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18
February

Season of Lent

Today the Church observes Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent, a penitential season of forty days ending with the celebration of the Paschal Mystery (Easter Triduum). By the solemn forty days of Lent the Church unites herself each year to the mystery of Jesus in the desert. Through the penitential exercises of fasting, almsgiving and penances, we are called to strive for an interior conversion in our heart, a conscious turning away from sin and seeking refuge in the mercy of our loving Heavenly Father.

18
February

Meditating on the Passion of Our Lord

“There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My Sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood; the contemplation of My painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.” Para 369 – Diary of Saint Faustina The Stations of the Cross or Way of the Cross is a powerful prayer which when prayed with deep reflection on the torments and sufferings of our Lord can lead us to understand one of the greatest gift of God to mankind i.e. our salvation through the Cross. When we jointly reflect our sufferings with that of our Saviour, we experience the redemptive power of this meditation. The more we meditate on His Passion, the more we are drawn to His Divine Love. One who experiences this self emptying Divine love of Our Lord will never be able to sin again, not out of fear of God but out of pure love for Him who loved us so greatly so as to suffer for our sins. It will also teach us to embrace the crosses in our daily lives and endure them like our Saviour, out of love for God, joyfully accepting His will for us (Mark 14:36).

22
February

Saint's Feast

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Saint Margaret of Cortona who lived during the period AD 1247 to AD 1297. She belonged to the Third Order of St. Francis. Though the early part of her life was spent in sin, after she had a conversion of heart, her only desire was to please God. She undertook severe penances and mortifications seeking closer union with God. Her last years were sanctified with several miracles and conversions of hardened sinners. She is the patron saint of falsely accused, homeless, insane, single mothers, reformed prostitutes, people having temptations, people who have lost parents and people ridiculed for their piety. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1728. Her incorrupt body is kept enshrined in the Basilica of Cortona.

11
February

Marian Devotion

“Pray for Sinners” Our Lady of Lourdes, France
The apparition of the Blessed Virgin in Lourdes France is one of the most popularly known apparitions of Our Lady. Today the Church celebrates the Feast of Our Lady of Lourdes. It was on February 11, 1858 that the Blessed Virgin appeared to Saint Bernadette Soubirous in the hollow of a massive rock in Massabielle in Lourdes. Lourdes was a small obscure village in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Our Lady appeared to Bernadette eighteen times in the same year, the last vision being on July 16, 1858. During these visions Our Lady gave messages to "Pray for sinners", "Penance, Penance, Penance" and "I am the Immaculate Conception".

2
February

Feasts

Today the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in the Temple. The feast commemorates the day when Saint Joseph and the Blessed Virgin Mary present the child Jesus in the Temple in accordance with the Jewish laws. Holy Simeon, on whom the Holy Spirit rested, took the child in his arms and proclaimed Him as the long awaited Messiah. He also made a prophecy about His mission and the sufferings that the Blessed Virgin Mary would suffer alongwith Him in fulfilment of God’s plan for the salvation of mankind. This feast is a manifestation of the identity of the Messiah and the sorrowful path of His mission to bring salvation to all mankind.

Season of Lent

Meditating on the Passion of Our Lord

Saint's Feast

Marian Devotion

Feasts

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