Fourth Sunday of Lent

At Mass today we hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus healing the blind man (John 9:1-41).  Reflecting upon this familiar Scripture passage, Fr. Thomas Rosica, CSB notes:  "We sometimes describe our blindness as an inability to see the forest for the trees, but that is a rather simplistic analysis. More worrisome is the inherited blindness which so often assumes that there are no lessons left to learn. Arrogance is very often the root of our blindness. We need the miracle of restored sight each day." (read more here) 

How seriously do I take my blindness?  How willing am I to let Jesus heal me so that I may see Him who is the Truth and follow Him who is the Light?

"Until now I wandered in the hope of finding God, but since you enlighten me, O Lord, I find God through you and I receive the Father from you, I become your coheir, since you did not shrink from having me for your brother.  Let us put away, then, let us put away all blindness to the truth, all ignorance:  and removing the darkness that obscures our vision like fog before the eyes, let us contemplate the true God…since a light from heaven shone down upon us who were buried in darkness and imprisoned in the shadow of death, purer than the sun, sweeter than life on this earth.  Amen."  ~Saint Clement of Alexandria

The Annunciation of the Lord

"Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin,

your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator....

Arise in faith, hasten in devotion,

open in praise and thanksgiving."

from a homily In Praise of the Virgin Mother

by Saint Bernard, abbot

First Day of Spring!

What is Spring?

Growth in every thing...

~Gerard Manley Hopkins

Everything growing on earth, bless the Lord;

praise and exalt him above all forever.

~Daniel 3:76

Your ways, O Lord, make known to me!

I wept heretofore for him that was afflicted,

and my soul had compassion on the poor.

~Job 30:25

A homeless man bundled up in blankets in a doorway in Manhattan during winter storm Stella

So long as there are poor, I am poor;

So long as there are prisons, I am a prisoner;

So long as there are sick, I am weak;

So long as there is ignorance, I must learn the truth;

So long as there is hate, I must love;

So long as there is hunger, I am famished.

~Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

"can spring be far behind?"

You make me jubilant, Lord, by your deeds;

at the works of your hands I shout for joy.

Psalm 92:5

"You have freedom only to give your heart away."

My son, give me your heart...  ~Proverbs 23:26

"God will love you, of course, even though you do not love him, but remember if you give him only half your heart, he can make you only fifty percent happy.  You have freedom only to give your heart away.  To whom do you give yours?  You give it either to the moods of the hour, to your egotism, to creatures, or to God." 

 ~Ven. Fulton J. Sheen

Oh dear Lord, deliver me from half-heartedness!  You who have given me Your entire being down to the last drop of Your Precious Blood, let me at least try to give You my whole heart -- not only for the sake of my happiness but most importantly for the praise of Your glory.  Amen!

Ash Wednesday

May the Lord direct our hearts,

in the charity of God,

and the patience of Christ.

2 Thess 3:5