- Romans 6:14-18 -
What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace?
By
no means! Don't you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey
him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obeyÑwhether you are
slaves to sin, which leads to death, or to obedience, which leads to
righteousness? But thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to
sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were
entrusted. You have been set free from sin and have become slaves to
righteousness.
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Using Scripture, God's spirit challenges Christians to bring fleshy habits
and thought patterns under submission. He illuminates the believer's mind
with regard to biblical meaning and application. Therefore, the Word is
useful for "teaching, for reproof, for correction, and training in
righteousness" (2 Timothy 3:16). The is no self-help in the believer's
life!
We are to surrender to the work and way of God's Spirit. We are covered by
divine grace and the Holy Spirit permanently dwells in us.
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February 29th - Saint Oswald, Archbishop of York
*(On leap years, the feast day is celebrated on February 29)
(Died. 992)
Oswald was of a noble Saxon family; he was endowed with a very rare and
handsome appearance and with a singular piety of soul. Brought up by his
uncle, Saint Odo, Archbishop of Canterbury, he was chosen, while still
young, as dean of the secular canons of Winchester, at that time very lax.
His attempt to reform them was a failure, and he saw, with that infallible
instinct which so often guides the Saints in critical times, that the true
remedy for the corruption of the clergy was the restoration of monastic
life.
He therefore went to France and took the habit of Saint Benedict. When he
returned to England it was to receive the news of Odo's death. He found,
however, a new patron in Saint Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, through
whose influence he was nominated to the see of Worcester. To these two
Saints, together with Ethelwold of Winchester, the monastic revival of the
tenth century is mainly due.
Oswald's first care was to deprive of their benefices all disorderly
secular
clerics, whom he replaced as far as possible by religious priests. He
himself founded seven religious houses. Considering that in the hearts of
the secular canons of Winchester there were yet some sparks of virtue, he
would not at once dismiss them, but rather reformed them through a holy
artifice. Adjoining their cathedral church he built a chapel in honor of
the
Mother of God, causing it to be served by a body of strict religious. He
himself assisted at the divine Office there, and his example was followed
by
the people. The canons, finding themselves isolated and the church
deserted,
chose rather to embrace the religious life than continue to injure their
own
souls, and be also a mockery to their people, through the contrast offered
by their worldliness and the regularity of their religious brethren.
Later, as Archbishop of York, Saint Oswald met a like success in his
efforts. God manifested His approval of his zeal by discovering to him the
relics of his great predecessor at Worcester, Saint Wilfrid, which he
reverently translated to the church of that city. He died while wa****ng
the
feet of the poor, as he did daily during Lent, on February 29, 992.
Reflection. A soul without discipline is like a ****p without a helm: it
must
inevitably strike unawares upon the rocks, founder on the shoals, or float
unawares into the harbor of the enemy.
Source: Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on
Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea
(Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
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Whoever humbleth himself shall be exalted. -Lk. 14:11
"Sometimes a soul rises more towards perfection by not excusing herself
than
by ten sermons. Since by this means one begins to acquire freedom, and
indifference as to what good or evil may be said. Nay more; by a habit of
not replying, one arrives at such a point that when he hears anything said
of himself, it does not seem as if it related to him, but rather like an
affair belonging to someone else"
-St. Teresa
Father Alvarez, the confessor of St. Teresa, having been falsely accused
of
a grave fault in a provincial assembly and seriously reproved for it in
public, said nothing, either in public or private, in his own defense.
Afterwards, God rewarded this heroic silence with extraordinary favors.
(Taken from the book "A Year with the Saints". February - Humility)
Bible Quote:
15 Saying: O Lord God of heaven and earth, behold their pride, and look on
our low condition, and have regard to the face of thy saints, and shew
that
thou forsakes not them that trust on thee, and that thou humblest them
that
presume of themselves, and glory in their own strength. (Judith 6:15)
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Prayer for a Merciful Heart
O Jesus, I understand that Your mercy is beyond all imagining, and
therefore
I ask You to make my heart so big that there will be room in it for the
needs of all the souls living on the face of the earth. and the souls
suffering in Purgatory. Make my heart sensitive to all the sufferings of
my
neighbor, whether of body or soul. O my Jesus, I know that You act toward
us
as we act toward our neighbor. Make my heart like unto Your merciful
Heart.
Transform it into Your own Heart that I may sense the needs of other
hearts,
especially those who are sad and suffering. May the rays of mercy rest in
my
heart. Jesus, help me to go through life doing good to everyone. - Amen.
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