Among the various adversities and attacks that we face on our journey, it is fitting that, on this holy itinerary, we should specifically take into consideration the lurking of the devil. Today’s Gospel describes them in the temptations of Jesus in the desert (Mt 4:1-11).
He proceeds systematically in seducing man. He uses his God-given intelligence to deceive man and make him dependent on him. Read More
254th Meditation
“How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!” (Rom 11:33b).
How often do we understand only later what our Father has done and permitted for our good!
Indeed, God’s ways are not simply laid out before our eyes like an open book, in which we can read everything in detail and find it meticulously traced out. However, there is a “divine plan” for each of us. Read More
Marked with the cross of ashes, we advance on this holy Lenten journey towards deeper conversion. With fasting we provide good wood for the fire of love and in everything we keep our gaze fixed on God, without seeking the praise of men. Read More
The Gospel presented to us today in the lectionary of the Traditional Mass offers us important warnings for our holy journey towards the Feast of the Resurrection.
Having set out, marked with the cross of ashes, determined to deepen our conversion and to integrate fasting as an important aid on the spiritual journey, the Lord warns us today in the Gospel of an inclination that we must overcome with His help:
“Be careful not to parade your uprightness in public to attract attention; otherwise you will lose all reward from your Father in heaven” (Mt 6:1). Read More
253rd Meditation
“You knew me through and through, my being held no secrets from you, when I was being formed in secret, textured in the depths of the earth” (Ps 138:15).
When we were marked with the cross of ashes, we heard the words: “Remember, you are dust, and unto dust you shall return” (cf. Gen 3:19). These are words that place us in our full creaturehood, for from God we come and to Him we return. Our body will be transformed for eternal life. This is another of the works of our loving Father that we still await, for “this mortal nature must put on immortality” (cft.1 Cor 15:54). Read More
The holy journey of Lent also includes – whenever possible – bodily fasting and the renunciation of certain things.
In doing so, we exercise ourselves in an asceticism that is beneficial for the spiritual life. If practised properly, the words of one of the Lenten Prefaces become a reality:
“For through bodily fasting you restrain our faults,
raise up our minds, and bestow both virtue and its rewards,
through Christ our lord.” Read More
252nd Meditation
“I have dispelled your acts of revolt like a cloud and your sins like a mist. Come back to me, for I have redeemed you” (Is 44:22).
This is what we can expect especially in the Lenten Season that has begun, because our Father keeps His promises. Read More
251st Meditation
Our Father calls us to return home….
Conversion means to open ourselves to God’s love and goodness, to turn away from wrong or useless ways, to turn our hearts to the Lord.
God’s heart is open to us! He never closes it and is always ready to welcome us when we seek Him. A single word from a sincere heart, a single “You are my Father”, has the power to deliver us from eternal damnation. Read More
Today begins the 40-day itinerary, which calls us to prepare ourselves for the celebration of the greatest feast in the Church: the victorious Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Filled with joy we will exclaim: “Death, where is your victory? Death, where is your sting?” (1 Cor 15:55) The Lord is risen from the dead! Read More
Sir 2:1-11
My child, if you aspire to serve the Lord, prepare yourself for an ordeal. Be sincere of heart, be steadfast, and do not be alarmed when disaster comes. Cling to him and do not leave him, so that you may be honoured at the end of your days. Whatever happens to you, accept it, and in the uncertainties of your humble state, be patient, since gold is tested in the fire, and the chosen in the furnace of humiliation. Read More
