CATHOLIC WORLD NEWS: SUN. FEB. 21, 2010: HEADLINES-
VATICAN: POPE: MESSAGE FOR 1ST SUN. OF LENT: OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS-
EUROPE: ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE NEW ENCYCLICAL-
ASIA: PHILIPPINES: NEW BISHOP APPOINTED FOR BUKIDNON-
AFRICA: EGYPT: MILLIONS OF CHILDREN CONTINUE IN POVERTY-
AMERICAS: MEXICO: PRO-LIFERS ATTEMPT TO COLLECT 50, 000 SIGNATURES-
AUSTRALIA: OPINION ON SITUATION OF THE HOMELESS-
VATICAN: POPE: MESSAGE FOR 1ST SUN. OF LENT: OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS-
EUROPE: ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE NEW ENCYCLICAL-
ASIA: PHILIPPINES: NEW BISHOP APPOINTED FOR BUKIDNON-
AFRICA: EGYPT: MILLIONS OF CHILDREN CONTINUE IN POVERTY-
AMERICAS: MEXICO: PRO-LIFERS ATTEMPT TO COLLECT 50, 000 SIGNATURES-
AUSTRALIA: OPINION ON SITUATION OF THE HOMELESS-
VATICAN
POPE: MESSAGE FOR 1ST SUN. OF LENT: OVERCOME TEMPTATIONS
Asia News report:
Benedict XVI invites the faithful to begin the Lenten journey by overcoming the temptations of material need, and the deceit of power and extravagant miracles, in imitation of Jesus who delivers us "from the ambiguous lure of planning our lives without God" . From tonight until 27 February, the pope and the Roman Curia will hold their spiritual retreat, preached by the Salesian Don Enrico dal Covolo.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – During the Angelus on this first Sunday of Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter, Benedict XVI explained the significance of this period as "a time of spiritual renewal," with a personal commitment so the "the world may improve is we start from each one of ourselves, changing, thanks to the grace of God, what is wrong in our lives".
In this the faithful should follow the example of Jesus who struggled "in first person against the Tempter, right to the Cross." "Christ - the Pope said - came into the world to free us from sin and the ambiguous lure of planning our lives devoid of God."
The pontiff referred to the temptations of Christ (recounted in today’s Gospel, Luke 4, 1-13): the first, which "takes its origin from hunger, ie from material need" and the second, with "the deception of power that Jesus unmasks and rejects "the third, in which “the Tempter offers Jesus to perform a spectacular miracle".
"Referring to the Sacred Scripture - explained the pope - He [Jesus] places the sole authentic criterion ahead of all human criteria: obedience to God's will. This too, is a key lesson for us: if we bear the Word of God in mind and heart, if it enters into our lives, then we can reject any kind of deception of the tempter. Also, the image of Christ, emerges from the episode, as the new Adam, the Son of God, humble and obedient to the Father, unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden who had succumbed to the seductions of the spirit of evil".
"Lent - concluded Benedict XVI - is like a long 'retreat', during which we gather in reflection to meditate and listen to the voice of God, to overcome the temptations of the devil. A time of spiritual 'agonism' to experience with Jesus, not with pride and conceit, but using the weapons of faith, that is prayer, listening to the Word of God and repentance. In this way we can celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism. "
He then asked the Virgin Mary to "intercede especially for me and my collaborators of the Roman Curia, as we begin our Lenten Spiritual Exercises tonight."
In fact, from 18 tonight until 27 February, all the curia with the Pope will meet daily in the Redemptoris Mater chapel for the Lenten spiritual retreat, preached by Don Enrico dal Covolo, SBD, on the theme "Lessons of God and the Church in priestly vocation". http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-Lent,-the-world-improves-if-we-begin-with-ourselves,-changing-thanks-to-the-grace-of-God-17690.html
Asia News report:
Benedict XVI invites the faithful to begin the Lenten journey by overcoming the temptations of material need, and the deceit of power and extravagant miracles, in imitation of Jesus who delivers us "from the ambiguous lure of planning our lives without God" . From tonight until 27 February, the pope and the Roman Curia will hold their spiritual retreat, preached by the Salesian Don Enrico dal Covolo.
Vatican City (AsiaNews) – During the Angelus on this first Sunday of Lent, the 40 days preceding Easter, Benedict XVI explained the significance of this period as "a time of spiritual renewal," with a personal commitment so the "the world may improve is we start from each one of ourselves, changing, thanks to the grace of God, what is wrong in our lives".
In this the faithful should follow the example of Jesus who struggled "in first person against the Tempter, right to the Cross." "Christ - the Pope said - came into the world to free us from sin and the ambiguous lure of planning our lives devoid of God."
The pontiff referred to the temptations of Christ (recounted in today’s Gospel, Luke 4, 1-13): the first, which "takes its origin from hunger, ie from material need" and the second, with "the deception of power that Jesus unmasks and rejects "the third, in which “the Tempter offers Jesus to perform a spectacular miracle".
"Referring to the Sacred Scripture - explained the pope - He [Jesus] places the sole authentic criterion ahead of all human criteria: obedience to God's will. This too, is a key lesson for us: if we bear the Word of God in mind and heart, if it enters into our lives, then we can reject any kind of deception of the tempter. Also, the image of Christ, emerges from the episode, as the new Adam, the Son of God, humble and obedient to the Father, unlike Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden who had succumbed to the seductions of the spirit of evil".
"Lent - concluded Benedict XVI - is like a long 'retreat', during which we gather in reflection to meditate and listen to the voice of God, to overcome the temptations of the devil. A time of spiritual 'agonism' to experience with Jesus, not with pride and conceit, but using the weapons of faith, that is prayer, listening to the Word of God and repentance. In this way we can celebrate Easter in truth, ready to renew the promises of our Baptism. "
He then asked the Virgin Mary to "intercede especially for me and my collaborators of the Roman Curia, as we begin our Lenten Spiritual Exercises tonight."
In fact, from 18 tonight until 27 February, all the curia with the Pope will meet daily in the Redemptoris Mater chapel for the Lenten spiritual retreat, preached by Don Enrico dal Covolo, SBD, on the theme "Lessons of God and the Church in priestly vocation". http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pope:-Lent,-the-world-improves-if-we-begin-with-ourselves,-changing-thanks-to-the-grace-of-God-17690.html
EUROPE
ORTHODOX CHURCH OF CONSTANTINOPLE NEW ENCYCLICAL
CNA report:
Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople’s newest encyclical encourages dialogue between the Orthodox Church and other C
hristian churches and laments those who are “unacceptably fanatical” in challenging such dialogue. He specifically condemned the false rumors spread about Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.
Patriarch Bartholomew’s patriarchal and synodal encyclical was dated Feb. 21, Orthodoxy Sunday, when the Orthodox Church celebrates the defeat of the iconoclastic heresy.
His letter began by noting the failure of those who tried to suppress, silence or falsify the Orthodox Church. He said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate cares about “protecting and establishing” the unity of the Orthodox Church in order that the Orthodox Christian faith may be confessed “with one voice and in one heart.”
Orthodoxy, he said, must be promoted with humility and interpreted in light of each historical period and cultural circumstance.
“To this purpose, Orthodoxy must be in constant dialogue with the world. The Orthodox Church does not fear dialogue because truth is not afraid of dialogue,” Bartholomew continued, saying that a Church enclosed within itself would no longer be “catholic.”
Dialogue with the outside world must first pass through all those who call themselves Christian, he wrote.
“We must first converse as Christians among ourselves in order to resolve our differences, in order that our witness to the outside world may be credible,” the Patriarch continued, citing Jesus’ prayer that all his disciples “may be one.”
From this source, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has conducted official Pan-Orthodox theological dialogues with the larger Christian Churches to discuss divisions in faith.
He noted that although these dialogues are conducted “with the mutual agreement and participation of all local Orthodox Churches,” they are challenged in “an unacceptably fanatical way” by some who claim to be defenders of Orthodoxy.
Such opponents raise themselves above episcopal synods and risk creating schisms, the Patriarch warned.
He also accused some critics of distorting reality to “deceive and arouse the faithful” and of depicting theological dialogue not as a pan-Orthodox effort, but an effort of the Ecumenical Patriarchate alone.
“They disseminate false rumors that union between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches is imminent, while they know well that the differences discussed in these theological dialogues remain numerous and require lengthy debate; moreover, union is not decided by theological commissions but by Church Synods,” Bartholomew wrote. “They assert that the Pope will supposedly subjugate the Orthodox, because the latter submit to dialogue with the Roman Catholics!”
According to the Patriarch, such critics also engage in condescension towards efforts aimed at achieving Christian unity and wrongly condemn them as representing “the pan-heresy of ecumenism.”
“Beloved children in the Lord, Orthodoxy has no need of either fanaticism or bigotry to protect itself. Whoever believes that Orthodoxy has the truth does not fear dialogue, because truth has never been endangered by dialogue,” the Patriarch stated. “Orthodoxy cannot proceed with intolerance and extremism.”
Patriarch Bartholomew encouraged Orthodox believers to have “utmost confidence” in their Mother Church.
He closed his encyclical letter with a prayer of Lenten blessing, asking that readers become worthy of celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with all faithful Orthodox Christians.http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/patriarch_of_constantinoples_new_encyclical_defends_catholic-orthodox_dialogue/
hristian churches and laments those who are “unacceptably fanatical” in challenging such dialogue. He specifically condemned the false rumors spread about Catholic-Orthodox dialogue.Patriarch Bartholomew’s patriarchal and synodal encyclical was dated Feb. 21, Orthodoxy Sunday, when the Orthodox Church celebrates the defeat of the iconoclastic heresy.
His letter began by noting the failure of those who tried to suppress, silence or falsify the Orthodox Church. He said that the Ecumenical Patriarchate cares about “protecting and establishing” the unity of the Orthodox Church in order that the Orthodox Christian faith may be confessed “with one voice and in one heart.”
Orthodoxy, he said, must be promoted with humility and interpreted in light of each historical period and cultural circumstance.
“To this purpose, Orthodoxy must be in constant dialogue with the world. The Orthodox Church does not fear dialogue because truth is not afraid of dialogue,” Bartholomew continued, saying that a Church enclosed within itself would no longer be “catholic.”
Dialogue with the outside world must first pass through all those who call themselves Christian, he wrote.
“We must first converse as Christians among ourselves in order to resolve our differences, in order that our witness to the outside world may be credible,” the Patriarch continued, citing Jesus’ prayer that all his disciples “may be one.”
From this source, the Ecumenical Patriarchate has conducted official Pan-Orthodox theological dialogues with the larger Christian Churches to discuss divisions in faith.
He noted that although these dialogues are conducted “with the mutual agreement and participation of all local Orthodox Churches,” they are challenged in “an unacceptably fanatical way” by some who claim to be defenders of Orthodoxy.
Such opponents raise themselves above episcopal synods and risk creating schisms, the Patriarch warned.
He also accused some critics of distorting reality to “deceive and arouse the faithful” and of depicting theological dialogue not as a pan-Orthodox effort, but an effort of the Ecumenical Patriarchate alone.
“They disseminate false rumors that union between the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Churches is imminent, while they know well that the differences discussed in these theological dialogues remain numerous and require lengthy debate; moreover, union is not decided by theological commissions but by Church Synods,” Bartholomew wrote. “They assert that the Pope will supposedly subjugate the Orthodox, because the latter submit to dialogue with the Roman Catholics!”
According to the Patriarch, such critics also engage in condescension towards efforts aimed at achieving Christian unity and wrongly condemn them as representing “the pan-heresy of ecumenism.”
“Beloved children in the Lord, Orthodoxy has no need of either fanaticism or bigotry to protect itself. Whoever believes that Orthodoxy has the truth does not fear dialogue, because truth has never been endangered by dialogue,” the Patriarch stated. “Orthodoxy cannot proceed with intolerance and extremism.”
Patriarch Bartholomew encouraged Orthodox believers to have “utmost confidence” in their Mother Church.
He closed his encyclical letter with a prayer of Lenten blessing, asking that readers become worthy of celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with all faithful Orthodox Christians.http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/patriarch_of_constantinoples_new_encyclical_defends_catholic-orthodox_dialogue/
ASIA
PHILIPPINES: NEW BISHOP APPOINTED FOR BUKIDNON
UCAN report— Father Jose Cabantan of Cagayan de Oro has been appointed bishop of neighboring Malaybalay diocese in Bukidnon province, southern Philippines in a process that has taken 
more than two years.
The appointment was announced yesterday [Feb.18] by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Pope Benedict XVI had finally accepted the resignation of Jesuit Bishop Honesto Pacana.
Bishop-elect Cabantan, 53, had been serving as archdiocesan social action director in Cagayan de Oro and pastor of the Miraculous Medal Parish at the time of the announcement.
He had worked as a chemical engineer before entering the seminary in Cagayan de Oro City in 1983.
Bishops are required to tender their resignation at 75.
Bishop Pacana, 77, told UCA News today that he had requested retirement two years ago but when he asked the apostolic nuncio later about his resignation, he was told finding a successor was “difficult.”
He said a former nuncio had told him the same thing when he asked for an auxiliary bishop more than five years ago. “I wanted to break up the growing diocese in two,” he said.
“The nuncio agreed this was needed, but said it was hard to find a priest to make a bishop,” Bishop Pacana said.
He said, “The process of nominating candidates is long and even when it was over, Rome did not accept any of those recommended by us bishops.”
In the five years since he asked for an auxiliary, Bishop Pacana nominated some 20 priests and “all were rejected.”
A bishop must be at least 35 years old, ordained a priest for five years have some expertise in scripture, theology, canon law or similar disciplines, Canon law requires.
“When it comes to a diocesan priest, he is put under a microscope, and anyone with a grudge can blacklist a nominee,” Bishop Pacana said.
Some priests have asked their bishops not to nominate them. Archbishop Oscar Cruz had told UCA News before he retired as archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan that “many good priests asked me not to list them as candidates because they do not want their privacy interrupted by the secret investigation.”
The retirement of Bishop Pacana leaves five bishops over 75 years old among the country’s 98 active bishops. These include Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila, 77, and Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu who turned 79 earlier this month.
Four more bishops are turning 75 by 2011. http://www.ucanews.com/2010/02/19/malaybalay-ends-long-search-for-bishop
more than two years.The appointment was announced yesterday [Feb.18] by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines.
Pope Benedict XVI had finally accepted the resignation of Jesuit Bishop Honesto Pacana.
Bishop-elect Cabantan, 53, had been serving as archdiocesan social action director in Cagayan de Oro and pastor of the Miraculous Medal Parish at the time of the announcement.
He had worked as a chemical engineer before entering the seminary in Cagayan de Oro City in 1983.
Bishops are required to tender their resignation at 75.
Bishop Pacana, 77, told UCA News today that he had requested retirement two years ago but when he asked the apostolic nuncio later about his resignation, he was told finding a successor was “difficult.”
He said a former nuncio had told him the same thing when he asked for an auxiliary bishop more than five years ago. “I wanted to break up the growing diocese in two,” he said.
“The nuncio agreed this was needed, but said it was hard to find a priest to make a bishop,” Bishop Pacana said.
He said, “The process of nominating candidates is long and even when it was over, Rome did not accept any of those recommended by us bishops.”
In the five years since he asked for an auxiliary, Bishop Pacana nominated some 20 priests and “all were rejected.”
A bishop must be at least 35 years old, ordained a priest for five years have some expertise in scripture, theology, canon law or similar disciplines, Canon law requires.
“When it comes to a diocesan priest, he is put under a microscope, and anyone with a grudge can blacklist a nominee,” Bishop Pacana said.
Some priests have asked their bishops not to nominate them. Archbishop Oscar Cruz had told UCA News before he retired as archbishop of Lingayen-Dagupan that “many good priests asked me not to list them as candidates because they do not want their privacy interrupted by the secret investigation.”
The retirement of Bishop Pacana leaves five bishops over 75 years old among the country’s 98 active bishops. These include Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales of Manila, 77, and Cardinal Ricardo Vidal of Cebu who turned 79 earlier this month.
Four more bishops are turning 75 by 2011. http://www.ucanews.com/2010/02/19/malaybalay-ends-long-search-for-bishop
AFRICA
EGYPT: MILLIONS OF CHILDREN CONTINUE IN POVERTY
CISA report:
Millions of Egyptian children continue to live in poverty, despite rec
ent gains made for young people, particularly on the legislative front, a study commissioned by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has found.
Speaking this week at the study's launch in Cairo, Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that nearly half of young people under the age of 18 live on less than $2 a day.
"It is important to look at how poverty is affecting their lives and how we can address it, because a child who lives in poverty rarely gets a second chance at an education or a healthy start in life," stated Ms. Kaag, who just wrapped up a three-day visit to Egypt.
The study, "Child Poverty and Disparities in Egypt: Building the social infrastructure for Egypt's future," found that more than 7 million children are deprived of one or more of their rights, which include the right to nutrition, water and sanitation facilities, access to basic health-care services, shelter, education, participation and protection.
In addition, around 5 million children are deprived of appropriate housing conditions, while some 1.5 million children under the age of five suffer from health and food deprivations.
The study also found that while poverty does not differentiate by sex, girls, especially in rural areas, are the least likely to attend school or complete their education.
The study - part of a UNICEF global initiative conducted between 2007 and 2009 to look at the impact of poverty on children in 46 countries - called for increased investment in children to maintain the progress that has been made so far in Egypt.
Further, children and their families should be made aware of child rights and of laws protecting these rights, and policies intended to address poverty among children should target children directly.
"If we are to break the cycle of poverty, it is key that children are at the heart of development policies," said Ms. Kaag.
During her visit, the Regional Director met with Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak and other officials, with whom she discussed an ambitious project sponsored by the First Lady to set up 100 schools in Cairo, as well as the challenges faced by special education initiatives for children with disabilities.
In addition to Egypt, three other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region have carried out similar child poverty studies - Djibouti, Morocco and Yemen.http://allafrica.com/stories/201002181136.html
ent gains made for young people, particularly on the legislative front, a study commissioned by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) has found.Speaking this week at the study's launch in Cairo, Sigrid Kaag, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said that nearly half of young people under the age of 18 live on less than $2 a day.
"It is important to look at how poverty is affecting their lives and how we can address it, because a child who lives in poverty rarely gets a second chance at an education or a healthy start in life," stated Ms. Kaag, who just wrapped up a three-day visit to Egypt.
The study, "Child Poverty and Disparities in Egypt: Building the social infrastructure for Egypt's future," found that more than 7 million children are deprived of one or more of their rights, which include the right to nutrition, water and sanitation facilities, access to basic health-care services, shelter, education, participation and protection.
In addition, around 5 million children are deprived of appropriate housing conditions, while some 1.5 million children under the age of five suffer from health and food deprivations.
The study also found that while poverty does not differentiate by sex, girls, especially in rural areas, are the least likely to attend school or complete their education.
The study - part of a UNICEF global initiative conducted between 2007 and 2009 to look at the impact of poverty on children in 46 countries - called for increased investment in children to maintain the progress that has been made so far in Egypt.
Further, children and their families should be made aware of child rights and of laws protecting these rights, and policies intended to address poverty among children should target children directly.
"If we are to break the cycle of poverty, it is key that children are at the heart of development policies," said Ms. Kaag.
During her visit, the Regional Director met with Egyptian First Lady Suzanne Mubarak and other officials, with whom she discussed an ambitious project sponsored by the First Lady to set up 100 schools in Cairo, as well as the challenges faced by special education initiatives for children with disabilities.
In addition to Egypt, three other countries in the Middle East and North Africa region have carried out similar child poverty studies - Djibouti, Morocco and Yemen.http://allafrica.com/stories/201002181136.html
AMERICAS
MEXICO: PRO-LIFERS ATTEMPT TO COLLECT 50, 000 SIGNATURES
CNA report:
Various civil and religious associations of Mexico, united under the organization “Man+Woman=Marriage,” are working to collect 50,000 online signatures from Mexican voters in order to stop the recently-approved law allowing homosexuals to marry and adopt children.
Guillermo de Jesús Torres Quiroz, organizer of the project, said the initiative “aims to protect children, whose rights will be harmed by the adoption of homosexual couples instead of by a family consisting of a father and mother.”
The signatures will be delivered to the Mexico City Legislative Assembly.
“We soon hope to present a plan to stop this reform that goes against the institution of the family.” The organizer added that they have had a good response so far.
Torres Quiroz said the petition will be delivered to the Legislative Assembly, where officials will review it to verify that it fulfills the legal requirements for such an initiative.
Mexico City law states that a petition can be presented to the Legislative Assembly if it has been signed by 0.5 percent of the electorate. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mexicans_seek_50000_signatures_to_stop_same-sex_marriage/
Guillermo de Jesús Torres Quiroz, organizer of the project, said the initiative “aims to protect children, whose rights will be harmed by the adoption of homosexual couples instead of by a family consisting of a father and mother.”
The signatures will be delivered to the Mexico City Legislative Assembly.
“We soon hope to present a plan to stop this reform that goes against the institution of the family.” The organizer added that they have had a good response so far.
Torres Quiroz said the petition will be delivered to the Legislative Assembly, where officials will review it to verify that it fulfills the legal requirements for such an initiative.
Mexico City law states that a petition can be presented to the Legislative Assembly if it has been signed by 0.5 percent of the electorate. http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/mexicans_seek_50000_signatures_to_stop_same-sex_marriage/
AUSTRALIA
OPINION ON SITUATION OF THE HOMELESS
Cath News report:
In 1994 I started working in community development in some of the large public housing estates around Sydney. There I learnt a valuable lesson: that everyone has a story. That might sound obvious. It is, however, the most obvious truths that sometimes need to be spoken.
Now is one of those times. On one hand we have a Government committed to the humiliating blanket imposition of compulsory income management on the basis of race and class. On the other hand we have a Leader of the Opposition who persists with the most offensive attitudes to our sisters and brothers who are doing it tough.
Everyone has a story. And they don't happen in limbo. They happen in the context of developing social and economic structures. Each person's story is a unique intersection of the personal and the political. Each intersection continues to change.
Tony Abbott's recent comments on poverty and homelessness reveal an inability to understand these intersections. If you don't know how intersections work you're sure to come a cropper!
The deeply offensive aspect of Abbott's comments is that he blames people for being left out or pushed out. Nothing could be further from the truth. Choices are constrained for those who have been systematically locked out of the nation's prosperity.
There's not much choice between a rock and a hard place. But of course, such a world view lets governments off the hook. It denies the reality of the social.
When I was forced to engage with what was happening in people's lives I was able to see the bigger picture emerging. I found myself being completely re-educated on the causes of inequality and how these social relations intersected in the lives of the people who were pushed to the edges of society. http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=19497
Now is one of those times. On one hand we have a Government committed to the humiliating blanket imposition of compulsory income management on the basis of race and class. On the other hand we have a Leader of the Opposition who persists with the most offensive attitudes to our sisters and brothers who are doing it tough.
Everyone has a story. And they don't happen in limbo. They happen in the context of developing social and economic structures. Each person's story is a unique intersection of the personal and the political. Each intersection continues to change.
Tony Abbott's recent comments on poverty and homelessness reveal an inability to understand these intersections. If you don't know how intersections work you're sure to come a cropper!
The deeply offensive aspect of Abbott's comments is that he blames people for being left out or pushed out. Nothing could be further from the truth. Choices are constrained for those who have been systematically locked out of the nation's prosperity.
There's not much choice between a rock and a hard place. But of course, such a world view lets governments off the hook. It denies the reality of the social.
When I was forced to engage with what was happening in people's lives I was able to see the bigger picture emerging. I found myself being completely re-educated on the causes of inequality and how these social relations intersected in the lives of the people who were pushed to the edges of society. http://www.cathnews.com/article.aspx?aeid=19497
TODAY'S SAINT
St. Peter Damian
BISHOP, CONFESSOR, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Feast: February 21
Information:
Feast Day:
February 14
Born:
988, Ravenna
Died:
February 22, 1072, Faenza
Peter, surnamed of Damian, was born about the year 988 in Ravenna, of a good family, but reduced. He was the youngest of many children, and, losing his father and mother very young, was left in the hands of a brother who was married, in whose house he was treated more like a slave, or rather like a beast, than one so nearly related; and when grown up, he was sent to keep swine. He one day became master of a piece of money, which, instead of laying it out in something for his own use, he chose to bestow in alms on a priest, desiring him to offer up his prayers for his father's soul. He had another brother called Damian, who was arch-priest of Ravenna, and afterwards a monk; who, taking pity of him, had the charity to give him an education. Having found a father in this brother, he seems from him to have taken the surname of Damian, though he often styles himself the Sinner, out of humility. Those who call him De Honestis confound him with Peter of Ravenna, who was of the family of Honesti. Damian sent Peter to school, first at Faenza, afterwards at Parma, where he had Ivo for his master. By the means of good natural parts and close application, it was not long before he found himself in a capacity to teach others, which he did with great applause, and no less advantage by the profits which accrued to him from his professorship. To arm himself against the allurements of pleasure and the artifices of the devil, he began to wear a rough hair shirt under his clothes, and to inure himself to fasting, watching, and prayer. In the night, if any temptation of concupiscence arose, he got out of bed and plunged himself into the cold river. After this he visited churches, reciting the psalter whilst he performed this devotion till the church office began. He not only gave much away in alms, but was seldom without some poor person at his table, and took a pleasure in serving such, or rather Jesus Christ in their persons, with his own hands. But thinking all this to be removing himself from the deadly poison of sin but by halves, he resolved entirely to leave the world and embrace a monastic life, and at a distance from his own country, for the sake of meeting with the fewer obstacles to his design. While his mind was full of these thoughts, two religious of the order of St. Benedict belonging to Font-Avellano, a desert at the foot of the Apennine in Umbria, happened to call at the place of his abode; and being much edified at their disinterestedness, he took a resolution to embrace their institute, as he did soon after. This hermitage had been founded by blessed Ludolf about twenty years before St. Peter came thither, and was then in the greatest repute. The hermits here remained two and two together in separate cells, occupied chiefly in prayer and reading. They lived on bread and water four days in the week: on Tuesdays and Thursdays they ate pulse and herbs, which every one dressed in his own cell: on their fast days all their bread was given them by weight. They never used any wine (the common drink of the country) except for mass, or in sickness: they went barefoot, used disciplines, made many genuflections, struck their breasts, stood with their arms stretched out in prayer, each according to his strength and devotion. After the night office they said the whole psalter before day. Peter watched long before the signal for matins, and after with the rest These excessive watchings brought on him an insomnia, or wakefulness, which was cured with very great difficulty. But he learned from this to use more discretion He gave a considerable time to sacred studies, and became as well versed in the scriptures and other sacred learning as he was before in profane literature.
His superior ordered him to make frequent exhortations to the religious, and as he had acquired a very great character for virtue and learning, Guy, Abbot of Pomposia, begged his superior to send him to instruct his monastery, which consisted of a hundred monks. Peter stayed there two years, preaching with great fruit, and was then called back by his abbot, and sent to perform the same function in the numerous abbey of St. Vincent, near the mountain called Pietra Pertusa, or the Hollow Rock. His love for poverty made him abhor and be ashamed to put on a new habit, or any clothes which were not threadbare and most mean. His obedience was so perfect that the least word of any superior, or signal given, according to the rule of the house, for the performance of any duty made him run that moment to discharge, with the utmost exactness, whatever was enjoined. Being recalled home some time after, and commanded by his abbot, with the unanimous consent of the hermitage, to take upon him the government of the desert after his death, Peter's extreme reluctance only obliged his superior to make greater use of his authority till he acquiesced. Wherefore, at his decease, in 1041, Peter took upon him the direction of that holy family, which he governed with the greatest reputation for wisdom and sanctity. He also founded five other numerous hermitages; in which he placed priors under his inspection. His principal care was to cherish in his disciples the spirit of solitude, charity, and humility. Among them many became great lights of the church. He was for twelve years much employed in the service of the church by many zealous bishops, and by four popes successively, namely, Gregory VI, Clement II, Leo IX, and Victor II. Their successor, Stephen IX, in 1057, prevailed with him to quit his desert, and made him Cardinal-bishop of Ostia. But such was his reluctance to the dignity that nothing less than the pope's threatening him with excommunication, and his commands, in virtue of obedience, could induce Peter to submit.
Stephen IX dying in 1058, Nicholas II was chosen pope, a man of deep penetration, of great virtue and learning, and very liberal in alms, as our saint testifies, who assisted him in obliging John, Bishop of Veletri, an anti-pope, set up by the capitaneos or magistrates of Rome, to quit his usurped dignity. Upon complaints of simony in the church of Milan, Nicholas II sent Peter thither as his legate, who chastised the guilty. Nicholas II dying, after having sat two years and six months, Alexander was chosen pope, in 1602. Peter strenuously supported him against the emperor, who set up an anti-pope, Cadolaus, Bishop of Parma, on whom the saint prevailed soon after to renounce his pretensions in a council held at Rome; and engaged Henry IV, King of Germany, who was afterwards emperor, to acquiesce in what had been done, though that prince, who in his infancy had succeeded his pious father Henry III, had sucked in very early the corrupt maxims of tyranny and irreligion. But virtue is amiable in the eyes of its very enemies, and often disarms them of their fury. St. Peter had, with great importunity, solicited Nicholas II for leave to resign his bishopric, and return to his solitude; but could not obtain it. His successor, Alexander II, out of affection for the holy man, was prevailed upon to allow it, in 1062, but not without great difficulty, and the reserve of a power to employ him in church matters of importance as he might have occasion hereafter for his assistance. The saint from that time thought himself discharged, not only from the burden of his flock, but also from the quality of superior, with regard to the several monasteries the general inspection of which he had formerly charged himself with, reducing himself to the condition of a simple monk.
In this retirement he edified the church by his penance and compunction, and laboured by his writings to enforce the observance of discipline and morality. His style is copious and vehement, and the strictness of his maxims appears in all his. works, especially where he treats of the duties of clergymen and monks. He severely rebuked the Bishop of Florence for playing a game at chess. That prelate acknowledged his amusement to be a faulty sloth in a man of his character, and received the saint's remonstrance with great mildness, and submitted to his injunction by way of penance, namely, to recite three times the psalter, to wash the feet of twelve poor men, and to give to each a piece of money. He shows those to be guilty of manifold simony who serve princes or flatter them for the sake of obtaining ecclesiastical preferments. He wrote a treatise to the bishop of Besanzon, against the custom which the canons of that church had of saying the divine office sitting; though he allowed all to sit during the lessons. This saint recommended the use of disciplines whereby to subdue and punish the flesh, which was adopted as a compensation for long penitential fasts. Three thousand lashes, with the recital of thirty psalms, were a redemption of a canonical penance of one year's continuance. Sir Thomas More, St. Francis of Sales, and others testify that such means of mortification are great helps to tame the flesh and inure it to the lab ours of penance; also to remove a hardness of heart and spiritual dryness, and to soften the soul into compunction. But all danger of abuses, excess, and singularity is to be shunned, and other ordinary bodily mortifications, as watching and fasting, are frequently more advisable. This saint wrote most severely on the obligations of religious men,4 particularly against their strolling abroad; for one of the most essential qualities of their state is solitude, or at least the spirit of retirement. He complained loudly of certain evasions, by which many palliated real infractions of their vow of poverty. He justly observed: "We can never restore what is decayed of primitive discipline; and if we, by negligence, suffer any diminution in what remains established, future ages will never be able to repair such breaches. Let us not draw upon ourselves so base a reproach; but. let us faithfully transmit to posterity the examples of virtue which we have received from our forefathers." The holy man reconciled discords, settled the bounds of the jurisdiction of certain dioceses, and condemned and deposed in councils those who were convicted of simony. He notwithstanding tempered his severity with mildness and indulgence towards penitents where charity and prudence required such a condescension. Henry IV, King of Germany, at eighteen years of age, began to show the symptoms of a heart abandoned to impiety, infamous debauchery, treachery, and cruelty. He married, in 1066, Bertha, daughter to Otho, Marquess of Italy, but afterward, in 1069, sought a divorce by taking his oath that he had never been able to consummate his marriage. The Archbishop of Mentz had the weakness to be gained over by his artifices to favour his desires, in which view he assembled a council at Mentz. Pope Alexander II forbad him ever to consent to so enormous an injustice, and pitched upon Peter Damian for his legate to preside in that synod, being sensible that a person of the most inflexible virtue, prudence, and constancy was necessary for so important and difficult an affair, in which passion, power, and craft made use of every engine in opposition to the cause of God. The venerable legate met the king and bishops at Frankfort, laid before them the orders and instructions of his holiness, and in his name conjured the king to pay a due regard to the law of God, the canons of the church, and his own reputation, and seriously reflect on the public scandal of so pernicious an example. The noblemen likewise all rose up and entreated his majesty never to stain his honour by so foul an action. The king, unable to resist so cogent an authority, dropped his project of a divorce; but, remaining the same man in his heart, continued to hate the queen more than ever.
St. Peter hastened back to his desert of Font-Avellano. Whatever austerities he prescribed to others he was the first to practice himself, remitting nothing of them even in his old age. He lived shut up in his cell as in a prison, fasted every day, except festivals, and allowed himself no other subsistence than coarse bread, bran, herbs, and water, and this he never drank fresh, but what he had kept from the day before. He tortured his body with iron girdles and frequent disciplines, to render it more obedient to the spirit. He passed the three first days of every Lent and Advent without taking any kind of nourishment whatsoever; and often for forty days together lived only on raw herbs and fruits, or on pulse steeped in cold water, without touching so much as bread, or any thing which had passed the fire. A mat spread on the floor was his bed. He used to make wooden spoons, and such like useful mean things, to exercise himself at certain hours in manual labour. Henry, Archbishop of Ravenna, having been excommunicated for grievous enormities, St. Peter was sent by Pope Alexander II, in quality of legate, to adjust the affairs of the church. When he arrived at Ravenna, in 1072, he found the unfortunate prelate just dead, but brought the accomplices of his crimes to a sense of their guilt, and imposed on them a suitable penance. This was his last undertaking for the church, God being pleased soon after to call him to eternal rest, and to the crown of his labours. Old age and the fatigues of his journey did not make him lay aside his accustomed mortifications, by which he consummated his holocaust. In his return towards Rome, he was stopped by a fever in the monastery of our Lady without the gates of Faenza, and died there on the eighth day of his sickness, whilst the monks were reciting matins round about him. He passed from that employment which had been the delight of his heart on earth to sing the same praises of God in eternal glory, on the 22nd of February, 1072, being fourscore and three years old. He is honoured as patron at Faenza and Font-Avellano on the 23rd of the same month.
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stpeterdamian.asp
BISHOP, CONFESSOR, DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH
Feast: February 21
Information:
Feast Day:
February 14Born:
988, Ravenna
Died:
February 22, 1072, Faenza
Peter, surnamed of Damian, was born about the year 988 in Ravenna, of a good family, but reduced. He was the youngest of many children, and, losing his father and mother very young, was left in the hands of a brother who was married, in whose house he was treated more like a slave, or rather like a beast, than one so nearly related; and when grown up, he was sent to keep swine. He one day became master of a piece of money, which, instead of laying it out in something for his own use, he chose to bestow in alms on a priest, desiring him to offer up his prayers for his father's soul. He had another brother called Damian, who was arch-priest of Ravenna, and afterwards a monk; who, taking pity of him, had the charity to give him an education. Having found a father in this brother, he seems from him to have taken the surname of Damian, though he often styles himself the Sinner, out of humility. Those who call him De Honestis confound him with Peter of Ravenna, who was of the family of Honesti. Damian sent Peter to school, first at Faenza, afterwards at Parma, where he had Ivo for his master. By the means of good natural parts and close application, it was not long before he found himself in a capacity to teach others, which he did with great applause, and no less advantage by the profits which accrued to him from his professorship. To arm himself against the allurements of pleasure and the artifices of the devil, he began to wear a rough hair shirt under his clothes, and to inure himself to fasting, watching, and prayer. In the night, if any temptation of concupiscence arose, he got out of bed and plunged himself into the cold river. After this he visited churches, reciting the psalter whilst he performed this devotion till the church office began. He not only gave much away in alms, but was seldom without some poor person at his table, and took a pleasure in serving such, or rather Jesus Christ in their persons, with his own hands. But thinking all this to be removing himself from the deadly poison of sin but by halves, he resolved entirely to leave the world and embrace a monastic life, and at a distance from his own country, for the sake of meeting with the fewer obstacles to his design. While his mind was full of these thoughts, two religious of the order of St. Benedict belonging to Font-Avellano, a desert at the foot of the Apennine in Umbria, happened to call at the place of his abode; and being much edified at their disinterestedness, he took a resolution to embrace their institute, as he did soon after. This hermitage had been founded by blessed Ludolf about twenty years before St. Peter came thither, and was then in the greatest repute. The hermits here remained two and two together in separate cells, occupied chiefly in prayer and reading. They lived on bread and water four days in the week: on Tuesdays and Thursdays they ate pulse and herbs, which every one dressed in his own cell: on their fast days all their bread was given them by weight. They never used any wine (the common drink of the country) except for mass, or in sickness: they went barefoot, used disciplines, made many genuflections, struck their breasts, stood with their arms stretched out in prayer, each according to his strength and devotion. After the night office they said the whole psalter before day. Peter watched long before the signal for matins, and after with the rest These excessive watchings brought on him an insomnia, or wakefulness, which was cured with very great difficulty. But he learned from this to use more discretion He gave a considerable time to sacred studies, and became as well versed in the scriptures and other sacred learning as he was before in profane literature.
His superior ordered him to make frequent exhortations to the religious, and as he had acquired a very great character for virtue and learning, Guy, Abbot of Pomposia, begged his superior to send him to instruct his monastery, which consisted of a hundred monks. Peter stayed there two years, preaching with great fruit, and was then called back by his abbot, and sent to perform the same function in the numerous abbey of St. Vincent, near the mountain called Pietra Pertusa, or the Hollow Rock. His love for poverty made him abhor and be ashamed to put on a new habit, or any clothes which were not threadbare and most mean. His obedience was so perfect that the least word of any superior, or signal given, according to the rule of the house, for the performance of any duty made him run that moment to discharge, with the utmost exactness, whatever was enjoined. Being recalled home some time after, and commanded by his abbot, with the unanimous consent of the hermitage, to take upon him the government of the desert after his death, Peter's extreme reluctance only obliged his superior to make greater use of his authority till he acquiesced. Wherefore, at his decease, in 1041, Peter took upon him the direction of that holy family, which he governed with the greatest reputation for wisdom and sanctity. He also founded five other numerous hermitages; in which he placed priors under his inspection. His principal care was to cherish in his disciples the spirit of solitude, charity, and humility. Among them many became great lights of the church. He was for twelve years much employed in the service of the church by many zealous bishops, and by four popes successively, namely, Gregory VI, Clement II, Leo IX, and Victor II. Their successor, Stephen IX, in 1057, prevailed with him to quit his desert, and made him Cardinal-bishop of Ostia. But such was his reluctance to the dignity that nothing less than the pope's threatening him with excommunication, and his commands, in virtue of obedience, could induce Peter to submit.
Stephen IX dying in 1058, Nicholas II was chosen pope, a man of deep penetration, of great virtue and learning, and very liberal in alms, as our saint testifies, who assisted him in obliging John, Bishop of Veletri, an anti-pope, set up by the capitaneos or magistrates of Rome, to quit his usurped dignity. Upon complaints of simony in the church of Milan, Nicholas II sent Peter thither as his legate, who chastised the guilty. Nicholas II dying, after having sat two years and six months, Alexander was chosen pope, in 1602. Peter strenuously supported him against the emperor, who set up an anti-pope, Cadolaus, Bishop of Parma, on whom the saint prevailed soon after to renounce his pretensions in a council held at Rome; and engaged Henry IV, King of Germany, who was afterwards emperor, to acquiesce in what had been done, though that prince, who in his infancy had succeeded his pious father Henry III, had sucked in very early the corrupt maxims of tyranny and irreligion. But virtue is amiable in the eyes of its very enemies, and often disarms them of their fury. St. Peter had, with great importunity, solicited Nicholas II for leave to resign his bishopric, and return to his solitude; but could not obtain it. His successor, Alexander II, out of affection for the holy man, was prevailed upon to allow it, in 1062, but not without great difficulty, and the reserve of a power to employ him in church matters of importance as he might have occasion hereafter for his assistance. The saint from that time thought himself discharged, not only from the burden of his flock, but also from the quality of superior, with regard to the several monasteries the general inspection of which he had formerly charged himself with, reducing himself to the condition of a simple monk.
In this retirement he edified the church by his penance and compunction, and laboured by his writings to enforce the observance of discipline and morality. His style is copious and vehement, and the strictness of his maxims appears in all his. works, especially where he treats of the duties of clergymen and monks. He severely rebuked the Bishop of Florence for playing a game at chess. That prelate acknowledged his amusement to be a faulty sloth in a man of his character, and received the saint's remonstrance with great mildness, and submitted to his injunction by way of penance, namely, to recite three times the psalter, to wash the feet of twelve poor men, and to give to each a piece of money. He shows those to be guilty of manifold simony who serve princes or flatter them for the sake of obtaining ecclesiastical preferments. He wrote a treatise to the bishop of Besanzon, against the custom which the canons of that church had of saying the divine office sitting; though he allowed all to sit during the lessons. This saint recommended the use of disciplines whereby to subdue and punish the flesh, which was adopted as a compensation for long penitential fasts. Three thousand lashes, with the recital of thirty psalms, were a redemption of a canonical penance of one year's continuance. Sir Thomas More, St. Francis of Sales, and others testify that such means of mortification are great helps to tame the flesh and inure it to the lab ours of penance; also to remove a hardness of heart and spiritual dryness, and to soften the soul into compunction. But all danger of abuses, excess, and singularity is to be shunned, and other ordinary bodily mortifications, as watching and fasting, are frequently more advisable. This saint wrote most severely on the obligations of religious men,4 particularly against their strolling abroad; for one of the most essential qualities of their state is solitude, or at least the spirit of retirement. He complained loudly of certain evasions, by which many palliated real infractions of their vow of poverty. He justly observed: "We can never restore what is decayed of primitive discipline; and if we, by negligence, suffer any diminution in what remains established, future ages will never be able to repair such breaches. Let us not draw upon ourselves so base a reproach; but. let us faithfully transmit to posterity the examples of virtue which we have received from our forefathers." The holy man reconciled discords, settled the bounds of the jurisdiction of certain dioceses, and condemned and deposed in councils those who were convicted of simony. He notwithstanding tempered his severity with mildness and indulgence towards penitents where charity and prudence required such a condescension. Henry IV, King of Germany, at eighteen years of age, began to show the symptoms of a heart abandoned to impiety, infamous debauchery, treachery, and cruelty. He married, in 1066, Bertha, daughter to Otho, Marquess of Italy, but afterward, in 1069, sought a divorce by taking his oath that he had never been able to consummate his marriage. The Archbishop of Mentz had the weakness to be gained over by his artifices to favour his desires, in which view he assembled a council at Mentz. Pope Alexander II forbad him ever to consent to so enormous an injustice, and pitched upon Peter Damian for his legate to preside in that synod, being sensible that a person of the most inflexible virtue, prudence, and constancy was necessary for so important and difficult an affair, in which passion, power, and craft made use of every engine in opposition to the cause of God. The venerable legate met the king and bishops at Frankfort, laid before them the orders and instructions of his holiness, and in his name conjured the king to pay a due regard to the law of God, the canons of the church, and his own reputation, and seriously reflect on the public scandal of so pernicious an example. The noblemen likewise all rose up and entreated his majesty never to stain his honour by so foul an action. The king, unable to resist so cogent an authority, dropped his project of a divorce; but, remaining the same man in his heart, continued to hate the queen more than ever.
St. Peter hastened back to his desert of Font-Avellano. Whatever austerities he prescribed to others he was the first to practice himself, remitting nothing of them even in his old age. He lived shut up in his cell as in a prison, fasted every day, except festivals, and allowed himself no other subsistence than coarse bread, bran, herbs, and water, and this he never drank fresh, but what he had kept from the day before. He tortured his body with iron girdles and frequent disciplines, to render it more obedient to the spirit. He passed the three first days of every Lent and Advent without taking any kind of nourishment whatsoever; and often for forty days together lived only on raw herbs and fruits, or on pulse steeped in cold water, without touching so much as bread, or any thing which had passed the fire. A mat spread on the floor was his bed. He used to make wooden spoons, and such like useful mean things, to exercise himself at certain hours in manual labour. Henry, Archbishop of Ravenna, having been excommunicated for grievous enormities, St. Peter was sent by Pope Alexander II, in quality of legate, to adjust the affairs of the church. When he arrived at Ravenna, in 1072, he found the unfortunate prelate just dead, but brought the accomplices of his crimes to a sense of their guilt, and imposed on them a suitable penance. This was his last undertaking for the church, God being pleased soon after to call him to eternal rest, and to the crown of his labours. Old age and the fatigues of his journey did not make him lay aside his accustomed mortifications, by which he consummated his holocaust. In his return towards Rome, he was stopped by a fever in the monastery of our Lady without the gates of Faenza, and died there on the eighth day of his sickness, whilst the monks were reciting matins round about him. He passed from that employment which had been the delight of his heart on earth to sing the same praises of God in eternal glory, on the 22nd of February, 1072, being fourscore and three years old. He is honoured as patron at Faenza and Font-Avellano on the 23rd of the same month.
SOURCE http://www.ewtn.com/saintsHoly/saints/P/stpeterdamian.asp
TODAY'S MASS READINGS
FIRST SUN. OF LENT/YEAR C
Deuteronomy 26: 4 - 10
4
Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5
"And you shall make response before the LORD your God, `A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
6
And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.
7
Then we cried to the LORD the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression;
8
and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders;
9
and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10
And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O LORD, hast given me.' And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God;
Psalms 91: 1 - 2, 10 - 15
1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
2
will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
10
no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
11
For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.
12
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13
You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14
Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15
When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him.
Romans 10: 8 - 13
8
But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach);
9
because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10
For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.
11
The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."
12
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.
13
For, "every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
Luke 4: 1 - 13
1
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit
2
for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry.
3
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
4
And Jesus answered him, "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone.'"
5
And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
6
and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
7
If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours."
8
And Jesus answered him, "It is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"
9
And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;
10
for it is written, `He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,'
11
and `On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
12
And Jesus answered him, "It is said, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
13
And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
Deuteronomy 26: 4 - 10
4
Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand, and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5
"And you shall make response before the LORD your God, `A wandering Aramean was my father; and he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous.
6
And the Egyptians treated us harshly, and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard bondage.
7
Then we cried to the LORD the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice, and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression;
8
and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great terror, with signs and wonders;
9
and he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10
And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which thou, O LORD, hast given me.' And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God;
Psalms 91: 1 - 2, 10 - 15
1
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, who abides in the shadow of the Almighty,
2
will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress; my God, in whom I trust."
10
no evil shall befall you, no scourge come near your tent.
11
For he will give his angels charge of you to guard you in all your ways.
12
On their hands they will bear you up, lest you dash your foot against a stone.
13
You will tread on the lion and the adder, the young lion and the serpent you will trample under foot.
14
Because he cleaves to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.
15
When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will rescue him and honor him.
Romans 10: 8 - 13
8
But what does it say? The word is near you, on your lips and in your heart (that is, the word of faith which we preach);
9
because, if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10
For man believes with his heart and so is justified, and he confesses with his lips and so is saved.
11
The scripture says, "No one who believes in him will be put to shame."
12
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; the same Lord is Lord of all and bestows his riches upon all who call upon him.
13
For, "every one who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved."
GOSPEL
Luke 4: 1 - 13
1
And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit
2
for forty days in the wilderness, tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing in those days; and when they were ended, he was hungry.
3
The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become bread."
4
And Jesus answered him, "It is written, `Man shall not live by bread alone.'"
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And the devil took him up, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time,
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and said to him, "To you I will give all this authority and their glory; for it has been delivered to me, and I give it to whom I will.
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If you, then, will worship me, it shall all be yours."
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And Jesus answered him, "It is written, `You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.'"
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And he took him to Jerusalem, and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here;
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for it is written, `He will give his angels charge of you, to guard you,'
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and `On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.'"
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And Jesus answered him, "It is said, `You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"
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And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time.
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