March - Month dedicated to St. Joseph

March, 2014 - Overview for the Month   

PORTRAIT OF ST. JOSEPH BY GUIDO RENI 
https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/overviews/months/03.cfm

The month of March is dedicated to St. Joseph. The first four days of March fall during the liturgical season known as Ordinary Time which is represented by the liturgical color green. Green, the symbol of hope, is the color of the sprouting seed and arouses in the faithful the hope of reaping the eternal harvest of heaven, especially the hope of a glorious resurrection. The remainder of the month falls during the liturgical season of Lent which is represented by the liturgical color purple — a symbol of penance, mortification and the sorrow of a contrite heart.

The Holy Father's Intentions for the Month of March 2014

General: That all cultures may respect the rights and dignity of women.

Missionary: That many young people may accept the Lord’s invitation to consecrate their lives to proclaiming the Gospel. (See also www.apostleshipofprayer.net)

Feasts for March

The feasts on the General Roman Calendar celebrated during the month of March are:

3. Katharine Drexel (USA), Opt. Mem.
4. St. Casimir; Fat Tuesday, Opt. Mem.
7. Perpetua and Felicity, Memorial
8. John of God, Opt. Mem.
9. First Sunday of Lent, Sunday
16. Second Sunday of Lent, Sunday
17. Patrick, Opt. Mem.
18. Cyril of Jerusalem, Opt. Mem.
19. Joseph, husband of Mary, Solemnity
23. Third Sunday of Lent, Sunday
25. Annunciation of the Lord, Sunday
30. Fourth Sunday of Lent, Sunday

Focus of the Liturgy

The Gospel readings for March are taken from St. Matthew and St. John. All are from Year A, Cycle 2.

March 2nd - 8th Sunday of Ordinary Time	In this Gospel Jesus tells us to trust God to provide for us.
March 9th - 1st Sunday of Lent	Jesus is tempted by the devil in the desert.
March 16th - 2nd Sunday of Lent	The Gospel relates the story of the Transfiguration of our Lord on Mt. Tabor.
March 23rd - 3rd Sunday of Lent	This Gospel is about the Samaritan woman meeting Jesus at the well.
March 30th - 4th Sunday of Lent	The Gospel tells the story of the blind man at the Pool of Siloam.

Highlights of the Month

As we continue our journey "up to Jerusalem" during the month of March, three prominent ideas are proposed for our contemplation by the liturgy of Lent: the Passion and Resurrection of Christ, baptism, and penance.

The Solemnity of St. Joseph (March 19) is a special landmark this month in which we will celebrate the great honor bestowed upon the foster father of Jesus. Also the Solemnity of the Annunciation (March 25) when we ponder Our Lady's fiat. And if you are Irish (who isn't), St. Patrick's feast is another cause for a joyful celebration.

The saints that we will focus on this month and try to imitate are St. Katharine Drexel (March 3), St. Casimir (March 4), Sts. Perpetua and Felicity (March 7),St. John of God (March 8), St. Patrick (March 17), St. Cyril of Jerusalem (March 18).

The feasts of St. Frances of Rome (March 9) and St. Toribio de Mogrovejo (March 23) are superseded by the Sunday liturgy.

A Time of Penance and Promise

Here and there in the stark March landscape, a few plants and trees are beginning to give evidence of the new life that winter’s frost and chill had concealed from our eyes. The Church’s vibrant new life has been obscured, too, by the austerity of the penitential season of Lent. But that life is indisputable, and it will burgeon forth on Easter as Christ coming forth from his tomb!

At the beginning of this month we will embark on our journey to the cross by receiving ashes and donning the purple of penance.We will reflect on our mortality ("Remember man thou art dust") and the shortness of life ("and to dust thou shall return"). We will heed the call, "Now is the acceptable time, now is “the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).” Just like Our Lord's earthly life every moment of our lives is leading up to the last moment—when for eternity we will either go to God or suffer the fires of hell.

Let us not .......

Rublev. Henri Nouwen, Meditation 'Praying With Icons'

In the course of encountering of the Icon Trinity of Rublev, the books of Henri Nouwen included the meditations on Icons.
It was bequeathed to by the late, "Ex Libris, Canon Daniel Mc Guiness, 1925-1997. D.D.D."
 _____________________________________________

Behold the Beauty of the Lord. Henri Nouwen

LIVING IN THE HOUSE OF LOVE (Conclusion)

While Jesus predicts that people will die of fear “as they await what menaces the world” (Lk 21:26), he says to his followers: “Stay awake, praying at all times for the strength to survive all that is going to happen, and to stand with confidence before the Son of Man” (Lk 21:36).

After I gazed for a long time at Rublev's Trinity these words spoke to me with new power.

“Praying at all times” has come to mean “dwelling in the house of God all the days of our lives.” “Surviving all that is going to happen” now tells me that I no longer need to be a victim of the fear, hatred and violence that rule the world.

“Standing with confidence before the Son of Man” no longer just refers to the end of time, but opens for me the possibility of living confidently, that is, with trust (the literal meaning of con-fide) in the midst of hostility and violence.

I pray that Rublev's icon will teach many how to live in the midst of a fearful, hateful and violent world while moving always deeper into the house of love.

 p.27  

Charles Dumont: Monk-Poet, Caldey - Waves, Holy Waves

COMMENT: Community Reading in the Chapter before Compline. The Biography of Fr. Charles Dumont, ocso, Scourmont Abbey, proves to the be best book  giving us the most impressive account of contemporary Cistercians (Trappist) monks.

Charles Dumont: Monk-Poet

In the School of Charity with Bernard and Aelred          115

Other activities were also occupying Fr. Charles. For one thing, he had to get to work seriously on material on Saint Bernard and the Blessed Virgin Mary to be presented at the Faculté des Religions et des Humanismes laiques of the Inter-University Center for Formation, in Charleroi." These talks, scheduled for the middle of January, required careful preparation because he was to speak to Christians and non-Christians, agnostics and atheists. He chose as title: Saint Bernard, monk, poet and mystic of Our Lady. In his first lecture, he entered into his subject with soft steps:

I thank you for inviting me to speak to you about Saint Bernard and what he thought, meditated and wrote on the Virgin Mary. I must first tell you that I come as a monk, without any university qualification. So I will speak about doctrinal theology only to the extent that it helps us to situate Saint Bernard and understand what he sang, prayed and contemplated .... It is that Bernard whom I am going to present to you, hoping that you will love him. . .

Before plunging into the subject, let me quote Solzhenitsyn. The scene is a woman history professor in Moscow explaining her course to the Marxist girls in her class: “To reject the Middle Ages means to break up western history, and then nothing comprehensible remains in the contemporary frag­ment. . . So what was more important? Oh, if you want to know what was most important during the Middle Ages, it is the spiritual life, a spiritual life of such intensity that it outweighs material existence, so that humanity has never known anything like it either before or after.”  

.......................  Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn  Novelist

Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn was an eminent Russian novelist, historian, and tireless critic of Soviet totalitarianism. He helped to raise global awareness of the gulag and the Soviet Union's forced labour camp system. Wikipedia     .............................................................................

Page 118

Charles Dumont: Monk-Poet

.. (5.16.92). \'\Then he was quite well again he and Br. Pierre-Andre set out for Caldey. On their peregrinations they had long discussions which included, of course, the subject of contemplative identity:

As regards the challenge of modern mentality, this is a very confusing term–not because of the translation but because of the very ideal! Why should we compete with worldly values that's out of date! We have been intimidated during the last twenty years by worldly values. . . This is not the language of the first two chapters of the First Letter to the Corinthians. The two wisdoms are not on the same wave length. (4.3.92)

Visiting Caldey always brought back memories. The sea, especially, enchanted him. Enjoying some solitude on the island he wrote a poem, one of the few he wrote in English:  

Waves, Holy Waves

O the waves by night

So calmly kissing

The sand of my life.

Majestic drum of time

Bordering silence eternal.

O gentle silver edge

Slowly gliding on my past,

Compassionate waves

Take away the sins of the world.

Ocean of love

Sea of boundless heart

By the fingers of your tender waves

Touch my restless mind,

Grant us peace.

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