenet of our faith. All human beings will be subjected to Divine judgement and we are told that Jesus is appointed as the universal judge (Acts 17:31). If we have to receive favourable judgement, we have to prove ourselves worthy. That is the condition that we have to fulfil and it can be fulfilled only when we are alive, while we live on this earth. Therefore, let us pay more attention to how we live our Christian lives.

(Source: The Sunday Liturgy)

St Heribert, Bishop of Cologne (970 -1021)

One of the most renowned Prelates of the Diocese of Cologne (Germany), St Heribert was born to Count Hugo of Worms in the Palatinate of the Rhine. Brilliant and always eager to learn, he was educated at the Cathedral School of Worms and the celebrated Abbey of Gorze in Lorraine. He was attracted by the lives of the Benedictine monks there and would have joined them had not his father recalled him peremptorily to Worms, where he was given a canonry and ordained priest.

Heribert gained the confidence of Emperor Otto III, becoming not only his chancellor, but also his friend, adviser and companion. On Christmas Eve 998 he was consecrated Archbishop of Cologne in the Cathedral of St Peter, and from that moment on he devoted himself indefatigably to the duties of his high calling. He never allowed his state affairs to hinder him from his spiritual duties.

He accompanied the Emperor on a visit to Italy, where Otto breathed his last. In keeping with the latter’s wishes, his mortal remains were laid to rest at Aachen.

Duke Henry of Bavaria who succeeded Otto misinterpreted the doings of Heribert. But Heribert won him over by his life of virtue, leading to a public reconciliation between the two.

On a visit to Neuss Heribert contracted fever, of which he died on 16 March 1021, after having received the Viaticum with great fervour. At his tomb at Deutz, many miracles came to be attributed to his intercession. He is still invoked for rain.

St Heribert was canonized by Pope St Gregory VII some time between 1073 and 1074.

Reflection: “You should do no harm to anybody whatsoever; and as much as it is possible, do good to all” (St Peter Fourier).

Daily Readings

March 15, 2025

Saturday of the First Week of Lent

Reading 1

Deuteronomy 26:16–19

Moses spoke to the people, saying: “This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honour high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 119:1–2, 4–5, 7–8

Response: Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those whose way is blameless,

who walk in the law of the Lord!

Blessed are those who keep his decrees!

With all their hearts they seek him.

Response: Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

You have laid down your precepts

to be carefully kept.

May my ways be firm

in keeping your statutes.

Response: Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

I will thank you with an upright heart,

as I learn your just judgments.

I will keep your statutes;

do not ever forsake me.

Response: Blessed are those who walk in the law of the Lord!

Verse Before the Gospel

2 Corinthians 6:2b

Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.

Gospel

Matthew 5:43–48

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Reflection

Jesus not only asks us to love our enemies, but he also gives us the Heavenly Father as a model for the same. Jesus wants us to be perfect like the heavenly Father. Saint Peter says, “As he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, ‘You shall be holy, for I am holy’ ” (1 Pet 1:15-16). It is through a life of holiness that we prove ourselves to be the children of the Heavenly Father. Let us follow the advice of Saint Paul: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Col 3:12-13).

St Louise De Marillac, Widow (1591 - 1660)

Louise, the daughter of a military courtier, was a well-educated and socially prominent Parisian woman. At 16 she felt a strong desire to join the Poor Clares, but poor health intervened and five years later she was married to Antoine Le Gras, a secretary to Queen Marie de Medicis, and bore him a son, Michel.

With pious Antoine’s approval, she devoted all her free time to works of charity among the poor in Paris, though many considered it unbecoming of her social status. In 1619 she made the acquaintance of St Francis de Sales and St Vincent de Paul. When her husband died in 1625, Louise placed herself entirely under the latter Saint’s direction, and spent herself in superintending the various confraternities of charity which he had founded for the care of the needy.

This is regarded as the real beginning of the Sisters of Charity; for their benefit St Vincent de Paul began his famous spiritual conferences in 1634 which continued for 25 years. For 12 years there was no written rule or constitution, and no official approval was sought for the new Order. At a time when it was unheard of for nuns not to be enclosed, the services of these Sisters were urgently needed in the slums and hospitals. St Vincent wanted the fear of God to be their enclosure, holy modesty their veil, the parish church their chapel, a hired room their cell, and charitable works their Office. As their habit the Sisters adopted the blue-gray dress and white linen cornette of the peasant women in the Isle de France.

Louise de Marillac died on 15 March 1660, followed 6 months later by St Vincent. By then there were more than 40 houses in France. Today there are over 4,000 houses and some 40,000 Sisters in all parts of the world. The community is a lay one with only private vows, and the original rule and constitution have never been changed until recently.

Beatified on 9 May 1920, Louise de Marillac was canonized on 11 March 1934, by Pope Pius XI and, on 10 February 1960, named Patroness of all Christian Social Workers.

Reflection: “Be diligent in serving the poor.... Love the poor, honour them, my children, as you would honour Christ himself” (St Louise De Marillac).

Daily Readings

March 14, 2025

Friday of the First Week of Lent

Reading I

Ezekiel 18:21–28

Thus says the Lord God: “If a wicked person turns away from all his sins that he has committed and keeps all my statutes and does what is just and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. None of the transgressions that he has committed shall be remembered against him; for the righteousness that he has done he shall live. Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? But when a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice and does the same abominations that the wicked person does, shall he live? None of the righteous deeds that he has done shall be remembered; for the treachery of which he is guilty and the sin he has committed, for them he shall die. Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear now, O house of Israel: Is my way not just? Is it not your ways that are not just? When a righteous person turns away from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it; for the injustice that he has done he shall die. Again, when a wicked person turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he shall save his life. Because he considered and turned away from all the transgressions that he had committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 130:1–6ab, 6c–8 

Response: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord;

Lord, hear my voice!

O let your ears be attentive

to the sound of my pleadings.

Response: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities,

Lord, who could stand?

But with you is found forgiveness,

that you may be revered.

Response: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

I long for you, O Lord,

my soul longs for his word.

My soul hopes in the Lord

more than watchmen for daybreak.

Response: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

More than watchmen for daybreak.

Let Israel hope for the Lord.

For with the Lord there is mercy,

in him is plentiful redemption.

It is he who will redeem Israel

from all its iniquities.

Response: If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, Lord, who could stand?

Verse before the Gospel

Ezekiel 18:31

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, says the Lord, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit.

Gospel

Matthew 5:20–26

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.’ But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire. So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are going with him to court, lest your accuser hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you be put in prison. Truly, I say to you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.

Reflection

The Scribes and the Pharisees used to speak about the 613 commandments of the Old Testament. Among them, 365 commandments were positive commandments while 248 were negative commandments. Jesus summed up all the commandments into just two – Love of God and love of neighbour. Seemingly, the demands of Jesus are simpler. But this is not the truth. Jesus came to fulfil the Law and the Prophets. While the Old Testament considered murder as sinful, Jesus considered anger as equally sinful. While the Old Testament considered adultery to be sinful, Jesus considers looking at a woman lustfully as equally sinful. According to Jesus being reconciled with others is the sine-qua-non (an essential condition) for offering gifts at the altar. Jesus advocates a clean heart and pure intentions.

St Matilda, Queen (895 - 968)

Daughter of Count Dietrich of Westphalia and Reinhild of Denmark, St Matilda was brought up in the Benedictine convent at Herford (central Germany), where her grandmother was Abbess. Here she became known for her rare talents and virtues. At 14 she married Henry the Fowler of Saxony who later was chosen to succeed Conrad as King of Germany. As Queen she proved herself a model of piety and prudence, and was ever intent on succouring the oppressed and the poor.

Left a widow in 936, Matilda redoubled her prayers, mortifications and almsgiving, and founded numerous hospitals, churches and Benedictine abbeys. But this liberality so exasperated two of her sons, Otto and Henry, that they banished her from court and deprived her of all her property until misfortune overtook them in turn and they became reconciled with her and begged for forgiveness.

Of her children, the eldest son became Otto the Great, Emperor of Germany; another son was St Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne; a daughter Gerberga married Louis IV of France, and Hedwig became the mother of Hugh Capet, the founder of the Capetian dynasty.

She died on 14 March 968 at the monastery of Quedlinburg and was buried there with Henry.

Reflection: “The best reward which the servant of God can receive for that which he does for his neighbour, is contempt or shame, the only payment the world made for the labours of its Divine Master. If God gives you much to suffer, it is a sign that he would make a great saint of you” (St Ignatius).

Daily Readings

March 13, 2025

Thursday of the First Week in Lent

Reading 1

Esther C:12, 14-16, 23-25

Esther the queen seized with deathly anxiety, fled to the Lord; And she prayed to the Lord God of Israel and said: “O my Lord, you only are our King; help me, who am alone and have no helper but you, for my danger is in my hand. Ever since I was born I have heard in the tribe of my family that you, O Lord, took Israel out of all the nations and our fathers from among all their ancestors for an everlasting inheritance and that you did for them all that you promised. Remember, O Lord; make yourself known in this time of our affliction and give me courage, O King of the gods and Master of all dominion! Put eloquent speech in my mouth before the lion and turn his heart to hate the man who is fighting against us, so that there may be an end of him and those who agree with him. But save us by your hand and help me, who am alone and have no helper but you, O Lord.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 138:1–2a, 2bcd–3, 7d–8

Response: On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.

I thank you, Lord, with all my heart;

you have heard the words of my mouth.

In the presence of the angels I praise you.

I bow down toward your holy temple.

Response: On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.

I give thanks to your name

for your merciful love and

your faithfulness.

You have exalted your name over all.

On the day I called, you answered me;

you increased the strength of my soul.

Response: On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.

With your right hand you save me;

the Lord will accomplish this for me.

O Lord, your merciful love is eternal;

discard not the work of your hands.

Response: On the day I called, you answered me, O Lord.

Verse Before the Gospel

Psalm 51:12a, 14a

Create a pure heart for me, O God; restore in me the joy of your salvation.

Gospel

Matthew 7:7–12

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him! “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.

Reflection

In today’s Gospel, Jesus encourages us to ask the Lord when we are in need. He promises to give us every good thing we ask for. It is good to read these verses together with similar verses in the Bible. In Matthew 18:19 the Lord says, “If two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven”. Saint James tells us that we should ask without doubting (Jas 1:5-8). In Matthew 21:22, Jesus himself says, “Whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith”. In 1 John 5:14, we read, “And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us.”

St Euphrasia of Constantinople, Virgin (380 - 420)

St Euphrasia was the daughter of Antigonus, a senator of Constantinople (Turkey), who was related to the Emperor Theodosius I. Antigonus having died shortly after the birth of his daughter, Theodosius took the widow and the child under his protection and, as was the custom, arranged a betrothal for Euphrasia at the age of five, to the son of a wealthy senator. But the widow herself began to be sought in marriage, whereupon she withdrew from the court and, with Euphrasia, went to Egypt where they settled down near a convent of nuns.

At seven, Euphrasia was greatly drawn to the convent life and begged her mother to allow her to stay there. Reluctantly, her mother agreed and the abbess told her that the grace of God was working in Euphrasia.

Meanwhile she declined her betrothed who by then desired the marriage. Now 12 and an heiress, she wrote to Emperor Arcadius, seeking to be allowed to follow her vocation and requesting him to use her parents’ property for the good of the poor and to enfranchise all her slaves. Arcadius complied with her requests. Euphrasia, for her part, took up hard and humbling tasks to divert her attention from the world, to which she was sometimes tempted to return. She complied cheerfully with whatever was expected of her.

Years later, as she lay on her death-bed, Julia who shared her cell, besought her to obtain for her the grace of being with her in heaven. The Saint died and three days after, Julia followed suit.

Russian usage has St Euphrasia named in the preparation of the Byzantine Mass.

Reflection: “Christ does not force our will. He takes only what we give him. But he does not give himself entirely until he sees that we yield ourselves entirely to him” (St Teresa of Avila).

Daily Readings

March 12, 2025

Wednesday of the First Week in Lent

Reading 1

Jonah 3:1–10

The word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.” When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 51:3–4, 12–13, 18–19

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God you will not spurn.

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your merciful love;

according to your great compassion,

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me completely from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God you will not spurn.

Create a pure heart for me, O God;

renew a steadfast spirit within me.

Do not cast me away from your presence;

take not your holy spirit from me.

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God you will not spurn.

For in sacrifice you take no delight;

burnt offering from me would

not please you.

My sacrifice to God, a broken spirit:

a broken and humbled heart,

O God, you will not spurn.

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God you will not spurn.

Verse Before the Gospel

Joel 2:12-13

Even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, for I am gracious and merciful.

Gospel

Luke 11:29–32

At that time: When the crowds were increasing, Jesus began to say, “This generation is an evil generation. It seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah. For as Jonah became a sign to the people of Nineveh, so will the Son of Man be to this generation. The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here. The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Reflection

Jesus himself is the greatest sign that humanity can ever have. A sign is something visible standing for something invisible. In Colossians 1:15, Saint Paul states, “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation”. Further, in Colossians 2:9 he says, “In him the fullness of deity dwells bodily”. Jesus being true God and true man, presents the invisible God most perfectly. Being truly man, he can present God in a human way to other human beings. Jesus is compared to Jonah who disobeyed God. He went away to Tarsus instead of going to Nineveh. Just as Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days, Jesus was in the belly of the earth for three days.

St Theophanes, Abbot  (817)

St Theophanes grew up under the guardianship of Emperor Constantine V, his father having died early, leaving him heir to a large estate. He was induced to marry the daughter of a Byzantine Patrician. But, the marriage remaining unconsummated by mutual consent, he joined the monks of Polychronicon while his wife became a nun. He then founded monasteries and served as Abbot at Mt Sigriana on the shores of the Sea of Marmara, between Cyzicus and the Kirmasti River.

In 787 he was invited to take part in the Second Council of Nicaea (Turkey), which sanctioned the use and reverence of sacred images. But in 814, the Armenian Emperor Leo V reversed this policy and strove to suppress the cult of images. Theophanes ranged himself against Leo’s iconoclastic policy and paid no heed to his threat. Thus, after receiving 300 stripes he was thrown into a dungeon for two years. Deprived of the bare necessities of life, he fell severely ill and was exiled to the island of Samothrace in Greece where he died on 12 March 817. He is venerated as a Saint both by the Greek and the Latin Rite Churches.

He was the author of an important Chronicle composed between 810 and 814 at the suggestion of his friend George Syncellus. It covers the period between 284 and 813. His Chronicle, along with that of Nicephorus I, Patriarch of Constantinople, highlights the principal Byzantine historical source for the 7th and 8th centuries.

Reflection: “Not the goods of the world, but God, Not riches, but God.

                  Not distinction, but God. Not advancements, but God.

                God always, and in everything” (St Vincent Pallotti).

Daily Readings

March 11, 2025

Tuesday of the First Week of Lent

Reading 1

Isaiah 55:10–11

Thus says the Lord: “As the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 34:4–5, 6–7, 16–17, 18–19

Response: The Lord rescues them in all their distress.

Glorify the Lord with me;

together let us praise his name.

I sought the Lord, and he answered me;

from all my terrors he set me free.

Response: The Lord rescues them in all their distress.

Look toward him and be radiant;

let your faces not be abashed.

This lowly one called; the Lord heard,

and rescued him from all his distress.

Response: The Lord rescues them in all their distress.

The Lord turns his eyes to the just,

and his ears are open to their cry.

The Lord turns his face against the wicked

to destroy their remembrance from the earth.

Response: The Lord rescues them in all their distress.

When the just cry out, the Lord hears,

and rescues them in all their distress.

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;

those whose spirit is crushed he will save.

Response: The Lord rescues them in all their distress.

Verse Before the Gospel

Matthew 4:4b

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Gospel

Matthew 6:7–15

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “When you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Reflection

Jesus wants us to concentrate on the quality of our prayer rather than on its quantity. Saint James states, “The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working” (Jas 5:16). In today’s gospel passage, Jesus gives us the Lord’s Prayer as a model prayer. Prayer should not be self-centred, but God-centred. We need to glorify the name of the Lord and accept his will in our day-to-day lives. There should be a daily dependence on Divine Providence. That is why, Jesus wants us to pray for ‘our daily bread’. Very significantly, Jesus attaches a condition for divine forgiveness by adding the phrase “as we forgive those who trespass against us”. The prayer is to be lived, too.

St Eulogius of Cordoba, Martyr (c.818 - 859)

St Eulogius was the son of a noble senatorial family of Cordoba in southern Spain. An avid reader and student, he was much esteemed for his holy life, his great eloquence and for his profound humility.

The Saracen rulers had tolerated the Christian religion during the first 130 years of their Spanish occupation, provided the faithful kept their heavy tax payments. But in 850 there began a period of persecution during which many were martyred for the faith. St Eulogius did much, by spoken and written word, to encourage the persecuted and imprisoned Christians. His three important works, viz., “Exhortation to Maryrdom”, which encouraged two Christian  girls, Flora and Mary, threatened with slavery, “Memorial of the Saints” which relates the trials of the Martyrs, and “Apologia” which defended martyrs seeking death by proclaiming their faith, had a profound and widespread effect, keeping many from apostatizing.

When the Archbishop of Toledo died in 858, St Eulogius was chosen successor, but he was arrested just when he was due for his consecration, for daring to defend a Saracen maiden, St Leocritia, who had abandoned Islam for the Catholic faith. In his great zeal, the holy Priest even endeavoured to convert his Arab judge by pointing out to him the errors of Mohammed’s doctrine, thus literally inviting death—he was beheaded on 11 March 859.

Reflection: “Ah! If you could but conceive the reward which waits for those who persevere in the faith to the end, you would renounce your temporal dignity in exchange for it!” (St Eulogius of Cordoba).

Daily Readings

March 9, 2025

First Sunday of Lent

Reading I

Deuteronomy (26:4-10)

Moses said to the people, “The priest shall take the basket of first fruits from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labour. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 91:1-2, 10-11, 12-13, 14-15

Response: Be with me, O Lord, when I am in my distress.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High,

and abides in the shade of the Almighty, says

to the LORD, “My refuge, my stronghold, my

God in whom I trust!”

Response: Be with me, O Lord, when I am in my distress.

Upon you no evil shall fall, no plague approach

your tent. For you has he commanded his

angels to keep you in all your ways.

Response: Be with me, O Lord, when I am in my distress.

They shall bear you upon their hands, lest you

strike your foot against a stone. On the lion and

the viper you will tread, and trample the young

lion and the serpent.

Response: Be with me, O Lord, when I am in my distress.

Since he clings to me in love, I will free him, protect

him, for he knows my name. When he calls on me,

I will answer him; I will be with him in distress; I

will deliver him, and give him glory.

Response: Be with me, O Lord, when I am in my distress.

Reading II

Romans (10:8-13)

Brethren, what does Scripture say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we proclaim); because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved. For the Scripture says, “Everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

VERSE BEFORE THE GOSPEL

Matthew 4:4b

Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel

Luke (4:1-13)

At that time Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were over, he was hungry. The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone.’” And the devil took him up and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time, and said to him, “To you I will give all this authority and their glory, for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will. If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” And Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.’” And he took him to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to guard you’, and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.’ ” And Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.

Reflection

The First Reading of today refers to a pilgrimage that the Israelite households undertake year after year. As part of the ritual, the people present a basketfull of their produce to the priests at the sanctuary. By this they acknowledge the fact that all the products of the land belong to God. Taking the basket along, the worshipper proceeds to the prescribed place. The priest accepts the basket and places it before the altar. In all three Synoptic Gospels the temptation proceeds immediately after Jesus’ baptism. Often the wilderness is a region of demonic activity, and yet it is here that Jesus goes to commune with God. In trying to understand the temptation scene we have to keep in mind that the battle with Satan lies at the heart of Jesus’ ministry. We are told that Jesus ate nothing for forty days – a period that would bring one to the point of death. Whether this information is literal or not is a matter of debate, but the understanding is that Jesus ate and drank very little for a very long time.

In the first temptation Jesus is challenged to use his power as Son in his own interest to seek food for himself apart from his Father’s design. The devil does not aim to cause Jesus to doubt his divine sonship; he knows who Jesus is, and there is no need to pretend otherwise. Rather, he tempts Jesus through suggestion on how to live on earth as the Son of God. The devil knows that Jesus is hungry and so suggests that he change the stone to bread to satiate his hunger. If the devil succeeds, then he could humiliate God in the eyes of the people. This is what the devil aims at. But Jesus does not use his divinity to avoid human pain and suffering. To tempt him further, the devil shows him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time and falsely claims that they are all his and promises to give them to Jesus. Here the claims of the devil are exaggerated. In offering Jesus all the kingdoms’ authority and glory, Satan was attempting to suggest that all the power, wealth, glory, and fame that the world could offer were there for Jesus’ taking. But Jesus refuses.

In the third and final temptation, Jesus is challenged again to use his power to reveal himself with dazzling effect to his contemporaries and to conform to popular ideas of what a heaven-sent leader of the people would be. To listen to the devil by leaping from the parapet would be a complete rejection of God’s plan of salvation. The devil is trying to induce Jesus to jump to his own death before beginning his mission. Jesus, in his reply to the devil, not only rebuffs the temptation, but he also reminds the devil that he, the devil, is subject to God as well, “You shall not put the Lord your God, to the test.” The departure of the devil is not permanent. The devil is not about to admit defeat, and he will reappear in greater force as he faces his passion. Lesson for us: we have to guard against temptations at all times. Jesus won victory over the temptations through his trust in God and recourse to Scripture. We also should trust in God and God will ensure us too victory over temptations.

(Source: The Sunday Liturgy)

St Frances of Rome, Religious, Widow (1384 -1440)

Frances de Busso was already conspicuously devout as a child of six and was looking forward to the life of a religious when, at age 12, she bowed to the wishes of her parents, Paul Busso and Jacobeila dei Roffredeschi, a wealthy couple of noble lineage and married young Lorenzo de Ponziani, a pious and virtuous nobleman of Rome. Blessed with six children, their 40 years of marriage was a happy one, never once marred by a quarrel; and though she had the gift of absorbing prayer and detachment from earthly things, she always maintained that a devout married woman “must never forget that she is a housewife, and that at times she is obliged to leave her devotions at the altar in order to find God in her domestic duties.”

Frances’ example of personal sanctity and moderated penances, her zeal for souls and charity towards the poor, served to draw numerous Roman noblewomen away from a life of idle luxury, and in 1433 they formed the Benedictine Oblate Congregation of Tor de Specchi — whose constitution was formally approved by Pope Eugene IV in 1433—which exists to this day, working for the sick and the poor. There were no formal vows or strict enclosure, but definite rules for prayer, visits to the sick and the poor.

She entered her own Congregation on 21 March 1436, after her husband’s death, and died there four years later on 9 March 1440. She was canonized on 29 May 1608 by Pope Paul V. Her tomb is in Santa Maria Nova.

Reflection: “By giving yourself to God, you not only receive him in exchange, but eternal life as well” (St Francis de Sales).

Daily Readings

March 8, 2025

Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Reading 1

Isaiah 58:9c–14

Thus says the Lord: “If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday. And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honourable; if you honour it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 86:1–2, 3–4, 5–6

Response: Teach me, O Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth.

Turn your ear, O Lord, and answer me,

for I am poor and needy.

Preserve my soul, for I am faithful;

save the servant who trusts in you, my God.

Response: Teach me, O Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth.

Have mercy on me, O Lord,

for I cry to you all the day long.

Gladden the soul of your servant,

for I lift up my soul to you, O Lord.

Response: Teach me, O Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth.

O Lord, you are good and forgiving,

full of mercy to all who call to you.

Give ear, O Lord, to my prayer,

and attend to my voice

in supplication.

Response: Teach me, O Lord, your way, so that I may walk in your truth.

Verse Before the Gospel

Ezekiel 33:11

have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, says the Lord, but that he turn from his way and live.

Gospel

Luke 5:27–32

At that time: Jesus went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And he said to him, “Follow me.” And leaving everything, he rose and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at his disciples, saying, “Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?” And Jesus answered them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”

Reflection

Jesus’ approach to sinners is presented in today’s Gospel passage. When the Pharisees and the Scribes looked at tax collectors as public sinners, as those to be treated with contempt and disdain, Jesus looked at them with compassion and considered them as “the sick who need a doctor”. Matthew was a tax collector. The compassionate approach of Jesus made him an Apostle and an Evangelist. We can save many sinners through a compassionate approach. As the saying goes, “You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar”. It is often our self-righteous attitude that scorns others. Such a self-righteous attitude is self-destructive. A true Christian can never be self-righteous in his approach towards others.

St John of God, Religious, Confessor (1495-1550)

St John, though born in central Portugal, grew to manhood in the service of the chief shepherd of a nobleman of Oropeza, Spain, and was noted for his faithfulness and piety. After spending some time as a soldier in France and at the siege of Vienna, he worked for a while as a shepherd at Seville and even offered himself for the ransom of Christian captives from the Moors.

For a while he peddled religious books and pictures in Gibraltar, but when he was about 45, the Infant Jesus appeared to him one day in a vision and said: “John of God, Granada will be your cross!” In that city, to which he now repaired, he was so stirred by a sermon of St John of Avila that he distributed his possessions and gave himself up to such public lamentations over his wasted youth that he was considered demented. John, however, counselled and absolved him, whereupon he devoted himself entirely to alleviating the lot of the sick and the poor.

Renting a small house in Granada, he would carry to it the infirm who could not reach it by themselves. Immediately on their arrival, he would wash their feet and offer them a Crucifix to kiss, after which he would put them to bed and urge them to have a priest hear their confession.

The Archbishop fully supported his work, and his sanctity was attested by numerous miracles. He died on 8 March 1550 while praying on his knees before the altar. He was canonized in 1690.

The Order which he founded, viz., the “Brothers Hospitallers” — in Italy they are called “Fatebene Fratelli” (Do-Good-Brethren) — now maintain over 100 hospitals of their own in all parts of the world. St John is the Patron of hospitals, of the sick, of nurses, printers and book-sellers.

Reflection: “Labour without intermission to do all the good work in your power, while time is allowed you.” “Lord, your thorns are my roses, and your sufferings my paradise” (St John of God).

Daily Readings

March 7, 2025

Friday after Ash Wednesday

Reading 1

Isaiah 58:1–9a

Thus says the Lord God: “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 51:3–4, 5–6ab, 18–19

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn.

Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your merciful love;

according to your great compassion,

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me completely from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin.

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn.

My transgressions, truly I know them;

my sin is always before me.

Against you, you alone, have I sinned;

what is evil in your sight I have done.

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn.

For in sacrifice you take no delight;

burnt offering from me

would not please you.

My sacrifice to God, a broken spirit:

a broken and humbled heart,

O God, you will not spurn.

Response: A broken and humbled heart, O God, you will not spurn.

Verse Before the Gospel

Amos 5:14

Seek good, and not evil, that you may live; and the Lord, the God of hosts, will be with you.

Gospel

Matthew 9:14-15

At that time: The disciples of John came to Jesus, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to 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.”

Reflection

The existence of a community of the disciples of John the Baptist itself is questionable. John was the precursor of the Messiah. He pointed to Jesus and said to his disciples, “Here is the Lamb of God” and they followed him. Yet some of the disciples of John the Baptist remained as a community on their own, not perceiving Jesus as the Messiah. They did not recognize the Bridegroom in Jesus and continued to fast and wait. Our religious activities can sometimes lead us to ritualism. Fasting is not an end in itself, but it is a means to spiritual discovery and spiritual enlightenment. It should not deteriorate into a meaningless ritual.

Sts Perpetua & Felicity, Martyrs ( -203)

The record of the passion of St Perpetua, her slave St Felicity and their companions is among the most ancient, reliable hagiological histories that have come down to us.

During the persecutions of Septimius Severus, five catechumens were arrested. They were Vibia Perpetua, a noblewoman of 22 and her infant, Felicity, a pregnant slave, Revocatus, Satwininus, Secundulus and later Saturus their Catechist. While still under arrest they were baptized. Perpetua’s father besought her to apostatize, because she was his favourite child. She, however, had the vision of a golden ladder guarded by the dragon and strewn with hooks and weapons that made difficult the ascent. But, following the example of Saturus, she trod over the dragon and, climbing the ladder, reached a beautiful place where a tall man in the garment of a shepherd welcomed her and offered her curds and milk. This was the premonition that she was to suffer and die.

Perpetua, Felicity and their companions were all condemned and ordered to be thrown before the wild beasts, at the garrison games festival in honour of Ceasar Geta. On the day of their triumph, they were flogged and were beheaded by the gladiators.

Reflection: “Stand fast in the faith and love one another; and do not let our sufferings be a stumbling-block to you” (St Perpetua).

Daily Readings

March 6, 2025

Thursday after Ash Wednesday

Reading 1

Deuteronomy 30:15–20

Moses spoke to the people, saying, See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil. If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you today, by loving the Lord your God, by walking in his ways, and by keeping his commandments and his statutes and his rules, then you shall live and multiply, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. But if your heart turns away, and you will not hear, but are drawn away to worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today, that you shall surely perish. You shall not live long in the land that you are going over the Jordan to enter and possess. I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1:1–2, 3, 4 and 6 

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Blessed indeed is the man

who follows not the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the path with sinners,

nor abides in the company of scorners,

but whose delight is the law of the Lord,

and who ponders his law day and night.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted

beside the flowing waters,

that yields its fruit in due season,

and whose leaves shall never fade;

and all that he does shall prosper.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so!

For they, like winnowed chaff,

shall be driven away by the wind.

For the Lord knows the way of the just,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Verse Before the Gospel

Matthew 4:17

Repent, says the Lord, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.

Gospel

Luke 9:22–25

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.” And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?

Reflection

Jesus redeemed humanity through his sufferings and death on the cross, in keeping with which, his disciple is expected to do three things: deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow him. Jesus walks ahead on the way the disciples have to tread. By asking his disciples to take up their cross ‘daily’ Jesus wants them to know that the cross is not something that comes at death. It is a daily affair. Everyday life involves many sacrifices and the ultimate sacrifice is that of the total self which takes place at death. After challenging the disciples to walk his path, he poses a question to them to ponder – “For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits his soul?”

St Colette, Virgin (1381-1447)

Colette’s mother was 60 years old when she gave birth to the Saint in Picardy, France, on 13 January 1381. Her father was a carpenter at the abbey of Corbie. When still in her 11th year, she showed signs of her religious leaning by secretly repairing to the Benedictine Abbey at night to assist at Matins. Orphaned at 17, she tried the quasi-cloistered life of a Beguine; then, in search of greater austerity, she worked as a servant for the Poor Clares and Benedictines. Finally, on her director’s advice, giving away all she had, she became a Franciscan Tertiary and walled herself up as a recluse alongside the church of Our Lady at Corbie.

Here began her celestial visions, her “voices” and visitations during which it was revealed to her that she should restore the primitive, austere spirit in the Franciscan Order, a task for which she felt herself entirely unfitted. God’s will seemed to become unmistakably clear, however, when a saintly priest and a noblewoman from far-off Savoy, complete strangers, sought her out in response to divine inspiration, and Pope Benedict XIII  made her Abbess over the Poor Clares with full authority to establish reforms in all the convents.

The nuns are discalced, strictly cloistered, maintain continuous fast and abstinence, and possess no property, not even in common. St Vincent Ferrer gave her his processional Crucifix as a sign of his esteem.

Like St Francis, she was an ardent lover of animals and birds, and was greatly renowned for her sanctity and a life of unceasing prayer for the whole world. Taking critically ill while visiting her convents in Ghent, Belgium, she breathed her last on 6 March 1447 and was canonized in 1807.

Reflection: “If there be a true way that leads to the everlasting Kingdom, it is most certainly that of suffering, patiently endured” (St Colette).

Daily Readings

March 5, 2025

Ash Wednesday

Reading 1

Joel (2:12-18)

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? Blow the trumpet in Sion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber. Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep and say, “Spare your people, O LORD, and make not your heritage a reproach, a by word among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’ ” Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people.

Responsorial Psalm

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

Response: Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Have mercy on me, O God, according to your merciful love; according to your great compassion, blot out my transgressions. Wash me completely from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.

Response: Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.

My transgressions, truly I know them; my sin is always before me. Against you, you alone, have I sinned; what is evil in your sight I have done.

Response: Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Create a pure heart for me, O God; renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from your presence; take not your holy spirit from me.

Response: Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Restore in me the joy of your salvation; sustain in me a willing spirit. O LORD, open my lips and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.

Response: Have mercy, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Reading 2

2 Corinthians (5:20–6:2)

Brethren, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. For he says, “In a favourable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation. 

Verse Before the Gospel

(See Psalm 95:7d, 8a)

Glory and praise to you, O Christ. O that today you would listen to his voice! Harden not your hearts. Glory and praise to you, O Christ.

Gospel

Matthew (6:1-6,16-18)

At that time Jesus said to his disciples, “Beware of practising your righteousness before other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven. “Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

Reflection

“Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation!” (2 Cor 6:2). With these words, the Apostle Paul helps us enter into the spirit of the Lenten season. Lent is indeed the “favourable time” to return to what is essential, to divest ourselves of all that weighs us down, to be reconciled with God, and to rekindle the fire of the Holy Spirit hidden beneath the ashes of our frail humanity. It is the season of grace when we put into practice what the Lord asks of us at the beginning of today’s First Reading: “Return to me with all your heart” (Joel 2:12). The rite of the imposition of ashes serves as the beginning of this return journey. It exhorts us to do two things: to return to the truth about ourselves and to return to God and to our brothers and sisters. First, to return to the truth about ourselves. The ashes remind us who we are and whence we come. They bring us back to the essential truth of our lives: the Lord alone is God and we are the work of his hands. That is the truth of who we are. We have life, whereas God is life. He is the Creator, while we are the fragile clay fashioned by his hands. We come from the earth and we need heaven; we need him. With God, we will rise from our ashes, but without him, we are dust. As we humbly bow our heads to receive the ashes, we are reminded of this truth: we are the Lord’s; we belong to him. For God “formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7); we exist because he breathed into us the breath of life. As a tender and merciful Father, God too experiences Lent, since he is concerned for us; he waits for us; he awaits our return. Yet there is a second step: the ashes invite us also to return to God and to our brothers and sisters. Once we return to the truth about ourselves and remind ourselves that we are not self-sufficient, we realize that we exist only through relationships: our primordial relationship with the Lord and our vital relationships with others. The ashes we receive today tell us that every presumption of self-sufficiency is false, and that self-idolatry is destructive, imprisoning us in isolation and loneliness: we look in the mirror and believe that we are perfect, the centre of the world. Life is instead a relationship: we receive it from God and from our parents, and we can always revive and renew it thanks to the Lord and to those he puts at our side. Lent, then, is a season of grace when we can rebuild our relationship with God and with others, opening our hearts in the silence of prayer and emerging from the fortress of our self-sufficiency. Lent is the favourable time when we can break the chains of our individualism and isolation, and rediscover, through encounter and listening, our companions along the journey of each day. And to learn once more to love them as brothers and sisters.

— A Homily by Pope Benedict XVI for Ash Wednesday.

Source: The Sunday Liturgy

St John Joseph of the Cross, Confessor (1654-1734)

Christened Carlo Gaetano at his birth on 15 August 1654, St John Joseph was a native of Ischia, an island near Naples, Italy. Even as a child, he possessed a remarkable religious zeal and love for the poor. At 16 he became the first Italian member of the extremely strict Alcantarine branch of the Franciscans, founded in Spain in 1524 by St Peter of Alcantara. That was when he took the name John Joseph.

Severely ascetic by nature, John Joseph fasted continuously, never partaking of anything but bread and fruit, and limited his sleep to three hours a night.  Having accepted priestly ordination strictly under obedience in 1677, he was made novice master at 24, and later guardian of his monastery. In 1702 he became Provincial of the Alcantarine Reform in Italy.

St John Joseph was noted for his healing touch, for reading hearts, levitation during his ecstasies, bilocation and for multiplying food during a famine.

He died on 5 March 1734 at the Friary of Santa Lucia del Monte. Beatified by Pope Pius VI in 1789, he was canonized by Pope Gregory XVI in 1839.

Reflection: “The most divine of all divine things is to cooperate with God in the salvation of souls” (St Denis).

Daily Readings

March 4, 2025

Tuesday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 35:1–12

He who keeps the law makes many offerings; he who heeds the commandments sacrifices a peace offering. He who returns a kindness offers fine flour, and he who gives alms sacrifices a thank offering. To keep from wickedness is pleasing to the Lord, and to forsake unrighteousness is atonement. Do not appear before the Lord empty-handed, for all these things are to be done because of the commandment. The offering of a righteous man anoints the altar, and its pleasing odour rises before the Most High. The sacrifice of a righteous man is acceptable, and the memory of it will not be forgotten. Glorify the Lord generously and do not stint the first fruits of your hands. With every gift show a cheerful face and dedicate your tithe with gladness. Give to the Most High as he has given and as generously as you are able.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 50:5–6, 7–8, 14 and 23

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

Gather my holy ones to me,

who made covenant with me by sacrifice.

The heavens proclaim his justice,

for he, God, is the judge.

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

Listen, my people, I will speak;

Israel, I will testify against you,

for I am God, your God.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices;

your offerings are always before me.

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

Give your praise as a sacrifice to God,

and fulfil your vows to the Most High.

A sacrifice of praise gives me honour,

and to one whose way is blameless,

I will show the salvation of God.

Response: To one whose way is blameless, I will show the salvation of God.

Alleluia

Matthew 11:25

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have revealed to little children the mysteries of the kingdom.

Gospel

Mark 10:28–31

At that time: Peter began to say to Jesus, “See, we have left everything and followed you.” Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

Reflection

n most of our dealings, we are business-minded. We want to gain more than what we give. We refuse to buy something which, according to our assessment, does not give satisfaction in proportion to what we pay for it. Peter thinks about the sacrifices he has made in following Jesus and wonders whether he will have a proportionate reward. We can never overtake God in giving. When anyone gives himself or herself to God, He generously blesses that individual. In Mark 9:41 Jesus goes to the extent of saying, “For truly, I say to you, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward”.

St Casimir, Prince, Confessor (c.1458 -1484)

St Casimir was the 2nd son of King Casimir IV of Poland and the virtuous Elizabeth of Austria. He received his early education from the deeply religious Canon John Dlugosz, the Polish historian, who later became Archbishop of Lemberg. At nine, he was already noted for his piety, and in his growing years, was often found spending long hours of the night on his knees before the locked doors of churches, oblivious to the inclemency of the weather. Much given to fasting, wearing a hair shirt and sleeping on the floor, his charity towards the poor knew no bounds, thus earning him the title of “Father and Defender of the poor and wretched”.

Casimir had a particularly ardent devotion to the Eucharist, and to Our Lady, whom he addressed as his “Good Mother”, and he would daily recite, kneeling, St Anselm of Canterbury’s tender hymn “Daily, daily, sing to Mary....” During his father’s prolonged absence in Lithuania, the saintly young Prince administered the State of Poland from 1481 to 1483 with pronounced success. A self-professed celibate, he died of consumption at just 26, at the very hour revealed to him, while visiting Lithuania of which he was also Grand Duke. He was canonized by Pope Adrian VI in 1522.

St Casimir, whose body was found to be still incorrupt 122 years after his death, is the Patron of both Poland and Lithuania, and is invoked against the Plague.

Reflection: “As a stout staff supports the trembling limbs of a feeble old man, so does faith sustain our vacillating mind, lest it be tossed about by sinful hesitation and perplexity” (St John Chrysostom).

Daily Readings

March 3, 2025

Monday of the Eighth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 17:24–29

To those who repented he granted a return, and he encouraged those whose endurance was failing. Turn to the Lord and forsake your sins; pray in his presence and lessen your offence. Return to the Most High and turn away from iniquity and hate abominations intensely. Who will sing praises to the Most High in Hades, as do those who are alive and give thanks? From the dead, as from one who does not exist, thanksgiving has ceased; he who is alive and well sings the Lord’s praises. How great is the mercy of the Lord, and his forgiveness for those who turn to him!

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 32:1–2, 5, 6, 7

Response: Rejoice in the Lord; exult, you just!

Blessed is he whose transgression

is forgiven, whose sin is remitted.

Blessed the man to whom the Lord imputes no guilt,

in whose spirit is no guile.

Response: Rejoice in the Lord; exult, you just!

To you I have acknowledged my sin;

my guilt I did not hide.

I said, “I will confess

my transgression to the Lord.”

And you have forgiven

the guilt of my sin.

Response: Rejoice in the Lord; exult, you just!

So let each faithful one pray to you

in the time of need.

The floods of water may reach high,

but such a one they shall not reach.

Response: Rejoice in the Lord; exult, you just!

You are a hiding place for me;

you keep me safe from distress;

you surround me with cries of deliverance.

Response: Rejoice in the Lord; exult, you just!

Alleluia

2 Corinthians 8:9

Though Jesus Christ was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.

Gospel

Mark 10:17–27

At that time: As Jesus was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honour your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions. And Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How difficult it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God!” And the disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said to them again, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.”

Reflection

We notice that while talking to the man who was interested in inheriting eternal life, Jesus leaves out the first three Commandments which pertain to the love of God, but enumerates the other commandments dealing with the love of neighbour. Jesus who sees the heart of everyone already knows what was lacking in him. The man seems to think that he has been following all the commandments from his youth. Yet he had “great possessions” that he had not cared to share with the poor and the needy. Jesus wants him to realize that the real love of neighbour consists in sharing his possessions with the poor and the needy.

Saint Katharine Drexel (1858-1955)

Saint Katharine Drexel is the second American-born saint to be canonized by the Catholic Church. This amazing woman was an heiress to a large bequest who became a religious sister and a brilliant educator.

Katherine was born in Philadelphia on November 26, 1858, the second child of a prominent and wealthy banker, Francis Anthony Drexel and his wife, Hannah Langstroth.

The Drexels were financially and spiritually well endowed. They were devout in the practice of their faith, setting an excellent example of true Christian living for their daughters. They not only prayed but practiced what the Church calls the spiritual and corporal works of mercy.

Katharine grew up seeing her father pray for 30 minutes each evening. The couple distributed food, clothing and provided rent assistance to those in need. The Drexels would seek out and visit women who were too afraid or too proud to approach the home in order to care for their needs in Christian charity.

In 1884, while her family was visiting the Western states, Katharine saw first-hand the troubling and poor situation of the Native Americans. She desperately wanted to help them.

Katharine spent much of her time with Father James O' Connor, a Philadelphia priest. He provided her with wonderful spiritual direction. As one of their first acts following their father's death, Katharine and her sisters contributed money to assist the St. Francis Mission of South Dakota's Rosebud Reservation.

In 1887, while touring Europe, the Drexel sisters were given a private audience with Pope Leo XIII. They were seeking missionaries to help with the Indian missions they were financing. The Pope looked to Katharine and suggested she, herself, become a missionary. Katharine began her six-month postulancy at the Sisters of Mercy Convent in Pittsburgh in 1889.

On February 12, 1891, Katharine made her first vows as a religious and dedicated herself to working for the American Indians and African-Americans in the Western United States.

Taking the name Mother Katharine, she established a religious congregation called the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored, whose members would work for the betterment of those they were called to serve. From the age of 33 until her death in 1955, she dedicated her life and her fortune to this work.

In 1915, Katherine founded Xavier University in New Orleans, the first Catholic University in the United States for African-Americans. By the time of her death, she had more than 500 Sisters teaching in 63 schools throughout the country and she established 50 missions for Native Americans in 16 different states. Mother Katharine died on March 3, 1955 at the age of 96.

Katharine was remembered for her love of the Eucharist and a desire for unity of all peoples. She was courageous and took the initiative to address social inequality within minorities. She believed all should have access to a quality education and her selfless service, including the donation of her inheritance, helped many reach that goal.

St. Katharine was beatified on November 20, 1988 and canonized on October 1, 2000 by Pope John Paul II. Katharine is the patron saint of racial justice and philanthropists

*****

Daily Readings

March 2, 2025

Eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I

Sirach (27:4-7)

When a sieve is shaken, the refuse appears; so a person’s filth in his thoughts. The kiln tests the potter’s vessels; likewise the test of a person is in his reasoning. The fruit discloses the cultivation of a tree; so the expression of a thought discloses the cultivation of a person’s mind. Do not praise a man before you hear him reason, for this is the test of people.

Responsorial Psalm 92: 2-3, 13-14,15-16

Response: It is good to give thanks, O Lord.

It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to make music to your name, O Most High, to proclaim your loving mercy in the morning, and your truth in the watches of the night.

Response: It is good to give thanks, O Lord.

The just will flourish the palm tree, and grow like a Lebanon cedar. Planted in the house of the LORD, they will flourish in courts of our God.

 Response: It is good to give thanks, O Lord.

Still bearing fruit when they are old, still full of sap, still green, to proclaim that the LORD is upright. In him, my rock, there is no wrong.

Response: It is good to give thanks, O Lord.

Reading II

1 Corinthians 15:54-58

Brethren, when the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labour is not in vain.

Acclamation

(Phil 2:15d-16a)

Alleluia. Alleluia.

You shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life.

Gospel

Luke (6:39-45)

At that time: Jesus told his disciples a parable: “Can a blind man lead a blind man? Will they not both fall into a pit? A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take out the speck that is in your eye’, when you yourself do not see the log that is in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take out the speck that is in your brother’s eye. “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, for each tree is known by its own fruit. For figs are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor are grapes picked from a bramble bush. The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure produces evil, for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.”

Reflection

Perseverance and responsibility are hallmarks of any follower of Jesus Christ. Coupled with perseverance and responsibility are compassion and love. With these virtues, we can more easily walk in the ways of the Lord and encourage others along the same path as well. In order to make his points, Jesus drew on the realities of his time. For example, eye disease was widespread in ancient Israel before the advancements in medicine that we enjoy today. In the time of Jesus, people with eye disease were often shunned, with no one assisting another. Jesus used the familiar situation of “the blind leading the blind,” to explain that the best scenario is that someone who can see is best equipped to lead one who cannot see. Many people have perfect and keen eyesight, but that is only when they look for other people’s mistakes. But when it comes to their own sins and mistakes, they are blind. It is as if a big wooden beam blocks their eyes. That ‘wooden beam’ is nothing other than pride. A proud person looks down on other people. He thinks he is the best person in the world. Everybody else is of less worth. In the spiritual life, he assumes the holier-than-thou attitude. He is convinced of his own holiness, and the certainty of eternal salvation! The Lord has an accurate word for this: hypocrisy. This is the reason why Jesus continually lashes out at the Scribes and the Pharisees. A hypocritical teacher who is blind to his own faults cannot try to reform his brother. Jesus calls hypocrites those who notice a tiny sprinter in others’ eyes but are blind to the plank in their own. They are unaware of their shortcomings while they decry the faults of others. These people are often negative and hostile. They have the habit of focusing on the bad side of everything especially the bad side of people. They are prone to criticize and find fault. It may be because they are looking for a person without blemish. But such a person is hard to find. The reason is simple: there is no one without fault and there is no ideal man, only real person with good and bad qualities. Instead of criticizing others, why not be caring for them? If we care for them, we will listen not only to what they are saying but also to what they are trying to say with or without words. If we care for them we won’t impose on them our views, our plans, ideas, discipline, advice, correction, guidance and our judgement. If we care for them we will show them how talented, capable, industrious, genuine, original, creative, skilled, friendly, trustworthy, resourceful, good and lovable persons they are. Hopefully, as the years progress, we can recognize within us a progression, not in “greatness,” as that would be vainglory, but in bearing wholesome fruit, by growing in patience, compassion, forgiveness, commitment, honesty, letting go and letting God, sharing what we have with the less fortunate, giving of our time and talents to worthwhile causes, generously assisting others, responding rather than reacting in difficult circumstances, choosing life, asking forgiveness, listening more and speaking less.

 St Chad, Bishop, Confessor (-c. 672)

 Born in Northumbria, England, St Chad, also known as Ceadda, was one of four English brothers who became priests; he and his elder brother St Chedd had both been educated at the great abbey of Lindisfarne on Holy Island under its founder, Abbot St Aidan.

After the death of St Aidan, Chad went to Ireland. When his brother, Chedd, was made Bishop of London, Chad acquiesced to his request to return to England to take charge of the abbey at Lastingham. When Chad himself was named Bishop of York by King Oswin, he began to devote himself to ecclesiastical truth and to purity of doctrine and concentrated a great deal on the practice of virtue.

When St Theodore, the new archbishop of Canterbury arrived in England in 669, he charged Chad with being improperly ordained bishop. The saint humbly replied, “If you consider that I have not been properly consecrated, I willingly resign this charge of which I never thought myself worthy. I undertook it though unworthy under obedience.” St Theodore was so deeply impressed by the respondent’s humility and holiness that before Chad retired to Lastingham, he made good whatever was lacking in his episcopal consecration.

Soon after the death of Jaruman, Bishop of Mercia, St Theodore requested King Oswin to let Chad take over that See. He is credited with the very Christianization of the ancient English kingdom of Mercia, so much so that, at his death, there were already 31 churches dedicated to him!

A remarkable monastic founder, St Chad conducted his apostolate rather zealously, travelling much on foot. He died of plague and numerous miracles have been reported at his graveside. His relics are venerated at St Chad’s Cathedral, Birmingham.

Reflection: “For everyone who makes himself great will be humbled, and everyone who humbles himself will be made great” (Lk 14:11).

Daily Readings

March 1, 2025

Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 17:1–13

The Lord created mankind out of earth and turned him back to it again. He gave to them numbered days, a limited time, but granted them authority over the things upon the earth. He endowed them with strength like his own and made them in his own image. He placed the fear of them in all living beings and granted them dominion over beasts and birds. He made for them deliberation, speech, and eyes; he gave them ears and a mind for thinking. He filled them with knowledge and understanding and showed them good things and bad. He set his eye upon their hearts to show them the majesty of his works. And they will praise his holy name to proclaim the grandeur of his works. He bestowed knowledge upon them and allotted to them the law of life. He established with them an eternal covenant and showed them his judgments. Their eyes saw his glorious majesty, and their ears heard the glory of his voice.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 103:13–14, 15–16, 17–18a

Response: The mercy of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear.

As a father has compassion on his children,

the Lord’s compassion is on those who fear him.

For he knows of what we are made;

he remembers that we are dust.

Response: The mercy of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear.

Man, his days are like grass;

he flowers like the flower of the field.

The wind blows, and it is no more,

and its place never sees it again.

Response: The mercy of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear.

But the mercy of the Lord is everlasting

upon those who hold him in fear,

upon children’s children his justice,

for those who keep his covenant.

Response: The mercy of the Lord is everlasting upon those who hold him in fear.

Alleluia

Matthew 11:25

Blessed are you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you have revealed to little children the mysteries of the kingdom.

Gospel

Mark 10:13–16

At that time: They were bringing children to Jesus that he might touch them, and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.” And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.

Reflection

Jesus does not want anyone to prevent children from coming to him. They have a special place in the Kingdom of God. It is gravely sinful to scandalize them. He says in Matthew 18:6, “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea”. Jesus wants his disciples to be like little children. We need to distinguish between being childish and being childlike. In 1 Corinthians 14:20, Saint Paul says, “Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” We are all children before our Heavenly Father whom Jesus taught us to call ‘our Father’.

St David, Bishop, Confessor (c. 495/520 –589)

Little is historically known about the life of this saint. According to the hagiography by the Welsh scholar Rhygfarch, David was born of St Non who had been raped by a local chieftan Sant.

A native of southern Wales, David was educated at Henfynyw, Cardigan, under Paulinus of Wales, the disciple of St Germain of Auxerre. He was made Abbot of TyGwyn monastery, which he transferred to Menevia in western Pembrokeshire (today known as St David’s), then the principal port of embarkation for Ireland. His numerous monasteries housed monks who lived rigidly according to a very austere rule whose main features were absolute silence, intense manual labour, and strict mortification, all of which earned David and his monks the sobriquet, “acquaticus”, i.e., “the water drinkers”!

David’s missionary activities also took him to the Holy Land where he was consecrated Archbishop by the Patriarch of Jerusalem. In 569, at the Synod of Victory over which he presided, the Pelagian heresy in Britain was defeated and his decrees for the regulation of the Welsh Church were formally ratified.

Said to have been canonized in 1120 by Pope Calixtus II, St David, who embodies the golden age of Welsh monasticism, is the Patron of Wales.

Reflection: “Be joyful and keep the faith. Do those little things you have seen and heard from me” (St David).

Daily Readings

February 28, 2025

Friday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 6:5–17

A pleasant voice will multiply its friends, and a gracious tongue will multiply courtesies. Let those that are at peace with you be many, but let your advisers be one in a thousand. When you gain a friend, gain him through testing and do not trust him hastily. For there is a friend who is such at his own convenience and who will never stand by you in your day of trouble. And there is a friend who changes into an enemy and will disclose a quarrel to your disgrace. And there is a friend who is a table companion, but who will never stand by you in your day of trouble. In your prosperity he will make himself your equal and be bold with your servants; but if you are brought low he will be against you and will hide himself from your presence. Keep yourself far from your enemies and be on guard towards your friends. A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure. There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence. A faithful friend is an elixir of life; and those who fear the Lord will find him. Whoever fears the Lord directs his friendship aright, for as he is, so is his neighbour also.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 119:12, 16, 18, 27, 34, 35  

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Blest are you, O Lord;

teach me your statutes.

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

I take delight in your statutes;

I will not forget your word.

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Open my eyes, that I may see

the wonders of your law.

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Make me grasp the way of your precepts,

and I will ponder your wonders.

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Grant me insight that I may keep your law,

and observe it wholeheartedly.

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Guide me in the path of your commands,

for in them is my delight.

Response: Guide me, Lord, in the path of your commands.

Alleluia

John 17:17b, 17a

Your word, O Lord, is truth; sanctify us in the truth.

Gospel

Mark 10:1–12

At that time: Jesus went to the region of Judea and beyond the Jordan, and crowds gathered to him again. And again, as was his custom, he taught them. And Pharisees came up and in order to test him asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of divorce and to send her away.” And Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote you this commandment. But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female. Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.” And in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. And he said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her, and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Reflection

Jesus gives us a powerful teaching regarding marriage: its unity and indissolubility. The root of love lies in God who is love, and who shares his love with us. In married life, if faith and commitment are missing, a perfect union of heart and flesh is difficult to achieve. Love in marriage grows gradually. It is shown in the commitment to one’s spouse, through which the couple experiences the joy and serenity of being united. Finally, it is manifested in the children, for whom the best legacy is the good example of their parents. Pope Francis in Amoris Laetitia says, “In family life, we need to cultivate that strength of love which can help us fight every evil threatening it. Love does not yield to resentment, scorn for others or the desire to hurt or to gain some advantage. The Christian ideal, especially in families, is a love that never gives up” (n  119). Let us pray that the Lord may grant our families the joy of living together and always experiencing the serenity that comes from forgiveness.

St Hilarius, Pope, Confessor ( -468)

St Hilarius was one of the Papal legates to the so-called Robber Synod held at Ephesus (in Turkey) in 449, and was entrusted with the task of opposing the condemnation of St Flavian of Constantinople, and insisting upon the rights of the Holy See. Dioscorus, Patriarch of Alexandria, however, dominated the Synod by his terror tactics from which it became necessary for Hilarius flee to safety.

On 19 November 461 he was elevated to the Papacy on the death of St Leo the Great, whose “Tome”, the much celebrated work condemning Eutychianism, i.e., a heresy that the human aspect of Christ’s nature was subsumed by his divinity, was the result of Flavian’s dying appeal to Rome. Pope Hilarius succeeded in strengthening Church administration and discipline in Gaul and Spain. He also decreed that no Bishop should leave his diocese without the consent of his Metropolitan, and that he should not appoint his own successor or be transferred from one diocese to another. The decisions of the Roman Synod of 465 are the oldest which have come down to us.

Though nothing is known about the birth of Pope St Hilarius, he is known to have gone to his reward on 29 February 468.

Reflection:“I command you to preach the message, to insist upon proclaiming it, whether the time is right or not; to convince, reproach, and encourage, as you teach with all patience” (2 Tim 4:2).

Daily Readings

February 27, 2025

Thursday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 5:1–8

Do not be preoccupied with your wealth or say, “I am self-sufficient.” Do not follow your inclination and strength, walking according to the desires of your heart. Do not say, “Who will have power over me?” for the Lord will surely punish you. Do not say, “I sinned, and what happened to me?” for the Lord is slow to anger. Do not be so confident of atonement that you add sin to sin. Do not say, “His compassion is great, he will atone for the multitude of my sins,” for both mercy and wrath are with him, and his anger rests on sinners. Do not delay to turn to the Lord or postpone it from day to day; for suddenly the wrath of the Lord will go forth, and at the time of punishment you will perish. Do not occupy yourself with dishonest wealth, for it will not benefit you in the day of calamity.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1:1–2, 3, 4 and 6

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Blessed indeed is the man

who follows not the counsel of the wicked,

nor stands in the path with sinners,

nor abides in the company of scorners,

but whose delight is the law of the Lord,

and who ponders his law day and night.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted

beside the flowing waters,

that yields its fruit in due season,

and whose leaves shall never fade;

and all that he does shall prosper.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so!

For they, like winnowed chaff,

shall be driven away by the wind.

for the Lord knows the way of the just,

but the way of the wicked will perish.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Alleluia

1 Thessalonians 2:13

Accept the word of God, not as the word of men, but as what it really is, the word of God.

Gospel

Mark 9:41–50

At that time: Jesus said to his disciples, “Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung round his neck and he were thrown into the sea. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Reflection

Jesus appreciates even a small act of charity done by anyone towards his disciples. Those who do good to them are, even unknowingly, cooperating in the sacred mission of Jesus. At the same time anyone who causes scandal to the believer, especially to those who are weak, is doing serious harm to himself and others. Death is preferable to doing that! Jesus also makes it abundantly clear that no sacrifice is too great to make and no suffering too big to bear for the sake of eternal life. Therefore, one needs to avoid all sources of temptation and occasions of evil, no matter what pain one has to suffer because that suffering leads the person to eternal life. Any disciple of Christ who is wanting in the salt of charity is of no value, for charity is essential to Christian living.

St Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Confessor (1838 -1862)

Francis Possenti, a native of Assisi (Italy) received Baptism at the same font at which his great namesake had been christened over 600 years before. His father, Sante, one time Governor of Assisi and then assessor of Spoleto, was a deeply religious man—before attending Mass each morning, he would spend an hour in prayer and reading, and conclude the day with a visit to the Eucharistic Lord each evening.

When only 4, Francis—the 11th of 13 children—lost his mother, Agnese, a Christian and a woman of sterling qualities. As he grew to boyhood, his typically childish pranks and mischievous love of fun caused his busy father much anxiety. However, the conscientious father was never too busy to instruct his children in the catechism of the church and to familiarize them with the meaning of the lives of Christ and his Saints.

As a young man Francis was highly obsessed with the trappings of social life with its endless rounds of dramas, opera and concerts. However, on two occasions, he experienced the chastening influence of a serious illness, each time promising Mary that, if cured, he would enter religious life, and, of course, on recovering, each time procrastinating.

Then came the outbreak of the cholera epidemic in Spoleto in 1856. In consternation the people turned to the Madonna and solemnly promised that, should she stop the dreadful epidemic, a great procession would be held with her ancient image, which had been presented to the city by Emperor Barbarossa in 1115.

The Plague did cease. When Francis knelt among the people as the image passed, he was held in thrall by the gaze of the Madonna that seemed to penetrate his soul. He felt her lips move in stern admonition thus: “Francis, why do you tarry in the world? Arise! Make haste and become a religious!” This time there was no more delay, and he joined the Passionists at Morovalle as Gabriel of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Francis was particularly conspicuous for his fervent devotion to our Lord’s Passion, to the Blessed Sacrament, and to the Blessed Virgin. But when he was ready to be ordained, having received minor orders in 1861, the political and anti-clerical upheavals in Italy made it unsafe for him to be sent to his Bishop, and not long thereafter, i.e., on 27 February 1862, Gabriel succumbed to consumption in his 6th year as a Passionist.

Beatified on 31 May 1908, he was canonized on 13 May 1920 in the presence of his aged brother.

St Gabriel is the chief Patron of today’s youth and particularly of the interior lives of young novices and professed religious.

Reflection:“If there is any fibre in my heart that does not beat for the love of God, I am ready to pluck it out and to destroy it without delay” (St Gabriel of O.L. of Sorrows).

Daily Readings

February 26, 2025

Wednesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 4:11–19

Wisdom exalts her sons and gives help to those who seek her. Whoever loves her loves life, and those who seek her early will be filled with joy. Whoever holds her fast will inherit glory, and the Lord will bless the place she enters. Those who serve her will minister to the Holy One; the Lord loves those who love her. He who obeys her will judge nations, and whoever gives heed to her will dwell secure. If he has faith he will inherit her; and his descendants will remain in possession of her. For at first she will walk with him on tortuous paths, she will bring fear and cowardice upon him and will torment him by her discipline until she trusts his soul, and she will test him with her ordinances. And again she will come straight back to him and gladden him and will reveal her secrets to him. If he goes astray she will forsake him and give him over into the hand of his downfall.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 119:165, 168, 171, 172, 174, 175

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

The lovers of your law have great peace;

no stumbling block for them.

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

I obey your precepts and decrees;

all my ways are before you.

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

My lips shall proclaim your praise,

because you teach me your statutes.

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

My tongue will sing of your promise,

for your commands are just.

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

I have longed for your salvation, O Lord,

and your law is my delight.

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

My soul shall live and praise you.

Your judgments give me help.

Response: The lovers of your law have great peace.

Alleluia

John 14:6

I am the way, and the truth, and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.

Gospel

Mark 9:38–40

At that time: John said to Jesus, “Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterwards to speak evil of me. For the one who is not against us is for us.

Reflection

Some healers at the time of Jesus were used to invoke the help of great men of the past to try to heal those who turned to them. Someone among these healers, probably, had decided to include even Jesus in the list of the great men to be invoked. John, the disciple, became worried and reported this to the Lord: How did that healer allow himself to heal in the name of Jesus without being part of the group of Jesus as his disciple? Jesus’ answer was, “Do not stop him… For the one who is not against us is for us”. Our God is tolerant towards everyone. Unfortunately, we are accustomed to branding people and looking at them with suspicion if they are not part of our “group”. For God, every human person is “ours”.

St Mechtilde, Virgin (c.1240 - 1298)

Born in the Castle of Helfa, near Eisleben, Saxony, to one of the noblest families of Thuringia, St Mechtilde, at 7, entered the Benedictine Convent at Rodensdorf—where her elder sister, Gertrude Hackeborn was already a nun. Under the tutelage of Gertrude, Mechtilde made rapid strides in virtue and learning. On account of her humility, piety and zeal she was appointed, when still relatively young, to direct the novitiate and the choir, and as such she became the first teacher of St Gertrude the Great when the latter was placed in her convent at the age of 5.

In his revelations Our Lord used to address her as his “Nightingale”, and he favoured her with such spiritual insight and mystical experiences that learned Dominicans were sent to consult her on spiritual matters.

Together with St Gertrude the Great, St Mechtilde is one of the first to have stressed on devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. “When you awake in the morning, let your first act be to salute my Heart and to offer me your own,” our Lord once urged Mechtilde.

St Mechtilde breathed her last at the Helfta monastery on 19 November c.1298.

Reflection: “It gives me real pleasure when men hope for great things from me, and I will always grant them more than they expect” (Our Lord to St Mechtilde).

Daily Readings

February 25, 2025

Tuesday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 2:1–11

My son, if you come forward to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for testing. Set your heart right and be steadfast and do not be hasty in time of calamity. Hold to him and do not depart, that you may reach full growth by the end of your life. Accept whatever is brought upon you and in changes that humble you be patient. For gold is tested in the fire, and acceptable people in the furnace of humiliation. Trust in him, and he will help you; make your ways straight and hope in him. You who fear the Lord, wait for his mercy; and turn not aside, lest you fall. You who fear the Lord, trust in him, and your reward will certainly not fail; you who fear the Lord, hope for good things, for everlasting joy and mercy. Consider the ancient generations and see: who trusted in the Lord and was put to shame? Or who persevered in the fear of the Lord and was forsaken? Or who called upon him and was overlooked? For the Lord is compassionate and merciful; he forgives sins and saves in time of affliction.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 37:3–4, 18–19, 27–28, 39–40  

Response: Commit your way to the Lord, and he will act.

Trust in the Lord and do good;

then you will dwell in the land and safely pasture.

Find your delight in the Lord,

who grants your heart’s desire.

Response: Commit your way to the Lord, and he will act.

The Lord takes note of the days of the blameless;

their heritage will last forever.

They shall not be put to shame in evil days;

in time of famine they shall have their fill.

Response: Commit your way to the Lord, and he will act.

Then turn away from evil and do good,

and you may abide forever;

for indeed, the Lord loves justice,

and will never forsake his faithful.

The unjust shall be wiped out forever,

and the descendants of the wicked destroyed.

Response: Commit your way to the Lord, and he will act.

But from the Lord comes the salvation of the just,

their stronghold in time of distress.

The Lord helps them and rescues them,

rescues and saves them from the wicked:

because they take refuge in him.

Response: Commit your way to the Lord, and he will act.

Alleluia

Galatians 6:14

Far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Gospel

Mark 9:30–37

At that time: Jesus and his disciples went on from the mountain and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.” But they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him. And they came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house he asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had argued with one another about who was the greatest. And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and taking him in his arms, he said to them, “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and whoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Reflection

Jesus gives us a few powerful teachings for our Christian life: to put ourselves at the service of others, to help people in need, to understand them, and to be with them in their situations of difficulty, anxiety and worry. Jesus himself was a sublime example, and therefore he asks us to imitate him. Thus, together with Jesus, each one becomes a “saviour” and a “friend” who facilitates the path toward God. Pope Francis says in a homily, “Let us never forget that authentic power is service, and that the Pope too when exercising power, must enter ever more fully into that service which has its radiant culmination on the Cross.”

Blessed Rani Maria

Rani Maria was born on 29 January 1954 as the second child of Paily and Eliswa of Vattalil, in an ordinary peasant family. Her Baptism was on 5 February 1954 at StThomas Church Pulluvazhy and she was given the name ‘Mariam’ after Mother Mary, the mother of Jesus.  Her God fearing parents brought her up in Christian faith and charity along with their six other children – Stephen, Annie, Varghese, Thressiamma, Celine and Lusy.  Celine would later followed her elder sister  Rani Maria and joined the Franciscan Clarist Congregation, assuming the name Selmy Paul.

From her infancy her parents and grandparents made her understand the importance of prayer. Even at the young age, she regularly attended the Holy Mass and took part in the popular devotions. She frequented catechism lessons and practiced what she learned in her day today life.

The frequent visit to the nearby convent and acquaintance with the FCC nuns enabled them to make a decision to enter the Franciscan Clarist Congregation.

On 1st May 1974, she made her first profession in Franciscan Clarist Congregation under the new name Rani Maria and on May 22, 1980 she made her final profession at St Hormis Church, Ankamaly.

As usual on 25th February 1995 Sr.Rani Maria rose early in the morning.  She had to take the first bus to Indore and from there go to the Provincial House, Bhopal and then proceed down to Kerala.

Accompanied by two sisters Sr. Rani reached the bus stand only to be told that the bus trip was cancelled. While they were returning, they saw the bus by name ‘Kapil’ by which she was to travel. Sr. Liza Rose told the conductor to reserve one seat for Sr. Rani Maria. He replied, “The bus will leave at 8.15 a.m. You may board the bus in front of the convent.”

The bus arrived in front of the convent. Sisters bade her farewell. Sr. Liza helped her to get into the bus with her handbag.  A young man dressed in white, kept her bag near the driver and asked her to sit in the back seat. This was something unusual in Udainagar. The sisters were always given the front seat in the bus. Among the fifty or so passengers there were three, seated in different parts of the bus, but united in one thing: the determination to murder Sr. Rani. Jeevan Singh, the leader of the group was seated in the back seat of the bus together with Dharmendra, his bodyguard.  The third man was Samundar Singh, a youth of 28, who took his seat near Sr. Rani Maria.   Jeevan Singh began to insult her saying: “Why have you come here from Kerala? Have you come to convert these poor tribal people to Christianity? We will not allow that.”

The bus reached a jungle about 20 kms from Udainagar.  Samundar rose from his seat and asked the driver to stop the bus.  He got down from the bus and broke a coconut against a rock on the road side: it was a pooja or sacred rite offered to their divinities.  With pieces of the broken coconut in his hands he re-entered the bus and distributed them among the passengers. He offered a piece to Sr.Rani Maria but suddenly withdrew it as if to fool her. She asked him, “Why are you so overjoyed today?” Drawing out a knife he said, “Just for this,” and thrust it into her stomach. Repeatedly he stabbed her.  Then the bus stopped.  Deaf to her cries, he dragged her out of the bus and stabbed her to death.  The post-mortem registered 40 major injuries besides 14 bruises.  Unto the last she kept on saying “Jesus! Jesus!” None of the passengers dared to come to her rescue. Most of them ran away.

The beatification process opened on 26 September 2003 after the title Servant of God was conferred upon her and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints granted the “nihil obstat” (‘nothing against’) to the cause. The subsequent diocesan process took place in Indore from 29 June 2005 to 28 June 2007 and received C.C.S. validation in Rome on 27 November 2009.

Pope Francis approved the cause on 23 March 2017 and she was beatified on 4 November 2017 in Indore.

Daily Readings

February 24, 2025

Monday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Sirach 1:1–10

All wisdom comes from the Lord and is with him for ever. The sand of the sea, the drops of rain, and the days of eternity – who will count them? The height of heaven, the breadth of the earth, the Abyss and wisdom – who will search them out? Wisdom was created before all things, and prudent understanding from eternity. The source of wisdom is God’s word in the highest heaven, and her ways are eternal commandments. The root of wisdom – to whom has it been revealed? Her great deeds – who knows them? The knowledge of wisdom – to whom was it manifested? And her abundant experience – who has understood it? There is one who is wise, greatly to be feared, sitting upon his throne. The Lord himself created wisdom; he saw her and apportioned her, he poured her out upon all his works, with all flesh according to his gift, and he supplied her to those who persisted in loving him.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 93:1abc, 1d–2, 5 

Response: The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.

The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.

The Lord has robed himself with might;

he has girded himself with power.

Response: The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.

The world you made firm, not to be moved;

your throne has stood firm from of old.

From all eternity, O Lord, you are.

Response: The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.

Truly your decrees are to be trusted.

Holiness is fitting to your house,

O Lord, until the end of time.

Response: The Lord is king, with majesty enrobed.

Alleluia

2 Timothy 1:10

Our Saviour Christ Jesus abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Gospel

Mark 9:14–29

At that time: [When Jesus came down the mountain with Peter and James and John] they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, were greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and they were not able.” And he answered them, “O faithless generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it convulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” And Jesus said to him, “If you can’! All things are possible for one who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said, “I believe; help my unbelief!” And when Jesus saw that a crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” And after crying out and convulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. And when he had entered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

Reflection

To be a Christian is to have faith in Jesus and to live his values. Basking in the fame of Jesus, and feeling proud that they were the closest confidants of Jesus, the disciples presumed that they would be able to do the same works as Jesus did. But they miserably failed to heal the boy because they probably attempted to heal for their self-glory or perhaps to show off the power that they had received from Jesus. The father of the boy teaches us with what attitude we should approach Jesus for a miracle: he approached Jesus with faith for a miracle, not for himself, but for his son. Again, he prayed to Jesus, not for himself, but for his son. Our prayer becomes more efficacious when we pray with faith for others, especially those who are in need. Let us, today, pray for someone who is in need.

St Caesarius, Physician (- 369)

Son of St Gregory the elder, Bishop of Nazianzus (Turkey) and St Nonna, and brother of St Caesarius of Nazianzus, young Caesarius was a brilliant boy. He received his education in Alexandria where he specialized in oratory, philosophy and more particularly in medicine. Later he went to Constantinople where he perfected his medical studies, and became the foremost physician of his age. On his journey back home he met his brother, Gregory, returning from Athens and they then travelled together to Nazianzus in spite of Emperor Constantius’ request to stay on in Constantinople.

Later, recalled to Constantinople by Julian the apostate who honoured him as his first physician and exempted him from the edict he published against the Christians, Caesarius resisted all the efforts of the prince to make him abjure his faith. Julian restored him to his former post and Valens made him his treasurer in Birthynia. While there, he had a narrow escape from an earthquake in 368, which left such a lasting impression on his mind that he renounced the world and decided to end his long catechumenate and receive baptism. He died soon after and his funeral oration was preached by his brother Gregory; he was buried in the family vault in the presence of his parents.

Reflection:“Let us not esteem worldly prosperity or adversity as things of any moment, but let us live elsewhere, and raise all our attention to heaven considering sin as the only true evil, and nothing truly good but virtue which unites us to God” (St Gregory Nazianzus).

Daily Readings

February 23, 2025

Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I

Samuel (26:2,7-9,12-13,22-23)

In those days Saul arose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. So David and Abishai went to the army by night. And there lay Saul sleeping within the encampment, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the army lay round him. Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the LORD’s anointed and be guiltless?” So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did any awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the LORD had fallen upon them. Then David went over to the other side and stood far off on the top of the hill, with a great space between them. And David answered and said, “Here is the spear, O king! Let one of the young men come over and take it. The LORD rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the LORD gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the LORD’s anointed.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 103:1-2, 3-4, 8, 10, 12-13

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all within me, his holy name. Bless the LORD, O my soul, and never forget all his benefits.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

It is the LORD who forgives all your sins, who heals every one of your ills, who redeems your life from the grave, who crowns you with mercy and compassion.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and rich in mercy. He does not treat us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our faults

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

As far as the east is from the west, so far from us does he remove our transgressions. As a father has compassion on his children, the LORD’s compassion is on those who fear him.

Response: The Lord is compassionate and gracious.

Reading II

Corinthians (15:45-49)

Brethren, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are of the dust, and as is the man of heaven, so also are those who are of heaven. Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Alleluia. Alleluia.

(Jn 13:34)

A new commandment I give to you, says the Lord, that you love one another: just as I have loved you.  

GOSPEL

Luke (6:27-38)

At that time Jesus said to his disciples, “but I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back. And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them. “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful. “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

Reflection

Saul is in the pursuit of David with three thousand men. And yet the courageous David is able to spy on the encampment of Saul. Under the cover of darkness David and Abishai penetrate the camp and stand over the sleeping Saul. Abishai begs David to let him pin Saul to the ground with a single stroke of his spear. David refuses, takes the spear and the water jar by Saul’s head, and leaves. This episode highlights the noble ways of the future King of Israel. David has the opportunity to kill the enemy who is in hot pursuit of his life. But David relents and says that the anointed of God should not be harmed. For it is an offence against God. In the Second Reading Paul develops an AdamChrist typology. Adam’s descendants share his nature, while those who are of heaven share Christ’s nature. Next point of comparison is that just as Christians share the likeness of Adam, so they will bear the likeness of Christ. The gospel of today forms part of the Sermon on the Plain. The first part of the sermon deals with the relationship of the disciples to God; the second part from which our Reading is taken deals with the disciple’s relationship with other people. It plunges straight into the duty to love one’s enemies. Jesus admits that even sinful people are quite ready to do good to those who have helped them or from whom they can expect some benefit in return. But disciples ought to go further and not stick simply to doing good for what they can get in return for it or as a way of thanking somebody who had done them good. There may well be no earthly credit for people who behave like this, but there will be a heavenly reward: God will regard them as his true sons who imitate their Father’s merciful nature to those who are undeserving. The person who loves like this will receive the same love–and more–from God. The person who does not judge other people will not be judged by God, and the person who gives freely will receive an ample return – like a container so full of corn that it spills over. This passage contains the Golden Rule: “As you wish that men would do to you, do so to them.” The Golden Rule is the wise foundation of human reciprocity both in the Old Testament and in many other cultures. It means treating others as you would like to be treated. Jesus requires this basic disposition from his disciples, and he asks for something more. Loving one’s enemies is the highest form of morality. It is a divine way of dealing with people. God is King to the ungrateful and wicked people as well as to the good. The Golden Rule is made more explicit by the call to the love of enemies.

(Source: Sunday Liturgy)

St Polycarp, Bishop, Martyr, Apostolic Father of the Church (2nd century)

St Polycarp was converted and instructed by St John the Evangelist. He must have been some 37 years old when the aged Apostle consecrated him Bishop of Smyrna (in Turkey) shortly before his banishment to Patmos. Polycarp proved himself a saintly and very able administrator in the face of poverty and constant persecution by the Jews. In 155 when he was probably 86, he undertook a journey to Rome to consult with Pope St Anicetus about the vexing question of the Easter date. This meeting did not resolve the controversy, but the Pope did permit the venerable bishop to continue in his eastern tradition, which regarded the 14th day of the month of Nisan as the day on which our Lord arose from the dead, and that day was celebrated regardless of whether it fell on a Sunday or a weekday.

Polycarp had hardly returned to his See when—under the Emperor Marcus Aurelius—a fierce persecution of Christians broke out. Upon the entreaties of the faithful he concealed himself on the outskirts of the city, but a slave revealed, under torture, his hiding place. Brought before the judgement seat of the proconsul, he was urged to swear by the genius of Caesar and to curse Christ, but he calmly made this famous reply: “Eighty-six years have I served Him, and never did he fail me! How could I now blaspheme my King and Saviour? I am a Christian!”

The genuine “acts” that have come down to us, describing how the holy bishop, like the Good Shepherd, laid down his life for the sheep of his flock at Smyrna, is one of the earliest existing detailed record of Christian martyrdom; it is a proof that the ancient Church approved and fostered the veneration of the Saints and of their relics. St Polycarp is invoked against ear-ache.

Reflection:“I bless you for judging me worthy of this day, this hour, so that in the company of the martyrs I may share the cup of Christ, your anointed one, and so rise again to eternal life in soul and body, immortal through the power of the Holy Spirit. May I be received among the martyrs in your presence as a rich and pleasing sacrifice” (St Polycarp).

*****

Daily Readings

February 22, 2025, Saturday

Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, Apostle

Reading 1

1 Peter 5:1–4

Beloved: I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 23:1–3a, 3b–4, 5, 6

Response: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

The Lord is my shepherd;

there is nothing I shall want.

Fresh and green are the pastures

where he gives me repose.

Near restful waters he leads me;

he revives my soul.

Response: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

He guides me along the right path,

for the sake of his name.

Though I should walk in the valley

of the shadow of death,

no evil would I fear, for you are with me.

Your crook and your staff

will give me comfort.

Response: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

You have prepared a table before me

in the sight of my foes.

My head you have anointed with oil;

my cup is overflowing.

Response: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Surely goodness and mercy

shall follow me

all the days of my life.

In the Lord’s own house shall I dwell

for length of days unending.

Response: The Lord is my shepherd; there is nothing I shall want.

Verse Before the Gospel

You are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

Gospel

Matthew 16:13–19

At that time: When Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”

Reflection

On this Feast of the Chair of Saint Peter, we prayerfully remember in particular the precious and indispensable service that the Pope, the successor of Saint Peter, renders as father,  teacher and leader of the Catholic Church. Jesus chooses Peter and entrusts him with “the keys of the kingdom of heaven”. More than a symbol of power, it is a mission given by Jesus to take care of his flock, and through this to portray one’s true love for Jesus. We pray that enlightened by the Spirit and supported by the People of God, our Pope may carry out his ministry for the good not only of Christians but also of all humanity. The Pope also is the true point of reference for the “civilization of truth and love” (a phrase coined by Pope Saint John Paul II) in this world, which is possible when justice and faith are integrated.

The Chair of St Peter

“I now say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the underworld shall never prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven” (Mt 16:18-19). With this little declaration, Jesus invested Peter with the right to sit in his place as the Prince of the Apostles, giving him, as he did so, servant-authority over the whole Church. It is the Episcopal dignity and universal primacy of that high office instituted by our Lord himself that we venerate today.

The word “chair” derives from the Latin sedes, i.e., the Holy See, or the Greek expression Cathedra Sancti Petri. Today’s feast implicitly affirms Catholic teaching concerning the papacy: in the reigning pope the Church recognizes and honours the legitimate successor of St Peter as Pastor of the whole Church. This is the origin of the expression ex cathedra—“from the chair”—referring to papal pronouncements (very rarely made) whereby the pope infallibly defines a doctrine that is irrevocably binding on all the faithful.

Reflection: “St Peter gained the palm of martyrdom at Rome where he had established for himself and his successors the See of the Vicar of Christ. . . . . . . . The Church is the people of God. May all be faithful! May all believe in what the Church preaches! May all follow her moral teachings and the Christian virtues!” (Blessed James Alberione)

Daily Readings

February 21, 2025

Friday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 11:1–9

The whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 33:10–11, 12-13, 14–15  

Response: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.

The Lord frustrates the designs

of the nations;

he defeats the plans of the peoples.

The designs of the Lord stand forever,

the plans of his heart from age to age.

Response: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.

Blessed the nation

whose God is the Lord,

the people he has chosen as his heritage.

From the heavens the Lord looks forth;

he sees all the children of men.

Response: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.

From the place where he dwells he gazes

on all the dwellers on the earth,

he who shapes the hearts of them all,

and considers all their deeds.

Response: Blessed the people the Lord has chosen as his heritage.

Alleluia

John 15:15b

I have called you friends, says the Lord; for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

Gospel

Mark 8:34–9:1

At that time: Calling the crowd to him with his disciples, Jesus said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul? For what can a man give in return for his soul? For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

Reflection

To be a disciple of Jesus means to give Jesus the top priority in our lives. To follow Jesus means, first and foremost, to deny myself, that is, my life must be so deeply immersed in Jesus that I,  along with others, see and experience Jesus in me. We are also urged to take up our cross and follow him. But the focus should be, not on our cross, our trials or tribulations, but rather on Jesus, as his focus was never on his cross but on doing the will of his Father. Let us pray that we may imbibe this spirit of true discipleship as inspired by the Apostle Paul who says, “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:20).

St Peter Damian, Bishop, Confessor, Doctor of the Church (1007-1072)

Peter Onesti, the youngest of many children in the poor but noble Ravenna family, was orphaned at an early age and sent to tend swine by one of his brothers. But his piety and intellectual gifts prompted another of his brothers, the Archpriest Damian of Ravenna, to pay for his education. Peter, in gratitude, added the name Damian to his own.

Peter Damian found life in these university towns so worldly and distracting that, in 1034, he went on to become a hermit-monk in the Benedictine establishment of Fonte Avellana in the Apennines.

Peter was particularly devoted to Our Lady. At 36 he became Abbot of Fonte Avellana and remained so until his death 29 years later. As such he wisely moderated the rule, established the regular use of the discipline (a practice which was also adopted at Monte Cassino) and founded a number of dependent hermitages. Together with his friend, Hildebrand, the future great reformer, Pope Gregory VII, he strove continually by the written and spoken word to combat and correct the scandalous abuses then widespread in the Church—incontinence, luxury and laxity among the clergy, the buying and selling of Church benefices and Papal schisms. Peter is best known for his terrible indictment of the clergy, the Liber Gomorrhianus, published in 1051, and the Liber Gratissimus which concerned itself with the validity of simoniacal ordinations.

In 1057, Pope Stephen X made him Cardinal Bishop of Ostia, which he reluctantly accepted under pain of excommunication. Besides being administrator of the diocese of Gubbio, Peter served seven successive Popes, and remarkably well, on various delicate missions—as Papal legate and visitor of Bishoprics and Abbeys. When returning to Rome from one such assignment in the Archdiocese of Ravenna, Peter fell critically ill and died on 22 February 1072. He was buried in the Cathedral of Faenza and, though never formally canonized, was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1028.

St Peter Damian is invoked against headaches because of his having suffered greatly from the malady himself.

Daily Readings

February 20, 2025

Thursday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 9:1–13

God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. And you, be fruitful and multiply, increase greatly on the earth and multiply in it.” Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 102:16–18, 19–21, 29 and 22–23

Response: The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.

The nations shall fear the name of the Lord,

and all the earth’s kings your glory.

When the Lord shall build up Sion,

he will appear in all his glory.

Then he will turn to the prayers of the helpless;

he will not despise their prayers.

Response: The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.

Let this be written for ages to come,

that a people yet unborn may praise the Lord;

The Lord looked down from his holy place on high,

looked down from heaven to the earth,

to hear the groans of the prisoners,

and free those condemned to die.

Response: The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.

The children of your servants shall dwell untroubled,

and their descendants established before you.

May the name of the Lord be proclaimed in Sion,

and his praise in Jerusalem,

when peoples and kingdoms are gathered as one

to offer their worship to the Lord.

Response: The Lord looked down from heaven to the earth.

Alleluia See

John 6:63c, 68c

Your words, Lord, are spirit and life; you have the words of eternal life.

Gospel

Mark 8:27–33

At that time: Jesus went on with his disciples, to the villages of Caesarea Philippi. And on the way he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that I am?” And they told him, “John the Baptist; and others say, Elijah; and others, one of the prophets.” And he asked them, “But who do you say that I am?” Peter answered him, “You are the Christ.” And he strictly charged them to tell no one about him. And he began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes and be killed, and after three days rise again. And he said this plainly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and seeing his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”

Reflection

Various people expressed their understanding of who Jesus was. Many of them believed that he was a great prophet like Elijah or John the Baptist or even the long-awaited Messiah. Peter confesses that Jesus is the Promised Messiah. But they, including Peter, thought of Jesus as the long-awaited hero, a warrior who would free them from the yoke of foreign power. This Messiah would once again bring back the glory of Israel, by defeating her enemies and establishing Israel as a powerful kingdom.  Jesus, however, came not to be the glorified Messiah, but to be the suffering Messiah, who will bear the sins of all and give his life for all. Thus, Jesus became the Messiah not only of Israel but of the whole of humankind, and through his life and teachings, he brought in a new world order. Let us pray for the grace to imitate the Suffering Messiah, because “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone, but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24).

Blessed Francisco & Jacinta Marto The Seers of Fatima (1908-1919, 1910-1920)

It was the 13th of May in the year 1917. Away from the fertile regions of Fatima, a village some 110 miles north of the city of Lisbon, the capital of Portugal, stood the little known Cova da Iria where there took place an event that was to change forever the lives of three youngsters from Aljustrel who were shepherding their flock. Having first satiated their hunger, they had just about concluded the recitation of the rosary when, of a sudden that bright sunny morning a powerful flash of lightning tore through the sky, bathing them in an astonishingly dazzling glow and revealing to them a resplendent figure — a young maiden, the Virgin Mother of God!

Ten-year-old Lucia de Jesus and her two cousins, Francisco and Jacinta Marto were the 3 seers of that beatific vision and were to be recipients of the same for the next 5 months, a rendezvous they maintained uninterruptedly, except for 13 August when they were taken away for cross-questioning by the Mayor of Villa Nova de Ourem, under whose jurisdiction Fatima fell. An unexpected apparition, however, followed on 19 August while they grazed their flock in the “dos Valinhos”.

The trio was asked by Mary to learn to read and write; they were also asked to pray the rosary for peace in the world and the end of the war that was raging then, as well as to pray for the Pope, for sinners and for the conversion of Russia. She asked that the Rosary be recited regularly and that the world be consecrated to her Immaculate Heart.

Francisco, who was born on 11 June 1908, was called to his reward on 4 April 1919 at Aljustrel; Jacinta, born on 11 March 1910, passed away to hers on 20 February 1920 at Lisbon. Lucia de Jesus lives on today as Sr Maria Lucia of the Immaculate Heart.

The process for the beatification of Francisco and Jacinta which commenced in 1952, concluded in 1979. The final documentation having been presented to the Holy Father, Pope John Paul II and the Congregation for the Causes of Saints on 15 February 1988, Francisco and Jacinta were declared “Venerable” on 13 May 1989 and beatified in the Jubilee Year 2000.

Reflection: “Having been crowned by the Most Holy Trinity, from heaven, Mary fulfils for us Christians the roles of Mother, Teacher and Queen. On our part, we want to be good children, diligent disciples and docile subjects” (Blessed James Alberione).

Daily Readings

February 19, 2025

Wednesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 8:6–13, 20–22 

At the end of forty days Noah opened the window of the ark that he had made and sent forth a raven. It went to and fro until the waters were dried up from the earth. Then he sent forth a dove from him, to see if the waters had subsided from the face of the ground. But the dove found no place to set her foot, and she returned to him to the ark, for the waters were still on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her and brought her into the ark with him. He waited another seven days, and again he sent forth the dove out of the ark. And the dove came back to him in the evening, and behold, in her mouth was a freshly plucked olive leaf. So Noah knew that the waters had subsided from the earth. Then he waited another seven days and sent forth the dove, and she did not return to him any more. In the six hundred and first year, in the first month, the first day of the month, the waters were dried from off the earth. And Noah removed the covering of the ark and looked, and behold, the face of the ground was dry. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the Lord smelt the pleasing aroma, the Lord said in his heart, “I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night, shall not cease.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 116:12–13, 14–15, 18–19 

Response: A thanksgiving sacrifice I make to you, O Lord.

How can I repay the Lord

for all his goodness to me?

The cup of salvation I will raise;

I will call on the name of the Lord. 

Response: A thanksgiving sacrifice I make to you, O Lord.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfill

before all his people.

How precious in the eyes of the Lord

is the death of his faithful. 

Response: A thanksgiving sacrifice I make to you, O Lord.

My vows to the Lord I will fulfill

before all his people,

in the courts of the house of the Lord,

in your midst, O Jerusalem. 

Response: A thanksgiving sacrifice I make to you, O Lord.

Alleluia 

Ephesians 1:17-18

May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ enlighten the eyes of our hearts that we may know what is the hope to which he has called us.

Gospel

Mark 8:22–26 

At that time: Jesus and the disciples came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spat on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” And he looked up and said, “I see people; but they look like trees, walking.” Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. And he sent him to his home, saying, “Do not even enter the village.”

Reflection 

The blind man of Bethsaida recovers his sight gradually, after a series of interventions from the Lord. Towards the end of the miracle, the blind man sees everything with clarity. We experience inner transformation through important events through which God reveals Himself to us in our lives. Our understanding and awareness of God and being transformed into His likeness is not a one-time experience. It is a process through which God gradually reveals to us the Mystery that He is. To comprehend this great mystery, we surely need the grace of God, but together with that, we need to spend time generously with Him. Let us pray for the grace of generosity to go constantly to the Lord, and also bring others to Him, so that the Lord may open our eyes and theirs towards understanding Him better.

St Conrad, Confessor (1290 - 1351)

A member of one of the first families of Piacenza in northern Italy, St Conrad married young and embarked on a military career. He was passionately fond of the chase and when one day, his quarry escaped into a thicket, he ordered it to be set on fire. But a sudden strong wind caused the flames to spread quickly over all the nearby fields and forests and caused widespread damage. For this a poor woodcutter who happened to be found in the neighborhood, was blamed, tried and condemned to death on circumstantial evidence.

Upon hearing of this turn of events, St Conrad came forward and acknowledged his own guilt, promising to make amends as far as lay in his power by selling all of his possessions. He and his wife then took up the religious life—she became a Poor Clare and he joined the Third Order of St Francis and lived thereafter as a hermit in a solitary cave near Noto in Sicily.

Each Friday for the next 30 years, he visited the celebrated Crucifix at Noto, and here he was found dead on his knees on 19 February 1351. St Conrad, whose mortal remains were laid to rest in the Church of St Nicholas in Noto, is invoked in cases of hernia.

Reflection:“Thy cross, O Lord, is the source of all blessings, the cause of all graces; by it the faithful find strength in weakness, glory in shame, life in death” (St Leo).

Daily Readings

February 18, 2025

Tuesday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading I

Genesis 6:5–8; 7:1–5, 10

The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favour in the eyes of the Lord. Then the Lord said to Noah, “Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.” And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him. And after seven days the waters of the flood came upon the earth.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 29:1a and 2, 3ac–4, 3b and 9c–10

Response: The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly powers,

ascribe to the Lord the glory of his name;

bow down before the Lord,

majestic in holiness.

Response: The Lord will bless his people with peace.

The voice of the Lord upon the waters,

the Lord on the immensity of waters;

the voice of the Lord full of power;

the voice of the Lord full of splendour.

Response: The Lord will bless his people with peace.

The God of glory thunders;

In his temple they all cry, “Glory!”

The Lord sat enthroned above the flood;

the Lord sits as king forever.

Response: The Lord will bless his people with peace.

Alleluia

John 14:23

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, says the Lord; and my Father will love him, and we will come to him.
 

Gospel

Mark 8:14–21

At that time: The disciples had forgotten to bring bread and they had only one loaf with them in the boat. And Jesus cautioned them, saying, “Watch out; beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the leaven of Herod.” And they began discussing with one another, the fact that they had no bread. And Jesus, aware of this, said to them, “Why are you discussing the fact that you have no bread? Do you not yet perceive or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Having eyes do you not see, and having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” They said to him, “Twelve.” “And the seven for the four thousand, how many baskets full of broken pieces did you take up?” And they said to him, “Seven.” And he said to them, “Do you not yet understand?

Reflection

Jesus asks his disciples to guard against the leaven of the Pharisees, that is, they must not give in to the temptation of a faith made only of external observance of precepts, and obsessed with ritual perfection. He further asks his disciples to guard against the leaven of Herod who uses religion for the consolidation of his selfish political power. The Lord encourages his disciples not to stop at mere external observances. These observances will become meaningful when they lead us to interior transformation. The disciples were slow in understanding these deeper insights of the Lord. Let us pray that the Lord may grant us the grace of interior eyes of understanding so that we may grasp the deeper insights that will lead us to genuine transformation.

Saint Kuriakose Elias Chavara (1805-1871)

Kuriakose (Cyriac) Chavara was born in 1805, of pious and devout Catholic parents of Syro-Malabar Church, at Kainakary, Kerala, India. After his early schooling in the native village and priestly studies under Fr Thomas Palackal at Pallippuram, he was ordained priest in 1829.

In 1831, co-operating with Fr Thomas Palackal and Fr Thomas Porukara, he founded the first indigenous religious congregation for men, now known as the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate (CMI). It was after the death of his senior companions in the foundation that Fr Kuriakose, together with the first members, made the religious profession in 1855.

Starting seven religious houses, including the first one at Mannanam, in different parts of Kerala, the new Congregation made great strides in the spiritual renovation of the Syro-Malabar Church. Seminaries for the education and formation of the clergy, introduction of annual retreats for priests and people, a publishing house for the propagation of Catholic doctrine, a house for the dying and destitute, special attention to catechumens and schools for general education, were a few among the various activities of the Congregation under Fr Kuriakose Elias' leadership. Fr Chavara also introduced valuable improvements and reform in the Syro-Malabar liturgy.

In 1866, with the co-operation of Fr Leopold Boccaro OCD, he started the Congregation of the Mother of Carmel (CMC) for women.

Essentially a man of prayer and intense charity, he lived in close communion with the Lord amidst his several religious and social activities. Owing to his deep spirituality that permeated all his actions, he was accepted and referred to as a man of God, from his early years. In 1871, on January 3rd, Fr Kuriakose Elias Chavara, after a short but painful illness, passed away at Koonammavu preserving his baptismal innocence unto death.

On 7 April 1984, Pope John Paul II solemnly recognised the heroic virtues of the Servant of God and elevated him to the status of Venerable. On 8 February 1986, during his historic visit to Kottayam, Kerala, Pope John Paul II raised Venerable Kuriakose Elias Chavara to the honours of the altar declaring him 'Blessed'.

On 23 November 2014 Pope Francis declared him a Saint.

Daily Readings

February 17, 2025

Monday of the Sixth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 4:1–15, 25

Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, saying, “I have produced a man with the help of the Lord.” And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground. In the course of time Cain brought to the Lord an offering of the fruit of the ground, and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell. The Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him. Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.” Cain said to the Lord, “My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.” Then the Lord said to him, “Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold.” And the Lord put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him. And Adam knew his wife again, and she bore a son and called his name Seth, for she said, “God has appointed for me another offspring instead of Abel, for Cain killed him.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 50:1 and 8, 16bc–17, 20–21

Response: Give your praise as a sacrifice to God.

The God of gods, the Lord,

has spoken and summoned the earth,

from the rising of the sun to its setting.

I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices;

your offerings are always before me.

Response: Give your praise as a sacrifice to God.

“How can you recite my commandments,

and take my covenant on your lips,

you who despise correction,

and cast my words behind you.

Response: Give your praise as a sacrifice to God.

“You who sit and malign your own brother,

and slander your own mother’s son?

You do this, and should I keep silence?

Do you think that I am like you?

I accuse you, lay the charge before you.”

Response: Give your praise as a sacrifice to God.

Alleluia

John 14:6

I am the way, and the truth, and the life, says the Lord; no one comes to the Father except through me.

Gospel

Mark 8:11–13

At that time: The Pharisees came and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. And he sighed deeply in his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Truly, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” And he left them, got into the boat again, and went to the other side.

Reflection

Jesus is surprised at the disbelief of the Pharisees. Though he has performed extraordinary signs in front of them, they still want to see more signs. Unlike the Syrophoenician woman, Jairus, and many others who professed their faith in Jesus on witnessing the signs, the Pharisees are greedy for more signs. For them, Jesus is a mere wonder-worker. We constantly witness various signs from God around us. We are privileged to listen to His powerful Word regularly, receive the life-giving sacraments, and witness fresh life and energy every morning when we rise. Are these signs helping us to feel grateful to the Lord and profess our faith in Him as our Lord? Or, are we driven by greed to see something unduly extraordinary, like the Pharisees, and consider Jesus as a mere wonder-worker? Let us not run the risk of missing out on the presence of the Lord in our midst due to our ingratitude and unbelief.

Seven Holy Founders of the Servite Order (13th Century)

The Church’s 5th mendicant Order had its beginnings in Florence, Italy in the middle of the 13th century when the city was torn with political strife as well as the Cathari heresy, which proclaimed that good and evil each had a separate creator. Morals were at their lowest ebb and religion had all but lost its relevance.

On the Feast of the Assumption in the year 1233, Our Blessed Mother appeared to the seven members—Alexis Falconieri, BuonfiglioMonaldo (the first superior), Benedict dell’Antella, Bartholomew Amidei, RicoverusUguccione, GerardinoSostegni and John Buonagiunta—of a Florentine Confraternity named “Laudesi” (the “Praisers” of Mary) when they were at prayer and bade them withdraw into solitude. Accordingly, these young noblemen of the city, 2 of whom were married and 2 others widowed, after having settled their personal affairs and made adequate provision for their dependents, established themselves several miles north of the city on the secluded Monte Senario. Here Mary appeared to them again and showed them the black habit she desired them to wear in memory of her sorrow and desolation at the foot of the Cross and instructed them to found the “Ordo FratrumServorum Sanctae Mariae” (Order of Friar Servants of St Mary) under the rule of St Augustine of Hippo. They carried out these directives under the guidance of St Peter of Verona, O.P., devoting themselves to much prayer, penance and silence on the one hand and teaching, preaching and various ministerial activities on the other.

Only one of the founders, viz., Alexis Falconieri, a lay brother, lived to see the foundation raised to the dignity of a religious order by Pope Benedict XI in 1304. He died on 17 February 1310. In 1649, when the main altar of the chapel at Monte Senario was being re-modelled, the remains of seven bodies were discovered. Having been moved several times, these now lie enshrined in the Chapel of the 7 Holy Founders at Monte Senario. All the 7 were, however, canonized as a group by Pope Leo XIII in 1888.

Reflection:“Each of our days is marked with the protection of Mary, who is exceedingly anxious to be our Mother, when we desire to be her children” (St Vincent de Paul).

Daily Readings

February 16, 2025

Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Reading I

Jeremiah (17:5-8)

Thus says the LORD, cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD. He is like a tree planted by water, that sends out its roots by the stream, and does not fear when heat comes, for its leaves remain green, and is not anxious in the year of drought, for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 1:1-2, 3, 4 & 6

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Blessed indeed is the man who follows not the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the path with sinners, nor abides in the company of scorners, but whose delight is the law of the LORD, and who ponders his law day and night.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

He is like a tree that is planted beside the flowing waters, that yields its fruit in due season, and whose leaves shall never fade; and all that he does shall prosper.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Not so are the wicked, not so! For they, like winnowed chaff, shall be driven away by the wind. For the LORD knows the way of the just, but the way of the wicked will perish.

Response: Blessed the man who has placed his trust in the Lord.

Reading II

1 Corinthians (15:1-11,12,16-20)

Brethren, if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

ACCLAMATION

Alleluia. Alleluia.   (Lk 6:23ab)

Rejoice and leap for joy, says the Lord, for behold, your reward is great in heaven. Alleluia.

Gospel

Luke (6:17,20-26)

At that time: Jesus came down with them and stood on a level place, with a great crowd of his disciples and a great multitude of people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the sea coast of Tyre and Sidon, who came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets. But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep. Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.”

Reflection

The First Reading from Prophet Jeremiah has a series of wisdom sayings which make a contrast between the righteous and the wicked. The contrast between the man who is cursed and the one who is blessed is made in terms of what they trust in: human abilities or Divine. The one who bears the curse is like a tree in the dry, salt lands where no good is ever experienced. The one who bears the blessing is the opposite: he is like a tree transplanted by water, its roots by the stream, its foliage green, thriving in drought and always bearing fruit. In the Bible the green tree stands as a metaphor for righteous persons. On the other hand, the tree in the harsh conditions is the perfect image of the wicked. In the Second Reading, Paul argues for the resurrection of Jesus. Paul says that Jesus appeared one time to more than five hundred people most of whom are still alive. For Paul to deny the resurrection of the dead is equal to denying the resurrection of Jesus. The Lucan beatitudes and woes are a carefully constructed set, each woe contrasting with one of the beatitudes. The first three beatitudes are also to be interpreted as a set. The poor, the hungry, and the weeping are not three different groups of people but three descriptions of a single group. Because they are destitute, they are also hungry and weeping. The fourth beatitude, to be sure, stands out, for it is much longer than the others and refers to persecuted followers of Christ. The initial beatitude is to the poor. Declaring someone happy, contented, blessed, or fortunate was common in the ancient world. Being blessed refers to a sense of inner happiness at good fortune. The “poor” in the Lucan beatitudes means the economically needy, for they are hungry and are contrasted with those who are rich and full. The second and third beatitudes deal with some of the consequences of being among the poor. The paring of the poor and the hungry is not surprising, since there is ample precedent for it in the OT. In fact, the hungry, like the poor, are often addressed in comforting terms in the OT. The reference is not so much to physical filling with food as it is to spiritual satisfaction at being received by God and welcomed as one of his children. The imagery is of the satisfaction that comes from being present at God’s banquet table. From the condition of the poor, Jesus turns in the third beatitude to the response their position brings now, weeping. Again, as with the previous beatitude, the contrast is between what is lacking now and how that is reversed in the future. The same spiritual perspective of relying on God’s work fills this beatitude. Fortunately, that pain is reversed into eschatological joy. In the Lucan text, the emphasis is on God’s total acceptance of the one who currently weeps.

Source: The Sunday Liturgy.

St Onesimus, Martyr (- c.90)

St Onesimus, a pagan, was a slave in the household of the wealthy Philemon. Converted by St Paul, Philemon had become a close friend of Paul’s; thus, when Philemon moved to the city of Colossae, his new home was chosen as a meeting place for Christian worship.

One day, Onesimus, apparently in fear of being punished for some act of negligence or dishonesty, had escaped to Rome where he came in contact with Paul who was suffering his first imprisonment in Rome. After due instruction in the faith, Paul baptized him. Onesimus for his part, true to his name, proved so very “useful” that Paul took a great liking to him and wanted to keep him as a helper. However, he was conscious of the fact that as a slave, Onesimus would first have to make restitution to his former master. And so, Paul sent him back to Philemon with the famed “Epistle” to the latter, pleading with him like a father for his spiritual son, entreating him to accept Onesimus “no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a brother, beloved especially to me, but even more so to you, as a man in the Lord. So if you regard me as a partner, welcome him as you would me” (Phlm 16-18).

Philemon, upon receiving the letter, acceded to the great Apostle’s request with true Christian generosity and charity, and he even surpassed it by not only pardoning but even freeing his former slave and sending him back to Rome, where he is supposed to have assisted Paul for some time, and then returned to the East with him after his release. Tradition also has it that Onesimus in later years became Bishop of Berrhoea in Macedonia, and there suffered martyrdom.

Reflection: “My son, give me your heart: and let your eyes keep to my ways” (Prov 23:26).

Daily Readings

February 15, 2025

Saturday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 3:9–24

The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?” The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit of the tree, and I ate.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” To the woman he said, “I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. Your desire shall be contrary to your husband, but he shall rule over you.” And to Adam he said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, ‘You shall not eat of it’, cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The man called his wife’s name Eve, because she was the mother of all living. And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of us in knowing good and evil. Now, lest he reach out his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat, and live for ever –” therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden to work the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 90:2. 3–4, 5–6, 12–13

Response: O Lord, you have been our refuge, from generation to generation.

Before the mountains were born,

or the earth or the world were brought forth,

you are God, from age to age.

Response: O Lord, you have been our refuge, from generation to generation.

You turn man back to dust,

and say, “Return, O children of men.”

To your eyes a thousand years are like yesterday, come and gone,

or like a watch in the night.

Response: O Lord, you have been our refuge, from generation to generation.

You sweep them away like a dream,

like grass which is fresh in the morning.

In the morning it sprouts and is fresh;

by evening it withers and fades.

Response: O Lord, you have been our refuge, from generation to generation.

Then teach us to number our days,

that we may gain wisdom of heart.

Turn back, O Lord! How long?

Show pity to your servants.

Response: O Lord, you have been our refuge, from generation to generation.

Alleluia

Matthew 4:4b

 Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.

Gospel

Mark 8:1–10

In those days, when again a great crowd had gathered, and they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said to them, “I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their homes, they will faint on the way. And some of them have come from far away.” And his disciples answered him, “How can one feed these people with bread here in this desolate place?” And he asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven.” And he directed the crowd to sit down on the ground. And he took the seven loaves, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people; and they set them before the crowd. And they had a few small fish. And having blessed them, he said that these also should be set before them. And they ate and were satisfied. And they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. And there were about four thousand people. And he sent them away. And immediately he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the district of Dalmanutha.

Reflection

The miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes is undoubtedly the most important miracle of the gospels. It is reported six times, and it is the only story present in all four gospels. This miracle is repeated twice in the gospel of Mark. The first time Jesus did it in  Jewish territory, which means, that God cares for the children of Israel; the second time (today’s gospel) he did it in the Decapolis (pagan territory), implying that God cares for all, and that is why he has sent his Son for the salvation of all. Jesus doesn’t do his great mission alone and seeks the collaboration of his disciples.  A boy from the crowd, who was not even a disciple of Jesus, was the first to share what he had, and thus the great miracle was performed. Today, Jesus calls us to collaborate with him through sharing the little we have to help eradicate all kinds of evil, especially, the hunger for food, peace, and for hope.

Sts. Faustinus and Jovita, Martyrs (- c.120)

The Priest St Faustinus and his brother, St Jovita, a Deacon, preached the Word of God with such fearlessness and zeal in their native Brescia, in Lombardy (Italy), even during Trajan’s bloody persecution, that the heathens were exasperated by their success. Imprisonment, torture and fair promises of material benefits all proved of no avail in bringing them to worship the Roman gods. As they were of noble parentage and much in the public eye, the governor submitted their case to Emperor Hadrian when he passed through Brescia in 120 (Trajan having died 3 years earlier). When persuasions and arguments proved equally fruitless, they were condemned to die by the sword.

StsFaustinus and Jovita have been the chief Patrons of their native city, Brescia, from earliest times, and their names are found in many of the most ancient lists of Martyrs. Although some of their “acts” may be questioned as containing later embellishments, there can be no doubt about the principal facts.

Reflection:“An action of small value performed with much love of God is far more excellent than one of a higher virtue, done with less love of God” (St Francis de Sales).

Daily Readings

February 14, 2025, Friday

Memorial of Saints Cyril, Monk, and Methodius, Bishop

Reading 1

Genesis 3:1–8

The serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?” And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.’” But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate. Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 32:1–2, 5, 6, 7

Response: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.

Blessed is he whose transgression

is forgiven, whose sin is remitted.

Blessed the man to whom

the Lord imputes no guilt,

in whose spirit is no guile.

Response: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.

To you I have acknowledged my sin;

my guilt I did not hide.

I said, “I will confess my

transgression to the Lord.”

And you have forgiven the guilt of my sin.

Response: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.

So let each faithful one pray to you

in the time of need.

The floods of water may reach high,

but such a one they shall not reach.

Response: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.

You are a hiding place for me;

you keep me safe from distress;

you surround me with cries

of deliverance.

Response: Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven.

Alleluia

Acts 16:14b

Open our hearts, O Lord, that we may pay attention to the words of your Son.

Gospel

Mark 7:31–37

At that time: Jesus returned from the region of Tyre, and went through Sidon to the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. And they brought to him a man who was deaf and had a speech impediment, and they begged him to lay his hand on him. And taking him aside from the crowd privately, he put his fingers into his ears, and after spitting touched his tongue. And looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, “Ephphatha”, that is, “Be opened.” And his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. And Jesus charged them to tell no one. But the more he charged them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. And they were astonished beyond measure, saying, “He has done all things well. He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.”

Reflection

Jesus goes to the region of the Decapolis, where the people have been worshipping many gods. There he heals a man to show that he, the Saviour of the world, is here for all, and he is there where there is a greater need for compassion. His mighty acts are not self-proclamatory but are selfless deeds of mercy that arise from his compassionate heart. When our intentions are pure and authentic, and when we go ahead to help others who need it, God works wonders in us. Let us pray that our intentions, actions, and operations may be ordered purely to the service and praise of the Divine Majesty and his people.

Sts. Cyril and Methodius, Bishop, Confessors (827-869 and 815-885)

St Cyril (Constantine) and St Methodius were brothers who descended from a senatorial family in Thessalonica (Greece). In 851 both he and his artist-brother Methodius, who had held a political position before becoming a monk, retired together to a monastery in Bithynia.

Seven years later, Cyril was chosen for a mission to the Khazars, who had requested a teacher from Constantinople. His brother, Methodius, was to accompany him and after both had made themselves familiar with the Khazar language, they carried out their mission and converted great numbers.

When, about 863, a request came from Moravia for Slavic speaking Priests to instruct the people in their own language, the 2 brothers were again selected for that work, and in preparation for it Cyril invented (or perfected) a special Glagohtic Alphabet and translated the liturgy and most of the Bible into the Slav language, and so became the founder of Slav literature.

The saintly brothers laboured successfully among the Moravians for some years, and then went to Rome to obtain Papal approval for their work. Here St Cyril died in 869 and his brother, having been made Bishop of Moravia and Pannonia, returned alone to his missionary labours.

As German missionaries had, with small success, worked in the same region for some time, there now arose grave dissensions, and suspicion was cast on Methodius’ preaching in the Slav language and on the orthodoxy of using Slavic in the liturgy. The Bishop of Salzburg went so far as to have Methodius deposed by a synod at Ratisbon and held him imprisoned for 3 years until Pope John VIII insisted on his being freed. But the friction between the German and the Slav clergy continued, and Slavic was only very gradually replaced by Latin in the Mass. Methodius died on 6 April 885 in Velebrod.

Daily Readings

February 13, 2025

Thursday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 2:18–25

The Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.” Now out of the ground the Lord God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. The man gave names to all livestock and to the birds of the heavens and to every beast of the field. But for Adam there was not found a helper fit for him. So the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and while he slept took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. And the rib that the Lord God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.” Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 128:1–2, 3, 4–5

Response: Blessed are all who fear the Lord.

Blessed are all who fear the Lord,

and walk in his ways!

By the labour of your hands

you shall eat.

You will be blessed and prosper.

Response: Blessed are all who fear the Lord.

Your wife like a fruitful vine

in the heart of your house;

your children like shoots of the olive

around your table.

Response: Blessed are all who fear the Lord.

Indeed thus shall be blessed

the man who fears the Lord.

May the Lord bless you from Sion.

May you see Jerusalem prosper

all the days of your life!

Response: Blessed are all who fear the Lord.

Alleluia

James 1:21bc

 Receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Gospel

Mark 7:24–30

At that time; Jesus arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon. And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. But immediately a woman, whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.” But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Reflection

The response of Jesus to the plea of the Syrophoenician woman leaves us a little perplexed. The dog was a symbol of dishonour in Jewish culture. It was also a Jewish term of contempt for the Gentiles. When Jesus, as a Jew of his time, uses this word, according to William Barclay, “he does not use the usual insulting word; he used a diminutive word which described, not the wild dogs of the streets, but the little pet lap-dogs of the house. In Greek, diminutives are characteristically affectionate”. So, rather than insulting the woman in an angry tone, Jesus was speaking to her affectionately. Through this brief test of the faith of this foreigner, Jesus was trying to show his disciples how strong was her faith; she had hardly been with him, in contrast to their shallow faith in Him, though they had been constantly with him. This story is a good lesson for us who are regularly nourished by Jesus’ Body and Blood and his Word. Yet at times, we are like the disciples, indifferent to his divine presence in our midst. Let us pray for the grace to have strong faith in Jesus like the woman.

St Catherine de Ricci, Virgin (1522-1590)

Born Alessandra Romola on 23 April 1522 in Florence, Italy, St Catherine Dei Ricci was the daughter of an old patrician family of bankers and merchants. Her tendency to solitary prayer was already observed in early childhood, and, at 13, she was received into the Dominican convent of strict observance in the neighbouring city of Prato, where she took the name of her deceased mother. After 5 years, during which she was much misunderstood and calumniated against, her holiness was recognized and she was advanced to novice mistress, then sub-prioress and finally, in 1560, to prioress, which she remained until her death 30 years later.

Her famous “ecstasy of the Passion”, which would last from Thursday noon until 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon, began in 1542 and continued each week for 12 years, when it finally ceased at her own urgent pleading, for the confluence of great numbers of visitors, among whom were 3 future Popes, was seriously disrupting the religious life at the convent. During these ecstasies, which have been fully authenticated, Catherine would witness all the stages of Our Lord’s sufferings. The wounds which the Saviour suffered during the flagellation, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the Cross and finally the Crucifixion became visible in her body. St Catherine also had the gift of miracles and is known to have held what might be termed telepathic conversation with such contemporary Saints as St Philip Neri in Rome and St Mary Magdalen de Pazzi in Florence — neither of whom she had ever met —  without leaving her own convent in Prato.

Catherine dei Ricci died after a long illness aged 68 on 2 February 1590, and was canonized in the year 1746.

Reflection:“God forbid that I should glory save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (St Paul - Gal 6:14).

Daily Readings

February 12, 2025

Wednesday of the Fifth Week in Ordinary Time

Reading 1

Genesis 2:4b–9, 15–17

In the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no bush of the field was yet in the land and no small plant of the field had yet sprung up – for the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the land, and there was no man to work the ground, and a mist was going up from the land and was watering the whole face of the ground – then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. And out of the ground the Lord God made to spring up every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Responsorial Psalm

Psalm 104:1–2a, 27–28, 29bc–30

Response: Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Bless the Lord, O my soul!

O Lord my God, how great you are,

clothed in majesty and honour,

wrapped in light as with a robe!

Response: Bless the Lord, O my soul!

All of these look to you

to give them their food

in due season.

You give it, they gather it up;

you open wide your hand,

they are well filled.

Response: Bless the Lord, O my soul!

You take away their breath,

they die, returning to the dust

from which they came.

You send forth your spirit,

and they are created,

and you renew the face of the earth.

Response: Bless the Lord, O my soul!

Alleluia

John 17:17b, 17a

Your word, O Lord, is truth; sanctify us in the truth.

Gospel

Mark 7:14–23

At that time: Jesus called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.” And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters, not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.) And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

Reflection

The Pharisees were obsessed with the regulations of external purity. Even consuming food became the index of classifying the devotees as pure or impure. And Jesus, as usual, makes a revolutionary statement again that all foods are clean. He invites us to focus within; focus on our mind and will that are capable of processing positive or negative thoughts and actions. Purity or contamination comes from the inside, certainly not from the outside! He takes his disciples to a deeper understanding of purity/impurity, so that they may have a better understanding of God and His precepts. Let us watch over our thoughts and our language today so that we can only have positive and luminous thoughts, as befits a disciple of the Lord.

Martyrs of Albitina

The Martyrs of Abitinae were a group of 49 Christians (31 men and 18 women) found guilty, in 304, during the reign of Emperor Diocletian, of having illegally celebrated Sunday worship at Abitinae, a town in the Roman province of Africa.

 "Sine dominico non possumus" ("We can't do without the Lord’s Day"). This was the answer of the group who were arrested for participating in a Lord’s Day service. They lived in or around Abitina, a city in today's Tunisia which was at that time under Rome. Emperor Diocletian had launched an empire-wide persecution against Christians, forbidding their meetings, destroying their churches, and demanding them to hand over (tradere) their Scriptures.

Defying the emperor’s orders, this group, led by their presbyter Saturninus, continued to meet secretly for worship in private homes. Discovered and arrested, they were sent to Carthage, about 50 miles away, to be tried by proconsul Gaius Annius Anulinus.

Commenting on this arrest, the author of the Acts of the Abitinian Martyrs – most likely an eye-witness – wrote: “As if a Christian could exist without the Lord’s Day, or the Lord’s Day exist without a Christian celebration! Do you not know, Satan, that the Christian is based on the Lord’s Day, and the Lord’s Day is based on a Christian, so that the one cannot survive without the other? When you hear the phrase ‘Lord’s Day,’ understand that it means the assembly of the Lord. And when you hear the bell ring, recognize that it is the Lord’s Day.”

On their way to Carthage, the Christians encouraged each other by singing hymns. Once there, they unanimously refused to renounce their faith. Imprisoned, they were denied food, while any supporter who tried to bring supplies was sent away. This measure gave way to a small brawl outside the prison.

Augustine of Hippo, writing a century later, gives a specific date for their trial: February 12, 304. This leads us to think he had seen a copy of the proconsular acts. But the account that has been passed on through the ages includes details that Roman officials did not normally record, particularly the spontaneous cries of the martyrs during torture.