Saints + Scripture: Quadragesima

The Popish Plot
vLent 2019: "Top 10 Catholic Podcasts, Part 1"

Scripture of the Day
Mass Readings—Tuesday of the Third Week of Lent
The Book of Daniel, chapter three, verses twenty-five & thirty-four thru forty-three;
Psalm Twenty-five, verses four & five(a/b), six & seven(b/c), & eight & nine;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter eighteen, verses twenty-one thru thirty-five.

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

Friends, today’s Gospel gives us the parable of the unforgiving servant, which reveals what is at the root of our inability to forgive.

In the deepest sense, we don’t belong to ourselves. Everything we have and all that we are comes from God. We are meant, with all of our gifts, to serve God’s purposes. Our very existence comes from God, but so does the forgiveness of our sins. Through no merit of ours, Christ has died for our sins and offered us the divine mercy. The upshot is this: there is nothing particularly stable about the self, nothing that it can claim for its own. All that it has is received as a gift.

Well, the incapacity to forgive comes from one place: a false sense of the substantial self. If my life belongs to me, then I will cling to resentment, anger, and self-righteousness when my dignity has been compromised. But when we realize that our life is not about us—when we put our forgiveness of others in relation to God’s forgiveness of us—then we find that real forgiveness is possible.

Reflect: How easy or difficult is it for you to forgive others? How often do you link your need to forgive to the way God has forgiven you?

Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M.: United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 65
The Book of Exodus, chapter twenty-seven, verses nine, ten, & seventeen thru twenty-one.

Commentary: The Court & Its Hangings (Exodus, 27:9-10, 17-19) & The Oil for the Lamps (Exodus, 27:20-21).

'Tis the commemoration of Saint Felix of Trier, Bishop (died circa 399), Bishop of Trier: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Diocese-link & Wikipedia-link Trier.

Commentary: Wayback Machine.

'Tis also the commemoration of Saint Govan, Hermit (circa 500-586, also spelt Cofen, etc.): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.

'Tis also the commemoration of Saint Bercharius, Abbot & Martyr, O.S.B. (636-696, A.K.A. Bererus), founding abbot of both the Abbey of Saint Peter, Hautvillers & the Abbey of Montier-en-Der, martyred by the disgruntled monk Daguin: Martyr-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Hautvillers & Wikipedia-link Montier-en-Der.

'Tis also the commemoration of Saint Ludger of Utrecht, Bishop & Abbot (circa 743-809, the "Apostle of Saxony;" A.K.A. of Münster, also spelt Lüdiger), founder of the Abbey of Werden & the Abbey of St. Ludger's, & inaugural Bishop of Münster: Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Werden, Wikipedia-link St. Ludger's, & Wikipedia-link Münster.

'Tis also the commemoration of Blessed Maddalena Caterina Morano, Religious, F.M.A. (1847-1908): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.

Papal Quote o' the Day

"Do not seek to be numbered among the learned & clever whose numbers seem destined by the combination of circumstances to increase. Be truly poor, meek, eager to holiness, merciful, pure of heart. Be among those who bring to the world the peace of God."
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, feast day: 26 September)

Little Flower Quote o' the Day

"How powerless I am to express in human language the secrets of heaven."
—St. Thérèse of Lisieux, Doctor of the Church (1873-1897, feast day: 1 October)

Saint Quote o' the Day

"[Christ] has destroyed death. For this reason he came down to earth, that by pursuing death he might kill the rebel that slew us."
—St. Alexander of Alexandria (died 328, feast day: 17 April)