Saints + Scripture: Lent

The Popish Plot
Theology Thursday: "The Final Four"

'Tis the festival of Saint Felix III, Pope (died 492), forty-eighth Bishop of Rome, who stood for uncompromised orthodoxy against the Acacian Schism: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Pontiff & Wikipedia-link Schism.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the festival of Saint Albinus of Angers, Bishop (circa 469-550, also spelt Aubin): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the festival of Saint David of Wales, Bishop (circa 500-589; A.K.A. Dewi, Degui, etc.): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Saint David's Day.

Commentary: Son of St. Non [3 March].

'Tis also the festival of Saint Swithbert of Kaiserswerth, Bishop, O.S.B. (circa 647-713, the "Apostle of the Frisians;" A.K.A. the Elder; also spelt Suidbert, etc.), founder of the abbey around which arose the city of Kaiserswerth: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link.

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Lenten Weekday
The Book of Jeremiah, chapter seventeen, verses five thru ten;
Psalm One, verses one & two, three, & four & six;
The Gospel according to Luke, chapter sixteen, verses nineteen thru thirty-one.

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

Friends, today’s Gospel focuses on the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. The rich man "dressed in purple garments and fine linen and dined sumptuously each day," while lying at his door was a poor man named Lazarus, "who would gladly have eaten his fill of the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table."

God is not pleased with this kind of economic inequality, and he burns with a passion to set things right. This theme came roaring up out of the Bible and into the Christian tradition, and it echoes up and down the centuries. Even though it makes us uncomfortable—and God knows it does, especially those of us who live in the most affluent society in the world—we can’t avoid it because it’s everywhere in the Bible.

St. Thomas Aquinas says, "We must distinguish between ownership and use of private property." We have a right to ownership, through our hard work, through our inheritance. Fair enough. But with regard to the use of those things—how we use them, why we use them—then, says Thomas, we must always be concerned first for the common good and not our own. This especially includes Lazarus at our gate: those who are suffering and most in need.

Video reflection by Fr. Roger Lopez, O.F.M. (Franciscan Media): U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Mass Matters
Through 28 February, the fifty-ninth day of Anno domini 2018, I participated in sixty-seven Masses.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Let us ask the Lord for the grace always to see the Lazarus who knocks at our heart & for the grace to go outside of ourselves with generosity, with an attitude of mercy, so that God's mercy can enter our heart."
—Pope Francis

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"I am but a weak & helpless child, yet it is my very weakness which makes me dare to offer myself, O Jesus, as victim to Thy Love."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"Our hearts were made for You, O Lord, & they are restless until they rest in You."
—St. Augustine of Hippo, Doctor of the Church (354-430, feast day: 28 August)