Daily Gospel for Wednesday,
26 March 2014
"Simon Peter
answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal
life." John 6:68
Wednesday of the Third
Week of Lent
Saints of the Day:
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
Saint Margaret of Clitherow
Feastday: March 26
St. Margaret Clitherow was born in Middleton, England, in 1555, of
protestant parents. Possessed of good looks and full of wit and merriment, she
was a charming personality. In 1571, she married John Clitherow, a well-to-do
grazier and butcher (to whom she bore two children), and a few years later
entered the Catholic Church. Her zeal led her to harbor fugitive priests, for
which she was arrested and imprisoned by hostile authorities. Recourse was had
to every means in an attempt to make her deny her Faith, but the holy woman
stood firm. Finally, she was condemned to be pressed to death on March 25,
1586. She was stretched out on the ground with a sharp rock on her back and
crushed under a door over laden with unbearable weights. Her bones were broken
and she died within fifteen minutes. The humanity and holiness of this servant
of God can be readily glimpsed in her words to a friend when she learned of her
condemnation: "The sheriffs have said that I am going to die this coming
Friday; and I feel the weakness of my flesh which is troubled at this news, but
my spirit rejoices greatly. For the love of God, pray for me and ask all good
people to do likewise." Her feast day is March 26th.
Wednesday of the Third
Week of Lent
Deuteronomy 4:1 Now,
Israel, listen to the statutes and to the ordinances, which I teach you, to do
them; that you may live, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh, the God
of your fathers, gives you.
5 Behold, I have taught
you statutes and ordinances, even as Yahweh my God commanded me, that you
should do so in the middle of the land where you go in to possess it. 6 Keep
therefore and do them; for this is your wisdom and your understanding in the
sight of the peoples, who shall hear all these statutes, and say, “Surely this
great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 For what great nation is
there, that has a god so near to them, as Yahweh our God is whenever we call on
him? 8 What great nation is there, that has statutes and ordinances so
righteous as all this law, which I set before you today?
9 Only be careful, and
keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and
lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known
to your children and your children’s children;
Psalm 147: 12 Praise
Yahweh, Jerusalem!
Praise your God, Zion!
13 For he has
strengthened the bars of your gates.
He has blessed your children within you.
15 He sends out his
commandment to the earth.
His word runs very swiftly.
16 He gives snow like
wool,
and scatters frost like ashes.
19 He shows his word to
Jacob;
his statutes and his ordinances to Israel.
20 He has not done this
for just any nation.
They don’t know his ordinances.
Praise Yah!
Holy Gospel of Jesus
Christ according to Saint Matthew 5: 17 “Don’t think that I came to destroy the
law or the prophets. I didn’t come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For most
certainly, I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one smallest
letter[a] or one tiny pen stroke[b] shall in any way pass away from the law,
until all things are accomplished. 19 Whoever, therefore, shall break one of
these least commandments, and teach others to do so, shall be called least in
the Kingdom of Heaven; but whoever shall do and teach them shall be called
great in the Kingdom of Heaven.
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 5:18
literally, iota
b. Matthew 5:18 or,
serif
Wednesday of the Third
Week of Lent
Commentary for Today:
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).
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