Saturday, March 03, 2012 {St. Katharine Drexel, Virgin (Commemoration)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Laetáre, Jerúsalem: et convéntum fácite, omnes qui dilígites eam: gaudéte cum laetítia, qui in tristítia fuístis: ut exsultétis, et satiémini ab ubéribus consolatiónis vestrae. Rejoice, O Jerusalem: and come together all you that love her: rejoice with joy, you that have been in sorrow: that you may exult, and be filled from the breasts of your consolation.
-- Introit, Laetáre Sunday, St. Andrew's Missal, 1945

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:16-19
(The Lord's Own People)
16 This day Yahweh your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances: you shall therefore keep and do them with all your heart, and with all your soul.
17 You have declared Yahweh this day to be your God, and that you would walk in his ways, and keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and listen to his voice:
18 and Yahweh has declared you this day to be a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his commandments;

Saturday, February 25, 2012 (Saturday after Ash Wednesday)

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
The first step to be taken by one who wishes to follow Christ is, according to Our Lord's own words, that of renouncing himself - that is, his own senses, his own passions, his own will, his own judgement, and all the movements of nature, making to God a sacrifice of all these things, and of all their acts, which are surely sacrifices very acceptable to the Lord. And we must never grow weary of this; for if anyone having, so to speak, one foot already in Heaven, should abandon this exercise, when the time should come for him to put the other there, he would run much risk of being lost.
-- St. Vincent de Paul

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Isaiah 58:9-14
9 Then shall you call, and Yahweh will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, Here I am. If you take away from the midst of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking wickedly;
10 and if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul: then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity be as the noonday;
11 and Yahweh will guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones; and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters don’t fail.

Saturday, February 11, 2012 {Our Lady of Lourdes (Optional Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
We must never glance at what is good in ourselves, much less ponder over it, but we should search out what is wrong and what is lacking. This is an excellent way of remaining humble.
-- St. Vincent de Paul

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: 1 Kings 12:26-32; 13:33-34
(The Worship at Bethel Is Condemned/ Jeroboam's Fatal Sin)
26 Jeroboam said in his heart, Now will the kingdom return to the house of David:
27 if this people go up to offer sacrifices in the house of Yahweh at Jerusalem, then will the heart of this people turn again to their lord, even to Rehoboam king of Judah; and they will kill me, and return to Rehoboam king of Judah.
28 Whereupon the king took counsel, and made two calves of gold; and he said to them, It is too much for you to go up to Jerusalem: see your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.

Saturday, February 04, 2012 {St. Joseph of Leonessa, Capuchin, Priest (Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR SATURDAY
Though faith is above reason, there can never be any real discrepancy between faith and reason. Since the same God who reveals mysteries and infuses faith has bestowed the light of reason on the human mind, God cannot deny himself, nor can truth ever contradict truth.
-- Dei Filius

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: 1 Kings 3:4-13
4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer on that altar.
5 In Gibeon Yahweh appeared to Solomon in a dream by night; and God said, Ask what I shall give you.
6 Solomon said, You have shown to your servant David my father great loving kindness, according as he walked before you in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with you; and you have kept for him this great loving kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day.

Saturday, January 28, 2012 {St. Thomas Aquinas, Priest, Doctor of the Church (Memorial)}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
He who faithfully prays to God for the necessaries of this life is both mercifully heard, and mercifully not heard. For the physician knows better than the sick man what is good for the disease.
-- St. Augustine

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: 2 Samuel 12:1-7, 10-17
(Nathan's Message and David's Repentance/ David's Son Dies)
1 Yahweh sent Nathan to David. He came to him, and said to him, “There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had very many flocks and herds,
3 but the poor man had nothing, except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and raised. It grew up together with him, and with his children. It ate of his own food, drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was to him like a daughter.

Saturday, January 14, 2012 {Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth, and a door round about my lips: That my heart may not incline to evil words, and seek excuses in sins.
-- Psalm cxl. 3,4

READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: 1 Samuel 9:1-4, 17-19; 10:1
(Saul Meets Samuel)
1 There was a wealthy and influential man named Kish, from the tribe of Benjamin; he was the son of Abiel and grandson of Zeror, and belonged to the family of Becorath, a part of the clan of Aphiah.
2 He had a son named Saul, a handsome man in the prime of life. Saul was a foot taller than anyone else in Israel and more handsome as well.
3 Some donkeys belonging to Kish had wandered off, so he said to Saul, “Take one of the servants with you and go and look for the donkeys.”

Saturday, September 24, 2011 {Saturday Memorial of the Blessed Virgin Mary}

REFLECTION FOR TODAY
Do you ask how to resist anger? As soon as you feel the slightest resentment, gather together your powers, not hastily or impetuously, but gently and seriously. For as in some law courts, the criers make more noise in their efforts to preserve quiet than those they seek to still, so, if we are impestuous in our attempts to restrain our anger, we cause greater discomposure in our hearts than before; and once thrown off its balance, the heart is no longer its own master.
-- St. Francis de Sales


READINGS FOR TODAY
First Reading: Zechariah 2:5-9, 14-15
(The Exiles Are Called to Come Home)
5 The Lord has promised that he himself will be a wall of fire around the city to protect it and that he will live there in all his glory.”
6-7 The Lord said to his people, “I scattered you in all directions. But now, you exiles, escape from Babylonia and return to Jerusalem.