HOLY WEEK - WEDNESDAY

FIRST READING: Isaiah 50:4-9

RESPONSORIAL PSALM: Psalm 69:8-10, 21-22, 31, 33-34

GOSPEL: Mathew 26:14-25

God called St.Francis and his companions and chose them to bear the cross of Christ in their hearts and to preach it in word and action. That is why they looked like and were in fact crucified men in their comportment and in their austere life, in their deeds and actions. And that is why they wanted more to receive shame and insults for the love of Christ than the world's vain honors or respect or praise; and that is why they were saddened when they were honored. And so they went through the world as pilgrims and strangers, with Christ crucified as their only baggage.

Little Flowers of St. Francis – Chapter 5


THE NAIL PIERCES HIS PRECIOUS FEET

My sweet Lord Jesus, I plead with you to please take that very nail that pierced Your precious and holy feet, place it in Your hands and drive it through these unworthy and sinful feet of mine. Use that nail to “Shod my feet for the the preparation of the Gospel," commissioning me to take Your “Good News” to all the corners of the earth. Lord Jesus, it is written that “The God of peace will shortly crush Satan under your feet,” so I beg You, my Beloved, to allow my sinful and unworthy feet to stomp, crush, and destroy Satan in the world.

Submitted by a brother from the Portiuncula Hermitage/Retreat Center.