Match 18 - Saturday, 3rd Week of Lent ["Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, was praying thus, 'God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give a tenth of all my income.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even look up to heaven, but was beating his breast and saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' (Luke 18:9-14)] The Pharisee in me tends to feel superior (self righteous) to others in one way or another while I am being blind to my own shortcomings. It is only by humbly praying (like the publican), 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' that I can be reconciled with God and my neighbour. Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!

March 17 - Friday, 3rd Week of Lent [Jesus answered, 'The first is, "Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength." The second is this, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself." There is no other commandment greater than these.' Mark 12:28-34] If Loving God is equal to loving my neighbour, then I have failed many times in this commandment of love. It is difficult to love the person if she/he is the source of my sufferings and pains. Lord, enlarge my heart. Increase my love. Make me more and more sensitive to the quality of your love, especially as Holy Week comes near. In your passion and death, there you show me how much you love me. Fill me with Your love so that I can love those people around me. Amen.

March 16 - If you do not keep silence faithfully, you will not arrive at practicing this life of continual prayer which must be ours, not only exterior silence but also interior silence. If every religious house is the house of God, and must be, consequently, a house of recollection and silence, what shall we say about ours in which Jesus dwells day and night perpetually exposed before us? (conference to the novices)

March 15 - …(but) we need love – that is what makes crosses loveable. Only our Lord Jesus Christ can make crosses lovable. It is by loving Jesus, and Jesus crucified (cf. 1 Cor 2:2), said St. Paul, that we can love them – since we cannot separate the cross from Jesus crucified and his love. If we don’t love Jesus, we will not love the cross and penance. Some fruits cannot be eaten, they are too bitter. Add sugar and they become excellent; their bitterness is changed into goodness. Take all your crosses, place them in our Lord, by making them so to speak melt in him, and you will begin seeing the cross as the most tender object of his love for you and for all his followers. Place the cross in the attractiveness of the love of our Lord, and it becomes beautiful and loveable –like green wood, that does not give heat, nor light nor warmth. But, placed in a blazing fire, it becomes the life of the fire. That is how the cross that had been an instrument for execution has now become loveable in the heart of our Lord. (SPJE to the Servants of the Blessed Sacrament, Love the Cross, March 12, 1861)

March 13, Monday, 3rd Week of Lent [No prophet is accepted in the prophet's hometown. Luke 4:24-30] Jesus was not spared from the reality of non-acceptance, from the first moment of his life (massacre at Bethlehem), He was rejected by many. Rejection is part of life. I myself have my share of rejections. This experience can be traumatic, it can destroy one's spirit. In the Gospel, Jesus passed through the midst of the people. He still continued his ministry to the people amidst the rejection of many around him. Lord, help me not to give in to despair when things get tough in terms of relationships in my community and when rejections come unexpectedly. Grant me the grace to be always rooted in Your love. This I pray, amen.

March 12 - God the Savior, He came Himself in person to visit man, to console him, to tell him He loved him… God loved man and prove it to him. He became a man in order to become his brother in the flesh… (GRR, 1st Meditation, Mar. 14, God is Love)

May 11 - No matter how skilled a sailor may be, the storm comes in spite of him and carries him away with sails and engines. So, the weather comes from above. Our fault consists in not being ready to resist the storm. (St. Peter Julian Eymard, Correspondence 968)

March 10 - Please, let us not bite the cross, nor the thorns, but kiss them, because they bear Jesus Christ, our good Master. (St. Peter Julian Eymard, Correspondence 2168)

March 9 - Seek then, only Jesus and you will have peace with true joy, that joy which the accomplishment of our Lord’s will gives, a joy which exist in the midst of all the sufferings of body and soul, in the midst of all trials. (Mo. Marguerite Guillot, SSS - Conference to the Novices, Feb. 1884)

March 8, Wednesday, 2nd Week of Lent [Can you drink the cup I am to drink of? Matthew 20:17-28] The cup of Jesus is a loving sacrifice in order to give life to people. Following Jesus Christ in the context of Religious Life is never easy. It is always a question of willingness. Am I willing to go through the ups and down in following Christ? Am I willing to be sent wherever I am called to go? Am I willing to make sacrifices for others? Am I willing to give my service with compassion and love without expecting any return? Lord Jesus, grant me the grace of a loving and a generous heart, so that I may be able to respond willingly to your daily call as I follow you closely. Amen.