Notices by George M. Sipe (george@rcsocial.net)

#GospelToday (LK 9:24-36)
While he was still speaking, a cloud came and cast a shadow over them, and they became frightened when they entered the cloud.

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my chosen Son; listen to him."

After the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. They fell silent and did not at that time tell anyone what they had seen.

#GospelToday (Lk 10:40-42)
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me."

The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."

#GospelToday (Mt 11:25-27)
At that time Jesus said in reply, "I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although you have hidden these things from the wise and the learned you have revealed them to the childlike.

Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.

All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

#GospelToday (Lk 9:61-62)
And another said, "I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say farewell to my family at home."

[To him] Jesus said, "No one who sets a hand to the plow and looks to what was left behind is fit for the kingdom of God."

The road to perdition is wide due to popular demand.

Msgr. Charles Pope has a piece on this topic today. His reflections are always good.

https://blog.adw.org/2019/05/road-hell-wide-many-walk/

Photo: Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Fr. Lawrence Lew.

#GospelToday (Lk 24:30-35)
And it happened that, while he was with them at table, he took bread, said the blessing, broke it, and gave it to them. With that their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he vanished from their sight.

Then they said to each other, "Were not our hearts burning [within us] while he spoke to us on the way and opened the scriptures to us?" So they set out at once and returned to Jerusalem where they found gathered together the eleven and those with them who were saying, "The Lord has truly been raised and has appeared to Simon!"

Then the two recounted what had taken place on the way and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread.

#GospelToday (Jn 20:6-9)
When Simon Peter arrived after him, he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there, and the cloth that had covered his head, not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.

Then the other disciple also went in, the one who had arrived at the tomb first, and he saw and believed.

For they did not yet understand the scripture that he had to rise from the dead.

"Pieta" by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1876)
#art

#GospelToday (Mk 12:29-31)
Jesus replied, "The first is this: 'Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'

The second is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."

#GospelToday (Lk 15:31-32)
He said to him, 'My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.'

#GospelToday (Mt 1:20,24)
Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her.

When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home.

Today is the beginning of the penitential season of Lent. As such, it is a day of fasting and abstinence.

Specifically on this Ash Wednesday we look to our certain future, mortal death. We were born stained by the sin of our first parents and redeemed by the superabundant sacrifice of the new Adam. Victory over death is ours by accepting our Savior's grace -- on His terms. Know this: it is an offer of divine mercy, not a negotiation.

#GospelToday (Mk10:11-12)
He said to them, "Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery."

#GospelToday (Mt 16:15-19)
He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

Simon Peter said in reply, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

Jesus said to him in reply, "Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys to the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven."

Happy Valentine's Day. St. Valentine was a real person (a priest), martyred in 269 for his faith:
https://www.crisismagazine.com/2019/why-valentines-day-is-named-after-a-saint

#GospelToday ( Lk 5:8-11)
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at the knees of Jesus and said, "Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man."

For astonishment at the catch of fish they had made seized him and all those with him, and likewise James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners of Simon. Jesus said to Simon, "Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men."

When they brought their boats to the shore, they left everything and followed him.

#GospelToday (Mk 6:34):
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd, his heart was moved with pity for them, for they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

#GospelToday (Jn 1:14):
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father’s only-begotten Son, full of grace and truth.

#GospelToday (Lk 1:46-48):
And Mary said: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my savior. For he has looked upon his handmaid’s lowliness; behold, from now on will all ages call me blessed.