Create a clean heart in me, O God

Know you not that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor railers, nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God.

1 Corinthians 6:9-10

Dearest friend, I hope you do not recall too well, but lust is a difficult sin. It coarsens the mind and impairs judgment, so that the addled soul may try to make excuses for its sin, if it has left room for thought at all. It leaves the sinner forgetful of God, and makes him unkind to any who might get in the way of his self-destruction. It manipulates and destroys souls. It is the most common of sins.

Where other sins repulse witnesses, lust can ensnare and poison them, too, particularly in this morally-disordered pseudo-therapeutic talk-show age of ours, where virtue is so lightly regarded and poorly learned. This is the age in which you and I have been formed. How deeply did we breathe in the spirit of the age?

Let us pray that we might receive a better spirit. Let us pray for the grace to decisively set aside unchastity and all sin, and to live the life of grace. What a small thing it is to not embrace sin, to live a simple, holy life, but we have made it difficult. May we do better henceforth. And if the judgment of God falls on us, and His correction is hard to endure, let us remember that God chastises those He loves only to prepare them for greater joy.

And I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined: and I will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name, and I will hear them. I will say: Thou art my people: and they shall say: The Lord is my God.

Zechariah 13:9

Heavenly Father, we have sinned against heaven, and before Thee, and are not worthy to be called thy children. By thought, by word, by look, by action we have scorned Thy word and now face Thy dread judgment. What hope do we have, when our sins, so numerous, are always before thee, and Thy law fixed and eternal?

Have pity on us, Thy poor servants, remember our weakness, and not because of any goodness in us, but because of Thine Own goodness, and for the love of the Sacred Heart of our Savior, grant us Thy forgiveness.

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¹ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.
² Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.
³ For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.
⁴ Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
⁵ Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
⁶ Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
⁹ Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.
¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.
¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
¹³ Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.
¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
¹⁵ O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
¹⁶ For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
¹⁸ Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.
¹⁹ Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

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Saint Julia, holy virgin, pray for us.
Saint Joseph, lily of chastity and temperance, pray for us.

Blessed are the clean of heart: for they shall see God.

Matthew 5:8

Third Sunday in Lent

Lesson from the Epistle of Blessed Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians:

Brethren, Be ye followers of God, as most dear children: and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath delivered Himself for us, an oblation and a sacrifice to God for an odor of sweetness. But fornication, and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not so much as be named among you, as becometh saints: or obscenity, or foolish talking, or scurrility, which is to no purpose: but rather giving of thanks. For know you this, and understand, that no fornicator, or unclean, or covetous person, which is a serving of idols, hath inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the anger of God upon the children of unbelief. Be ye not therefore partakers with them. For you were heretofore darkness: but now light in the Lord. Walk then as children of the light: for the fruit of the light is in all goodness, and justice, and truth. [Ephesians 5:1-9]

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Wretched that I am, I remembered not that God seeth the mind and observeth the voice of the soul. Allying myself with sin, I said unto myself: God is merciful, and will bear with thee: and because I was not immediately smitten, I ceased not, but rather despised pardon, and exhausted the long-suffering of God.

Saint Peter [a.d. 260-311], bishop of Alexandria [300-311]
(as quoted by Saint John of Damascus [a.d. 676-749])

Sancte Petre et Sancte Joánnes, orate pro nobis.

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My son, hast thou sinned? do so no more: but for thy former sins also pray that they may be forgiven thee. Flee from sins as from the face of a serpent: for if thou comest near them, they will take hold of thee. The teeth thereof are the teeth of a lion, killing the souls of men. All iniquity is like a two-edged sword, there is no remedy for the wound thereof. [Ecclesiasticus 21:1-4]

Second Sunday of Lent

1 Thessalonians 4:1-7

¹For the rest therefore, brethren, we pray and beseech you in the Lord Jesus, that as you have received from us, how you ought to walk, and to please God, so also you would walk, that you may abound the more.

²For you know what precepts I have given to you by the Lord Jesus.

³For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that you should abstain from fornication;

⁴That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honour:

⁵Not in the passion of lust, like the Gentiles that know not God:

⁶And that no man overreach, nor circumvent his brother in business: because the Lord is the avenger of all these things, as we have told you before, and have testified.

⁷For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto sanctification: in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Saint Philomena, virgin and Martyr, pray for us that through thy powerful intercession we may obtain that purity of mind and heart which leads to the perfect love of God. Amen.

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Help us, O merciful God and source of all that is good, to love Thy creatures in due measure, honorably according to Thy will, and to love Thee above all that Thou hast created. We ask this through Christ our Lord, Who reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever.

Saint Agnes - Virgin and Martyr

Today is the feast of Saint Agnes of Rome, Virgin and Martyr.

Saint Agnes was born to a noble family in Rome in A.D. 291. Her family, by the grace of God, instilled in her a deep and fearless Christian faith.

The prefect Sempronius wished Agnes to marry his son, and when Agnes refused, she was denounced as a Christian. This was a time of persecution, and she might have escaped punishment if she had been willing to sacrifice to pagan idols, but she refused, and boldly confessed her faith in Christ.

In reprisal, she was humiliated by being dragged naked through the streets to a brothel, where she was threatened with rape. She maintained her modesty as well as she could, covering herself with her hair, and refusing to surrender to the will of her tormentors.

Following an unsuccessful attempt to kill her by fire, she died by the sword. From that time, she has been deeply revered for her purity and constancy. She is often pictured with a lamb (a symbol of her unblemished purity), and a palm branch (symbol of her martyrdom).

Because of the influence of her family, St. Agnes' body was not thrown into the river, which was common practice for martyred Christians at the time. Instead, she was buried in the family cemetery. There, a few days later, Agnes' nurse's daughter Emerentiana, was caught praying. Emerentiana was not yet a Christian, but she was a catechumen, and she followed her friend into martyrdom, stoned to death for refusing the leave the tomb and for reprimanding the pagans for killing Agnes. "Baptized by blood", Emerentiana is honored as a saint.

Many other Christians since then have followed St. Emerentiana in remembering and honoring St. Agnes...

(Have to stop here -- leaving now for a traditional Latin Mass that commemorates St. Agnes. Praise God, pope, pastor and priest for making this Mass available today).

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God."

St. Agnes, pure in heart, intercede for us!

Called to Freedom

For you were called to freedom, brethren;
only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh,
but through love be servants of one another.
For the whole law is fulfilled in one word,
"You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
But if you bite and devour one another,
take heed that you are not consumed by one another.
But I say, walk by the Spirit,
and do not gratify the desires of the flesh.
For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit,
and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh;
for these are opposed to each other,
to prevent you from doing what you would.
But if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law.
Now the works of the flesh are plain:
fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery,
enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit,
envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like.
I warn you, as I warned you before,
that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control;
against such there is no law.
And those who belong to Christ Jesus
have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.
Let us have no self-conceit,
no provoking of one another,
no envy of one another.

Galatians 5:13-26

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If you totally fulfil the command to love your neighbour, you will feel no bitterness or resentment against him whatever he does. If this is not the case, then the reason why you fight against your brother is clearly because you seek after transitory things and prefer them to the commandment of love.

St. Maximos the Confessor