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In the beginning, humans were in friendship with God and in harmony with creation. The Catechism unfolds this harmony and introduces us to the “original justice” that our first parents lost in sin. Fr. Mike reminds us that, although our original callings to leisure, love, and labor have been twisted by sin, they are renewed in Christ. Today’s readings are Catechism paragraphs 374-384.
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It was at the Porziuncola, St. Mary of the Angels, that the Franciscan story unfolded. Together with San Damiano there are no more important places in the original Franciscan story than these two. That is why it is so important to visit and return to these sanctuaries again and again. This is Francis’ heart; this is Francis’ center and the center of the entire Franciscan story. Why? Here Francis began his religious life, understanding his vocation and life direction through the hearing of the Gospel. Here his life and vocation developed. Here it ended when he died on October 3, 1226. Here Francis received the promise of the pardon (Il Perdono) from Jesus Christ through Mary. We know this as the Porziuncola Indulgence. When asked why he wanted this, he answered, “I want to send everyone to Paradise.” For these reasons the Porziuncola is the heart and center of Francis, the core of the Franciscan movement; it is the womb from which it grew. This is truly holy ground.
— from the book In the Footsteps of Francis and Clare
by Roch Niemier, OFM
//Franciscan Media//
“Where there is no obedience there is no virtue, where there is no virtue there is no good, where there is no good there is no love, where there is no love, there is no God, and where there is no God there is no Paradise.”
— St. Padre Pio of Pietrelcina
//Catholic Company//
St. Dismas (1st c.) is the name Church tradition has given to the “Good Thief,” one of the two criminals who were crucified alongside Jesus Christ on Good Friday. All we know about St. Dismas is what is mentioned of him in the Gospels: “Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.’ The other [St. Dismas] however, rebuking him, said in reply, ‘Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.'” Then St. Dismas, as an expression of his faith in Christ as the Messiah, said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus replied to St. Dismas, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:39-42). The feast day of St. Dismas is March 25.
//The Catholic Company//
“Our Blessed Lord, bound like a thief, is conducted through the public streets of Jerusalem accompanied by a large body of soldiers who indulge their rage and hatred by ill-treating Him in every possible way, and surrounded by a multitude of people who overwhelm Him with insults and maledictions, and rejoice over His misfortunes. Jesus advances, His feet bare, and His strength utterly exhausted by all His mental and bodily sufferings, offering up the ignominy and tortures He is now enduring, to His Eternal Father, for the salvation of my soul. The soldiers render His position still more painful, by inviting people to approach and see their renowned prisoner, while Jesus proceeds on His way in the midst of them, with a humble demeanor and with downcast eyes, to teach us what value we should set on the esteem and honor of the world, and the applause of men. But a few days previously Jesus had passed through these same streets, applauded and honored by the crowd as the Messiah, and now, abandoned even by His disciples, He is followed only by perfidious enemies who seek His death, and unite in deriding and insulting Him as a malefactor, and the last of men. Such is the duration of the honors and praises of the world! Learn hence to seek the good pleasure of God alone, to labor for the acquisition of a right to the immortal honors of Paradise, and to practice patience under humiliation, from the example of Jesus.”— Fr. Ignatius of the Side of Jesus, p. 79-80
//The Catholic Company//