Our saint of the day 😇 showed how self-denial leads to greater charity!
March 5, 2024
Hello John,
Today's messages can be intimidating. I had to read each a few times to let the depth of the messages resonate. Once I did this, I became less intimidated by what God was saying to me. Hi! I am Patty Crawford, Franciscan Media's director of marketing. What I understand from today's three messages is that, this Lent (and beyond), I am called to let go of my selfishness, my own worries, and ego...to simply let God love me. And in turn, I am able to love others more freely in the exact way.
I hope God speaks to your heart through these messages today. As a disciple, I am called to share this message with friends, family, or anyone who needs to receive it. Will you join me today so that more people will feel God's love? Donate today!
Saint of the Day for March 5: John Joseph of the Cross
(August 15, 1654 – March 5, 1734)
Saint John Joseph of the Cross’ Story
Self-denial is never an end in itself but is only a help toward greater charity, as the life of Saint John Joseph shows.
John Joseph was very ascetic even as a young man. At 16, he joined the Franciscans in Naples; he was the first Italian to follow the reform movement of Saint Peter Alcantara. John Joseph’s reputation for holiness prompted his superiors to put him in charge of establishing a new friary even before he was ordained.
Obedience moved John Joseph to accept appointments as novice master, guardian and, finally, provincial. His years of mortification enabled him to offer these services to the friars with great charity. As guardian he was not above working in the kitchen or carrying the wood and water needed by the friars.
When his term as provincial expired, John Joseph dedicated himself to hearing confessions and practicing mortification—two concerns contrary to the spirit of the dawning Age of Enlightenment. John Joseph of the Cross was canonized in 1839.
Reflection
John Joseph’s mortification allowed him to be the kind of forgiving superior intended by Saint Francis. Self-denial should lead us to charity—not to bitterness; it should help us clarify our priorities and make us more loving. John Joseph is living proof of Chesterton’s observation: “It is always easy to let the age have its head; the difficult thing is to keep one’s own” (G.K. Chesterton, Orthodoxy, page 101).
Explore prayer and meditation through the lens of Francis and Clare!
These two founders laid the groundwork on which their followers walk today. In God's Love Song, Murray Bodo, OFM, and Susan Saint Sing take a deep dive into what a lifetime of Franciscan spirituality looks like, encircling the reader with prayerful, powerful meditations.
With profound hope, we live and grow in this season as an assured and empowered people. We do not lie awake at night worried about our ultimate future; we do not question our place in God. More than in anything else, we know our place in salvation history. And this drives us forth. We fast, pray, and give alms, not as punishment for our sins, but as a redeemed and hopeful people who can do nothing else but reveal our joyful anticipation for the fulfillment of God’s promise to a world that only hopes in possibilities.
What we do in this season is not something to be endured to get to the real glory. It is a taste of the very glory itself: Through these acts of sacrifice, love, and conversion, we become what God promises in us and begin to build the kingdom to which we belong.
This profound and seemingly provocative quote from the great German mystic Meister Eckhart invites me to bring all my theology and ideas about God and lay them down before the immeasurable mystery that is God and life.
Pray
“God rid me of God,” Meister Eckhart prayed, which I adopt today as well, knowing whatever perception I have of you in my mind’s eye will fall woefully short of who you really are. I try to find answers but return with questions. I try to plan my path but get lost on the trail. I think I know all these things; I know nothing, Lord. Collect all the names of God, Francis said, and that I do— laying it all in adoration before you in prayer.
Act
When we pray it is worth considering how we may be projecting our own ideas, or our ego’s ideas, onto how we want or hope God acts in our lives. This is not a bad thing—I believe God truly finds these thoughts and ideas to be beautiful and sacred—but there is also value in reacquainting ourselves with the expansive mystery of God and allowing wonder to stir us once again.
Today's Pause+Pray was written by Stephen Copeland. Learn more here!
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