Wednesday of Ember Week in Lent: Daily Meditations

FRAGMENTS

The Gentle Master stood lovingly watching the multitude gathered before Him. They had come from afar to be near Him, these ardent lovers of Jesus, and His Heart had been moved to compassion as He beheld them hungry and without food to sustain them on their homeward journey. And now, with evident joy, He watched the effect of His merciful miracle as the mystified Twelve passed from one to another dispensing the few loaves and fishes which increased to an unfailing abundance.

Then, when all had had their fill, He spoke the simple command that comes to us down the ages freighted with heavenly wisdom: “Gather up the fragments,” He told the disciples, “lest they be wasted.”

“Gather up the fragments.” Ah, if only we would do so! If only we would garner the precious fragments of spiritual nutriment so habitually wasted! The whole loaves, the great graces offered, the grand opportunities of spiritual progress, these, no doubt, by God’s good help, we would not knowingly squander. But the fragments, the trifling graces, as we deem them, the lesser opportunities of growth in holiness, how shamefully we do waste them! The moments of time “in between” so carelessly idled away, the whispered inspirations neglected, the little pains that tease the body or prick the spirit, a dreary day, a sharp word spoken, a snub from one we love, the failure of a cherished plan, a bit of unjust treatment, just such as these and many, many more that every life affords in such abundance, what precious fragments which, if only gathered zealously by thrifty hands, would soon accumulate until an abundant store of precious merits would be deposited for us in God’s eternal treasury.

Jesus, Gentle Master, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE: III Kings 19:3-8

Elias, before walking unto Horeb and seeing the glory of the Lord, fasted forty days and forty nights in the desert.

In those days Elias came to Bersabee of Juda, and left his servant there, and he went forward, one day’s journey into the desert.
And when he was there, and sat under a juniper tree, he requested for his soul that he might die, and said: It is enough for me, Lord, take away my soul: for I am no better than my fathers.
And he cast himself down, and slept in the shadow of the juniper tree: and behold an Angel of the Lord touched him, and said to him: Arise and eat. He looked, and behold there was at his head a hearth cake, and a vessel of water: and he ate and drank, and fell asleep again.
And the Angel of the Lord came again the second time, and touched him, and said to him: Arise, eat: for thou hast yet a great way to go.
And he arose, and ate, and drank, and walked in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights, unto the mount of God, Horeb.

GOSPEL: Mt. 12:38-50

We are all called to take the place of the rebellious Jews: let us make ourselves worthy of the fruits of penance as did the men of Ninive, who listened to the voice of Jonas, and the queen of Saba, who came from her country to learn the wisdom of Solomon. We shall share then in the resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, symbolized by the Prophet Jonas, who, after remaining three days in the whale’s belly, was vomited out alive.

At that time some of the Scribes and Pharisees answered Jesus, saying: Master, we would see a sign from Thee. Who answering said to them: An evil and adulterous generation seeketh a sign: and a sign shall not be given it, but the sign of Jonas the Prophet.
For as Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights: so shall the Son of man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.
The men of Ninive shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they did penance at the preaching of Jonas.
And behold a greater than Jonas here. The queen of the south shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a greater than Solomon here.
And when an unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith: I will return into my house from whence I came out. And coming he findeth it empty, swept, and garnished.
Then he goeth, and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter in and dwell there: and the last state of that man is made worse than the first. So shall it be also to this wicked generation.
As He was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold His mother and His brethren stood without, seeking to speak to Him. And one said unto Him: Behold Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, seeking Thee.
But He answering him that told Him, said: Who is My mother and who are My brethren? And stretching forth His hand towards His disciples, He said: Behold My mother and My brethren. For whosoever shall do the will of My Father that is in heaven, he is My brother, and sister, and mother.