Saints + Scripture: Lent — Long Road Back, VII of VIII

Saturday, 10 March was the festival of Saint Simplicius, Pope (died 483), forty-seventh (XLVII) Bishop of Rome: Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Twas also the festival of Saint Kessog, Bishop & Martyr (circa 460-520), martyred by pagans in the vicinity of Loch Lomond: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Twas also the festival of Saint John Ogilvie, Priest & Martyr, S.J. (1579-1615, A.K.A. John Watson), martyred in the reign of the Anglo-Scottish king James VI & I: Martyr-link ūnus, Martyr-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.

'Twas also the festival of Saint Marie-Eugénie de Jésus, Religious, R.A. (1817-1898, A.K.A. Anne-Eugénie Milleret de Brou), foundress of the Religious of the Assumption: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link R.A.

Scripture of That Day
Mass Readings—Lenten Weekday
The Book of Hosea, chapter six, verses one thru six;
Psalm Fifty-one, verses three & four, eighteen & nineteen, & twenty & twenty-one(a/b);
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter eighteen, verses nine thru fourteen.

Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):

Friends, today Jesus tells us of the Pharisee and the tax collector—so, stereotypically righteous and unrighteous people—who both enter the Temple to pray. But what a world of difference in their manner of praying!

The entire point of religion is to make us humble before God and to open us to the path of love. Everything else is more or less a footnote. Liturgy, prayer, the precepts of the Church, the Commandments, sacraments, sacramentals—all of it—are finally meant to conform us to the way of love. When they instead turn us away from that path, they have been undermined.

Both St. Paul and the Gospel writers—as well as Jesus himself, of course—are intensely aware of this danger. This is precisely why Paul speaks of the dangers of the Law. He knew that people often use the Law as a weapon of aggression: since I know what is right and wrong in some detail, then I am uniquely positioned to point out your flaws. And when I point out your flaws, I elevate myself. In short, the Law, which is a gift from God, has been co-opted for the purposes of the ego.

Video reflection by Harry Dudley, D.Min.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Papal Quote o' That Day

"Dear brothers & sisters, all of us are invited to the table of the Lord. Let us make our own this invitation & sit beside the Lord together with His disciples."
—Pope Francis

Little Flower Quote o' That Day

"O Jesus, I only ask Thee to give me peace! Peace, & above all a love that knows no bounds."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' That Day

"Who except God can give you peace? Has the world ever been able to satisfy the heart?"
—St. Gerard Majella (1726-1755, feast day: 16 April)