As we ‘march’ into March, the headwinds blow hard as I share scripture and wise words from ancient sages.
Since I live in a tropical area, we are surrounded with
Spikes of green pop through the sandy on the beach.
This month we begin a season of fasting and contemplation which begins with Ash Wednesday.
Six weeks of Lent allow us to step away from certain patterns that might not be healthy for us.
Perhaps fasting from a specific food or putting our cell phones on ‘quiet’ for a few hours a day or staying off the computer for a specific amount of time might allow us to embrace a new habit.
That new habit might be one hour of exercise or one hour of prayer and scripture reading daily.
It’s a good time to step back, take time in the “desert-space” you created and fast from those vanities that tempt us away from God.
It’s a time to listen to God’s quiet whispers in your soul.
It’s a time to love another as Christ loves us.
It’s a time to bless those around us with insights as we might gain.
It’s a time to pray for family, friends and neighbors as the Holy Spirit directs.
So, indulge in a moment or two each day as fresh words appear that might draw us closer to the One who loves us more than we could ever love another.
March 1, 2019 Friday
"If a tiny spark of God’s love already burns within you, do not expose it to the wind, for it may get blown out… stay quiet with God. Do not spend your time in useless chatter… do not give yourself to others so completely that you have nothing left for yourself." Charles Borromeo
3-2 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly; do not claim to be wiser than you are. Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” Romans 12:14-18
March 3 Last Sunday after Epiphany
[Transfiguration: Luke 9:28-43]
Jesus took Peter, James and John up to the mountain to pray. While Jesus was praying His face was transformed and His clothes became white and Elijah and Moses appeared. Peter wanted to ‘capture’ them in tabernacles. Then a cloud enveloped them and a sound came from the cloud, “This is My son; My chosen one. Listen to Him!” . . . and they (disciples) kept silent.
3-4 "The Spirit of God teaches us how we can live our faith with great generosity of spirit. There is a vertical
dimension to our faith (praising and worshiping God), but there is also a horizontal dimension to our faith in which we show our love to our sisters and brothers, God’s beloved children.” The Rev. Jude Winkler
3-5 "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe.” Proverbs 18:10
March 6 Ash Wednesday
"We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our bodies. For while we live, we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be made visible in our mortal flesh.” 2 Corinthians 4:8-11
3-7 "For who is God except the Lord? And who is a rock besides our God?— the God who girded me with strength, and made my way safe. He made my feet like the feet of a deer, and set me secure on the heights. He trains my hands for war, so that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have given me the shield of your salvation, and your right hand has supported me; your help has made me great.” Psalm 18:31-35
3-8 "I do not seek to understand in order that I may
believe, but rather, I believe in order that I may understand.” Anselm of Canterbury
3-9 "For it is written, 'As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God.' So then, each of us will be accountable to God.” Romans 14:11-12
3-10 First Sunday of Lent
“If I am distracted, Holy Communion helps me to become recollected. If opportunities are offered by each day to offend my God, I arm myself anew each day for the combat by the reception of the Eucharist. If I am in special need of light and prudence in order to discharge my burdensome duties, I draw nigh to my Savior and seek counsel and light from him.” Sir Thomas More
3-11 “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are.” 1 Corinthians 3:16-17
3-12 “Act as if everything depended on you; trust as if everything depended on God.” Ignatius of Loyola
3-13 “Stand, therefore, and fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith, with which you will be able to quench all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Ephesians 6:14-17
Pi Day is observed on March 14 (3/14 in the month/day
date format) since 3, 1, and 4 are the first three significant digits of π. Pi, or π, is the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter. Because it is irrational, it can't be written as a fraction. Instead, it is an infinitely long, non-repeating number.
“As easy as pie” is an American expression. In the 1890’s, “pie” was a common slang expression meaning anything easy, a cinch; the expression “easy as pie” stemmed quite readily from that.
come and will not delay; but my righteous one will live by faith. My soul takes no pleasure in anyone who shrinks back.' But we are not among those who shrink back and so are lost, but among those who have faith and so are saved.” Hebrews 10:36-39
3-15 “For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet 'in a very little while, the one who is coming will
3-16 “Everything that one turns in the direction of God is a prayer.” Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) born at the castle of Loyola in Basque country, Spain. He founded the order of Jesuits who are teachers. Currently 30, 000 members, they are in 500 universities around the world.
Second Sunday of Lent St. Patrick’s Day
3-17 Saint Patrick's Breastplate, a Prayer of Protection, also known as The Deer's Cry, The Lorica of Saint Patrick or Saint Patrick's Hymn, is lorica whose original Old Irish lyrics are traditionally attributed to Saint Patrick during his Irish ministry in the 5th century.
In 1889 it was adapted into the hymn I Bind Unto Myself Today. A number of other adaptions have been made.
Each verse of the prayer begins, "I arise today" or "I bind unto myself today," and this phrase is repeated at the beginning of most of the verses.
This is followed by a list of sources of strength that the prayer calls on for support:
The first verse invokes the Trinity.
The second verse invokes Christ's baptism, death, resurrection, ascension and future return on the last day.
The third verse invokes the virtues of angels, patriarchs, saints and martyrs.
The fourth verse the virtues of the natural world: the sun, moon, fire, lightning etc.
The fifth verse invokes various aspects of God - His wisdom, His eye, His ear, His hand.
The sixth verse lists the things against which protection is required - against snares of the devil, temptations of nature, those who wish ill.
This list of things against which protection is required continues in the next verse - false prophets, heathens, heretics, wizards, druids etc.The next verse calls for Christ to be in all things - Christ in me, all around me, in the eye and ear and mouth of the people I meet. The last verse returns to the theme of the Trinity.
3-18 "From infancy to death human life is surrounded by [the angels’] watchful care and intercession. Beside each believer stands an angel as protector and shepherd leading him to life." St. Basil
3-19 “Blessed be the Lord, who daily bears our burden, the God who is our salvation.” Psalm 68:19
3-20 “Scattered about the entire earth, your mother the Church is tormented by the assaults of error. She is also afflicted by the laziness and indifference of so many of the children she carries around in her bosom as well as by the sight of so many of her members growing cold, while she becomes less able to help her little ones. Who then will give her the necessary help she cries for if not her children and other members to whose number you belong?” Augustine
Third Sunday of Lent 3-24 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?”
3-27 “Love is a strong force — a great good in every way; it alone can make our burdens light, and alone it bears in equal balance what is pleasing and displeasing. It carries a burden and does not feel it; it makes all that is bitter taste sweet. ... Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, nothing better in heaven or on earth; for love is born of God and can find its rest only in God above all He has created. Such lovers fly high, run swiftly and rejoice. Their souls are free; they give all for all and have all in all. For they rest in One supreme Goodness above all things, from Whom all other good flows and proceeds. They look not only at the gifts, but at the Giver, Who is above all gifts."
3-21 “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” Colossians 1:13-14
And just as criminals who sail the sea often drill through the ship with a small iron tool, and let the whole sea into the ship from below, so when the devil saw the ship of Adam (by which I mean his soul) filled with many good things, he came and drilled through it with his voice alone, as if it were an iron tool, and stole all his wealth and sank the ship itself.
3-22 “Man threw away everything he had—his right to speak freely, his communion with God, his time in Paradise, his unclouded life—and went out naked, like a survivor from a shipwreck. But God received him and immediately clothed him, and taking him by the hand gradually led him to heaven. And yet the shipwreck was quite unforgivable.
For this tempest was entirely due, not to the force of the winds, but to the carelessness of the sailor. Yet God did not look at this, but had compassion for such a great disaster. … Why? Because, when no sadness or care or labor or toil or countless waves of desire assaulted our nature, it was overturned and fell.
And just as criminals who sail the sea often drill through the ship with a small iron tool, and let the whole sea into the ship from below, so when the devil saw the ship of Adam (by which I mean his soul) filled with many good things, he came and drilled through it with his voice alone, as if it were an iron tool, and stole all his wealth and sank the ship itself.
But God made the gain greater than the loss, and brought our nature to the royal throne.” John Chrysostom
3-23 “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8
God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'I am has sent me to you.'” God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, 'The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.” Isaiah 3:14-15
3-25 Feast of the Annunciation . . . The Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary and says, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you . . .” Mary visits Elizabeth soon after and, before Mary can utter a word, Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Luke 1:26-38
3-25 Feast of the Annunciation . . . The Archangel Gabriel comes to Mary and says, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you . . .” Mary visits Elizabeth soon after and, before Mary can utter a word, Elizabeth says, “Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” Luke 1:26-38
[Icon by my friend, Jim Fox]
3-26 “Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what it is still possible for you to do.” Pope John XXIII
3-27 “Love is a strong force — a great good in every way; it alone can make our burdens light, and alone it bears in equal balance what is pleasing and displeasing. It carries a burden and does not feel it; it makes all that is bitter taste sweet. ... Nothing is sweeter than love, nothing higher, nothing stronger, nothing larger, nothing more joyful, nothing fuller, nothing better in heaven or on earth; for love is born of God and can find its rest only in God above all He has created. Such lovers fly high, run swiftly and rejoice. Their souls are free; they give all for all and have all in all. For they rest in One supreme Goodness above all things, from Whom all other good flows and proceeds. They look not only at the gifts, but at the Giver, Who is above all gifts."
Thomas à Kempis, p. 108 Imitation of Christ.
3-28 “For this very reason, you must make every effort
to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love. For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
2 Peter 1:5-8
3-29 "Temptation to a certain sin, to any sin whatsoever, might last throughout our whole life, yet it can never make us displeasing to God’s Majesty provided we do not take pleasure in it and give consent to it. You must have great courage in the midst of temptation. Never think yourself overcome as long as they are displeasing to you, keeping clearly in mind the difference between feeling temptation and consenting to it.” St. Francis de Sales
3-30 “Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was
the punishment that made us whole, and by His bruises we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6
3-31 “Teach me your way, O Lord, that I may walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart to revere your name. I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. For great is your steadfast love toward me.” Psalm 86:11-13
The fourth Sunday of Lent is traditionally known by the name Laetare Sunday. This name is taken from, “Laetare Jerusalem” which means "Rejoice, O Jerusalem." Laetare Sunday marks the halfway point through the Lenten season of fasting, abstinence, and penance, and because
of this it is a day of joy in anticipation of the close arrival of Easter. This day corresponds with Gaudete Sunday halfway through the Advent season, where the clergy wear rose-colored liturgical vestments and the altar is decorated with flowers, often roses.
