10 March 2013 4th Sunday of Lent Motives for penance: On evil which sin has wrought Recall the past. Quickly review the commandments of God and the Church, the obligations of our commitments, assignments that have been confided to us. How would we see our sins if we saw these sins as God sees them? For a single mortal sin, Adam and his posterity were condemned to death. For one venial sin, three great friends of God, Moses, David, and Ezechias, were severely punished. I have committed so many sins and have forgotten them. What could I expect? God forgets nothing; will leave nothing unpunished, even the fault of an ‘idle word’. We have many motives, then, for real and continual penance. In this time of Lent we shall receive special graces which will make it easier. Each mortal sin is a threefold injury to God. Its malice is infinite because his Majesty is infinite. By ‘insubordination’ and ‘rebellion’: God commands, we do not obey. By ‘contempt’: we prefer a fleeting and vile enjoyment, often disgraceful to God and His laws. By ‘ingratitude’: we use his very gifts to offend and insult him. Each venial sin is also a threefold injury; a slighter kind certainly. Still its malice is great. The praises of all humanity could not relieve the injury to God by one venial sin. And our past sins contained such malice. Faith and reason teach us that this malice is proportional to the grace we have received. This thought ought to overwhelm me with shame -- the times in my life when, in union with the cruel Jews, I cried out, “Let him be crucified” (Lk 23:21); and, “Not this man, but Barabbas” (Lk 23:18). Not this man, but my passion. There have been times when, in union with the murderers, I ran the nails into my Saviour’s hands and feet. I have done this every time I committed a mortal sin. And for every venial sin, I have added fresh suffering to the open wounds of Jesus. Thoughts like these armed the holy penitents of the desert against themselves. Let us imitate them during these holy days of universal penance and expiation. Ref: Cf Practical Meditations by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp108-9 THE SEVEN SUNDAYS DEVOTION TO ST. JOSEPH Honors the seven joys and seven sorrows of St Joseph. Ref: “Handbook of Prayers”, Fr Charles Belmonte and Fr James Socias (Eds), 1988, pp321-3 “What must Joseph have been, how grace must have worked through him, that he should be able to fulfill this task of the human upbringing of the Son of God. “For Jesus must have resembled Joseph: in his way of working, in the features of his character, in his way of speaking. Jesus’ realism, his eye for detail, the way he sat at table and broke bread, his preference for using everyday situations to give doctrine -- all this reflects his childhood and the influence of Joseph. “It’s not possible to ignore this sublime mystery: Jesus who is man, who speaks with the accent of a particular district of Israel, who resembles a carpenter called Joseph, is the Son of God.” Ref: St Josemaria Escrivà, “In Joseph’s Workshop” in “Christ is passing by”, 40 6. The sixth sorrow and joy of St Joseph His sorrow when he was afraid to return to his homeland; his joy on being told by the angel to go to Nazareth. “There he settled in a town called Nazareth. In this way the words spoken through the prophets were to be fulfilled: He will be called a Nazarene.” (Mt 2:23) “Joseph loved Jesus as a father loves his son and showed his love by giving him the best he had. Joseph, caring for the child as he had been commanded, made Jesus a craftsman, transmitting his own professional skill to him. Jesus worked in Joseph’s workshop and by Joseph’s side.” Ref: St Josemaria Escrivà, “In Joseph’s Workshop”, 54 On temptations in general Original sin exposes us to temptations, due primarily from the disorder which it introduced into our heart -- pride and concupiscence. Secondly, they come from the devil, who, in his despair at having lost heaven, has sworn to spare nothing to hinder us from gaining it. Thirdly, temptations come from the world -- from all the evil that we see and hear around us. “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation.” (Lk 22:40) Watching, united in prayer, is the remedy Jesus advised to his disciples during his agony in the garden. What should we watch for? 1) In observing carefully what are the occasions of sin to us, and avoiding them as best we could; 2) in studying the sources of our temptations that we may easily pre-empt them; 3) in guarding and mortifying our senses, especially our eyes, for the Holy Spirit says, ‘Death comes up through our windows’. 4) In noticing carefully the first signs of evil (of the devil), that we may promptly and energetically resist them; and 5) in a constant spirit of recollection, without which this promptness and defence is impossible. Temptations serve to keep us humble. They detach us from the world; and draw our thought and desires to heaven. We pray with more piety. Reparation for our sins and gaining merit become easy. They strengthen us in the practice of virtue; revive our waning fervor. We must not be surprised, therefore, at the frequency or violence of our temptations; or to expect that age or circumstances of position will secure us against them. Neither must we blame the devil for all our temptations since often we yield to curiosity, intemperance, or idleness; by allowing too much liberty to our senses, or by indulging in certain dangerous intimacies and friendships, against the warning of our conscience. Left to our own strength, we are bound to fail. Especially at the time of temptation, pray with humility and with the greatest of confidence, calling upon the holy names of Jesus and Mary. We shall always overcome! Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp347-9 • Our Lady of the Vine, near Viterbo, in Tuscany, a fine church, occupied at present by Dominicans.—(Bzovius, ad ann., 1487.) “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar (http://www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of the Vine. Viterbo, Italy. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady of the Vine, Tuscany, Italy. (http://www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) • Our Lady of the Vine (near Viterbo, Tuscany, Italy). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)