Friday, Fifth Week of Lent

St. John 10.31-42: "The Father is in me and I am in the Father".
"The signs worked by Jesus attest that the Father has sent him. They invite belief in him. To those who turn to him in faith he grants what they ask" (CCC#548).

Thursday, Fifth Week of Lent

St. John 8.51-59: "I tell you, before Abraham was, I am".
"Against all human hope, God promises descendants to Abraham, as the fruit of faith and of the power of the Holy Spirit" (CCC#: 706).

Wednesday, Fifth Week of Lent

St. John 8.31-42: "If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free".
"By his glorious Cross Christ has won salvation for all men. He redeemed them from the sin that held them in bondage. 'For freedom Christ has set us free'" (CCC#: 1741).

Tuesday, Fifth Week of Lent

St. John 8.21-30: "I am going away, and you will search for me...Where I am going you cannot come".
"Finally, Christ's Resurrection -- and the risen Christ himself -- is the principle source of our future resurrection: 'Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep'. In Christ, Christians 'have tasted...the powers of the age to come' and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may 'live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised'" (CCC#: 655).

Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord

St. Luke 1.26-38: "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your will".
"The Annunciation of Mary inaugurates 'the fullness of time,' the time of the fulfillment of God's promises and preparations".
CCC#: 484-486.

Fifth Sunday of Lent (Year B)

St. John 12.20-33: "The ruler of this world will be driven out. And I, when I Am lifted out of the earth, will draw all people to myself".
“The everlasting God has in his wisdom foreseen from eternity the cross that he now presents to you as a gift from his inmost heart. This cross he now sends you he has considered with his all knowing eyes, understood with his divine mind, tested with his wise justice, warmed with loving arms, and weighed with his own hands to see that it be not one inch too large and not one ounce too heavy for you. He has blessed it with his holy Name, anointed it with grace, perfumed it with his consolation, taken one last glance at you and your courage, and then sent it to you from heaven, a special greeting from God to you, an alms of the all merciful love of God” (St. Francis de Sales).

Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

St. John 4.40-53: "Then the temple police went back to the chief priests and Pharisees, who asked them, 'Why did you not arrest them?' The police answered, 'Never has anyone spoken like this!'"
"Who do you say that I am?" (St. Matthew 16.15).

Friday, Fourth Week of Lent

St. John 7.1-2,10,25-30: "The one who sent me is true, and you do not know him. I know him, because I am from him, and he sent me".
"For, amen, I say to you, many prophets and just men have desired to see the things that you see, and have not seen them, and to hear the things that you hear and have not heard them" (Matthew 13.17). 

Thursday, Fourth Week of Lent

St. John 5.18,31-47: I have a testimony that is greater than John's. The works that my Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me".
"Don't be satisfied with a theoretical or formal faith. Rather let your faith be living, genuine, loving and loyal" (Bishop Francis Van Thuan).

Wednesday, Fourth Week of Lent

St. John 5:16-30: "Indeed, just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. The Father judges no one but has given all judgement to the Son, so that all may honour the Son just as they honour the Father".
"Christ is the Lord of eternal life. The Father has given "all judgement to the Son". Yet the Son did not come to judge, but to save and to give the life he has in himself. By rejecting grace in this life, one already judges oneself, receives according to his works, and can even condemn oneself for all eternity by rejecting the Spirit of love" (CCC#679).

Tuesday, Fourth Week of Lent

St. John 5.1-16: "'Do you want to be made well?' The sick man answered him, 'Sir I have no one to put me into the pool'. Jesus said to him, 'Stand up, take up your mat and walk'".
"On the banks, on both sides of the river that flows from the Temple, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing" (Ezekiel).

Solemnity of St. Joseph

St. Matthew 1.16, 18-21,24: Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit".
"St. Joseph is that just man, that wise and loyal servant, whom you placed at the head of your family. With a husband's love he treasured Mary, the virgin Mother of God. With fatherly care he watched over Jesus Christ, your Son, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Preface of the Solemnity of St. Joseph).

Fourth Sunday of Lent (Year B)

St. John 3.14-21: "Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life".
"Christ's sacrifice is "the source of eternal salvation...his most holy Passion on the wood of the cross merited justification for us" (Council of Trent).
CCC#662.

Memorial of St. Patrick

Collect of the Memorial of St. Patrick:
"O God, who chose the Bishop Saint Patrick
to preach your glory to the peoples of Ireland,
grant, through his merits and intercession,
that those who glory in the name of Christian
may never cease to proclaim your wondrous deeds to all".

"Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lay down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise...
I arise today through a might strength, the invocation of the Trinity, through belief in the threeness, through confession of the oneness, of the Creator of creation" (St. Patrick's Breastplate)

Friday, Third Week in Lent

St. Mark 12.28-34: "Which commandment is the first of all? 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength...and your neighbour as yourself'".
"I want to be a Christian, even though I should die for it" (Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha).

Thursday, Third Week of Lent

St. Luke 11.14-23: "Jesus was casting out a demon...But some of them said, 'He casts out demons by Beelzebul, the ruler of demons'".
"The devil and the other demons were indeed created naturally good by God, but they became evil by their own doing" (Lateran Council IV).
CCC#391-395

Wednesday, Third Week of Lent

St. Matthew 5.17-19: "Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill".
"For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call upon him? And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as the entire law that I am setting before you today?"
CCC#577-582.

Tuesday, Third Week of Lent

St. Matthew: 18.21-35: "'How often should I forgive? As many as seven times?' Jesus said to him, 'Not seven times, but I tell you seventy-seven times'".
"God does not accept the sacrifice of a sower of disunion, but commands that he depart from the altar so that he may first be reconciled to his brother. For God can only be appeased by prayers that make peace. To God the better offering is peace, brotherly concord and a people made one in the unity of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit" (St. Cyprian).

Monday, Third Week of Lent

St. Luke 4.24-30: "Truly I tell you, no prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown".
"My soul is thirsting for the living God; when shall I see him face to face" (Psalm 42),

Third Sunday of Lent (Year B)

St. John 2.13-25: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up".
"No temple was ever more systematically destroyed than was His body. The dome of the temple, His head, was crowned with thorns; its foundations, His sacred feet, were riven with nails; the transepts, His hands, were stretched out in the form of a cross; the Holy of Holies, His Heart, was pierced with a lance" (Bishop Fulton Sheen, Life of Christ).
CCC#584.

Saturday, Second Week of Lent

St. Luke 15.1-3,11-32: "We had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found".
"Only the heart of Christ who knows the depths of his Father's love could reveal to us the abyss of his mercy".
CCC#1439

Friday, Second Week of Lent

St. Matthew 21.33-43,45-46: "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone".
On the foundation  of Christ "the Church is built by the apostles and from it the the Church receives solidarity and unity" (CCC# 756).
"If we open our eyes, isn't what is said in the parable actually a description of our present world?" (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth).

Thursday, Second Week of Lent

St. Luke 16.19-31: There was a rich man...And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus".
"Graciously accept this oblation of our service, that of your whole family; order our days in your peace, and command that we be delivered from eternal damnation and counted among the flock of those you have chosen" (Roman Missal, Eucharistic Prayer I).
CCC# 1035

Wednesday, Second Week of Lent

St. Matthew 20.17-28: "Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?"
"The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many".

Tuesday, Second Week of Lent

St. Matthew 23. 1-12: "All who exalt themselves will be humbled, and all who humble themselves will be exalted".
Great site for Catholic resources: Catholic Answers at www.catholic.com

Monday, Second Week of Lent

St. Luke 6.36-38: "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful".
The heart that offers itself to the Holy Spirit turns injury into compassion.
CCC# 2843.

Second Sunday of Lent (Year B)

St. Mark 9. 2-9 "Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, 'This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!'"