Daily Devotional for March 8 – 14
Sunday
+continued daily Mass readings from Lent
| Matthew 20: 17-28 At that time, Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve dis- ciples apart, and said to them: Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall con- demn Him to death, and shall deliver Him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified, and the third day He shall rise again. Then came to Him the mother of the sons of Zebedee with her sons, adoring and asking something of Him. Who said to her: What wilt thou? She saith to Him: Say that these my two sons may sit, the one on Thy right hand, and the other on Thy left, in Thy kingdom. And Jesus answering, said: You know not what you ask. Can you drink the chalice that I shall drink? They say to Him: We can. He saith to them: My chalice indeed you shall drink: but to sit on My right or left hand is not Mine to give to you, but to them for whom it is prepared by My Father. And the ten, hearing it, were moved with indignation against the two brethren. But Jesus called them to Him, and said: You know that the princes of the Gentiles
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Theme: the disciples have not understand humility and the emptiness of earthly honors (have we?)
Prayer: We fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us always from all dangers, O glorious and blessed Virgin. Amen.
*Sub Tuum Praesidium
Monday
Jeremiah 17:5-10
Thus saith the Lord: Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord.
6 For he shall be like tamaric in the desert, and he shall not see when good shall come: but he shall dwell in dryness in the desert in a salt land, and not inhabited.
7 Blessed be the man that trusteth in the Lord, and the Lord shall be his confidence.
8 And he shall be as a tree that is planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots towards moisture: and it shall not fear when the heat cometh. And the leaf thereof shall be green, and in the time of drought it shall not be solicitous, neither shall it cease at any time to bring forth fruit.
9 The heart is perverse above all things, and unsearchable, who can know it?
10 I am the Lord who search the heart and prove the reins: who give to every one according to his way, and according to the fruit of his devices.
Theme: We need to trust in God, not man (or ourselves).
Prayer: Holy angel of the Lord by guardian, pray to God for me.
(Eastern Prayer)
Tuesday
Luke 17:19-31
| At that time Jesus said to the Pharisees: There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and feast- ed sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar, nam- ed Lazarus, who lay at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table, and no one did give him: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the an- gels into Abraham’s bosom. And the rich man also died, and he was buried in hell. And Ufting up his eyes when he was in tor- ments, he saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried and said: Father Abra- ham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool my tongue, for I am tor- mented in this flame. And A- braham said to him: Son, re- member that thou didst receive good things in thy lifetime, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is fixed a great chaos: so that they who would pass from hence to you cannot, nor from thence co- me hither. And he said: Then, father, I beseech thee that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this pla- ce of torments. And Abraham said to him: They have Moses and the prophets: let them hear them. But he said: No, father
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Theme: The need for realizing suffering in life according to God’s plan (which we can never fully understand) and bearing with it is the path to salvation.
Prayer: Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed by Thy Name. Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done, on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
Wednesday
Genesis 37:6-22
| In those days Joseph said to his brethren: Hear my dream which I dreamed: I thought we were binding sheaves in the field: and my sheaf arose as it were, and stood, and your sheaves standing about, bowed down before my sheaf. His brethren answered: Shalt thou be our king ? or shall we be subject to thy dominion ? Therefore this matter of his dreams and words ministered nourishment to their envy and hatred. He dreamed also another dream, which he told his breth- ren, saying: I saw in a dream, as it were the sun, and the moon, and eleven stars worshipping me. And when he had told this to his father and brethren, his father rebuked him, and said: What meaneth this dream that thou hast dreamed ? shall I and thy mother and thy brethren worship thee upon the earth? His brethren therefore envied him: but his father considered the thing with himself. And when his brethren abode in Si- chem feeding their father’s flocks, Israel said to him: Thy brethren feed the sheep in Si- chem: come, I will send thee to them. And when he answered: I am ready, he said to him: Go, and see if all things be well with thy brethren, and the cattle: and bring me word again what is doing. So being sent from the
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Comment: Joseph innocently told what he experienced but didn’t have the prudence, which comes with age. to see how is brethren would take it.
Prayer: Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning it is now and ever shall be. World without end. Amen.
Thursday
Luke 15:11-32
At that time, Jesus spoke to the Pharisees and Scribes this parable: A certain man had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me.’ And he divided his means between them. And not many days later, the younger son gathered up all his wealth, and took his journey into a far country; and there he squandered his fortune in loose living. And after he had spent all, there came a grievous famine over that country, and he began himself to suffer want. And he went and joined one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his farm to feed swine. And he longed to fill himself with the pods that the swine were eating, but no one offered to give them to him. But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired men in my father’s house have bread in abundance, while I am perishing here with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.’ And he arose and went to his father. But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran and fell upon his neck and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Fetch quickly the best robe and put it on him, and give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet; and bring out the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; because this my son was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to make merry. Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And calling one of the servants he inquired what this meant. And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has got him back safe.’ But he was angered and would not go in. His father, therefore, came out and began to entreat him. But he answered and said to his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have been serving you, and have never transgressed one of your commands; and yet you have never given me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this your son comes, who has devoured his means with harlots, you have killed for him the fattened calf.’ But he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours; but we were bound to make merry and rejoice, for this your brother was dead, and has come to life; he was lost, and is found.’
Theme: God’s forgiveness of sin doesn’t lessen his love for those who are faithful (the faithful son had a greater reward but had the wrong attitude).
Prayer: Immaculate Heart of May, prayer for us.
Prayer: O Most Holy Trinity, have mercy on us. O Lord, blot out our sins. O Master, pardon our iniquities. O Holy One, visit and heal our infirmities for Thy name’s sake.
(Eastern Prayer)
Friday
Matthew 21:33-46
At that time, Jesus spoke this parable to the multitude of the Jews and the chief priests: There was a man, a householder, who planted a vineyard, and put a hedge about it, and dug a wine vat in it, and built a tower; then he let it out to vine-dressers, and went abroad. But when the fruit season drew near, he sent his servants to the vine-dressers to receive his fruits. And the vine-dressers seized his servants, and beat one, killed another, and stoned another. Again he sent another party of servants more numerous than the first; and they did the same to these. Finally he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But the vine-dressers, on seeing the son, said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and we shall have his inheritance.’ So they seized him, cast him out of the vineyard, and killed him. When, therefore, the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-dressers? They said to Him, He will utterly destroy those evil men, and will let out the vineyard to other vine-dressers, who will render to him the fruits in their seasons. Jesus said to them, Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone; by the Lord this has been done, and it is wonderful in our eyes’? Therefore I say to you, that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and will be given to a people yielding its fruits. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but upon whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard His parables, they knew that He was speaking about them. And though they sought to lay hands on Him, they feared the people, because they regarded Him as a prophet.
Comment: the Jews understand Christ is talking about them, the one they are rejecting.
Prayer: O my God relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
*Act of Hope
Saturday
Genesis 27: 6 –
In those days, Joseph said to his brothers, Listen to this dream which I had. We were binding sheaves in the field; my sheaf rose up and remained standing, while your sheaves gathered round and bowed down to my sheaf. His brothers answered, Are you to be our king? Are you to rule over us? And because of his dreams and words they hated him the more. He had another dream which he also told to his brothers. I had another dream, he said. The sun, the moon and eleven stars were worshipping me. When he told that to his father and his brothers, his father reproved him. What is this dream that you have had? he said. Can it be that I and your mother and your brothers will come to bow to the ground before you? So his brothers envied him, while his father pondered the matter. When his brothers had gone to pasture their father’s flocks at Sichem, Israel said to Joseph, Your brothers are pasturing the flocks at Sichem; get ready, I will send you to them. Joseph answered, I am ready. Go, then, said Israel, and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks; and bring back a report to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Sichem. A man found Joseph wandering about in the fields and asked him, What are you looking for? I am looking for my brothers, he answered. Tell me, please, where they are pasturing. The man said, They have moved on from here, because I heard them say, ‘Let us go to Dothain.’ So Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothain. They saw him in the distance, and before he drew near them, they plotted to kill him. They said to one another, Here comes that dreamer! Let us therefore kill him and throw him into a cistern; we can say that a wild beast devoured him. Let us see then what becomes of his dreams. But when Ruben heard of it, he tried to rescue him from them saying, We must not kill him. Then he continued, Do not shed blood. Throw him into the cistern there in the desert, but do not lay a hand on him. His purpose was to rescue him from them and restore him to his father.
Comment: Jacob receives the blessing of the Firstborn through deception but this was ultimately God’s Will as Esau was unworthy.
Prayer: Lord have mercy – Christ have mercy – Lord have mercy