Daily Gospel (Friday 28/3/2014)

Friday of the Third week of Lent 
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12:28b-34. 

One of the scribes, when he came forward and heard them disputing and saw how well he had answered them, 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.

Commentary of the day:
Saint Anthony of Padua (c.1195-1231), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church 
Sermons for Sundays and feast days

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart"

“You shall love the Lord your God.” 'Your' God is what is said and this is a reason for loving him even more, for we love what is our own more than what is not ours. It is certainly the case that the Lord your God is worthy of being loved. He became your servant so that you might belong to him and not be ashamed of serving him... Your God became your servant for thirty whole years because of your sins, to snatch you away from slavery to the devil. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God. He who made you became your servant on your account; he has been wholly given to you that you might be given to yourself. When you were miserable he restored your happiness, giving himself to you to bring you back to yourself.

And so you shall love the Lord your God “with all your heart”. 'All': you may not keep any part of yourself for yourself. He desires an offering of the whole of yourself. He wholly bought you with all of himself that he alone might possess you, the whole of you. Therefore you will love the Lord your God with all your heart. Don't, like Ananias and Sapphira, keep part of yourself for yourself for then you will perish as they did (Acts 5,1ff.). Love wholly, then, not in part. For God has no parts but exists wholly in every part. He wants no share in your being who is wholly in his own Being. If you keep back a part of yourself then you belong to yourself and not to him.

Do you want to possess everything, then? Give him what you are and he will give you what he is. You will have nothing more of yourself, but you will have all of him together with all yourself.

Saint(s) of the day

SAINT GONTRAN King (545-592)         St. Gontran was the son of King Clotaire, and grandson of Clovis I. and St. Clotildis. Being the second son, whilst his brothers Charibert reigned at Paris, and Sigebert in Ostrasia, residing at Metz, he was crowned king of Orleans and Burgundy in 561, making Chalons his capital.         When compelled to take up arms against his ambitious brothers and the Lombards, he made no other use of his victories, under the conduct of a brave general called Mommol, than to give peace to his dominions. The crimes in which the barbarous manners of his nation involved him he effaced by tears of repentance.         The prosperity of his reign, both in peace and war, condemns those who think that human policy cannot be modelled by the maxims of the Gospel, whereas nothing can render a government more flourishing.         He always treated the pastors of the Church with respect and veneration. He was the protector of the oppressed, and the tender parent of his subjects. He gave the greatest attention to the care of the sick. He fasted, prayed, wept, and offered himself to God night and day as a victim ready to be sacrificed on the altar of His justice, to avert         His indignation which he believed he himself had provoked and drawn down upon his innocent people. He was a severe punisher of crimes in his officers and others, and, by many wholesome regulations, restrained the barbarous licentiousness of his troops; but no man was more ready to forgive offences against his own person.         With royal magnificence he built and endowed many churches and monasteries.         This good king died in 592, in the sixty-eighth year of his age, having reigned thirty-one years and some months. Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Today's Prayer

Let us pray:
Our Father in Heaven, we thank you for the gift of life.
We ask that you would allow your healing touch to rest upon every person that is in need.We thank you in advance. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

He answers prayers!
"As for me, I will call upon God; and the LORD shall save me." Psalms 55:16

He loves you more than you will ever know.
"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13

Today, I am thankful for the gift of life.
"Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift."2 Corinthians 9:15

Daily Gospel (Wednesday 26/3/2014)

Wednesday of the Third week of Lent 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5:17-19. 
Jesus said to his disciples: «Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place.
Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven. 

Commentary of the day: 
Saint Cyprian (c.200-258), Bishop of Carthage and martyr 
Jealousy and envy, 12-15; CSEL 3, 427-430 (trans. ©Friends of Henry Ashworth)

The fulfilment of the Law : loving in deed

To assume the name of Christ without following the way of Christ -what else is that but to make a sham of the divinely given name and to abandon the path of salvation? When Christ himself teaches that the person who keeps his commandments will have life (Mt 19,17) and that wisdom belongs to the one who not only listens to his words but acts on them (Mt 7,24), that the distinction of being called the greatest teacher in the kingdom of heaven is awarded to the one who not only teaches but acts in accordance with his teaching, then he means that if anything good and useful has been preached it will benefit the preacher only insofar as he lives by what he preaches.

Now is there anything the Lord more frequently urged on his disciples, any salutary counsel or heavenly precept he wanted them to cherish and observe more assiduously than his commandment that we should love one another with the same love as he himself showed for his disciples? (Jn 13,34; 15,12) Yet how can anyone preserve the peace and love of the Lord if jealousy has rendered him incapable of being either peaceable or loving toward his neighbor?

This is why the apostle Paul gave a eulogy of peace and charity and made an uncompromising assertion that neither faith nor alms nor even the suffering of the confessor or martyr would be of any value unless we observe the claims of love in their entirety (1Cor 13,1-3).

Saint(s) of the day

• St. Ludger, Bishop (c. 743-809)
• Bl. Maddalena Caterina Morano (1847-1908) 
• St. Margaret Clitherow

SAINT LUDGER
Bishop 
(c. 743-809)

        St. Ludger was born in Friesland about the year 743. His father, a nobleman of the first rank, at the child's own request, committed him very young to the care of St. Gregory, the disciple of St. Boniface, and his successors in the government of the see of Utrecht. Gregory educated him in his monastery and gave him the clerical tonsure. Ludger, desirous of further improvement, passed over into England, and spent four years and a half under Alcuin, who was rector of a famous school at York.

        In 773 he returned home, and St. Gregory dying in 776, his successor, Alberic, compelled our Saint to receive the holy order of priesthood, and employed him for several years in preaching the Word of God in Friesland, where he converted great numbers, founded several monasteries, and built many churches.

        The pagan Saxons ravaging the country, Ludger travelled to Rome to consult Pope Adrian II, what course to take, and what he thought God required of him. He then retired for three years and a half to Monte Casino, where he wore the habit of the Order and conformed to the practice of the rule during his stay, but made no religious vows.

        In 787, Charlemagne overcame the Saxons and conquered Friesland and the coast of the Germanic Ocean as far as Denmark. Ludger, hearing this, returned into East Friesland, where he converted the Saxons to the Faith, as he also did the province of Westphalia. He founded the monastery of Werden, twenty-nine miles from Cologne.

        In 802, Hildebald, Archbishop of Cologne, not regarding his strenuous resistance, ordained him Bishop of Munster. He joined in his diocese five cantons of Friesland which he had converted, and also founded the monastery of Helmstad in the duchy of Brunswick.

        Being accused to the Emperor Charlemagne of wasting his income and neglecting the embellishment of churches, this prince ordered him to appear at court. The morning after his arrival the emperor's chamberlain brought him word that his attendance was required. The Saint, being then at his prayers, told the officer that he would follow him as soon as he had finished them. He was sent for three several times before he was ready, which the courtiers represented as a contempt of his Majesty, and the emperor, with some emotion, asked him why he had made him wait so long, though he had sent for him so often. The bishop answered that though he had the most profound respect for his Majesty, yet God was infinitely above him; that whilst we are occupied with Him, it is our duty to forget everything else. This answer made such an impression on the emperor that he dismissed him with honor and disgraced his accusers.

        St. Ludger was favored with the gifts of miracles and prophecy. His last sickness, though violent, did not hinder him from continuing his functions to the very last day of his life, which was Passion Sunday, on which day he preached very early in the morning, said Mass towards nine, and preached again before night, foretelling to those that were about him that he should die the following night, and fixing upon place in his monastery of Werden where he chose to be interred.

        He died accordingly on the 26th of March, at midnight.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

BLESSED MADDALENA CATERINA MORANO (1847-1908)         Blessed Maddalena Caterina Morano was born in 1847 into a large family in Chieri, near Turin, Italy. When she was eight years old, her father and older sister died, and so young Maddalena had to work. However, she applied herself to study as well, and in 1866 she received her diploma as an elementary school teacher.         Her studies increased her knowledge of Christian doctrine and her longing to be a saint. She wished to enter religious life, but the needs of her family required her to wait. For 12 years she worked as a rural school teacher in Montaldo and taught catechism in the local parish.         In 1878, having set aside enough savings for her mother's future needs, Maddalena entered the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, a congregation founded six years earlier by Don Bosco. She was a model religious, and after a brief but intense novitiate she took her first vows. In 1881, with Don Bosco's blessing, she was sent to Trecastagni (Diocese of Catania), Sicily, and put in charge of an existing institute for women, to which she gave a new orientation inspired by the principles of the Salesian method.         Sicily became her second home, where she carried out a varied and fruitful apostolate. She opened new houses, set up after-school activities and sewing classes, trained teachers, etc. Her real love, though, was for catechism class, since she was convinced that the formation of Christian conscience was the basis of personal maturity and all social improvement. She coordinated catechetical instruction in 18 of Catania's churches and trained lay and religious catechists to bring the Christian message to needy boys and girls.         She spent 25 years in Sicily and served her community as local and provincial superior. She was an attentive mother and caring guide for many local vocations, faithfully living the charism of Mother Maria Mazzarello, co-foundress of the institute. She died in Catania at the age of 61 on 26 March 1908.         She was beatified on November 5, 1994 at Catania by John Paul II. L'Osservatore Romano - 1994

Today's Prayer

Let us pray:
Lord, help me to be fully alive to your holy presence.
Enfold me in your love.
Let my heart become one with yours. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

Let your light shine.
 "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Romans 12:21


Put your fear aside and push toward your future.
"For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind." 2 Timothy 1:7


"Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace,
which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified." Acts 20:32

Daily Gospel (Sunday 23/3/2014)

Third Sunday of Lent - Year A 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 4:5-42. 
Jesus came to a town of Samaria called Sychar,  near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink."
His disciples had gone into the town to buy food.
The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)
Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."
(The woman) said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water?
Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?"
Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again;
but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water."
Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back."
The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.'
For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true."
The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet.
Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem."
Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.
You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews.
But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him.
God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth."
The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything."
Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking with you."
At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking with her?"
The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people,
Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?
They went out of the town and came to him.
Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat."
But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know."
So the disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?"
Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work.
Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be here'? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest.
The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together.
For here the saying is verified that 'One sows and another reaps.'
I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work."
Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done."
When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days.
Many more began to believe in him because of his word,
and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."


Commentary of the day: 
Saint Maximus of Turin (?-c.420), Bishop 
CC Sermon 22 ; PL 57, 477

"The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said: ' Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah? ' "

“Water quenches a flaming fire and alms atone for sin” (Sir 3,29): water is compared to mercy. But just as water flows from a source, so must I search for the source of mercy. And I have found it in the prophet: “With you is the source of life and in your light we see light” (Ps 35[36],10).

It is indeed he who in the Gospel asks for water from the Samaritan woman... Our Savior asks the woman for water and pretends to be thirsty so he can pass on eternal grace to the thirsty. For indeed, the source cannot be thirsty and he in whom living water is to be found cannot drink the polluted water of this earth. Was Christ thirsty? Indeed he was thirsty but not for our drink but for our salvation. He was thirsty, not for earth's water but for the redemption of humankind.

Christ the source, seated at the well, miraculously causes the waters of mercy to spring up from that same location. A woman who has already had six lovers is purified by the waves of living water. Oh what a wonder! A loose woman who has come to the well of Samaria returns chaste from Jesus' source! Having come in search of water, she departs with virtue. She immediately confesses to the sins to which Jesus alludes, she recognizes the Christ and proclaims the Savior. She leaves her water jar behind and... in its place brings grace back with her to the village; relieved of her burden, she returns laden with holiness... She who came a sinner returns a prophetess.

Saint(s) of the day

• St. Turibius of Mongrovejo, Bishop (1538-1606)
• Sts Victorian and others, Martyrs (+ 484)

SAINT TURIBIUS of MONGROVEJO
Archbishop of Lima
(1538-1606)

        Turibius Alphonsus Mongrovejo, whose feast the Church honors on April 27th, was born on the 6th of November, 1538, at Mayorga in the kingdom of Leon in Spain. Brought up in a pious family where devotion was hereditary, his youth was a model to all who knew him. All his leisure was given to devotion or to works of charity. His austerities were great, and he frequently made long pilgrimages on foot.

        The fame of Turibius as a master of canon and civil law soon reached the ears of King Philip II., who made him judge at Granada. About that time the see of Lima, in Peru, fell vacant, and among those proposed Philip found no one who seemed better endowed than our Saint with all the qualities that were required at that city, where much was to be done for religion. He sent to Rome the name of the holy judge, and the Sovereign Pontiff confirmed his choice. Turibius in vain sought to avoid the honor. The Pope, in reply, directed him to prepare to receive Holy Orders and be consecrated. Yielding at last by direction of his confessor, he was ordained priest and consecrated.

        He arrived at Lima in 1587, and entered on his duties. All was soon edification and order in his episcopal city. A model of all virtue himself, he confessed daily and prepared for Mass by long meditation. St. Turibius then began a visitation of his vast diocese, which he traversed three times, his first visitation lasting seven years and his second four. He held provincial councils, framing decrees of such wisdom that his regulations were adopted in many countries. Almost his entire revenues were bestowed on his creditors, as he styled the poor.

        While discharging with zeal his duties he was seized with a fatal illness during his third visitation, and died on the 23d of March, 1606, at Santa, exclaiming, as he received the sacred Viaticum: "I rejoiced in the things that were said to me: 'We shall go into the house of the Lord.'"

        The proofs of his holy life and of the favors granted through his intercession induced Pope Innocent XI to beatify him, and he was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in the year 1726.

Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

STS. VICTORIAN AND OTHERS Martyrs (+ 484)         Huneric, the Arian king of the Vandals in Africa, succeeded his father Genseric in 477. He behaved himself at first with moderation towards the Catholics, but in 480 he began a grievous persecution of the clergy and holy virgins, which in 484 became general, and vast numbers of Catholics were put to death.         Victorian, one of the principal lords of the kingdom, had been made governor of Carthage, with the Roman title of Proconsul. He was the wealthiest subject of the king, who placed great confidence in him, and he had ever behaved with an inviolable fidelity.         The king, after he had published his cruel edicts, sent a message to the proconsul, promising, if he would conform to his religion, to heap on him the greatest wealth and the highest honors which it was in the power of a prince to bestow.         The proconsul, who amidst the glittering pomps of the world perfectly understood its emptiness, made this generous answer: "Tell the king that I trust in Christ. His Majesty may condemn me to any torments, but I shall never consent to renounce the Catholic Church, in which I have been baptized. Even if there were no life after this, I would never be ungrateful and perfidious to God, Who has granted me the happiness of knowing Him, and bestowed on me His most precious graces."         The tyrant became furious at this answer, nor can the tortures be imagined which he caused the Saint to endure. Victorian suffered them with joy, and amidst them finished his glorious martyrdom.           The Roman Martyrology joins with him on this day four others who were crowned in the same persecution.         Two brothers, who were apprehended for the faith, had promised each other, if possible, to die together; and they begged of God, as a favor, that they might both suffer the same torments. The persecutors hung them in the air with great weights at their feet. One of them, under the excess of pain, begged to be taken down for a little ease. His brother, fearing that this might move him to deny his faith, cried out from the rack, "God forbid, dear brother, that you should ask such a thing. Is this what we promised to Jesus Christ?" The other was so wonderfully encouraged that he cried out, "No, no; I ask not to be released; increase my tortures, exert all your cruelties till they are exhausted upon me." They were then burned with red-hot plates of iron, and tormented so long that the executioners at last left them, saying, "Everybody follows their example! no one now embraces our religion." This they said chiefly because, notwithstanding these brothers had been so long and so grievously tormented, there were no scars or bruises to be seen upon them.         Two merchants of Carthage, who both bore the name of Frumentius, suffered martyrdom about the sane time. Among many glorious confessors at that time, one Liberatus, an eminent physician, was sent into banishment with his wife. He only grieved to see his infant children torn from him. His wife checked his tears by these words: "Think no more of them: Jesus Christ Himself will have care of them and protect their souls." Whilst in prison she was told that her husband had conformed. Accordingly, when she met him at the bar before judge, she upbraided him in open court for having basely abandoned God; but discovered by his answer that a cheat had been put upon her to deceive her into her ruin. Twelve young children, when dragged away by the persecutors, held their companions by the knees till they were torn away by violence. They were most cruelly beaten and scourged every day for a long time; yet by God's grace every one of them persevered in the faith to the end of the persecution. Lives of the Saints, by Alban Butler, Benziger Bros. ed. [1894]

Today's Prayer

Dear Jesus, today I call on you in a special way.
Mostly I come asking for favours.
Today I'd like just to be in Your presence.
Let my heart respond to Your Love. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

• 
  

You are blessed and highly favored. Claim it and give thanks.
 "O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together."Psalms 34:3

"And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him."  Hebrews 11:6

Saint(s) of the day

Blessed Clemens August von Galen Bishop of Münster (1933-1946)

St. Nicholas Owen

St. Lea

Blessed Clemens August von Galen
Bishop of Münster
(1933-1946)

        Clemens August von Galen was born on 16 March 1878 in Dinklage Castle, Oldenburg, Germany, the 11th of 13 children born to Count Ferdinand Heribert and Elisabeth von Spee.

        His father belonged to the noble family of Westphalia, who since 1660 governed the village of Dinklage. For over two centuries his ancestors carried out the inherited office of camerlengo of the Diocese of Münster.

        Clemens August grew up in Dinklage Castle and in other family seats. Due to the struggle between Church and State, he and his brothers were sent to a school run by the Jesuits in Feldkirch, Austria.

        He remained there until 1894, when he transferred to the Antonianum in Vechta. After graduation, he studied philosophy and theology in Frebur, Innsbruck and Münster, and was ordained a priest on 28 May 1904 for the Diocese of Münster by Bishop Hermann Dingelstadt.

Parish priest, concern for poor

        His first two years as a priest were spent as vicar of the diocesan cathedral where he became chaplain to his uncle, Bishop Maximilian Gerion von Galen.

From 1906 to 1929, Fr von Galen carried out much of his pastoral activity outside Münster:  in 1906 he was made chaplain of the parish of St Matthias in Berlin-Schönberg; from 1911 to 1919 he was curate of a new parish in Berlin before becoming parish priest of the Basilica of St Matthias in Berlin-Schönberg, where he served for 10 years; here, he was particularly remembered for his special concern for the poor and outcasts.

        In 1929, Fr von Galen was called back to Münster when Bishop Johannes Poggenpohl asked him to serve as parish priest of the Church of St Lambert.

"Nec laudibus, nec timore'

        In January 1933, Bishop Poggenpohl died, leaving the See vacant. After two candidates refused, on September 5, 1933 Fr Clemens was appointed Bishop of Münster by Pope Pius XI.

        On October 28, 1933 he was consecrated by Cardinal Joseph Schulte, Archbishop of Cologne; Bishop von Galen was the first diocesan Bishop to be consecrated under Hitler's regime.

        As his motto, he chose the formula of the rite of episcopal consecration:  "Nec laudibus, nec timore" (Neither praise nor threats will distance me from God).

Throughout the 20 years that Bishop von Galen was curate and parish priest in Berlin, he wrote on various political and social issues; in a pastoral letter dated 26 March 1934, he wrote very clearly and critically on the "neopaganism of the national socialist ideology".

        Due to his outspoken criticism, he was called to Rome by Pope Pius XI in 1937 together with the Bishop of Berlin, to confer with them on the situation in Germany and speak of the eventual publication of an Encyclical.

        On 14 March 1937 the Encyclical "Mit brennender Sorge" (To the Bishops of Germany: The place of the Catholic Church in the German Reich) was published. It was widely circulated by Bishop von Galen, notwithstanding Nazi opposition.

"Lion of Munster'

        In the summer of 1941, in answer to unwarranted attacks by the National Socialists, Bishop von Galen delivered three admonitory sermons between July and August. He spoke in his old parish Church of St Lambert and in Liebfrauen-Ueberlassen Church, since the diocesan cathedral had been bombed.

        In his famous speeches, Bishop von Galen spoke out against the State confiscation of Church property and the programmatic euthanasia carried out by the regime.

        The clarity and incisiveness of his words and the unshakable fidelity of Catholics in the Diocese of Münster embarrassed the Nazi regime, and on 10 October 1943 the Bishop's residence was bombed. Bishop von Galen was forced to take refuge in nearby Borromeo College.

        From 12 September 1944 on, he could no longer remain in the city of Münster, destroyed by the war; he left for the zone of Sendenhorst.

        In 1945, Vatican Radio announced that Pope Pius XII was to hold a Consistory and that the Bishop of Münster was also to be present.

Creation of a Cardinal

        After a long and difficult journey, due to the war and other impediments, Bishop von Galen finally arrived in the "Eternal City". On 21 February 1946 the Public Consistory was held in St Peter's Basilica and Bishop von Galen was created a Cardinal.

        On 16 March 1946 the 68-year-old Cardinal returned to Münster. He was cordially welcomed back by the city Authorities and awarded honorary citizenship by the burgomaster.

        On the site of what remained of the cathedral, Cardinal von Galen gave his first (and what would be his last) discourse to the more than 50,000 people who had gathered, thanking them for their fidelity to the then-Bishop of Münster during the National Socialist regime. He explained that as a Bishop, it was his duty to speak clearly and plainly about what was happening.

        No one knew that the Cardinal was gravely ill, and when he returned to Münster on 19 March 1946 he had to undergo an operation.

        Cardinal von Galen died just three days later, on 22 March. He was buried on 28 March in the Ludgerus Chapel, which has become a place of pilgrimage to this defender of the faith in the face of political oppression.

- Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Daily Gospel (Saturday 22/3/2014)

Saturday of the Second week of Lent 

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 15:1-3.11-32. 
Tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to listen to Jesus,
but the Pharisees and scribes began to complain, saying, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
So to them he addressed this parable.
Then he said, "A man had two sons,
and the younger son said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.' So the father divided the property between them.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he found himself in dire need.
So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine.
And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any.
Coming to his senses he thought, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger.
I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers."'
So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
His son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.'
But his father ordered his servants, 'Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.' Then the celebration began.
Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing.
He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean.
The servant said to him, 'Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.'
He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him.
He said to his father in reply, 'Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends.
But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.'
He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.
But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'"

Today's Prayer

Let us pray:
Heavenly Father, thank you for being my shepherd, my guardian and my guidance. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

You can always depend on Him.
 "And he said, The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;" 2 Samuel 22:2

God is good!
"For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."Psalms 100:5

Saint(s) of the day

St. Euda 
St. Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791-1858)

SAINT BENEDETTA CAMBIAGIO FRASSINELLO

(1791 - 1858)

        Saint Benedetta Cambiagio Frasinello was born on 2 October 1791 in Langasco (Genoa) Italy; she died on 21 March 1858 in Ronco Scrivia in Liguria. She was wife, religious and foundress. She let the Holy Spirit guide her through married life to the work of education and religious consecration. She founded a school for the formation of young women and also a religious congregation, and did both with the generous collaboration of her husband. This is unique in the annals of Christian sanctity. Benedetta was a pioneer in her determination to give a high quality education to young women, for the formation of families for a "new Christian society" and for promoting the right of women to a complete education.

Call to marriage, then to religious life

        From her parents Benedetta received a Christian formation that rooted in her the life of faith. Her family settled in Pavia when she was a girl. When she was 20 years old, Benedetta had a mystical experience that gave her a profound desire for a life of prayer and penance, and of consecration to God. However, in obedience to the wishes of her parents, in 1816, she married Giovanni Frassinello and lived married life for two years. In 1818, moved by the example of his saintly wife, Giovanni agreed that the two should live chastely, "as brother and sister" and take care of Benedetta's younger sister, Maria, who was dying from intestinal cancer. They began to live a supernatural parenthood quite unique in the history of the Church.

Congregation founded by wife, who is supported by her husband

        Following Maria's death in 1825, Giovanni entered the Somaschi Fathers founded by St Jerome Emiliani, and Benedetta devoted herself completely to God in the Ursuline Congregation of Capriolo. A year later she was forced to leave because of ill health, and returned to Pavia where she was miraculously cured by St Jerome Emiliani. Once she regained her health, with the Bishop's approval, she dedicated herself to the education of young girls. Benedetta needed help in handling such a responsibility, but her own father refused to help her. Bishop Tosi of Pavia asked Giovanni to leave the Somaschi novitiate and help Benedettain her apostolic work. Together they made a vow of perfect chastity in the hands of the bishop, and then began their common work to promote the human and Christian formation of poor and abandoned girls of the city. Their educational work was of great benefit to Pavia. Benedetta became the first woman to be involved in this kind of work. The Austrian government recognized her as a "Promoter of Public Education".

        She was helped by young women volunteers to whom she gave a rule of life that later received ecclesiastical approval. Along with instruction, she joined formation in catechesis and in useful skills like cooking and sewing, aiming to transform her students into "models of Christian life" and so assure the formation of families.

Benedictine Sisters of Providence

        Benedetta's work was considered pioneering for those days and was opposed by a few persons in power and by the misunderstanding of clerics. In 1838 she turned over the institution to the Bishop of Pavia. Together with Giovanni and five companions, she moved to Ronco Scrivia in the Genoa region. There they opened a school for girls that was a refinement on what they had done in Pavia.

        Eventually, Benedetta founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. In her rule she stressed the education of young girls. She instilled the spirit of unlimited confidence and abandonment to Providence and of love of God through poverty and charity. The Congregation grew quickly since it performed a needed service. Benedetta was able to guide the development of the Congregation until her death. On 21 March 1858 she died in Ronco Scrivia.

        Her example is that of supernatural maternity plus courage and fidelity in discerning and living God's will.

        Today the Benedictine Nuns of Providence are present in Italy, Spain, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Peru and Brazil. They are at the service of young people, the poor, the sick and the elderly. The foundress also opened a house of the order in Voghera. Forty years after the death of Benedetta, the bishop separated this house from the rest of the Order. The name was changed to the Benedictines of Divine Providence who honour the memory of the Foundress.

        She was canonized by John Paul II on May 19, 2002.


- Copyright © Libreria Editrice Vaticana

Daily Gospel (Friday 21/3/2014)

Friday of the Second week of Lent:
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 21:33-43.45-46. 

 Jesus said to the chief priests and the elders of the people: «Hear another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard, put a hedge around it, dug a wine press in it, and built a tower. Then he leased it to tenants and went on a journey. When vintage time drew near, he sent his servants to the tenants to obtain his produce. But the tenants seized the servants and one they beat, another they killed, and a third they stoned. Again he sent other servants, more numerous than the first ones, but they treated them in the same way. Finally, he sent his son to them, thinking, 'They will respect my son.' But when the tenants saw the son, they said to one another, 'This is the heir. Come, let us kill him and acquire his inheritance.' They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him. What will the owner of the vineyard do to those tenants when he comes?" They answered him, "He will put those wretched men to a wretched death and lease his vineyard to other tenants who will give him the produce at the proper times." Jesus said to them, "Did you never read in the scriptures: 'The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; by the Lord has this been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes'? Therefore, I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that will produce its fruit. When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they knew that he was speaking about them. And although they were attempting to arrest him, they feared the crowds, for they regarded him as a prophet.



Commentary of the day:
 Saint Bonaventure (1221-1274), Franciscan, Doctor of the Church
 The Mystical Vine, ch. 3, § 5-10 

"They seized him, threw him out of the vineyard, and killed him"

 “I am the true vine,” Jesus says (Jn 15,1)... People dig trenches around this vine; that is to say, cunningly dig traps. When they plot to make someone fall into a snare it is as if they dug a pit in front of him. That is why he mourns about it, saying: “They have dug a pit before me” (Ps 56[57],7)... Here is one example of these snares: “They brought a woman who had been caught in adultery” to our Lord Jesus, “saying: 'Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?' ” (Jn 8,3f.)... And here is another: “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to the Emperor or not?” (cf. Mt 22,17)...
However they discovered that these traps caused no harm to the vine. To the contrary, in digging these pits they themselves fell into them (Ps 56[57],7)... Then they kept on digging: not just his hands and his feet (Ps 21[22],17) but they pierced his side with a lance (Jn 19,34) and uncovered the interior of that sacred heart, which had already been wounded by the spear of love. The Bridegroom says in the song of his love that: “You have wounded my heart, my sister, my spouse” (Sg 4,9 Vg.). O Lord Jesus, your heart has been wounded with love by your spouse, your friend, your sister. Why, then, was it necessary for your enemies to wound you again? O you enemies, what are you doing?... Do you not know that this heart of our Lord Jesus', already pierced, is already dead, already open and cannot be touched by any other suffering? The heart of the Bridegroom, our Lord Jesus, has already received the wound of love, the death of love. What other death could touch him?... The martyrs also laugh when they are threatened, rjoice when they are struck, triumph when they are killed. Why? Because they have already died through love in their hearts, “dead to sin” (Rm 6,2) and to the world...
Thus Jesus' heart has been wounded and put to death for our sake... Physical death triumphed for a moment but only to be conquered for ever. It was blotted out when Christ rose from the dead because “death has no power over him any more” (Rm 6,9).

الإنجيل اليوميّ

يا ربّ، إِلى مَن نَذهَب وكَلامُ الحَياةِ الأَبَدِيَّةِ عِندَك ؟  (يوحنا 6: 68)  

Today's Prayer

Our Father, we thank you for your grace and mercy.
We thank you for your love and your presence in our lives.
Even when we don't deserve it, you're always good to us.
We thank you Lord for all the things you're giving to us.
In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.

Today's Verses

Get excited for what God is about to do in your life. "Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice." Philippians 4:4

You have a hiding place when life gets rough. "The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe." Proverbs 18:10