The Light of The World
Why You Should Trust God
Only God Could Create Such Beauty
Daily Message from Pope Francis – Pray for Everything and Everyone
Saturday, February 20, 2021
“Let us always pray for everything and for everyone, even for our enemies… Let us pray for our dear ones, but also for those we do not know… Let us pray above all for unhappy people, for those who weep in solitude and give up hope that there might still be someone who loves them…The Lord is — let us not forget — the Lord of compassion, of nearness, of tenderness: three words never to be forgotten. Because this is the Lord’s style: compassion, nearness, tenderness.”Pope Francis
Daily Devotion – Rest in His Love
“You have rejected us. You have broken us … You have made Your people experience hardship … God has spoken in His holiness … Through God we shall do valiantly, and it is He who will tread down our adversaries.” – Psalm 60:1, 3, 6, 12 NASB
As happened often, David had to work through the crises he faced. He had to figure out what they meant and what to do.
In this psalm, he began by expressing his honest thoughts toward God – His sense that God had rejected them and even made them “experience hardship.” He reminded God that Israel was His “beloved” (v. 5); he prayed for His help.
David might have thought of God as being distant and separate, but He reminded David that they were completely connected. God saw everything from the perspective of His ownership – they were His people, and He knew everything about their situation. And He reminded David that He was holy and sovereign.
In the end, David declared His confidence in God. He was certain that through Him, they would “do valiantly.” God Himself would defeat their adversaries.
This perspective still is true. God still is holy. He cannot change. He always does what is right. As we pray, we can be reminded of His love for us and the fact that we are His people. We also must remember that God is sovereign. He has a plan for the world, for each nation, and for each of us.
As you think about the challenges you face, remember that God is sovereign and holy. And He loves you. Rest in His love. Think about His faithfulness. Remember, you can depend on Him and trust Him unconditionally.
Prayer: Father, thank You for knowing the situations I face. Thank You for Your help. I trust in You. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Extended Reading: Psalm 60
//Inspiration Ministeries//
Minute Meditation – Be Kind!
“If you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation, and malicious speech, if you bestow your bread on the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted, then light shall rise for you in the darkness,…and God will guide you always, and give you relief in desert places” (Isaiah 58:9–11).
Isaiah tries to describe what a just people and country would look like if they fasted from the right things. He uses lovely words like light, guidance, abundance, renewed strength, watered gardens, repairers and restorers, nurturance, and delight, “a spring that never fails,” and even “riding on the heights of the earth.” But it all depends on fasting from unkindness and choosing justice. It is this very passage speaking of “repair and restoration” (tikkun) that our Jewish brothers and sisters use today as their call to social justice.
—from the book Wondrous Encounters: Scriptures for Lent
by Richard Rohr, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
Saint of the Day – February 20th
Saints Jacinta and Francisco Marto’s Story
Between May 13 and October 13, 1917, three Portuguese shepherd children from Aljustrel, received apparitions of Our Lady at Cova da Iria, near Fátima, a city 110 miles north of Lisbon. At that time, Europe was involved in an extremely bloody war. Portugal itself was in political turmoil, having overthrown its monarchy in 1910; the government disbanded religious organizations soon after.
At the first appearance, Mary asked the children to return to that spot on the thirteenth of each month for the next six months. She also asked them to learn to read and write and to pray the rosary “to obtain peace for the world and the end of the war.” They were to pray for sinners and for the conversion of Russia, which had recently overthrown Czar Nicholas II and was soon to fall under communism. Up to 90,000 people gathered for Mary’s final apparition on October 13, 1917.
Less than two years later, Francisco died of influenza in his family home. He was buried in the parish cemetery and then re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1952. Jacinta died of influenza in Lisbon in 1920, offering her suffering for the conversion of sinners, peace in the world, and the Holy Father. She was re-buried in the Fátima basilica in 1951. Their cousin Lúcia dos Santos, became a Carmelite nun and was still living when Jacinta and Francisco were beatified in 2000; she died five years later. Pope Francis canonized the younger children on his visit to Fátima to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first apparition–May 13, 2017. The shrine of Our Lady of Fátima is visited by up to 20 million people a year.
Reflection
The Church is always very cautious about endorsing alleged apparitions, but it has seen benefits from people changing their lives because of the message of Our Lady of Fátima. Prayer for sinners, devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and praying the rosary—all these reinforce the Good News Jesus came to preach.
//Franciscan Media//
Verse of the Day – He Called You Out of Darkness
Meditation of the Day – God is the Creator of the Universe
“No one denies what everyone knows, for nature herself teaches it: that God is the Creator of the universe, and that it is good, and that it belongs to humanity by the free gift of its Creator. But there is a vast difference between the corrupted state and the state of primal purity, just as there is a vast difference between Creator and the corruptor. … We ourselves, though we’re guilty of every sin, are not just a work of God: we’re image. Yet we have cut ourselves off from our Creator in both soul and body. Did we get eyes to serve lust, the tongue to speak evil, ears to hear evil, a throat for gluttony, a stomach to be gluttony’s ally, hands to do violence, genitals for unchaste excesses, feet for an erring life? Was the soul put in the body to think up traps, fraud, and injustice? I don’t think so.”— Tertullian, p. 11
Morning Offering – Doing the Impossible
“Start by doing what is necessary; then do what is possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible.”
— St. Francis of Assisi