Fr. Kubicki 2 Minute Prayer Reflections

The call of every Christian is to do good and avoid evil. In this prayer Reflection, Fr. James Kubicki discusses sin and how only God can destroy sin and death. He does so through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. 

There are some dates that forever stick in people’s minds and today is one of them. The reason for that is that the great English Playwright William Shakespeare has a line in one of his plays, “Beware the Ides of March.” In Roman times, today, March 15th was known as the Ides of March.

In the gospel at today’s Mass from St. Luke’s version of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls each one of us to be merciful just as God the Father is merciful. He then goes on to say, “Forgive and you will be forgiven. Give and gifts will be given to you.”

In today’s Prayer Reflection, Fr. James Kubicki reflects on some thoughts from Pope Francis where he talks about the temptations of Jesus in the desert. Pope Francis says, “In the light of this gospel, we are again made aware of our condition as sinners, but also of the victory over evil for those who undertake the journey of conversion.

Today’s gospel reading at Mass continues Matthew’s version of the sermon on the Mount which we also heard yesterday. The words of Jesus are very serious and challenging. Some people might even think they are unrealistic, but if we examine the entire passage, we can see why Jesus challenges us on such an important teaching.

A traditional Lenten practice, especially on Fridays, is to pray the Stations of the Cross. In this Prayer Reflection, Fr. James Kubicki reflects on The Stations of the Cross with the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus written by Rev. William Prospero.

Some people think that Catholics are only focused on their own works and can save themselves when only Jesus can save. The truth is that Catholics believe that Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead to save us. So why then, do Catholics fast and do penance during Lent?

Today, the Church honors St. Frances of Rome. Over 600 years ago Frances was born in Rome. At 11 years of age, she went to her parents and told them that she wanted to become a nun. They said no because they had plans for her to marry a man named Lorenzo. At 13, Frances married Lorenzo and in time, they had three children.

The saint who the Church celebrates today probably would have enjoyed the eating, drinking, and carousing that sometimes is associated with Mardi Gras, the day we celebrated right before Ash Wednesday. His name as we know him is St. John of God.

Today, the Church celebrates a feast in honor of some early Church martyrs, St. Perpetua, and her servant Felicity. From the name Perpetua, we get the word perpetual, which means continuing forever, or everlasting. The name Felicity means happiness. She was happy to be faithful.

Today is the first Sunday in Lent when we always hear a gospel about the temptations of Jesus in the desert. People might find that hard to believe, that Jesus could have been tempted by the devil to sin. Yet, that’s what the gospel today tells us.

Prayer, fasting, and almsgiving are the three traditional practices of Lent. All three of these practices work together. Prayer puts you in touch with God. Through prayer you begin to take on the values, attitude, thoughts and feelings of Jesus.

Today, the Church honors St. Casimir. He was a King, but he didn’t let all wealth and honor of his position, go to his head. In fact, he had such a love and concern for the poor that he was considered their special patron. He was also know as a peacemaker.

Today, the Church honors St. Katherine Drexel. She was born into a wealthy Philadelphia family in the mid-1800s and when her parents died, she inherited millions of dollars. She began using it by supporting special missions and projects for African Americans and Native Americans.

It might sound strange to wish people a Happy Lent. Isn’t Lent supposed to be a sorrowful season when we give things up and fast and abstain? We begin Lent on Ash Wednesday and receive ashes on our forehead.

The first reading at Mass today from St. Peter’s first letter, has some good advice on how we should approach today and every day. St. Peter advises us to live soberly and to be holy in every aspect of our conduct.

In today’s gospel a wealthy man asks Jesus what he hade to do to inherit eternal life. After saying that he had followed all the commandments that showed he was ready for heaven, Jesus invited him to give his wealth away and follow him even more closely on the path to eternal life.

In today’s gospel we hear the continuation of St. Luke’s version of the sermon on the mount. Last week, we heard that while Jesus tells us not to judge, we must make judgements based on the actions of others. Sin comes into the picture though when we judge others as God would judge them.

According to today’s gospel at Mass, people brought their children to Jesus. The image of Jesus smiling while surrounded by children shows a very good depiction of his love for humanity.

For the last couple of weeks, the readings at the weekday Masses have been from the letter of St. James who was a relative of our Lord. The Letter of James the Apostle is very concrete and practical in application to living out our Christian call to be holy.

Jesus speaks about Gehenna in today’s gospel. It was a real place just outside the city walls of Jerusalem where people burned garbage. Jesus used it as a symbol for hell, that state of complete alienation from God and the Communion of Saints.

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of an early Church Marty named Polycarp. He was a disciple of St. John the Apostle himself. He was the bishop of Smyrna which was in modern day Turkey

Today, the Church celebrates the feast of the Chair of St. Peter the Apostle. As Catholics, we are not celebrating a chair, but the authority Jesus gave to St. Peter, an authority that is symbolized by a bishop’s chair.

One-thousand years ago, a man named Peter was born and very early on in life, he was orphaned. His older brothers raised him, and one of them seeing his potential, and intellectual gifts, sent him off to study.

The words of Jesus in today’s gospel are very challenging. In fact, I suspect that if you and I were living at the time of Jesus, and we were in the crowd to which Jesus spoke, we would probably think that he was not serious.