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Thirsty? It's Time to be Quenched!
Third Week of Lent -
Use
your violet candle!
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Need help preparing your family for the Sacrament of
Reconciliation?
Check out our new Preparation suggestions!
Please add Coming Home Catholic to your safe senders list.
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Start with the
Basics
(Click
here to learn more) |
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Living Our Faith
Stations of the Cross
Our favorite Lenten devotion has
always been Stations of the Cross. If you have not participated in
this Lenten practice, why not give it a try?
Click here to learn
more. We are extra fortunate. After praying the Way of the
Cross our community eats a meager meal together. It is a wonderful
experience.
In case you have not yet decided
what to do for Lent, please consider completing the
Family Lenten Inventory,
then check out the
prayer, fasting, and almsgiving you can practice throughout
Lent.
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Celebrate All Year Long!
(Click here to learn more) |
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Saints to Celebrate
There are no special memorials or
feast days this week,
so use your
violet candle all week long
for the season of Lent.
- Friday,
February 22
is also a day of abstinence, so don't eat
meat!
A solemnity is a day of greatest
importance. The celebration starts the evening before the actual
solemnity. Easter is our most important solemnity. A feast is
the next most important day. It commemorates Mary, the apostles,
martyrs and other saints, and the events associated with them. Mass
readings often reflect the special feast day. A memorial is a
special day, but often an optional celebration. The scripture
readings for Mass may or may not be specially selected for the
memorial.
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Devotion of the Month
Learn the Liturgy of the Hours with us - and
get a helping hand online!
We're learning to pray the morning and evening prayers of
Liturgy of the Hours
during Lent this year. We've been doing fine incorporating morning
prayer into our routine, but are still spotty with evening
prayer. Universalis has helped
out. We can just print out the prayers and not struggle to find the
pages in the book. It is an online source for the prayers, all just one click away. It
has made prayer much easier!
Daily prayers for the Liturgy of the Hours are also found in these sources:
Christian Prayer: The Liturgy of the Hours
Saint Joseph Guide for the Liturgy of the Hours (St. Joseph Liturgy Guides) |
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Keep Building that Faith!!
(click
here to learn more) |
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Start the Week off Right
(prepare for the Sunday Scriptures)
| Exodus
17:3-7 |
Romans
5:1-2, 5-8 |
John
4:5-42 |
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Thirsting? It's Time to be Quenched!
We're deep into Lent now, and the Sunday readings
for the next three weeks reflect that depth. They bring to the
forefront the basic images of our faith: water, light, and
conversion from death to life. This week it is the images of life-saving water
that abound! In the first reading the
Israelites feel as if they are dying of thirst. Anyone who has spent
any time in a desert can understand the feeling. Lips get dry and
parched, skin gets dry and flaky. Sometimes it seems as if the
thirst will never be quenched. They were scared, and doubt was
setting in. How quickly they forgot that with God, anything is
possible. Then Moses struck a rock, and water flowed for all. They
need not doubt any longer. Similarly, we may have our own occasions
of doubt. They are common in our faith journey. We just need to stay
on the right path and be open to hearing God's call.
In the second reading Paul refers to justification. One may
wonder what this has to do with water. If you read the Catechism
of the Catholic Church (paragraph #1987) you'll learn that
justification means the cleansing of our sins by the power of the
Holy Spirit. There is the water reference! The peace, faith, hope, and love of God are ours thanks
to the sacrament of Baptism. It is up to us to believe in and spread
the good news.
The Gospel is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. Just
as the Israelites were physically thirsty, the Samaritan woman was
spiritually thirsty. As He always did, Jesus met this woman at
her own level. She was a woman who'd been "looking for love in all
the wrong places." It was highly unlikely she had ever known true
love. Jesus, however, treated her with respect, even though she was a
lowly Samaritan and a woman. He offered her the water of salvation
and revealed that He is, indeed, the Messiah. The woman believed Him,
embraced her call, and spread the good news throughout her community. We are called to do
likewise.
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Daily Dose of Scripture (our
picks of the week)
Lectionary
readings for the 3rd Week of Lent:
| Monday |
2 Kgs 5:1-15b |
Lk 4:24-30 |
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| Tuesday |
Dn 3:25, 34-43 |
Mt 18:21-35 |
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| Wednesday |
Dt 4:1, 5-9 |
Mt 5:17-19 |
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| Thursday |
Jer 7:23-28 |
Lk 11:14-23 |
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| Friday |
Hos 14:2-10 |
Mk 12:28-34 |
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| Saturday |
Hos 6:1-6 |
Lk 18:9-14 |
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- 2 Kings 5:1-15
Choosing the first reading for the week was difficult for us. We
always love reading from the book of Hosea, but we decided the story
of Naaman was better for this week. We can review some Biblical
history with our scripture lessons!
History review:
David, the great king of Israel, ruled from 1000 BC to 970 BC.
Solomon ruled from 970 BC to 930 BC.
After Solomon died the kingdom of Israel split into two kingdoms:
Judah (southern) with Jerusalem as its capital, and
Israel (northern) with Samaria as its capital.
Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians in 722 BC
Judah was overtaken by the Babylonians in 587 BC. The 49
year Babylonian exile began.
Our reading of the week takes place when the northern kingdom of
Israel was an independent country. Naaman was an army commander of
Aram, a frequent enemy of Israel. Unfortunately, he has leprosy. A
young Israelite girl suggests he seek a cure from the prophet Elisha.
The king of Israel was not thrilled about this, but Elisha reprimanded
the king. Elisha wanted to show the foreigner the power of faith in
the one, true God.
Elisha told Naaman to wash in the waters of the River Jordan. This
river was in the valley, so was not terribly pure. The river of
Damascus was in the mountains, so much more pure. Nevertheless, Naaman
humbles himself to wash in the Jordan, and is cured of the leprosy. He
returned to Elisha and admitted that the God of Israel is the one,
true God.
Once again we are reminded to live our faith, not put a fence around
our faith. We cannot hoard our blessings and share them with only a
select few. Instead, we are called to passionately live our faith, and
share it with everyone around us. We must be open to our entire
community. Lent is a perfect time to evaluate not only how we live are
faith, but how we share that faith.
- Luke 4:24-30
Now that Lent has begun, the daily Gospel readings no longer
proceed in chronological order. Instead, they are based on themes of
faith, repentance, and returning to God.
In our Gospel pick of the week Jesus was not accepted as a spiritual
leader by his own friends and neighbors. We've been considering how
many people we take for granted who could be spiritual leaders if we
just give them a chance. Our children have certainly led us to greater
faith. The proselytes who knock on our door have forced us to learn
more about our own faith. That may not have been their intent, but
they led us to a deeper appreciation of the Truth of Catholicism!
People who have hurt us have challenged us to be forgiving. We have
hurt others and been challenged to ask for their forgiveness. We visit
the sick and the homebound. Their dignity in life and in facing death
provides a jump-start in our spiritual journey. The more we think
about it, the more we realize that we are being led closer to God
every moment of the day by every person we meet. It's time to let
every moment of every day, good or bad, lead us closer to completely
accepting Jesus as our ultimate Leader.
Open that Catechism!
This past week we overheard a non-Christian ask a
Lutheran (who'd grown up Catholic) why she celebrated Lent. She
stammered and stuttered a questionable answer. Do you know why we take
the time to prepare for Easter during this season of Lent? Find out in
paragraph #540 in the
Catechism of the Catholic Church.
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