(FIFTH SUNDAY IN LENT)
“Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that ye through His poverty might be rich.”
2 Cor 8:9
As time goes on, and Easter draws nearer, we are called upon not only to mourn over our sins, but especially over the various sufferings which Christ our Lord and Saviour underwent on account of them.
From the earliest times down to this day, these weeks before Easter have been set apart every year, for the particular remembrance and confession of our sins.
(Second Sunday in Lent)
“And when Esau heard the words of his father, he cried with a great and exceeding bitter cry, and said unto his father, Bless me, even me also, O my father.” – Gen. 27:34.
I suppose no one can read this chapter without feeling some pity for Esau. He had expected that his father would give him his blessing, but his brother was beforehand with him and got the blessing instead. He did not know what had happened, and he came in to his father to be blessed, without any suspicion that he was not to be blessed.
“Surely I have behaved and quieted myself, as a child that is weaned of his mother: my soul is even as a weaned child.” – Psalm 131:2.
Self-denial of some kind or other is involved, as is evident, in the very notion of renewal and holy obedience. To change our hearts is to learn to love things which we do not naturally love—to unlearn the love of this world; but this involves, of course, a thwarting of our natural wishes and tastes.
PPS II-3, 25 December 1834
“The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1: 14.
Thus does the favoured Apostle and Evangelist announce to us that Sacred Mystery, which we this day especially commemorate, the incarnation of the Eternal Word. Thus briefly and simply does he speak as if fearing he should fail in fitting reverence. If any there was who might seem to have permission to indulge in words on this subject, it was the beloved disciple, who had heard and seen, and…
The Word was from the beginning, the Only-begotten Son of God. Before all worlds were created, while as yet time was not, He was in existence, in the bosom of the Eternal Father, God from God, and Light from Light,
By the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin is meant the great revealed truth that she was conceived in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, without original sin.
Since the fall of Adam all mankind, his
By Rita Phillips
Newman College, 13th November 2016
13th November was Rememberance Sunday in England, but it was also the day on which the Holy Doors in many Cathedrals, Jubilee Churches and Places of Pilgrimage were officially closed ( a week prior to the official closing of the Holy Door by our Holy Father Pope Francis in Rome).
So also at Littlemore, on this particular Sunday morning, some parishioners of Blessed Dominic Barberi church and some Friends gathered in the Newman College chapel
Our Saviour gave this warning when He was leaving this world,-leaving it, that is, as far as His visible presence is concerned. He looked forward to the many hundred years which were to pass before He came again. He knew His own purpose and His Father’s purpose gradually to leave the world to itself, gradually to withdraw from it the tokens of His gracious presence. He contemplated, as contemplating all things, the neglect of Him which would spread even among his professed followers;
“He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” Rev. 22:20.
When our Lord was going away, He said He would quickly come again; yet knowing that by “quickly” He did not mean what would be at first sight understood by the word, He added, “suddenly,” or “as a thief.” “Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments…!” [Rev. 16:15.] Had His coming been soon, in our sense of the word, it could not well have been sudden.
