DAILY GOSPEL: 21/03/2011
«Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.» John 6,68
Monday of the Second week of Lent
Book of Daniel 9:4-10.
«Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.
We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.
O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.
But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you
and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.
Psalms 79:8.9.11.13.
Do not hold past iniquities against us; may your compassion come quickly, for we have been brought very low.
Help us, God our savior, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, pardon our sins for your name's sake.
Let the groans of prisoners come before you; by your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; through all ages we will declare your praise.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:36-38.
Jesus said to his disciples: «Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
«Lord, great and awesome God, you who keep your merciful covenant toward those who love you and observe your commandments!
We have sinned, been wicked and done evil; we have rebelled and departed from your commandments and your laws.
We have not obeyed your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, our fathers, and all the people of the land.
Justice, O Lord, is on your side; we are shamefaced even to this day: the men of Judah, the residents of Jerusalem, and all Israel, near and far, in all the countries to which you have scattered them because of their treachery toward you.
O LORD, we are shamefaced, like our kings, our princes, and our fathers, for having sinned against you.
But yours, O Lord, our God, are compassion and forgiveness! Yet we rebelled against you
and paid no heed to your command, O LORD, our God, to live by the law you gave us through your servants the prophets.
Psalms 79:8.9.11.13.
Do not hold past iniquities against us; may your compassion come quickly, for we have been brought very low.
Help us, God our savior, for the glory of your name. Deliver us, pardon our sins for your name's sake.
Let the groans of prisoners come before you; by your great power free those doomed to death.
Then we, your people, the sheep of your pasture, will give thanks to you forever; through all ages we will declare your praise.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6:36-38.
Jesus said to his disciples: «Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.
Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you; a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing, will be poured into your lap. For the measure with which you measure will in return be measured out to you."
Monday of the Second week of Lent
Isaac the Syrian (7th century), monk near Mosul, saint of the Orthodox churches
Ascetical discourses, 1st series, no.81
“Be merciful as your Father is merciful”
Don’t try to distinguish between those who are worthy and those who are not. Let all men be equal in your eyes, to be loved and served. In this way you will be able to guide all of them to good. Did not the Lord sit at table with publicans and women of disreputable life, without keeping the unworthy at a distance from him? So you also should bestow the same generosity, the same favor on the unfaithful and the ruffian, and all the more so in that he, too, is your brother since he shares the same human nature. My son, here is the commandment I give you: let mercy always tip your scales until you start to feel within yourself the mercy that God feels towards the world.
At what point does a man recognise that his heart has attained purity? When he looks on all men as good without a single one seeming impure or besmirched to him. Then, in truth, he is pure of heart (Mt 5,8)…
What is this purity? Briefly, it is compassion of heart towards the entire universe. And what is compassion of heart? It is the flame that consumes it for all creation: men, birds, creatures, demons, for every created thing. When he thinks of or looks at them, a man feels his eyes filling with tears out of a deep, intense pity, which grips his heart and makes it incapable of allowing, hearing, seeing the least wrong, the least affliction, endured by any creature. That is why prayer accompanied by tears constantly reaches out as much towards dumb creatures as to those who are enemies of the truth, or who harm it, so that they might be preserved and purified. An immense and measureless compassion is born in the man's heart, in the image of God.
At what point does a man recognise that his heart has attained purity? When he looks on all men as good without a single one seeming impure or besmirched to him. Then, in truth, he is pure of heart (Mt 5,8)…
What is this purity? Briefly, it is compassion of heart towards the entire universe. And what is compassion of heart? It is the flame that consumes it for all creation: men, birds, creatures, demons, for every created thing. When he thinks of or looks at them, a man feels his eyes filling with tears out of a deep, intense pity, which grips his heart and makes it incapable of allowing, hearing, seeing the least wrong, the least affliction, endured by any creature. That is why prayer accompanied by tears constantly reaches out as much towards dumb creatures as to those who are enemies of the truth, or who harm it, so that they might be preserved and purified. An immense and measureless compassion is born in the man's heart, in the image of God.
St Benedetta Cambiagio Frassinello (1791-1858)
SAINT BENEDETTA CAMBIAGIO FRASSINELLO
(1791 - 1858)
(1791 - 1858)
Saint Benedetta Cambiagio Frasinello was born on 2 October 1791 in Langasco (Genoa) Italy; she died on 21 March 1858 in Ronco Scrivia in Liguria. She was wife, religious and foundress. She let the Holy Spirit guide her through married life to the work of education and religious consecration. She founded a school for the formation of young women and also a religious congregation, and did both with the generous collaboration of her husband. This is unique in the annals of Christian sanctity. Benedetta was a pioneer in her determination to give a high quality education to young women, for the formation of families for a "new Christian society" and for promoting the right of women to a complete education.
Call to marriage, then to religious life
From her parents Benedetta received a Christian formation that rooted in her the life of faith. Her family settled in Pavia when she was a girl. When she was 20 years old, Benedetta had a mystical experience that gave her a profound desire for a life of prayer and penance, and of consecration to God. However, in obedience to the wishes of her parents, in 1816, she married Giovanni Frassinello and lived married life for two years. In 1818, moved by the example of his saintly wife, Giovanni agreed that the two should live chastely, "as brother and sister" and take care of Benedetta's younger sister, Maria, who was dying from intestinal cancer. They began to live a supernatural parenthood quite unique in the history of the Church.
Congregation founded by wife, who is supported by her husband
Following Maria's death in 1825, Giovanni entered the Somaschi Fathers founded by St Jerome Emiliani, and Benedetta devoted herself completely to God in the Ursuline Congregation of Capriolo. A year later she was forced to leave because of ill health, and returned to Pavia where she was miraculously cured by St Jerome Emiliani. Once she regained her health, with the Bishop's approval, she dedicated herself to the education of young girls. Benedetta needed help in handling such a responsibility, but her own father refused to help her. Bishop Tosi of Pavia asked Giovanni to leave the Somaschi novitiate and help Benedettain her apostolic work. Together they made a vow of perfect chastity in the hands of the bishop, and then began their common work to promote the human and Christian formation of poor and abandoned girls of the city. Their educational work was of great benefit to Pavia. Benedetta became the first woman to be involved in this kind of work. The Austrian government recognized her as a "Promoter of Public Education".
She was helped by young women volunteers to whom she gave a rule of life that later received ecclesiastical approval. Along with instruction, she joined formation in catechesis and in useful skills like cooking and sewing, aiming to transform her students into "models of Christian life" and so assure the formation of families.
Benedictine Sisters of Providence
Benedetta's work was considered pioneering for those days and was opposed by a few persons in power and by the misunderstanding of clerics. In 1838 she turned over the institution to the Bishop of Pavia. Together with Giovanni and five companions, she moved to Ronco Scrivia in the Genoa region. There they opened a school for girls that was a refinement on what they had done in Pavia.
Eventually, Benedetta founded the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of Providence. In her rule she stressed the education of young girls. She instilled the spirit of unlimited confidence and abandonment to Providence and of love of God through poverty and charity. The Congregation grew quickly since it performed a needed service. Benedetta was able to guide the development of the Congregation until her death. On 21 March 1858 she died in Ronco Scrivia.
Her example is that of supernatural maternity plus courage and fidelity in discerning and living God's will.
Today the Benedictine Nuns of Providence are present in Italy, Spain, Burundi, Ivory Coast, Peru and Brazil. They are at the service of young people, the poor, the sick and the elderly. The foundress also opened a house of the order in Voghera. Forty years after the death of Benedetta, the bishop separated this house from the rest of the Order. The name was changed to the Benedictines of Divine Providence who honour the memory of the Foundress.
She was canonized by John Paul II on May 19, 2002.
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