{"ok":true,"date":"2027-02-21","dateKey":"02-21","liturgicalDay":"Second Sunday of Lent","rank":"Sunday of the First Class","color":"violet","quoteOfTheDay":{"text":"His mother saith to the ministers: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.","author":"Holy Scripture","source":"John 2:5, Original Douay-Rheims","treasuryHref":"/wisdom#do-what-christ-commands","category":"Under Our Lady's Rule"},"season":"Lent","novenas":[],"octaveContexts":[],"subject":"City of God in Exile: Second Sunday of Lent - 2027-02-21","previewText":"Second Sunday of Lent. Grace Heals and Elevates Nature. Resist naturalism, which treats human improvement as though it could take the place of supernatural life.","plainText":"CITY OF GOD IN EXILE\nSecond Sunday of Lent\n2027-02-21 - Lent - Sunday of the First Class - violet\nPLAIN-LANGUAGE GUIDE FOR TODAY\nPassion of Christ: the sufferings and death Jesus freely accepted for our salvation, from His agony in Gethsemane through His Crucifixion.\nPenance: repentance expressed through prayer, self-denial, reparation, and a real turning away from sin.\nTransfiguration: the event on Mount Tabor when Christ allowed Peter, James, and John to see His human face and garments shining with supernatural glory.\nTODAY IN THE ROMAN YEAR\nHumiliation, opposition, and penance do not mean that God has ceased to govern. Our Lord redeemed the world through His obedient suffering on the Cross. When Catholics accept unavoidable trials without sin, perform penance, and continue obeying the truth, those sufferings can humble pride and deepen fidelity rather than lead to despair. Enter the sanctuary of this day with reverence for what God formed in His Mother. Ask Our Lady to teach you reverence before the mysteries of God and custody over whatever would profane them.\n\n\"Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High, the knowledge and possession of which He has reserved to Himself.\"\nSt. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 5\n\nSt. Louis de Montfort does not invite idle curiosity about Our Lady. A masterpiece is known by attending to the intention of its maker. Everything in Mary points to God's holiness, wisdom, purity, and condescension; the more truly she is known, the less the soul is able to treat the Incarnation and the life of grace casually.\n\nApproach her today with reverence rather than familiarity emptied of awe. Ask what God loves in her: immaculate purity, perfect faith, prompt obedience, and complete belonging. Then allow that knowledge to judge what you permit in your thoughts, your home, and your worship.\n\nPRACTICE\nRead Matthew 17:1-9. Thank Christ for a grace that has strengthened you, then carry your difficult duties without demanding further consolation.\n\nQUOTE OF THE DAY\n\"His mother saith to the ministers: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.\"\nHoly Scripture, John 2:5, Original Douay-Rheims\n\nROMAN MARTYROLOGY - February 21\nAt N Sicily, in the reign of Diocletian, the birthday - of seventy-nine holy martyrs, who deserved by various torments to receive an immortal crown for the confession of their faith. — At Adrumetum, in Africa, during the persecution of the Vandals, the holy martyrs Verulus, Secundinus, Syricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus, and sixteen others, who were crowned with martyrdom for the confession of the Catholic faith. — At Scythopolis, in Palestine, St. Severian, bishop and martyr. — At Damascus, St. Peter Mavimenus, who was killed by some Arabs who visited him in his sickness, because he said to them: \"Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic faith is lost, like your false prophet Mahomet.\" — At Ravenna, St. Maximian, bishop and confessor. — At Metz, St. Felix, bishop. — At Brescia, St. Paterius, bishop.\n\nGOSPEL OF THE DAY\nThis is my beloved Son.\nSecond Sunday of Lent - Matthew 17:1-9\n\"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.\"\nIf Lent feels heavy, remember Thabor. Our Lord allows glimpses of glory so the soul can keep walking when the road slopes toward Calvary.\n\nTHE CHURCH'S READING OF THE GOSPEL\nWhat This Gospel Teaches\nChrist reveals His glory so the apostles will remember His divinity when His Passion shocks and frightens them.\nThe Father's command is simple and absolute: hear ye Him.\nError corrected: The desire for consolations without the descent from the mountain.\n- Where does this error tempt me in practice?\n- What act does this Gospel require of me today?\n\nHIGHLIGHTED SAINT\nSecond Sunday of Lent\nTabor strengthens the soul for Calvary.\nOn the Second Sunday of Lent, the Church shows Christ transfigured before Peter, James, and John, with Moses and Elias appearing in glory.\nThe vision is given before the Passion so that the apostles may know Who suffers, and the faithful may learn that Lenten hardship is ordered toward glory in Christ.\nLet Tabor strengthen you, not distract you. The light is real, but it is given to make the road to Calvary faithful.\nBREVIARY WITNESS\nThe beloved Son revealed before the Passion.\nMatins - Second Sunday of Lent\n- The office of the Second Sunday of Lent contemplates the Transfiguration, where Christ's glory is shown before His suffering and death could shock the apostles and test their faith.\n- Its witness strengthens the faithful to believe that the suffering Christ is the beloved Son, and that penance is ordered toward glory, not despair.\nListen to Him when the light is hidden. The glory shown on Tabor teaches perseverance when Calvary draws near.\nInstruction from the Breviary\nThe Breviary witness for Second Sunday of Lent is part of the Church's daily teaching. It should not be read as a list of isolated facts. In the Divine Office, Scripture, the lives of the saints, doctrine, and the Church's prayer are placed together so that the mind learns what the Church remembers and the heart learns how a Catholic ought to judge and live.\nToday's witness is gathered under The beloved Son revealed before the Passion.. Its first point is this: The office of the Second Sunday of Lent contemplates the Transfiguration, where Christ's glory is shown before His suffering and death could shock the apostles and test their faith. Its next point develops the lesson: Its witness strengthens the faithful to believe that the suffering Christ is the beloved Son, and that penance is ordered toward glory, not despair.\nThe practical instruction is: Listen to Him when the light is hidden. The glory shown on Tabor teaches perseverance when Calvary draws near. Ask what truth is being guarded, what virtue is being praised, and what danger or forgetfulness is being corrected. In this way the Breviary becomes instruction for the present day rather than information that is quickly passed over.\n- What truth does this Breviary witness teach or defend?\n- What virtue does the Church place before me through it?\n- What judgment or action should change because I have received this lesson?\n\nFROM MATINS\nThe glory veiled in the Manhood of Christ.\nMatins - Third Nocturn - Second Sunday of Lent\nPope St. Leo the Great\n\"They knew not the power of that Body which veiled the Godhead.\"\n- The Breviary contemplates the Transfiguration as a merciful strengthening before Christ's suffering and death could become a stumbling block to the apostles.\n- St. Leo teaches that the brightness shown on the mountain belongs to the Manhood taken into God, while the unapproachable vision of the Godhead remains beyond mortal sight.\n- The Father's voice confesses the Son as true Son, equal, eternal, and of the Father's own Being.\nRemember Thabor when Lent feels dark. The One who goes toward humiliation is no mere sufferer, but the eternal Son veiled in true Manhood.\nTHE PILGRIM'S SPIRITUAL CONFERENCE\nGrace Heals and Elevates Nature\nThe Church places this truth before you today: Man is not saved by natural goodness, sentiment, or progress. He needs sanctifying grace, the merits of Christ, and persevering conversion. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. The Church is holy because Christ is holy, because she possesses holy doctrine and sacraments, and because she forms saints by grace.\nThe grace to be practiced is Hopeful perseverance beneath the Cross, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Reverence sees created holiness as God's work and returns admiration to His glory.\nThere is also an enemy to recognize: Resist naturalism, which treats human improvement as though it could take the place of supernatural life. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing hopeful perseverance beneath the Cross when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.\nDo the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Accept the discipline required to protect purity and recollection from the day's intrusions. Perform your sacred and ordinary duties without haste or carelessness, giving full attention to the duty now before you.\nThe Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of holy; the witness placed beside it is St. Thomas Aquinas.\nYour resolution before God: Read Matthew 17:1-9. Thank Christ for a grace that has strengthened you, then carry your difficult duties without demanding further consolation.\nCarry this word: The faithful remain at the Cross when the multitude walks past it.\nTHE PILGRIM'S MIRROR\n\"Thou alone art the true refection of the soul, and he that worthily eateth Thee shall be partaker and heir of eternal glory.\"\nThomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book IV, chapter 14, p. 203\nThe Blessed Sacrament is not one devotion among many: it is Jesus Christ, the soul's true food. Let every Marian offering lead you more faithfully to her Eucharistic Son.\n\nIf you can assist at Mass and receive worthily, approach with recollection and hunger rather than habit. If you cannot, do not allow absence to become forgetfulness. Turn toward the tabernacle, confess your desire, and ask Our Lady to prepare in you a more faithful welcome for Jesus.\nToday's Practice: Make a reverent Spiritual Communion, or prepare carefully for Holy Communion if you will receive today.\nDAILY EXAMEN\nAsk where familiarity made you careless with prayer, holy things, or another soul made in God's image.\n- For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?\n- What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?\n- What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?\nPRAYER\nO Lord, keep me near Thy Cross when comfort, acceptance, and ease invite me elsewhere. Let fidelity be stronger than the desire to belong.\nDAILY RULE FOR THE PILGRIM\nA brief rule to keep every day:\nBegin with morning prayer\nAdore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.\nKeep the Angelus\nPause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.\nSeek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament\nAttend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.\nReturn to Jesus and Mary\nUse frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.\nPray the Rosary\nKeep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.\nEnd with night prayer and examen\nGive thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.\nCONTINUE STUDY\nWhat Is Grace?: https://cityofgodinexile.com/catechism-foundations/what-is-grace?entered=1\nOpen this day in the Sacred Calendar: https://cityofgodinexile.com/sacred-calendar?date=2027-02-21&entered=1\nOpen this day's Daily Pilgrimage: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch?date=2027-02-21&entered=1\nBrowse the Formation Index: https://cityofgodinexile.com/daily-dispatch/formation?entered=1","html":"\n\n \n \n \n City of God in Exile: Second Sunday of Lent - 2027-02-21\n \n \n
\n Second Sunday of Lent. Grace Heals and Elevates Nature. Resist naturalism, which treats human improvement as though it could take the place of supernatural life.\n
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City of God in Exile

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Second Sunday of Lent

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2027-02-21 - Lent - Sunday of the First Class - violet

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“Walk whilst you have the light, that the darkness overtake you not.”
John 12:35
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Plain-Language Guide for Today

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Passion of Christ
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the sufferings and death Jesus freely accepted for our salvation, from His agony in Gethsemane through His Crucifixion.
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Penance
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repentance expressed through prayer, self-denial, reparation, and a real turning away from sin.
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Transfiguration
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the event on Mount Tabor when Christ allowed Peter, James, and John to see His human face and garments shining with supernatural glory.
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Today in the Roman Year

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Humiliation, opposition, and penance do not mean that God has ceased to govern. Our Lord redeemed the world through His obedient suffering on the Cross. When Catholics accept unavoidable trials without sin, perform penance, and continue obeying the truth, those sufferings can humble pride and deepen fidelity rather than lead to despair.

Enter the sanctuary of this day with reverence for what God formed in His Mother.

Ask Our Lady to teach you reverence before the mysteries of God and custody over whatever would profane them.

“Mary is the excellent masterpiece of the Most High, the knowledge and possession of which He has reserved to Himself.”

St. Louis-Marie de Montfort, True Devotion to the Blessed Virgin, no. 5

St. Louis de Montfort does not invite idle curiosity about Our Lady. A masterpiece is known by attending to the intention of its maker. Everything in Mary points to God's holiness, wisdom, purity, and condescension; the more truly she is known, the less the soul is able to treat the Incarnation and the life of grace casually.

Approach her today with reverence rather than familiarity emptied of awe. Ask what God loves in her: immaculate purity, perfect faith, prompt obedience, and complete belonging. Then allow that knowledge to judge what you permit in your thoughts, your home, and your worship.

Read Matthew 17:1-9. Thank Christ for a grace that has strengthened you, then carry your difficult duties without demanding further consolation.

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Quote of the Day

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“His mother saith to the ministers: Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye.”
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Holy Scripture, John 2:5, Original Douay-Rheims

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Roman Martyrology - February 21

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At N Sicily, in the reign of Diocletian, the birthday - of seventy-nine holy martyrs, who deserved by various torments to receive an immortal crown for the confession of their faith. — At Adrumetum, in Africa, during the persecution of the Vandals, the holy martyrs Verulus, Secundinus, Syricius, Felix, Servulus, Saturninus, Fortunatus, and sixteen others, who were crowned with martyrdom for the confession of the Catholic faith. — At Scythopolis, in Palestine, St. Severian, bishop and martyr. — At Damascus, St. Peter Mavimenus, who was killed by some Arabs who visited him in his sickness, because he said to them: "Whoever does not embrace the Christian and Catholic faith is lost, like your false prophet Mahomet." — At Ravenna, St. Maximian, bishop and confessor. — At Metz, St. Felix, bishop. — At Brescia, St. Paterius, bishop.

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Gospel of the Day

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This is my beloved Son.

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Second Sunday of Lent - Matthew 17:1-9

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“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him.”
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If Lent feels heavy, remember Thabor. Our Lord allows glimpses of glory so the soul can keep walking when the road slopes toward Calvary.

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The Church's Reading of the Gospel

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What This Gospel Teaches

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Christ reveals His glory so the apostles will remember His divinity when His Passion shocks and frightens them.

The Father's command is simple and absolute: hear ye Him.

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Error corrected: The desire for consolations without the descent from the mountain.

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  • Where does this error tempt me in practice?
  • What act does this Gospel require of me today?
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Highlighted Saint

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Second Sunday of Lent

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Tabor strengthens the soul for Calvary.

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On the Second Sunday of Lent, the Church shows Christ transfigured before Peter, James, and John, with Moses and Elias appearing in glory.

The vision is given before the Passion so that the apostles may know Who suffers, and the faithful may learn that Lenten hardship is ordered toward glory in Christ.

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Let Tabor strengthen you, not distract you. The light is real, but it is given to make the road to Calvary faithful.

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Breviary Witness

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The beloved Son revealed before the Passion.

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Matins - Second Sunday of Lent

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  • The office of the Second Sunday of Lent contemplates the Transfiguration, where Christ's glory is shown before His suffering and death could shock the apostles and test their faith.
  • Its witness strengthens the faithful to believe that the suffering Christ is the beloved Son, and that penance is ordered toward glory, not despair.
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Listen to Him when the light is hidden. The glory shown on Tabor teaches perseverance when Calvary draws near.

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Instruction from the Breviary

The Breviary witness for Second Sunday of Lent is part of the Church's daily teaching. It should not be read as a list of isolated facts. In the Divine Office, Scripture, the lives of the saints, doctrine, and the Church's prayer are placed together so that the mind learns what the Church remembers and the heart learns how a Catholic ought to judge and live.

Today's witness is gathered under The beloved Son revealed before the Passion.. Its first point is this: The office of the Second Sunday of Lent contemplates the Transfiguration, where Christ's glory is shown before His suffering and death could shock the apostles and test their faith. Its next point develops the lesson: Its witness strengthens the faithful to believe that the suffering Christ is the beloved Son, and that penance is ordered toward glory, not despair.

The practical instruction is: Listen to Him when the light is hidden. The glory shown on Tabor teaches perseverance when Calvary draws near. Ask what truth is being guarded, what virtue is being praised, and what danger or forgetfulness is being corrected. In this way the Breviary becomes instruction for the present day rather than information that is quickly passed over.

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    \n
  • What truth does this Breviary witness teach or defend?
  • What virtue does the Church place before me through it?
  • What judgment or action should change because I have received this lesson?
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From Matins

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The glory veiled in the Manhood of Christ.

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Matins - Third Nocturn - Second Sunday of Lent

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Pope St. Leo the Great, Homily on the Transfiguration of the Lord

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“They knew not the power of that Body which veiled the Godhead.”
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    \n
  • The Breviary contemplates the Transfiguration as a merciful strengthening before Christ's suffering and death could become a stumbling block to the apostles.
  • St. Leo teaches that the brightness shown on the mountain belongs to the Manhood taken into God, while the unapproachable vision of the Godhead remains beyond mortal sight.
  • The Father's voice confesses the Son as true Son, equal, eternal, and of the Father's own Being.
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Remember Thabor when Lent feels dark. The One who goes toward humiliation is no mere sufferer, but the eternal Son veiled in true Manhood.

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The Pilgrim's Spiritual Conference

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Grace Heals and Elevates Nature

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The Church places this truth before you today: Man is not saved by natural goodness, sentiment, or progress. He needs sanctifying grace, the merits of Christ, and persevering conversion. Do not hurry past it as though doctrine belonged only to books and controversies. A revealed truth is also a light by which the soul must judge its loyalties, its fears, its habits, and the duties immediately before it. The Church is holy because Christ is holy, because she possesses holy doctrine and sacraments, and because she forms saints by grace.

The grace to be practiced is Hopeful perseverance beneath the Cross, drawn from today's saintly witness. Ask God for more than the natural appearance of this virtue. Temperament may make an action seem easy for a time, but supernatural virtue remains faithful because God is worthy of obedience, even when feeling offers no assistance and no one notices the cost. Reverence sees created holiness as God's work and returns admiration to His glory.

There is also an enemy to recognize: Resist naturalism, which treats human improvement as though it could take the place of supernatural life. Do not study this danger only in other people. Look quietly for the door by which it seeks entrance into your own soul - perhaps through delay, curiosity, resentment, human respect, attachment to comfort, or the desire to control the outcome. Dying to self today means choosing hopeful perseverance beneath the Cross when pride, comfort, fear, resentment, or human respect asks for control.

Do the faithful act and entrust its fruit to divine Providence, God's wise and loving governance of all things. Place effort and outcome into Our Lady's hands so that the whole offering may be presented to her Divine Son. Confidence in God is not passivity: obey, pray, work, and accept that visible success, consolation, or immediate relief may not be given. God remains faithful when the duty is hidden and the outcome uncertain. Therefore, perform the duty that belongs to you, use the lawful means God has provided, and then surrender the fruit. Accept the discipline required to protect purity and recollection from the day's intrusions. Perform your sacred and ordinary duties without haste or carelessness, giving full attention to the duty now before you.

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The Church's witness: this truth manifests the Church's mark of holy; the witness placed beside it is St. Thomas Aquinas.

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Your Resolution Before God

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Read Matthew 17:1-9. Thank Christ for a grace that has strengthened you, then carry your difficult duties without demanding further consolation.

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The faithful remain at the Cross when the multitude walks past it.
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The Pilgrim's Mirror

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How shall I imitate Christ today?

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“Thou alone art the true refection of the soul, and he that worthily eateth Thee shall be partaker and heir of eternal glory.”
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Thomas à Kempis, The Imitation of Christ, Book IV, chapter 14, p. 203

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The Blessed Sacrament is not one devotion among many: it is Jesus Christ, the soul's true food. Let every Marian offering lead you more faithfully to her Eucharistic Son.

If you can assist at Mass and receive worthily, approach with recollection and hunger rather than habit. If you cannot, do not allow absence to become forgetfulness. Turn toward the tabernacle, confess your desire, and ask Our Lady to prepare in you a more faithful welcome for Jesus.

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Today's Practice

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Make a reverent Spiritual Communion, or prepare carefully for Holy Communion if you will receive today.

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Daily Examen

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Three questions before night prayer

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Ask where familiarity made you careless with prayer, holy things, or another soul made in God's image.

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  • For what grace or mercy should I thank God today?
  • What sin, fault, neglected duty, or resistance to grace must I confess?
  • What definite amendment will I carry into tomorrow?
    • \n
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Prayer

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O Lord, keep me near Thy Cross when comfort, acceptance, and ease invite me elsewhere. Let fidelity be stronger than the desire to belong.

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Daily Rule for the Pilgrim

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A brief rule to keep every day:

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Begin with morning prayer

Adore the Blessed Trinity and offer the whole day to Jesus through Mary before other duties claim the mind.

Keep the Angelus

Pause morning, noon, and evening to remember the Incarnation.

Seek Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament

Attend Holy Mass when duty permits; otherwise make a Spiritual Communion and renew desire for Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament.

Return to Jesus and Mary

Use frequent holy aspirations during work, waiting, suffering, and temptation.

Pray the Rosary

Keep the mysteries of Christ before the mind with Our Lady and learn to imitate what they contain.

End with night prayer and examen

Give thanks, confess faults, forgive injuries, make a practical amendment, and entrust the night to Our Lady.

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Continue Study

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Carry today's lesson into a focused chapter from the library.

\n What Is Grace?\n
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Persevere, pilgrim.

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The gates remain open to the faithful.

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\n \"The\n
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