Philadelphia Chapter

FOLLOW ME 

The Master saw him there at the money table. He was a customs gatherer, this Matthew, a Publican, one despised by the people. But Jesus saw in him a future Apostle. He stood before him. His eyes searched his very soul. His speech was brief—only two words were spoken. He made no promises, He offered no inducements. He simply said “Follow Me.” It was sufficient. In an instant Matthew had left his money table, had forgotten his greed for gold, and was ready to follow Jesus wherever He might lead.

“Follow Me!” Over and over again as I walk the journey of life the same gentle Master, My Divine Friend, whispers into my ear the same kindly invitation: “Follow Me.”

“Follow Me!” I see His blessed form before me. He points to higher paths than I have had the courage to tread, to paths that climb steeply at times and lead away quite abruptly from the ordinary ways of mediocre goodness, to paths on which, at times, I see bright crimson stains, paths that lead painfully on toward a hill, skull-shaped, outside the walls, crowned with a gibbet that stands out sharply against the horizon, bearing a blood-dripping Victim.

“Follow Me,” the pleading voice keeps calling, calling. Can I longer refuse to follow where my Divine Friend leads?

“Follow Me!” Sweet and clear it comes through the din of the tempest.

“Follow Me!” I will be your salvation. “Follow Me!” I will make you a saint. What response shall I make to my Friend’s invitation?E

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL:  Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Dan. 13: 1-9, 15-17, 9-30, 33-62

Parable of the chaste Susanna.

AND JESUS WEPT 

Lazarus, His friend, had died. Jesus stood by the silent grave. There was anguish written on His sacred face. His great, manly Heart was broken with grief, human grief at the loss of one He loved—“and Jesus wept.” Tears filled His eyes, great scalding tears that overflowed upon His cheeks and fell like dew upon the earth—the human tears of the gentle Christ.

“And Jesus wept.” How much that tells me of my Divine Friend! It tells me in terms of infinite tenderness of a Heart acquainted with human woe, of a Heart that feels as my heart feels, of a Heart that responds to the human need of human affection, of a Heart that can bleed when stabbed by the knife of cruel separation from human loves.

“And Jesus wept.” How close it brings Jesus to me! For it makes Him so like myself. As I see His tears I know that He understands my tears. I know that He understands when my soul is harrowed with pain, when sorrow has made my heart its home. I know that the cry that escapes my lips as I stand by the tomb of one I have loved, or by the grave of my buried hopes—I know that my cry has a meaning for Him fuller and deeper than words can tell.

“And Jesus wept.” Yes, Jesus wept, but without bitterness, wept and His sorrow was holy, His tears were sacred. Is it always so with me? I too weep. But is my sorrow always holy? Are my tears always sacred? Is there not, at times, bitterness in my grief, rebellion in my suffering? Let me pause and reflect.

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Num: 20: 1-3, 6-13

During the forty years passed in the desert, Moses and Aaron asked God to bring forth from the rock (a figure of Jesus Christ) a spring of living water, so that all the people could quench their thirst.

In those days the children of Israel came together against Moses and Aaron: and making a sedition, they said: Give us water that we may drink. And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them Thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink. Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as He had commanded him, and having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock? And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed Me, to sanctify Me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them. This is the water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and He was sanctified in them.

GOSPEL:  Jn. 4:5-42

During these forty days of Lent the Church entreats our Lord Jesus Christ to give us the living water about which He spoke to the woman of Samaria near Jacob’s well, the water which quenches the thirst of our souls forever.

At that time Jesus came to a city of Samaria which is called Sichar, near the land which Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with His journey, sat thus on the well. It was about the sixth hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith to her: Give Me to drink. (For His disciples were gone into the city to buy meats.) Then the Samaritan woman saith to Him: How dost Thou, being a Jew, ask of me to drink, who am a Samaritan woman? For the Jews do not communicate with the Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her: If thou didst know the gift of God, and Who He is that saith to thee: Give Me to drink: thou perhaps wouldst have asked of Him, and He would have given thee living water. The woman saith to Him: Sir, Thou hast nothing wherein to draw, and the well is deep: from whence then hast Thou living water? Art Thou greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank thereof, himself and his children and his cattle? Jesus answered and said to her: Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but he that shall drink of the water that I will give him shall not thirst for ever: but the water that I will give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into life everlasting. The woman saith to Him: Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come hither to draw. Jesus saith to her: Go, call thy husband, and come hither. The woman answered and said: I have no husband. Jesus said to her: Thou hast said well, I have no husband: for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy hus-band: this thou hast said truly. The woman saith to Him: Sir, I perceive that Thou art a prophet. Our fathers adored on this mountain, and You say that at Jerusalem is the place where men must adore. Jesus saith to her: Woman, believe Me that the hour cometh, when you shall neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem adore the Father. You adore that which you know not: we adore that which we know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true adorers shall adore the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father also seeketh such to adore Him. God is a spirit: and they that adore Him must adore Him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith to Him: I know that the Messias cometh (Who is called Christ). Therefore when He is come, He will tell us all things. Jesus saith to her: I am He, Who am speaking with thee. And immediately His disciples came: and they wondered that He talked with the woman. Yet no man said: What seekest Thou? or, Why talkest Thou with her? The woman therefore left her waterpot and went her way into the city, and saith to the men there: Come, and see a man who has told me all things whatsoever I have done: is not He the Christ? They went therefore out of the city, and came unto Him. In the meantime, the disciples prayed Him, saying: Rabbi, eat. But He said to them: I have meat to eat which you know not. The disciples therefore said one to another: Hath any man brought Him to eat? Jesus saith to them: My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, that I may perfect His work. Do not you say: There are yet four months, and then the harvest cometh? Behold I say to you: Lift up your eyes, and behold that the fields are already white for the harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto life everlasting: that both he that soweth, and he that reapeth, may rejoice together. For in this is the saying true: that it is one man that soweth, and it is another that reapeth. I have sent you to reap that in which you did not labor: others have labored, and you have entered into their labors. Now of that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him, for the word of the woman giving testimony: He told me all things whatsoever I have done. So when the Samaritans were come to Him, they desired that He would tarry there. And He abode there two days. And many more believed in Him because of His own word. And they said to the woman: We now believe, not for thy saying: for we ourselves have heard Him, and know that this is indeed the Savior of the world.

WATCH AND PRAY

He had just finished the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. They had seen the foolish five standing disconsolate outside the closed doors of the banquet hall with the voice of the bridegroom calling out into the night: “I know you not.” Poor, foolish things, they had not been ready when the bridegroom came and now it was too late. Helpless, hopeless regret for their folly was all that remained to them. Then came the application to His dear ones, personal, direct, the kindly warning of a keenly interested Friend: “Watch, therefore, and pray, for you know not the day nor the hour.”

To me also my Divine Friend speaks the same sobering words: “Watch and pray, for you know not the day nor the hour.” What day and hour? When the Bridegroom shall come. When the Master shall call me to say that life’s work is done, and I must give an account of my stewardship. What day and hour? The day and hour when I shall die; when I shall leave this mortal life to enter upon a changeless eternity.

A sobering thought indeed—that death is certain to come, but to come like a thief in the night when least expected. A friend’s warning that, to be sure—to watch and pray, to keep my lamp filled with oil, to be ready to die when God so wills.

Am I ready today? If the summons should come before sundown today, would I have anything to regret? Would I long for delay? Am I ready to die without more time to prepare?

Let me pause and reflect and prepare now.

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE: Jer. 17:5-10

The Prophet speaks to us of two men, one of whom put his trust in himself and the other in God; the first dries up like the heather in the desert, and the second bears the abundant fruits of his good works.

Thus saith the Lord God: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert, in a salt land, and not inhabIted. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence. And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable: who can know it? I am the Lord Who search the heart, and prove the reins: Who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices: saith the Lord almighty.

GOSPEL:  Lk. 16:19-31

There were two men, says Jesus in the parable, one of whom enjoyed life instead of doing penance, and the other suffered. The first went to hell, whilst the second was carried by the Angels into Abraham’s bosom, i.e., limbo.

At that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feasted sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, named Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the Angels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell. And lifting up his eyes when he was in torments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said: Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. And Abraham said to him: Son, remember that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence come hither. And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the Prophets: let them hear them. But he said: No, father Abraham: but if one went to them from the dead, they will do penance. And he said to him: If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they believe if one rise again from the dead.

WHAT DOES IT PROFIT?

They stood about Him the Twelve, eager, attentive. His theme was a serious one—the meaning of life, the value of the immortal soul. He knew well the strong appeal of riches and honors and pleasures to their still earthly hearts. He looked on them pityingly; His gaze reached out to embrace the whole world. Then He spoke: “What shall it profit a man, if he gain the whole world, and suffer the loss of his soul?”

The whole world for my soul! That gives tremendous meaning to the worth of my soul, does it not? The whole world with all its unmeasured treasures, its honors, its pleasures, all of them heaped together and given to me to have and to hold as my very own—yet worthy only of utter contempt if the exchange demanded is my soul! Yes, for earth’s riches and honors and pleasures will all soon fade and cease to be, but my soul shall go on eternally for weal or for woe.

The whole world for my soul! Ah! yes, that were a foolhardy exchange indeed. But I am not offered the whole world for my soul. No, just the vilest pittance the tempter offers when he comes to bargain with me.

A bit of gross pleasure that befouls whatever it touches, a mere handful of tinsel treasures, an hour of meaningless honor—just that and no more the tempter offers in exchange for my soul.

Can I allow myself to be lured into such a foolhardy bargain? I must pause and reflect and resolve.

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  Esther 13:8-11, 15-17

Prayer of Mardochai in favor of the Jewish people, whom the impious Aman had determined to destroy. He implored the Lord God of Israel to turn their sadness into joy. The Christian people in the same way are mourning by Lenten penance and are looking forward to the holy joys of Easter.

In those days Mardochai prayed to the Lord, saying: O Lord, Lord, almighty King, for all things are in Thy power, and there is none that can resist Thy will, if Thou determine to save Israel. Thou hast made heaven and earth, and all things that are under the cope of heaven. Thou art Lord of all, and there is none that can resist Thy Majesty. And now, O Lord, O King, O God of Abraham, have mercy on Thy people, because our enemies resolve to destroy us and extinguish Thine inheritance. Despise not Thy portion which Thou hast redeemed for Thyself out of Egypt. Hear my supplication, and be merciful to Thy lot and inheritance, and turn our mourning into joy, that we may live and praise Thy name, O Lord, and shut not the mouths of them that sing to Thee, O Lord our God.

GOSPEL: Mt. 20: 17-28

Jesus foretells His Passion and Resurrection. He will make us participants in His Resurrection if we die to our sins.

At that time, as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples apart, and said to them: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and cru-cified, and the third day He shall rise again. Then came to Him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of Him. Who said to her: What wilt thou? She saith to Him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom. And Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to Him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink: but to sit on My right or My left hand is not Mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by My Father. And the ten, hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to Him, and said: You know that the princes of the Gentiles lord it over them: and they that are the greater, exercise power upon them. It shall not be so among you: but whosoever shall be the greater among you, let him be your minister: and he that will be first among you shall be your servant. Even as the Son of man is not come to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a redemption for many.

GO IN PEACE

Her case was a serious one; indeed, utterly desperate. She had been taken in a grievous fault, one for which death was the penalty. In the clutch of the hating Pharisees she knew that all hope was gone. She would be stoned—the terrible fate was inevitable.

Dragging her roughly along, they came to the temple court where the Master was teaching. They pushed their victim before Him and asked His opinion, tempting Him: Should she be stoned? The eyes of Jesus rested on the cringing creature before Him; they searched the black hearts of her captors. Then He bowed Himself down and silently wrote on the ground with His finger. One by one till all were gone the base accusers slunk away, and the Master was alone with the woman. Then He spoke, and His voice was full of tenderness. “Go,” He said, “and now sin no more.” That was all. No rebuke for the past, no threat, only a gentle admonition to be good for the future.

Such is my Divine Friend—everywhere and always the Friend of sinners. Others may be harsh and rigid in the name of justice; He, my Friend, is gentle and forgiving in the name of mercy. However black the record, however scarlet the guilt, His merciful Heart will be moved to compassion, His gentle lips will speak words of forgiveness, if only we will it.

What a hope-inspiring thought to souls conscious of their sinfulness! What an incentive to confidence! What a motive for trust! Always a chance to start over again, to rise from our meanness to great heights of holiness!

What a Friend, indeed, is our Divine Friend!

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE:  IV Kings 4:1-7

This Epistle shows us in the wondrous increase of a small quantity of oil at the word of Eliseus, by the sale of which a poor widow was enabled to pay an inhuman creditor, a figure of the mercy of our Lord, Whose infinite merits supply the ransom for our sins.

In those days a certain woman cried to the prophet Eliseus, saying: Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant was one that feared God: and behold the creditor is come to take away my two sons to serve him. And Eliseus said to her: What wilt thou have me to do for thee? Tell me, what hast thou in thy house? And she answered: I thy handmaid have nothing in my house but a little oil, to anoint me. And he said to her: Go, borrow of all thy neighbors empty vessels not a few. And go in, and shut thy door, when thou art within and thy sons: and pour out thereof into all those vessels: and when they are full take them away. So the woman went, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons: they brought her the vessels, and she poured in. And when the vessels were full, she said to her son: Bring me yet a vessel. And he answered: I have no more. And the oil stood. And she came, and told the man of God. And he said: Go, sell the oil, and pay thy creditor: and thou and thy sons live of the rest.

GOSPEL:  Mt. 18: 15-22

The clemency or mercy of the Jews was content to forgive three times; Jesus says here in the Gospel that we are to forgive seventy times seven times, that is, always.

At that time Jesus said to His disciples: If thy brother shall offend against thee, go, and rebuke him between thee and him alone. If he shall hear thee, thou shalt gain thy brother. And if he will not hear thee, take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may stand. And if he will not hear them: tell the church. And if he will not hear the church: let him be to thee as the heathen and publican. Amen I say to you, whatsoever you shall bind upon earth shall be bound also in heaven: and whatsoever you shall loose upon earth shall be loosed also in heaven. Again I say to you, that if two of you shall consent upon earth concerning any thing whatsoever they shall ask, it shall be done to them by My Father Who is in heaven. For where there are two or three gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them. Then came Peter unto Him and said: Lord, how often shall my brother of-fend against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? Jesus saith to him: I say not to thee till seven times, but till seventy times seven times.

WILL YOU ALSO GO AWAY?

He had just promised the multitude a gift of infinite worth. He had just promised them the gift of Himself—His flesh to eat and His blood to drink. But it was too much for them, and many turned away to walk with Him no more. Sadly He looked upon His chosen Twelve. His voice was full of pathos. “Will you also go away?” He said.

“Will you also go away?” To me, as to the Apostles, my Divine Friend whispers the same question over and over again. With generous love, rather with infinite bounty, He tells of gifts and treasures beyond all measuring that He has prepared for His creatures if only they will walk with Him. But many who, hearing His offer, turn away to walk with Him no more.

He tells of treasures of grace, more precious than gold or costly gems; He tells of heavenly wealth and God-given glory, of endless peace and boundless joy in His eternal kingdom; He tells of His love that He yearns to lavish upon all who will have it; He spreads wide His arms and opens His breast where His Heart is aglow with infinite ardors, and His appeal is all-embracing: Come to Me all—I will give you not only My gifts but My very Self.

And the response? Because of earth’s vain allurements, because of the glitter and glare of temporal vanities, because of the demands of the flesh and the cravings of passion, many there are who turn away to walk with Him no more, to walk with Him no more—eternally.

Sadly He turns to me and whispers the age-old query: Child of My Heart, will you also go away?

And what is my answer?

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE: IV Kings: 1-15

This Epistle speaks to us of Naaman, the general of the King of Syria’s army. He was cured by bathing in the Jordan, although he did not belong to the race of Israel. Naaman is a figure of the heathen or Gentile whom the Church by baptism cures of the leprosy of sin.

In those days Naaman, general of the army of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable: for by him the Lord gave deliverance to Syria: and he was a valiant man and rich, but a leper. Now there had gone out robbers from Syria, and had led away captive out of the land of Israel a little maid, and she waited upon Naaman’s wife, and she said to her mistress: I wish my master had been with the prophet that is in Samaria: he would certainly have healed him of the leprosy which he hath. Then Naaman went in to his lord, and told him, saying: Thus and thus said the girl from the land of Israel. And the king of Syria said to him: Go, and I will send a letter to the king of Israel. And he departed, and took with him ten talents of silver, and six thousand pieces of gold, and ten changes of raiment, and brought the letter to the king of Israel, in these words: When thou shalt receive this letter, know that I have sent to thee Naaman my servant, that thou mayest heal him of his leprosy. And when the king of Israel had read the letter, he rent his garments and said: Am I God, to be able to kill and give life, that this man hath sent to me to heal a man of his leprosy? Mark, and see how he seeketh occasions against me. And when Eliseus the man of God had heard this, to wit, that the king of Israel had rent his garments, he sent to him, saying: Why hast thou rent thy garments? Let him come to me, and let him know that there is a prophet in Israel. So Naaman came with his horses and chariots, and stood at the door of the house of Eliseus: and Eliseus sent a messenger to him, saying: Go, and wash seven times in the Jordan, and thy flesh shall recover health and thou shalt be clean. Naaman was angry and went away, saying: I thought he would have come out to me, and standing would have invoked the name of the Lord his God, and touched with his hand the place of the leprosy, and healed me. Are not the Abana, and the Pharphar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel, that I may wash in them, and be made clean? So as he turned, and was going away with indignation, his servants came to him, and said to him: Father, if the prophet had bid thee to do some great thing, surely thou shouldst have done it: how much rather what he now hath said to thee: Wash, and thou shalt be clean? Then he went down, and washed in the Jordan seven times, according to the word of the man of God, and his flesh was restored, like the flesh of a little child, and he was made clean. And returning to the man of God with all his train, he came, and stood before him, and said: In truth I know, there is no other God in all the earth, but only in Israel.

GOSPEL: Lk. 4: 23-30

Naaman, the general of the king of Syria, did not belong to the race of Israel, but he was cured by bathing in the Jordan. Let us renew ourselves in the spirit of our baptism by cleansing our hearts in the salutary bath of penitence. This will cure them of the impurity, the leprosy of the soul, called sin.

At that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: Doubtless you will say to Me this similitude: Physician, heal Thyself: as great things as we have heard done in Capharnaum, do also here in Thine own country. And He said: Amen I say to you, that no prophet is accepted in his own country. In truth I say to you, there were many widows in the days of Elias in Israel, when heaven was shut up three years and six months when there was a great famine throughout all the earth: and to none of them was Elias sent but to Sarepta of Sidon, to a widow woman. And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Eliseus the Prophet: and none of them was cleansed but Naaman the Syrian. And all they in the synagogue hearing these things were filled with anger. And they rose up and thrust Him out of the city; and they brought Him to the brow of the hill whereon their city was built, that they might cast Him down headlong. But He, passing through the midst of them, went His way.

THE OTHER NINE

They had come to Him, the ten of them, begging His powerful aid, for they were lepers. Gently He had commanded them to show themselves to the priests, and on the way the hideous scales fell off and they were cleansed of their loathsome malady. In the bounding joy of their newfound strength they went exulting on their way forgetful of the kindly Master—all save one, who came hastening back to cast himself at the feet of Jesus to pour out his gratitude.

We can see the look of disappointment on the face of our Lord as the questioning words fall from His lips: “Were not ten made clean? And where are the nine?” The shameful ingratitude of it all cut to the quick the humanly sensitive heart of Jesus.

We think with bitterness, perhaps, of “the nine” for their shabby treatment of their Divine Benefactor. But what of ourselves? We would do well to pause for a moment before we condemn and see if we do not often deserve to be numbered among “the nine.” Are we really as appreciative of God’s goodness to us as we would wish others to be of our goodness to them? Are our prayers of thanksgiving as frequent as our prayers of petition?

The glorious gift of being and constant preservation—how often do I thank God for that? My body with its marvelous powers, my soul with its wonderful faculties, all the good and beautiful in nature made for my use and comfort, all the supernatural treasures—faith, grace, forgiveness of my sins, Jesus as my Saviour, Mary as my loving Mother, heaven to hope for—for all these good gifts from God, how often do I tell Him my gratitude? Am I not in many respects one of “the nine”?

Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE: Eph. 5:1-9

Let us live as children of the light, performing actions good, just, and true.

Brethren: Be ye followers of God, as most dear children: and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints: or obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility, which is to no purpose: but rather giving of thanks. For know you this, and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person, which is a serving of idols, hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For you were heretofore darkness: but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light: for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and justice and truth.

GOSPEL:  Lk. 11:14-28

Our Lord is in open conflict with Satan. He disarms him and expels him from the body of one possessed.

At that time Jesus was casting out a devil, and the same was dumb. And when He had cast out the devil, the dumb spoke, and the multitudes were in admiration at it. But some of them said: He casteth out devils by Beelzebub, the prince of devils. And others, tempting, asked of Him a sign from heaven. But He, seeing their thoughts, said to them: Every kingdom divided against itself shall be brought to desolation, and house upon house shall fall. And if Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because you say that through Beelzebub I cast out devils. Now if I cast out devils by Beelzebub, by whom do your children cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. But if I by the finger of God cast out devils; doubtless the kingdom of God is come upon you. When a strong man armed keepeth his court, those things are in peace which he possesseth. But if a stronger than he is come upon him and overcome him, he will take away all his armor wherein he trusted, and will distribute his spoils. He that is not with Me is against Me: and he that gathereth not with Me scattereth. When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through places without water, seeking rest: and not finding, he saith: I will return into my house whence I came out. And when he is come, he findeth it swept and garnished. Then he goeth and taketh with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and entering in they dwell there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. And it came to pass, as He spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to Him: Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the paps that gave Thee suck. But He said: Yea, rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.

WEEP NOT

Slowly the sad procession wound its way out from the village of Naim, along the road that led to the silent city of the dead. A widowed mother was there. The silent figure they carried was her only son. Life had lost all meaning for her now, for he for whom alone she lived was dead. The crushing grief within her soul expressed itself in choking sobs and scalding tears.

And then the gentle Master came, with quickened step, as from afar He viewed the sorrowful scene. At the side of the shrouded form He paused. He contemplated the lifeless figure. He raised His eyes to the weeping mother. Infinite pity was in His gaze. The tender Heart of Christ was stirred to its deepest depths. Great waves of compassion welled up in His soul. And then He spoke. “Weep not,” He said, in accents of infinite pathos. And the gentle sweetness of that voice fell like a soothing balm on the bleeding heart of the widowed mother. A sudden wave of God-given comfort flowed over her soul. A sudden flame of newborn hope sprang up within her breast. And then the miracle of love—“Young man, I say to you, arise.” And He gave him back to his mother.

“Mother, weep not,” “Young man, arise.”—Sweet God of compassion! Is it thus that I know my Divine Friend? Is He a God of pity to me, a God of infinite love? If not, I do not know my Jesus, I have not honored Him in His dearest prerogative.

Life must have sorrow and suffering. It is the lot of our pilgrimage here below. But if we really knew Jesus we would be forced to cry: “O happy suffering that wins so sweet a consoler!”

Dear Jesus, Divine Friend, have mercy on us. 

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE: Gen. 27: 6-40

The Epistle sets forth in figure to catechumens and public penitents how they are to take the place of the Jews in the Kingdom of God. Isaac has two sons. The elder Esau represents the people of God who sell their birthright to gratify their carnal appetite. Jacob represents the Gentiles who check their passions and are blessed by God.

In those days Rebecca said to her son Jacob: I heard thy father talking with Esau thy brother, and saying to him: Bring me of thy hunting, and make me meats that I may eat, and bless thee in the sight of the Lord before I die. Now, therefore, my son, follow my counsel; and go thy way to the flock, bring me two kids of the best, that I may make of them meat for thy father, such as he gladly eateth: which when thou hast brought in, and he hath eaten, he may bless thee before he die. And he answered her: Thou knowest that Esau my brother is a hairy man, and I am smooth: if my father shall feel me and perceive it, I fear lest he will think I would have mocked him, and I shall bring upon me a curse instead of a blessing. And his mother said to him: Upon me be this curse, my son: only hear thou my voice, and go, fetch me the things which I have said. He went, and brought, and gave them to his moth-er. She dressed meats such as she knew his father liked. And she put on him very good garments of Esau, which she had at home with her: and the little skins of the kids she put about his hands, and covered the bare of his neck. And she gave him the savory meat, and delivered him bread that she had baked. Which when he had carried in, he said: My father? But he answered: I hear. Who art thou, my son? And Jacob said: I am Esau, thy firstborn; I have done as thou didst command me: arise, sit, and eat of my venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to his son: How couldst thou find it so quickly, my son? He answered: It was the will of God that what I sought came quickly in my way. And Isaac said: Come hither, that I may feel thee, my son, and may prove whether thou be my son Esau or not. He came near to his father and when he had felt him, Isaac said: The voice indeed is the voice of Jacob; but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he knew him not, because his hairy hands made him like to the elder. Then blessing him, he said: Art thou my son Esau? He answered: I am. Then he said: Bring me the meats of thy hunting, my son, that my soul may bless thee. And when they were brought, and he had eaten, he offered him wine also. Which after he had drunk, he said to him: Come near me, and give me a kiss, my son. He came near and kissed him. And immediately as he smelled the fragrant smell of his garments, blessing him, he said: Behold the smell of my son is as the smell of a plentiful field, which the Lord hath blessed. God give thee of the dew of heaven and of the fatness of the earth, abundance of corn and wine. And let peoples serve thee and tribes worship thee: be thou lord of thy brethren, and let thy mother’s children bow down before thee. Cursed be he that curseth thee, and let him that blesseth thee be filled with blessings. Isaac had scarce ended his words, when Jacob being now gone out abroad, Esau came, and brought in to his father meats made of what he had taken in hunting, saying: Arise, my father, and eat of thy son’s venison, that thy soul may bless me. And Isaac said to him: Why! who art thou? He answered: I am thy firstborn son Esau. Isaac was struck with fear and astoNished exceedingly, and wondering beyond what can be believed, said: Who is he then that even now brought me venison that he had taken, and I ate of all before thou camest? And I have blessed him and he shall be blessed. Esau having heard his father’s words, roared out with a great cry, and being in a great consternation, said: Bless me also, my father. And he said: Thy brother came deceitfully, and got thy blessing. But he said again: Rightly is his name called Jacob, for he hath supplanted me, lo, this second time: my first birthright he took away before, and now this second time he hath stolen away my blessing. And again he said to his father: Hast thou not reserved me also a blessing? Isaac answered: I have appointed him thy lord, and have made all his brethren his servants: I have established him with corn and wine, and after this, what shall I do more for thee, my son? And Esau said to him: Hast thou only one blessing, father? I beseech thee, bless me also. And when he wept with a loud cry, Isaac, being moved, said to him: In the fat of the earth and in the dew of heaven above shall thy blessing be.

GOSPEL: Lk. 15:11-32

Parable of the prodigal son. The elder son is the Jewish element of the primitive Church which is scandalized at the vocation of the Gentiles; the prodigal son is the pagan element.

At that time Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and scribes this parable: A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father: Father, give me the portion of sub-stance that falleth to me. And he di-vided unto them his substance. And not many days after, the younger son, gathering all together, went abroad into a far country, and there wasted his substance, living riotously. And after he had spent all, there came a mighty famine in that country, and he began to be in want. And he went and cleaved to one of the citizens of that country. And he sent him into his farm to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And returning to himself, he said: How many hired servants in my father’s house abound with bread, and I here perish with hunger? I will arise, and will go to my father, and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am not worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And rising up, he came to his father. And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and running to him fell upon his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, I am not now worthy to be called thy son. And the father said to his servants: Bring forth quickly the first robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry, because this my son was dead and is come to life again: was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and when he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing: and he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said to him: Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe. And he was angry, and would not go in. His father therefore coming out began to entreat him. And he answering, said to his father: Behold, for so many years do I serve thee, and I have never transgressed thy commandment, and yet thou hast never given me a kid to make merry with my friends: but as soon as thy son is come, who hath devoured his substance with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. But he said to him: Son, thou art always with me, and all I have is thine: but it was fit that we should make merry and be glad, for this thy brother was dead and is come to life again: he was lost, and is found.

THE MIND OF JESUS

SOLDERS OF CHRIST JESUS

“Work as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.” Strong words that tell the virile character of their author. Indeed St. Paul was virile, a man of strenuous action, and he wanted all who followed him to be the same. No half-hearted, timid service of the Master could meet with his approval. Hence his words of manly counsel to Timothy: “Work as a good soldier of Christ Jesus.”

We, too, may well take to heart the admonition of the great Apostle, for ours is the same purpose in life as was that of his disciples; we, too, are soldiers of Christ Jesus called to do stout battle for His sacred cause.

“Work”—yes, such is the lot of all mankind by God’s good will. We are to work out our salvation. Heaven’s everlasting prize is not awarded but earned. The victory is for those only who have fought the good fight. The Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence, and the violent bear it away.

Yes, indeed, we must work, and not only that, but work “as good soldiers of Christ Jesus.” That tells me the grand quality of the service I must render my Captain Christ. It must be the courageous service of a fearless soldier. I must not fear the hurts it may entail. I must not shrink from service that is crushing to my touchy, timid nature. Therein lies the difference between the ordinary Christian and the glorious saint of God. The former timidly holds back in face of opposition to his lofty aspirations while the latter, braving the bitterest foe, cuts his way through every obstacle and carries off the palm.

Ah, yes, we could be saints, each and every one of us, if only we would “work as good soldiers of Christ Jesus.”

Jesus, Gentle Master, have mercy on us.

EPISTLE AND GOSPEL: Taken from the Angelus Press 1962 Roman Catholic Daily Missal

EPISTLE: Jer. 17:5-10

The Prophet speaks to us of two men, one of whom put his trust in himself and the other in God; the first dries up like the heather in the desert, and the second bears the abundant fruits of his good works.

Thus saith the Lord God: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert, in a salt land, and not inhabited. Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence. And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit. The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable: who can know it? I am the Lord Who search the heart, and prove the reins: Who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices: saith the Lord almighty.

GOSPEL:  Lk. 16:9-31