Understanding the Day
Season
Lent
Rank
Weekday
Introit (Daily Prayer)
When I called upon the Lord, He heard my voice from those who war against me; and He humbled them, Who is before all ages and remains forever. Cast your care upon the Lord, and He will support you.
Ps 54:2
Hearken, O God, to my prayer; turn not away from my pleading; give heed to me, and answer me.
Glory Be to the Father…
Through our Lord…
Weekly Prayer
Prayer to St. Joseph
before the throne of God, I place in you all my interests and desires.
Oh, St. Joseph, do assist me by your powerful intercession,
and obtain for me from your Divine Son
all spiritual blessings, through Jesus Christ, our Lord.
So that, having engaged here below your heavenly power,
I may offer my thanksgiving and homage to the most loving of fathers.
Oh, St. Joseph, I never weary contemplating you and Jesus asleep in your arms;
I dare not approach while he reposes near your heart.
Press him in my name and kiss his fine head for me and
ask him to return the kiss when I draw my dying breath.
St. Joseph, patron of departing souls - pray for me.
Amen.
Weekly Formation
Selfishness and Division
The Works of the Flesh
Acts of selfishness
Acts of selfishness make private advantage the controlling rule of conduct. They oppose charity and the common good by treating the needs, rights, or salvation of others as unimportant whenever they conflict with personal preference.
Dissensions
Dissensions are needless divisions produced by stubborn disagreement, quarrels, or refusal of rightful unity. Disagreement about truth can be necessary, but dissension becomes sinful when pride or self-interest breaks peace without a just cause.
Factions
Factions form parties around persons or private interests in a way that fractures rightful unity. The fault is not ordinary association, but partisan attachment that places the group’s victory above truth, justice, charity, or the good of the whole.
Occasions of envy
Occasions of envy are attitudes or actions that cultivate sorrow at another’s good or pleasure in another’s loss. They keep comparison and resentment alive instead of recognizing every genuine good as something that can honor God.
Drinking bouts
Drinking bouts are occasions of deliberate excess in which sobriety, reason, and self-command are impaired or cast aside. The moral disorder comes from seeking intoxication or accepting the harms it brings to judgment, duty, health, and others.
Saint & Feast
Thursday of Week 0 of Lent
A biography or feast reflection has not yet been prepared.
Customs & Fasting
Traditional fast
Traditional Lenten fast.
Today in Church History
Death of Pope Boniface III
607PapalPope Boniface III, who served as pope for less than a year, died on February 19, 607. He is known for obtaining an edict from Emperor Phocas that confirmed the title 'Universal Bishop' for the Bishop of Rome.
Pope Boniface III's efforts highlight the importance of papal authority in the Church.
Catechism
Catechism of the Catholic Church
This original harmony touched every dimension of human life: harmony within the person, between man and woman, and between the first couple and creation. Work in the garden was not a burden, but the collaboration of man and woman with God in perfecting the visible creation. Humanity’s mastery over the world was first expressed as self-mastery, free from the disorder of concupiscence.
Yet this harmony of original justice was lost through the sin of our first parents. As we reflect together, we can remember that God did not create us to be solitary: man and woman form the first communion of persons, and every human person is created as a unity of body and soul, called to share in God’s life.