Reflections on the Daily Readings 14th March 2022
Monday 14th March
Lenten Weekday
Take a reverent knee in solidarity
The BBC named 45-year-old Xaverian Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng of Myanmar among the news agency’s list of “100 inspiring and influential woman from around the world” for 2021. Stunning news photos and videos showed her kneeling with arms outstretched before security forces, asking them to shoot her instead of peaceful protesters of the country’s military takeover. Two of the armed police dropped to their knees and folded their hands. On this, the last day of National Catholic Sisters Week, it’s a dramatic example of the selfless sacrifice of religious women who give their lives in service to and love of Christ. The vast majority don’t become sensations for their acts, but they are still heroes.
Today's readings: Daniel 9:4b-10; Luke 6:36-38
“For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you.”
Tuesday 15th March
Lenten Weekday
A cardinal’s titular role
It was a huge honor for the United States when—on this day in 1875— Pope Pius IX elevated New York’s Archbishop John McCloskey to become the first-ever cardinal from the United States. It meant American Catholics finally had a seat at the table. All cardinals belong to the College of Cardinals, which elects and counsels the pope. And all cardinals automatically assume honorary leadership of dioceses and parishes around Rome—meaning they, too, could be promoted bishop of Rome one day. While our church preserves such hierarchical traditions, God sees beyond rank to the quality of service we render, regardless of station. Pray for all to serve the church with wisdom and love.
Today's readings: Isaiah 1:10, 16-20; Matthew 23:1-12
"Do not be called ‘Master’; you have but one master, the Christ."
Wednesday 16th March
Lenten Weekday
Be bold in your witness for justice
On this day in 1877, the renowned black Catholic scholar and activist Dr. Thomas Wyatt Turner was born in Hughesville, Maryland. The first African American to earn a Ph.D. in botany (or in any subject from Cornell University), Turner would go on to cofound both the NAACP in 1909 and the Federated Colored Catholics in 1924. Via both organizations, he would lobby to end segregation at the Catholic University of America as well as in U.S. seminaries (especially that of the Josephites, an order founded to serve African Americans). He died in 1978 at the age of 101. May his legacy be for all of us a model of defiant witness for the oppressed.
Today's readings: Jeremiah 18:18-20; Matthew 20:17-28
“Remember that I stood before you to speak in their behalf.”
Thursday 17th March
Patrick, Bishop, Missionary
Have you answered the call?
In the modern Western world, middle-class people rarely face death by starvation or religious persecution. Saint Patrick, the great evangelizer of Ireland in the 600s, faced both these threats when he finally acted on his long-avoided calling to bring the Christian message to the people of Ireland. Have you ever inconvenienced yourself to carry out something God called you to? Take a moment today to reflect on your own calling in life and the sacrifice it entails.
Today's readings: Jeremiah 17:5-10; Luke 16:19-31
“‘If they will not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone should rise from the dead.’”
Friday 18th March
Cyril Of Jerusalem, Bishop,
The doctor prescribes some “me time”
In a series of lectures known as the Catechesis, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem instructed fourth-century catechumens in the faith. His lessons continue to be enlightening: “The present is the season of confession,” Cyril writes of Lent. “Confess what thou hast done in word or in deed. . . . Forsake things present and put your trust in things to come. Have you run so many circles [over] the years busied in vain about the world, and have you not 40 days to be free for prayer, for your own soul’s sake? ‘Be still, and know that I am God,’ says the Scripture. . . . You are running for yourself, see to your own interest.” Note well: You have the permission of a saint and doctor of the church to go off the grid for a time and tend to your own spiritual wellbeing.
Today's readings:Genesis 37:3-4, 12-13a, 17b-28a; Matthew 21:33- 43, 45-46
“Whoever remains in me and I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing.”
Saturday 19th March
Solemnity Of Joseph,
Husband Of The Blessed Virgin Mary
First spouse
On May 1, 2013, the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments instructed that the name of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary, be inserted into all the Eucharistic Prayers of the Mass. So now when the priest invokes the name of the Mother of God during the prayers at the altar, he includes “with Blessed Joseph, her spouse.” Joseph is our model of the just man, the good husband. Pray for husbands everywhere, that Joseph be their model and a source of strength.
Today's readings: 2 Samuel 7:4-5a, 12-14a, 16; Romans 4:13, 16-18, 22; Matthew 1:16, 18-21, 24a or Luke 2:41-51a
“He did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.”
