ASH WEDNESDAY (YEAR B)
SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ FEBRUARY 14, 2024
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” ~ John 15:13
Greetings, beloved family. Happy Ash Wednesday and Happy St. Valentine’s Day! Thanking God for His love and the gift of this day and praying for God’s grace and mercy on us all as we embark on our Lenten journey today. Let us draw closer to God and be renewed by prayer, fasting, penance and giving to the poor. We pray for justice, peace, love, and unity in our families and our world that is torn apart by war, terrorism, and countless other acts of violence against human life. May God keep us all safe and well during these challenging times. Wishing us all a reflective and spiritually enriching Ash Wednesday and a most blessed, holy, safe, and grace-filled Lenten Season ~ Amen🙏 Love always ❤️
Watch “Holy Mass on Ash Wednesday with Pope Francis” | Live from the Vatican | February 14, 2024 |
Message of the Holy Father Pope Francis for Lent | February 14, 2024 | https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/lent/documents/20231203-messaggio-quaresima2024.html
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary on February 14, 2024 on EWTN” |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | February 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary From Lourdes, France” | February 14, 2024 |
Pray “Ash Wednesday Holy Rosary | February 14, 2024 |
Pray “Chaplet of the Divine Mercy from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | February 14, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
40 Days in the Desert. A Lenten journey with our Lord | Ash Wednesday | Day One – Journeying with our Lord |
https://mycatholic.life/books/40-days-in-the-desert-a-lenten-journey-with-our-lord/day-one-journeying-with-our-lord/
Today’s Bible Readings: Wednesday, February 14, 2024
Reading 1, Joel 2:12-18
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 51:3-4, 5-6, 12-13, 14, 17
Reading 2, Second Corinthians 5:20-6:2
Gospel, Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF FEBRUARY: MONTH OF THE PASSION OF OUR LORD: The month of February is traditionally dedicated to the Passion of Our Lord in anticipation of the liturgical season of Lent. In this month, we begin to meditate on the mystery of Jesus’ sufferings which culminated in his death on the Cross for the redemption of mankind. Saints who had a special devotion to Christ’s passion include St. Francis of Assisi, who was the first known Saint to receive the stigmata; St. John of the Cross; St. Bridget of Sweden; and St. Catherine of Siena.
On this special feast day, as we begin our Lenten journey, with special intention through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints, we pray for the sick and dying. We especially pray for our loved ones who have recently died and we continue to remember our beloved late Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI on the first memorial anniversary of his death. We pray for the repose of his gentle soul and the souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May the gentle soul of Pope Benedict XVI and souls of all the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in perfect peace with our Lord Jesus Christ… Amen 🙏 ✝️🕯✝️🕯✝️🕯
During this season of Lent, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen 🙏
PRAYER FOR THE DEAD: In your hands, O Lord, we humbly entrust our brothers and sisters. In this life, you embraced them with your tender love; deliver them now from every evil, and bid them eternal rest. The old order has passed away: welcome them into paradise, where there will be no sorrow, no weeping or pain, but fullness of peace and joy with your Son and the Holy Spirit forever and ever. Amen🙏
A PRAYER FOR PEACE: Lord Jesus Christ, You are the true King of peace. In You alone is found freedom. Please free our world from conflict. Bring unity to troubled nations. Let Your glorious peace reign in every heart. Dispel all darkness and evil. Protect the dignity of every human life. Replace hatred with Your love. Give wisdom to world leaders. Free them from selfish ambition. Eliminate all violence and war. Glorious Virgin Mary, Saint Michael the Archangel, Every Angel and Saint: Please pray for peace. Pray for unity amongst nations. Pray for unity amongst all people. Pray for the most vulnerable. Pray for those suffering. Pray for the fearful. Pray for those most in need. Pray for us all. Jesus, Son of the Living God, have mercy on us. Jesus, hear our prayers. Jesus, I trust in You! Amen 🙏
Prayers for Peace | https://mycatholic.life/catholic-prayers/prayers-for-peace/
ASH WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 14, 2024
Three Pillars of Lent: Almsgiving, Prayer and Fasting!
“Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends” ~ John 15:13
This year, Ash Wednesday falls on Valentine’s day. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Holy Season of Lent, also known as Quadragesima, a time of preparation and reflection as we prepare ourselves well for the upcoming celebrations of Holy Week and Easter, the most important moments in our whole entire liturgical year. This is the time we contemplate our relationship with God and identify the areas in our spiritual life that need work. Season of Lent is 40 days of prayer, fasting, penance and almsgiving in preparation for the celebration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the beginning of Lent, on Ash Wednesday, ashes are blessed during Mass, after the homily. The blessed ashes are then “imposed” on the faithful as a sign of conversion, penance, fasting and human mortality. The ashes are blessed at least during the first Mass of the day, but they may also be imposed during all the Masses of the day, after the homily, and even outside the time of Mass to meet the needs of the faithful. Priests or deacons normally impart this sacramental, but instituted acolytes, other extraordinary ministers or designated lay people may be delegated to impart ashes, if the bishop judges that this is necessary. The ashes are made from the palms used at the previous Passion Sunday ceremonies.
The ashes received on the head today is a sign of repentance and humility. It reminds us of our dependence on God and our call to turn away from sin. The act of putting on ashes symbolizes fragility and mortality, and the need to be redeemed by the mercy of God. It is a symbolic representation of our desire to be forgiven from our sins, and as a sign of our repentance and regret from all the things that we have disobeyed the Lord for, and which therefore brought us into the path of sin and evil, out of which we are seeking the Lord for His help and grace, so that, He may free us from the shackles of our sins and evils. Far from being a merely external act, the Church has retained the use of ashes to symbolize that attitude of internal penance to which all the baptized are called during Lent.
For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the laws regarding abstinence and fasting are as follows: Abstinence from eating meat is to be observed on Ash Wednesday and all Fridays during Lent, including Good Friday. Since Jesus sacrificed His flesh for us on Good Friday, we refrain from eating flesh meat in His honor on Fridays. Abstaining from eating meat is also a form of penance– admitting to any wrongdoings and sins while turning back to belief in God. Abstinence applies to all persons 14 years of age and older. Fasting on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday applies to all Catholics who have completed their eighteenth year to the beginning of their sixtieth year. A person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together don’t equal that regular-sized meal. Fasting should be done out of love for God and of neighbor.
Lent is a Season of Reflection, Renewal and Preparation. As we begin our Lenten journey – the 40 days of preparation for Easter, we are called to make sacrifices and acknowledge our need for a Savior. The sacrifices we practice and the ashes we receive allow us to be a witness to others and a witness to Christ’s sacrifice. However, we are called not simply to choose a sacrifice, practice it for 40 days, and then go back to life as usual. We are called to truly deepen our relationship with Christ. Lent is traditionally a time of penance, when we try to die to ourselves in some way so as to live more fully to the Lord and to others. The traditional practices of Lent put before us the essentials for growth into the image of God’s Son. There are all in the service of love, a greater love of God (prayer), a more generous love of neighbour (almsgiving), and a truer love of ourselves (fasting). We recommit ourselves on Ash Wednesday to build our lives on those three loves, so that we may more fully become all that God is calling us to be.
In his message for Lent 2024, Pope Francis invites the faithful to “pause” for prayer and to assist our brothers and sisters in need, in order to change our own lives and the lives of our communities. He says, “It is time to act, and in Lent, to act also means to pause. To pause in prayer, in order to receive the word of God, to pause like the Samaritan in the presence of a wounded brother or sister. Love of God and love of neighbour are one love. Not to have other gods is to pause in the presence of God beside the flesh of our neighbour. For this reason, prayer, almsgiving and fasting are not three unrelated acts, but a single movement of openness and self-emptying, in which we cast out the idols that weigh us down, the attachments that imprison us. Then the atrophied and isolated heart will revive. Slow down, then, and pause! The contemplative dimension of life that Lent helps us to rediscover will release new energies. In the presence of God, we become brothers and sisters, more sensitive to one another: in place of threats and enemies, we discover companions and fellow travelers. This is God’s dream, the promised land to which we journey once we have left our slavery behind.”
During this season of Lent, please let us all continue to pray for peace all over the world, particularly in the Middle East, for an end to the current war in Israel-Palestine, and the Ukraine-Russia conflicts and for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary and the Saints on this Ash Wednesday, as we embark on our Lenten journey, we humbly pray for the poor and the needy, for persecuted Christians, for an end to religious and political unrest, for justice and peace, love and unity in our world that is torn apart by war, terrorism, and countless other acts of violence against human life. Amen🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS
Bible Readings for today, Ash Wednesday | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18
“Your Father who sees all that is done in secret will reward you”
“Jesus said to His disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise, you will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms, do not blow a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. “When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. “When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance, so that they may appear to others to be fasting. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who is hidden. And your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.”
In today’s Gospel reading, our Lord Jesus was teaching His disciples and the people listening to Him regarding the matter of the practice of fasting. He taught them
about the right way how each and every one of them ought to be fasting, that is by doing so not because they wanted to be seen or witnessed, praised or honoured by others in doing that. In essence, the Lord reminded them and hence all of us as well, that our practice of fasting and abstinence which we always do today on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, abstinence itself which we practice on Fridays throughout the year, and other Lenten practices, like almsgiving and other devotions, should always be centred on God. Jesus’ comments on almsgiving, prayer and fasting, have been described as the three pillars of Lent. They are practices that are deeply rooted in the Jewish tradition. Jesus affirms their value in today’s Gospel reading, but He warns against engaging in these practices in a way that draws attention to ourselves. What seems like something virtuous can be very self-serving in reality. The three practices of almsgiving, prayer and fasting that Jesus speaks about in the Gospel reading are three traditional ways of responding to God’s love for us in Christ, three ways of journeying towards God who has journeyed towards us. They are three ways of responding to that call of God at the beginning of the first reading, ‘Come back to me with all your heart’. These three Lenten practices are closely interlinked. Fasting is in the service of prayer and almsgiving. We die to ourselves so as to live more fully towards God and our fellow human being.
In our first reading of Lent, from the prophet Joel, captures the primary message of Lent, ‘Come back to me with all your heart… turn to the Lord your God again, for He is all tenderness and compassion, slow to anger, rich in graciousness’. The call to come back, to turn, to the Lord is at the heart of Lent. It is a call to turn towards the one who is always turned towards us in tenderness and compassion. Coming back or turning suggests a change of direction. The word that is translated ‘repent’ in English means to have a change of mind or heart. We often think of repentance as a feeling of sorrow for any wrong we have done or good we have failed to do. However, repentance is a more positive movement. It is a turning towards the Lord, which will often mean a turning away from other directions we could take. That turning, that change of direction, that change of mind or heart, is supremely life affirming because the one who is turned towards us and who calls out to us to turn towards Him more fully is the one who is the source of our joy.
In today’s second reading, Saint Paul reminds us that the God from whom we have turned away has sought us out and continues to seek us out in the person of His Son Jesus. ‘For our sake, God make the sinless one into sin, so that in him we might become the goodness of God’. What a powerful statement that is! God sent his Son to become like us so that we might become like him. God in his Son journeyed towards our sinful condition so that we might journey towards God’s goodness. The ashes that we wear on this day tell the world that we are sinners. Yet, those ashes we received are in the shape of a cross, which proclaims that we believe in a God whose love is stronger than our sin. As Paul declares in his letter to the Romans, ‘God demonstrates His love for us, in that while we still were sinners, Christ died for us’.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures as we enter into this Season of Lent today, being marked with the blessed ashes as a sign of our repentance, let us more importantly mark our hearts with the genuine sign of repentance and with the strong desire to seek God’s love and mercy, His compassion and forgiveness. The ashes should not be merely just an external symbol or formality, and it should not be the source of pride and ego, thinking that we are better or more righteous than others. Rather, it should remind us all of our sinfulness, and our weakness in our faith life, so that we may come to seek the Lord, to seek His loving compassion and mercy, that He may lead us all out of the darkness and into His light once again. All of us are called to spend more time with God, to be more faithful and committed to Him, and the practices that the Church has called us to do this Lent, which includes the fast and abstinence, as well as greater love and charity, generosity and almsgiving, all these should be done because we have the desire to love God more, to come closer to Him and be reconciled with Him. We are reminded that Lent is a time to reflect on how we might take up these three practices of almsgiving, prayer and fasting, so as to grow more fully into our baptismal calling. We take ashes on this Ash Wednesday as a sign of our desire, our commitment, to grow in our response to the Lord’s calling by means of these three great Lenten pillars. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and mercy and may He bless our Lenten journey and experience starting today, so that we may strive to be ever better Christians, not just in name, but also in words and deeds, in all things. Let us be more loving and charitable this Lent, and also resist the temptations to sin, in various forms and ways, by our faithful practice of fasting and abstinence, done right with the right focus and intent, not for ourselves but for the greater glory of God. May the Lord continue to bless us and empower us all in our every good efforts and endeavours, now and always, and may He bless our Lenten journey to come, that we will make best use of it. Amen🙏
SAINTS OF THE DAY: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint Valentine, Priest and Martyr (Patron Saint of Love, Young People, Happy Marriages, Greetings, Affianced couples, against fainting, beekeepers, happy marriages, love, plague, epilepsy, Lesvos) and Saints Cyril, Monk and Methodius, Bishop (brothers who spread Christianity throughout Eastern Europe).
SAINT VALENTINE, PRIEST AND MARTYR: St. Valentine was a Roman priest, born in c. 226 Terni, Italia, Roman Empire and lived in Rome during the reign of Emperor Claudius II. The feast of St. Valentine of February 14 was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I, who included Valentine among all those “… whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God.” St. Valentine, together with St. Marius and his family, assisted the martyrs who suffered during the reign of Emperor Claudius II in the 3rd century. According to legend, he ministered to Christians who were persecuted and imprisoned for their faith, and died a martyr. In addition to his other edicts against helping Christians, one account has it that Emperor Claudius II banned all marriages and engagements in Rome, he issued a decree forbidding marriage, believing this was the reason Roman men were unwilling to serve in the army. In order to increase troops for his army, he forbade young men to marry, believing that single men made better soldiers than married men. St. Valentine defied this decree and urged young lovers to come to him in secret so that he could join them in the sacrament of matrimony. Eventually he was discovered by the Emperor, who promptly had St. Valentine arrested and brought before him. Because he was so impressed with the young priest, Emperor Claudius attempted to convert St. Valentine to Roman paganism rather than execute him. However, St. Valentine held steadfast and in turn attempted to convert Emperor Claudius to Christianity, at which point the Emperor condemned him to death. While in prison, Valentine was tended by the jailer, Asterius, and his blind daughter. St. Valentine miraculously restored sight to his jailer’s blind daughter, causing the jailer and his entire extended household, forty-six people in total, to immediately convert to Christianity. Upon hearing this, Emperor Claudius ordered St. Valentine’s execution. Asterius’ daughter was very kind to Valentine and brought him food and messages. They developed a friendship.
The night before his execution, St. Valentine wrote a farewell message to the jailer’s daughter, whom he had befriended and signed it affectionately “From Your Valentine,” a phrase that lives on even to today. He was executed on February 14th, 269 AD (aged 42–43) in Rome, Roman Empire. The Martyrology says, “At Rome, on the Flaminian Way, the heavenly birthday of the blessed martyr Valentine, a priest. After performing many miraculous cures and giving much wise counsel he was beaten and beheaded under Claudius Caesar.” The church in which he is buried existed already in the fourth century and was the first sanctuary Roman pilgrims visited upon entering the Eternal City. Valentine has become the universal symbol of friendship and affection shared each anniversary of the priest’s execution — St. Valentine’s Day. Valentine has also become the patron of engaged couples. The custom of sending valentines on this day is the revival of an ancient pagan practice, which consisted in boys drawing the names of girls in honor of their goodness, Februata Juno, on February 15. To abolish this practice names of Saints were substituted on billets drawn upon this day. He’s pictured with birds because birds start pairing in February around his feast day. He’s the Patron Saint of: Affianced couples; betrothed couples; engaged couples; happy marriages; love; lovers; youths; epilepsy; greeting card manufacturers; greetings; plague; travelers; young people; against fainting; bee keepers.
“Three things will last forever: Faith, Hope and Love. But the greatest of these is Love.” ~ 1 Corinthians 13:13
PRAYER: “O St. Valentine, lover of Christ and of the Church, we ask your intercession that we may learn how to love God above all things, and to selflessly love one another. O glorious St. Valentine, pray for us, that we too may have the steadfast faith of the martyrs.”
“God of power and mercy, through Your help St. Valentine has overcome the tortures of his passion. Help us who celebrate his triumph to remain victorious over the wiles of our enemies.” … Amen🙏
SAINTS CYRIL, MONK AND METHODIUS, BISHOP: The two brothers, Sts. Cyril (originally Constantine) and Methodius, Apostles of the Slavs, were born into a noble family in Thessalonika, a district in northeastern Greece. Constantine was the younger, born in about 827, and his brother Methodius in about 815. Born into a prestigious senatorial family, both Sts. Cyril and Methodius renounced their wealth and status, they chose instead to become priests. Constantine undertook a mission to the Arabs, and then became a professor of philosophy at the imperial school in Constantinople and librarian at the cathedral of Santa Sophia. Methodius became governor of a district that had been settled by Slavs. Both brothers then retired to monastic life. In about 861, the Eastern Emperor Michael III sent them to work with the Khazars northeast of the Black Sea in the Dnieper-Volga region of what was later Russia. They learned the Khazar language and made many converts, and discovered what were believed to be relics of Clement, an early Bishop of Rome. In about 863, Prince Rastislav, the ruler of Great Moravia (an area including much of what was later Czechoslovakia), asked the emperor for missionaries, specifying that he wanted someone who would teach his people in their own language. The emperor and the Patriarch Photius sent Methodius and his brother Constantine, who translated the Liturgy and much of the Scriptures into Slavonic and perfected a Slavonic alphabet which is now known as the “Cyrillic” alphabet and devised a kind of writing, called glagolitic, which even to the present day is used in the liturgical services of some Eastern rites. The two labored in Moravia for four years until 867, achieving greater success than the German missionaries who had labored among the people for some time with little success. Through great effort and in spite of tremendous difficulties they converted the Slavonic nations. In 867, the Saintly brothers were summoned to Rome to render an account of their mission, they were met by Pope Hadrian II (867-872) and the whole papal court. They gave a report of their labors but encountered opposition on the part of jealous clergy who took offense, it was said, because of their liturgical innovations. St. Cyril and Methodius explained their methods and the Pope warmly approved of their methods, from the Pope himself received episcopal consecration (868). Constantine entered a monastery there, taking the name Cyril. However, he died only a few weeks thereafter, on February 14, 869 at Rome, only forty-two years old, and was buried in St. Peter’s; later his body was transferred to San Clemente, where his remains still rest. His funeral resembled a triumphal procession.
After St. Cyril’s death, St. Methodius was left to continue the apostolate alone. St. Methodius was consecrated Bishop by Pope Hadrian II and sent him back. St. Methodius returned to Moravia and did the apostolate and labored as a missionary with success in Moravia, Slovakia, Bohemia, Hungarians, Bulgarians, Dalmatians, and the inhabitants of Carinthia and the neighboring countries. Falling again under suspicion, he returned to Rome and defended the use of the Slavonic language in the liturgy. In order to further St. Methodius’ work in Moravia, Pope Adrian II, bestowed upon him the dignity of archbishop. He was appointed archbishop of a new archdiocese in the territory, independent from the German church. Unfortunately this had the effect of angering his German critics, who had him deposed and imprisoned for a period of three years. Pope Adrian’s successor, John VIII, managed to have St. Methodius freed and had him reinstated as archbishop, after which he expanded his work to incorporate the region of modern day Poland. He converted the duke of Bohemia and his wife, spread the light of faith in Bohemia and Poland, is said to have gone to Moscow (after the erection of the See of Lemberg), and to have established the diocese of Kiev. The new pope, Pope John VIII continued to support Methodius’ use of the Slavic languages in worship and his translations of the Bible, despite continuing controversy with some elements of the German church. Eventually, with the assistance of several Greek priests, he translated the whole Bible into the language that is known today as Church Slavonic. St. Methodius chose his successor from among the native Moravian Slavs whom he had evangelized, and he died on April 6, 885 in Velehrad, the old capitol of Moravia, worn out by his heroic labors and long struggles with enemies that never ceased to antagonized him. He was buried in the Church of St. Mary at Velehrad, the services being conducted in Greek, Slavonic, and Latin. Sts. Cyril and Methodius’ missionary work among the Slavs laid the essential foundation for the later Christianization of Ukraine and Russia in 988, when the Russian Prince Vladimir accepted Baptism. They are Patron Saint of: Slavic Peoples; Bohemia; Bulgaria; Bosnia; Croatia; Czech Republic; Czechoslovakia; ecumenism; Europe; Moravia; Russia; unity of the Eastern and Western Churches; Yugoslavia; ecumenism; Republic of Macedonia; Transnistria; Archdiocese of Ljubljana; Slovak Eparchy of Toronto; Eparchy of Košice and against storms.
PRAYER: Merciful God, You have enlightened the Slavonic nations by the teaching of the brothers Cyril and Methodius. Help us to assimilate the teachings of Your doctrine and perfect us as a people united in the true Faith and its expansion. Amen🙏
PRAYER INTENTIONS: We thank God for blessing us all with the gift of His precious son, may we be saved by the name of our Savior Jesus Christ! May the Lord grant us His grace as we continue to serve Him in spirit and in truth and as we begin the Lenten Season. Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for the sick and dying. We particularly pray for sick children, those who are sick with convulsive disorder, mental illness, strokes, heart diseases, and those suffering from cancers and other terminal diseases. May God restore them to good health and grant them His Divine healing and intervention. May our Mother Mary comfort them, may the Angels and Saints watch over them and may the Holy Spirit guide them in peace and comfort during these challenging times. We pray for the safety and well-being of us all and our families, for peace, love and unity in our families, our marriages and our divided and conflicted world. Every life is a gift. We pray for God’s deliverance from impossible causes or situations. We pray for the souls in Purgatory and the repose of the gentle souls of all the faithful departed, may the Lord receive them into the light of Eternal Kingdom. Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord. And let perpetual light shine upon them. May their gentle souls through the mercy of God rest in peace with our Lord Jesus Christ Amen. For all widows and widowers. And we continue to pray for our Holy Father, Pope Francis, the Bishops, the Clergy and all those who preach the Gospel. For vocations to the priesthood and religious life, for the Church, for persecuted christians, for all the innocent who suffer violence due to political or religious unrest, for the conversion of sinners and Christians all over the world. Please let us continue to pray for peace in our families and throughout our divided and conflicted World. Amen🙏
Let us pray:
My Divine Lord, You freely chose to enter the desert for a time of prayer, fasting, and temptation. Your willing embrace of this moment in Your life is also an invitation to me to journey with You. As I begin this Lent, I firmly resolve to follow You into the desert. I resolve to endure a time of sacrifice, penance, and prayer. May I accompany You on Your journey to understand what You understood, endure what You endured, face what You faced, and overcome all that You overcame. Though I approach these forty days with a certain reluctance, please give me the courage to do what is necessary to make this a truly fruitful Lent. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary, Saint Valentine and Saints Cyril and Methodius ~ Pray for us🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this new year and praying for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world and for God’s Divine Mercy and Grace upon us all as during this Ordinary Time. Have a blessed, safe and grace-filled Lenten Season and lovely Valentine’s Day and week. May God keep us all safe and well ~ Amen🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖
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