THIRD WEEK OF LENT
STATIONS OF THE CROSS (Link below)
SAINTS OF THE DAY: FEAST DAY ~ MARCH 8, 2024
Greetings beloved family. Happy Friday of the Third Week of Lent, and HAPPY INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY TO ALL WOMEN!
May God’s grace and mercy be with us all during this season of our Lenten journey🙏
Watch “Holy Mass and Holy Rosary | March 8, 2024 on EWTN” |
Watch “Holy Mass from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | March 8, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from Lourdes, France” | March 8, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | March 8, 2024 |
Pray “Chaplet of the Divine Mercy from the National Shrine of the Divine Mercy” | March 8, 2024 |
Pray “Holy Rosary ALL 20 Mysteries VIRTUAL🌹JOYFUL🌹LUMINOUS🌹SORROWFUL🌹GLORIOUS” on YouTube |
Today’s Bible Readings: Friday, March 8, 2024
Reading 1, Hosea 14:2-10
Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 81:6-8, 8-9, 10-11, 14, 17
Gospel, Mark 12:28-34
STATIONS OF THE CROSS | EWTN |
https://www.ewtn.com/catholicism/devotions/stations-of-the-cross-12706
STATIONS OF THE CROSS (WAY OF THE CROSS) – SHORT VERSION | https://lordcalls.com/dailyprayer/stations-of-the-cross-way-of-the-cross-short-version
40 Days in the Desert. A Lenten journey with our Lord | Day Twenty-One: Tempting God | Friday of the Third Week of Lent | https://mycatholic.life/books/40-days-in-the-desert-a-lenten-journey-with-our-lord/day-twenty-one-tempting-god/
40 Days at the foot of the Cross. A Gaze of Love from the Heart of our Blessed Mother Mary | Day Twenty-One – The Scourging and Mockery | https://mycatholic.life/books/40-days-at-the-foot-of-the-cross/day-twenty-one-the-scourging-and-mockery/
A PRAYER TO WALK HUMBLY THROUGH LENT: Father, In Micah 6:8, You say, “O people, the LORD has told you what is good, and this is what he requires of you: to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God.” Today we choose to walk humbly with You. We choose to live by Your Holy Spirit and to follow Your lead. Help us to hear You clearly, for we do not want to walk by pride or self-sufficiency, we want to walk with You. In Jesus’ name, Amen 🙏
God of goodness and mercy, hear my prayer as I begin this Lenten journey with you. Let me be honest with myself as I look into my heart and soul, noticing the times I turn away from you. Guide me as I humbly seek to repent and return to your love. May humility guide my efforts to be reconciled with you and live forever in your abundant grace. Transform me this Lent, heavenly Father. Give me the strength to commit myself to grow closer to you each day. Amen🙏
LENTEN FAST AND ABSTINENCE (Lenten Fast and Abstinence regulations from the USCCB): Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards
Members of the Eastern Catholic Churches are to observe the particular law of their own sui iuris Church. If possible, the fast on Good Friday is continued until the Easter Vigil (on Holy Saturday night) as the “paschal fast” to honor the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus, and to prepare ourselves to share more fully and to celebrate more readily His Resurrection.
DEVOTION OF THE MONTH OF MARCH: MONTH OF SAINT JOSEPH: “His was the title of father of the Son of God, because he was the Spouse of Mary, ever Virgin. He was our Lord’s father, because Jesus ever yielded to him the obedience of a son. He was our Lord’s father, because to him were entrusted, and by him were faithfully fulfilled, the duties of a father, in protecting Him, giving Him a home, sustaining and rearing Him, and providing Him with a trade”
THE POPE’S MONTHLY INTENTIONS FOR 2024: FOR THE MONTH OF MARCH – For the new Martyrs: We pray that those who risk their lives for the Gospel in various parts of the world inflame the Church with their courage and missionary enthusiasm.
During this Liturgical season of Lent, we continue to meditate on the mystery of Jesus’ sufferings which culminated in His death on the Cross for the redemption of mankind.
On this special feast day, as we continue 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, we pray for the repose of their gentle souls 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 their gentle souls 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 Africa, 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/
SAINTS OF THE DAY: Today, we celebrate the Memorial of Saint John of God (Patron Saint of hospitals, nurses, the sick, the poor, heart patients, the mentally ill and the dying, alcoholics, firefighters, booksellers and printer). Through the intercession of our Blessed Mother Mary, St. John of God and the Saints on this feast day, we humbly pray for all Healthcare professionals, the sick and the dying. We particularly pray for those suffering from mental disorders, heart disease, cancers and those who are terminally ill, we pray for God’s divine healing and intervention.🙏
Saint John of God, help us to act out of love as soon as we feel the promptings of the Holy Spirit. Help us learn to fight the little voices in our heads and hearts that give us all sorts of practical reasons to wait or delay in our service of God…Amen🙏
“Labour without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time”. ~ Saint John of God.
SAINT JOHN OF GOD, RELIGIOUS: St. John of God (1495-1550), the founder of the Brothers Hospitallers lived through decades of sin and suffering before a profound conversion that led him to embrace poverty, humility and charity. St. John was born in Portugal during the year 1495 to humble but virtuous middle-class parents. Tragically, at the age of 8, he was kidnapped by a stranger and was later abandoned to homelessness in a remote part of Spain. He worked as a shepherd until age 22, when the opportunity came along for him to join the army of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V. At that time he enlisted as a soldier in the Roman Emperor’s army to escape an offer of marriage to the shepherd’s daughter. However, this apparent stroke of fortune would eventually lead John into greater misery. For the next 18 years, John lived and fought among the emperor’s foot soldiers, first against the French and later the Turks. His morals began to decline, as he completely abandoned the piety of his earliest youth for a greedy and brutal way of life. St. John’s conscience was occasionally troubled, particularly by the memories of his early years before he was taken from his parents. And despite falling into a lifestyle of violence and plundering, he had a certain weakness for those who were poor or in extreme distress, and would give alms to them. He was narrowly saved on two occasions from what seemed like certain death – once after instinctively uttering a prayer to the Virgin Mary after falling wounded in enemy territory; and again, when he was falsely suspected of theft and nearly executed but for another soldier’s intervention. Events such as these weighed heavily upon him, and when his regiment was disbanded he decided to amend his life. At the age of 40 he left the army and reformed himself, beginning with a penitential pilgrimage to Spain’s Santiago de (St. James) Compostella Cathedral along the “Way of St. James.” There, he confessed his sins and committed himself to living a life of repentance for the rest of his life. He was affirmed in this direction by a vision of the Infant Jesus and a sermon of St. John of Avila, who was to become his spiritual director. Soon after this, he returned to Portugal and discovered what had become of his parents. His mother had died, brokenhearted, after the loss of her son, after which his father had become a Franciscan monk.
At age 42, John returned to Spain and picked up nearly where he had left off 20 years before, working again as a shepherd. This time, however, he was committed to living out the faith in God that he had regained. He traveled briefly to North Africa, seeking to help Christians there who had been enslaved by Muslims. Eventually, however, he returned to Spain and settled for a time in the occupation of selling religious books and other goods, always encouraging his customers to live their faith sincerely. St. John of God’s later reputation as the patron saint of booksellers derives from this period of his life. Later, however, he felt compelled to give himself entirely to the service of the poor, sick, and vulnerable. He opened his house to them – allowing it to become a combined hospital, homeless shelter, and halfway-house, run entirely by John himself. When he was not bandaging wounded occupants or breaking up fights between them, he would go out begging on their behalf. The Bishop of Granada approved his work, and gave him the name “John of God.” A group of volunteers came to accompany him in his work, many of whom had first come to him while in dire need themselves. Others, who resented his work, assaulted st. John’s reputation by focusing on his past sins – but John, unfazed in his humility, would acknowledge the truth of what was said, as a testament to God’s grace in his life. He once offered to pay a woman to tell the entire city what she had been saying about him in private. In 1540, St. John hired a house to harbor sick persons, and thus laid the foundations of a new Order, the Brothers Hospitallers of St. John of God. He devoted himself to the care of the sick. St. John served the sick and poor for 15 years and after years of hard labor his health deteriorated and he met his death through an act of charity. He jumped into a freezing river and managed to save a drowning man, but came home shivering and weakened from the ordeal. He lay down in one of his own hospital beds, where his condition further declined. The Bishop of Granada came to administer the last rites. As the bishop prepared him for death, St. John expressed a number of anxieties.
“There are three things that make me uneasy,” he said. “The first is that I have received so many graces from God, and have not recognized them, and have repaid them with so little of my own.”
“The second is that after I am dead, I fear lest the poor women I have rescued, and the poor sinners I have reclaimed, may be treated badly.”
“The third is that those who have trusted me with money, and whom I have not fully repaid, may suffer loss on my account.”
The bishop, however, assured him that he had nothing to fear. St. John then asked to be alone, and summoned his last strength to rise from bed and kneel before a crucifix. He died in prayer, with his face pressed against the figure of Christ, on March 8, 1550, and was canonized in 1690 by Pope Alexander VIII. He’s the Patron Saint of the sick and the dying; heart patients; the mentally ill; alcoholics; the poor; nurses; hospitals; firefighters and
booksellers and printer.
“Labour without stopping; do all the good works you can while you still have the time”. ~ Saint John of God.
PRAYER: God, You filled St. John with the spirit of compassion. Grant that by practicing works of charity we may deserve to be numbered among the Saints in Your Kingdom. 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 this challenging time. 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. Amen🙏
SCRIPTURE REFLECTIONS:
Bible Readings for today, Friday of the Third Week of Lent | USCCB | https://bible.usccb.org/daily-bible-reading
Gospel Reading ~ Mark 12:28-34
“The Lord our God is one Lord, and you shall love the Lord your God”
“One of the scribes came to Jesus and asked Him, “Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength. The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to Him, “Well said, teacher. You are right in saying, He is One and there is no other than He. And to love Him with all your heart, with all your understanding, with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is worth more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that He answered with understanding, He said to him, “You are not far from the Kingdom of God.” And no one dared to ask Him any more questions.”
In our Gospel reading today, our Lord Jesus was presented with a question from a teacher of the Law who was following Him, regarding the matter of which commandment of God was the most important of all of them. The context of this must be understood in the light of how the teachers of the Law as well as the Pharisees of the time were very particular and concerned about the details of the many rules, laws, commandments, rituals and the many aspects and tenets of the Law of God that had been passed down to the people through Moses and then preserved through many centuries. Throughout all that time, the Law of God had gradually become more and more bloated with many details and cumbersome rituals, designed to help the people to live their lives, but also with many modifications and changes that helped some to get away with certain requirements, which ended up also contradicting the original Law, its meaning and purpose. Essentially, by the time of the Lord Jesus, many of them had forgotten, or in their preoccupation with the details and the extent of the many laws, numbering about six hundred and thirteen in some traditions, they had overlooked why the Lord gave His people that Law and commandments in the first place. This was when the Lord then highlighted very clearly once again that God is truly Love, and fully filled with His ever generous and ever present love for His people, despite their often rebellious, stubborn and wicked attitudes and actions. That was where the Lord also presented the fact that the whole of the Law could indeed be summarised into two main Law, that is first and foremost, the obligation for one to love the Lord their God and Master with all of their might and strength, and then, secondly, to show that same love towards their fellow brothers and sisters. For if God has loved us all, how can we not love Him in the same way too? And how can we not love one another as well, if God loves everyone around us, as how can we hate those whom God Himself has loved?
Jesus declares that the greatest commandment of the law is to love God with all our heart. Our love of God is always in response to God’s love for us. As Saint John reminds us in his letter, ‘We love because God first loved us’. Jesus replied by giving the Scribe not just the first but the second as well. It seems that, for Jesus, these two commandments were intrinsically linked. In quoting those two commandments, Jesus speaks of three loves, the love of God, the love of neighbour and the love of self. He connects these three loves very closely together; He suggests that they are all of a piece. Yet, He clearly declares that the first love in our lives is to be the love of God. Jesus is saying that the most important relationship in our lives to get right is our relationship with God. That relationship is right if it is a relationship of love. God is to be loved not to be feared, and God is to be loved with all our being. Our love of God is always a response to God’s love of us. This is the love that is spoken about in today’s first reading, ‘I will love them with all my heart’. Knowing that God loves us with all God’s heart enables us to love God with all our heart. It is our loving relationship with God that will make it possible for us to recognize God in ourselves and in others, and to love ourselves and others as God’s good creation, as images of God. Genuine love of God in response to God’s love for us will always catch us up into God’s own love for humanity. The scribe in the Gospel reading who recognized the connection between these two commandments was declared by Jesus to be ‘not far from the kingdom of God’. God’s kingdom is always present among us whenever we open ourselves to God’s love for us and respond to that love by loving God in return and loving all whom God loves. This is what we are asking for when we pray, ‘Thy kingdom come’, in the prayer Jesus gave us to pray.
In our first reading today from the Prophet Hosea, God says to the people of Israel, ‘I will love you with all my heart’, even though they had repeatedly turned away from God. The Lord is calling on them to repent from their wicked and sinful ways, embracing His love and mercy, and returning to His loving grace and compassion. The Prophet Hosea back then lived and ministered to the people of God during the final decades and years of the northern kingdom of Israel, which were made of much of the ten of the twelve tribes of the Israelites that broke off from the rule of the House of David. That northern kingdom had spent most of its history and time in rebellion and disobedience against God, as their kings did not obey God and His Law, refusing to follow His commandments and words, and as such led the people down the path of sin and evil. They had been misled by their own wicked desires and the inability to resist the temptations of the world. That was why the Lord was angry at those people who had repeatedly rejected His kindness and love, hardened their hearts and minds and refused to listen to Him. Not only that, but they also even persecuted those prophets and messengers that God had sent into their midst to help and guide them down the right path. They had no regard for God and His truth, and preferred to live their lives in their own terms and ways. That led them further and further into the path of sin, and into their downfall. They were punished for their delinquence and stubbornness, and their enemies fell upon them one after another, as God pronounced His judgment over them, telling them how they would be scattered and having their homeland and kingdom destroyed by their own actions. But then, the Lord also told them that in the end, despite all that, God still loved them and cared for them. God did not want them all to end up being cast out into the utter darkness and destruction, as after all, He loves each and every single one of us, without exception, even to the worst of sinners among us. However, what He truly despises is our many sins and wickedness, and our refusal to listen to His words and reminders, our stubbornness and arrogance among other things. Those are the things that have often led many among us to continue to walk down the path of rebellion and evil, and hence, He calls on every one of us through what we have heard from the prophet Hosea, to turn away from all sorts of wickedness and evils, all the things that can often lead us down the path of sin and destruction. He wants us all to remember His Law and commandments, which He has presented before us so that they may become our guide and help in our journey towards His salvation and grace.
As we reflect on the words of the Sacred Scriptures today, each and every one of us are reminded of the need for us to return to the Lord and to remember His love and mercy, particularly during this blessed penitential time and season of Lent, when we prepare ourselves for the upcoming celebration of Holy Week and Easter. We are all called to remember our responsibility and obligations as Christians, to be exemplary in our way of life and to obey the Law and commandments of God in all things. We are reminded to love God and our neighbours above all else, and even perhaps more than how we love ourselves. Definitely we should not allow our own selfishness and self-love to end up causing us to forget about our duties and responsibilities as Christians, as those whom God had called and chosen to be His own. Let us all take the good examples of the life and the works of all the Saints and Holy men and women, particularly the life of St. John of God, whom we celebrate today. He spent a lot of time in working for the good of all those whom he had given himself in service to, all the way to the last moments of his life. The examples and inspirations shown to us by this holy man of God should indeed inspire us to do the same with our lives as well, that is to love the Lord our God and to love one another with the same love, as best as we can. Let us all ask the Lord for the strength and grace that we may follow Him with great faith and commitment, from now on, and walk always ever in His path. May the Lord, our ever loving and generous God continue to love and care for us, and may He empower us all in our journey of faith and life, so that in each and every moments we will continue to show love in all things, towards God and to our fellow brothers and sisters. May God in His infinite grace and mercy, grant us His grace and continue to guide us and bless us in our journey of faith throughout this life. May He continue to guide us all so that we may continue to be faithful in following Him, and in doing what is right, in accordance with His will. May God bless us always, in all of our good efforts and endeavours. Amen 🙏
Let us pray:
My loving Lord, Your love for me is infinite and perfect in every way. I pray that I will learn to love You with every fiber of my being, holding nothing back, and to daily grow deeper in my love of You. As I grow in that love, I thank You for the overflowing nature of that love, and I pray that this love of You will flow into the hearts of those around me. Jesus, I trust in You ~ Amen 🙏
Save Us, Savior of the World. Our Blessed Mother Mary and Saints John of God ~ pray for us🙏
Thanking God for the gift of this day and praying for us all during this season of Lent, let us be renewed by prayer, fasting, and giving to the poor. We pray for justice, peace, love and unity in our families and our world. May God keep us all safe and well during these challenging times and may this season of Lent bring us all true salvation in Christ as we remain united in peace, love and faith. Have a blessed, safe, and grace-filled Third week of Lent and relaxing weekend ~ Amen🙏
Blessings and Love always, Philomena 💖
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