Temporal pleasures and treasures are fleeting; the Spiritual wealth of the Beatitudes are forever!
In his column today, Pat Ludwa continues to remind us of the pertinence of the Beatitudes imparted by Jesus and why they are even more meaningful during Lent. He points out that "The Beatitudes, the Sermon on the Mount, are not simply a type of poetry or unreachable ideals, but rather a blueprint, a map, for living a Christian lifestyle precisely. It isn't that they're easy to do, but necessary if we are to call ourselves Catholics. To follow the Beatitudes is to accept struggles, it is to disdain the modern tendency to be instantly gratified with temporal pleasures and treasures. Truly knoing the Beatitude makes Lent that much more grace-filled; but only if we truly comprehend this and respond accordingly. For Pat's column, The Beatitudes are not about instant gratification! see VIEW FROM THE PEW
About our OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF AMERICA last week...
We weren't kidding!
 The very life of the Catholic Church in America is at stake!
In our commentary today, we reinforce the uncompromising stand we have long promoted and forcefully illustrated in our Ash Wednesday issue in our OPEN LETTER TO THE BISHOPS OF AMERICA. We are very, very serious and stand by everything we said in entreating the bishops to use this time of Lent and the Easter Season as a definitive grace-period in calling on all 'Catholic' pro-abort politicians to turn from their lives of Saul and become Paul. The words of Christ to Saul in Acts 9: 4: "Why dost thou persecute Me?" must echo in every heart, in every diocese, in every political chamber. If, by Pentecost Sunday, these men and women, who we have voted into office, fail to comply with God's Laws, fail to heed even the Church, then they must be excommunicated! This is not a threat by us, as a few letters have indicated, but rather a manifestation of obedience to the Gospel. It is the only way to save souls, it is the only way to save the Roman Catholic Church in America. Jesus has identified evil as being on the left, the good on the right. Today's Gospel reading clearly shows that.
For our editorial It's up to you. Left or Right?, see CATHOLIC PewPOINT
Attention Bishop Mulvee: We implore you to call Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed to task for his unyielding pro-abort stance.
Today's "Herod's Hero" is from Rhode Island: Senator Jack Reed. What is so sad is that he hails from the predominantly Roman Catholic state of Rhode Island. He was educated by the Christian Brothers at LaSalle Academy. Yet he has forsaken his Catholic principles and values to join in concert with satan in the proliferation of the culture of death. He has done so by embracing the pro-abort stance with no mercy for the lives of millions of unborn through his promoting, voting for and legislating pro-abortion measures. We call on him to repent and for his bishop along with Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Shepherd of the nation's capitol see to issue the ultimatum of the "Bell, Book, and Candle" if he will not hear even the Church. For another betrayer who seeks to perpetuate the culture of death and slay the innocents, see HEROD'S HEROES
 
Holy Father affirms necessity to go against the grain in living the Gospel during his Sunday Angelus
At his traditional midday discourse to pilgrims gathered below his apartment in St. Peter's Square to pray the Angelus, the Holy Father proposed that Christians make this Lent a time to discover what Jesus meant in the Gospel when he said: "He who loves his life loses it." "These words do not express contempt for life but, on the contrary, genuine love for it," the Holy Father said. "A love that does not desire this fundamental good just for itself and immediately, but for all and forever, in sharp contrast to the mentality of the world." For more and the Pope's entire Angelus address, see News from ROME
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Called to preach the Papal Lenten Retreat, Cardinal Francis E. George, OMI evaluates the mission
America's Cardinal Francis E. George, OMI, Archbishop of Chicago gave a brief interview to AVEENIRE before settling in for the week in the Papal Chapel to conduct the annual Papal Lenten Retreat. In the interview he expressed a great affinity for the Holy Father and Rome, having served as Vicar General of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate at the Oblate General House above Vatican Hill. While he is thrilled to return to Rome, he is humbled by such a great honor and prays he will be up to the task, not sure why the Pope picked him as Retreat Master this year. For more, see USA News
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More states pushing for Pro-Life laws that would warn women of the deadly link between breast cancer and abortion
Two days after Dr. Frank Joseph's column on the alarming link between breast cancer and abortions in America's Best Kept Secret Revisited , the national news media has picked up on it in confirming that eleven states are considering legislation that would make it mandatory abortion providers warn women ahead of time of the risk of breast cancer if they go through with killing their baby. For more, see Pro Life News
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Wearin' o' the green this year could be the green o' the gills! With disease rampant in the British isles, Church looking into measures of prevention with dispensations
It may have been Saint Patrick who drove the snakes from Ireland, but it is the cattle who may hinder his people from celebrating his Feast Day in typical fashion this year. Due to foot-and-mouth disease many Irishmen may not be able to boast and toast St. Paddy this year. The epidemic has become so bad in the British Isles that Archbishop Sean Brady, president of the Irish bishops' conference, sent a message to all the island's bishops calling for a response by the Catholic Church to decisions made by Irish authorities, to avoid the spread of the disease. Among the Church options is cancellation of Sunday Mass in selected areas.
For more, see Universal News
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For more Daily News, we recommend sources we rely on. For these news agencies, see News Sources
Lenten Weekday
Today and tomorrow we observe the Lenten Liturgy. See Daily LITURGY
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Purple vestments
MONDAY, March 5:
Lenten Weekday
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First Reading: Leviticus 19: 1-2, 11-18
Psalms: Psalm 122: 2-3
Gospel Reading: Matthew 25: 31-46
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"Then He will say to those on His left hand, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.'" Matthew 25: 41
Beatification of 44 Martyrs by Pope John Paul II
On this date one year ago during the Jubilee year, Pope John Paul II beatified four dozen more martyrs from Europe, Asia and Latin America. That brought the total of holy men and women the Pontiff has raised to blessed to 1,786 in the 22+ years he has been Bishop of Rome. Among those martyrs were eleven Polish nuns gunned down by the Nazis, Vietnames marytrs and 30 Brazilian martyrs from the 17th century. For other Time Capsule events that happened Today in Church history, see Daily TIME CAPSULES in Church History
There is a difference between good and evil
They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but the words of Bishop Fulton J. Sheen have been known to launch a thousand images in one's mind, one of the ways this late luminary did so much to evangelize the faith. Because of the urgency of the times and because few there are today who possess the wisdom, simplicity and insight than the late Archbishop who touched millions, we are bringing you daily gems from his writings. The good bishop makes it so simple that we have dubbed this daily series: "SIMPLY SHEEN".
"Thus humility is the pathway to Truth and inner peace is grounded on the recognition of two dimensions beyond the flatness of the mass level: one is the recognition of the dimension of height, which is the Sanctity above, the other is the dimension of depth, which is the existence of evil within the human heart."
Monthly Medjugorje Message for February 2001
For Our Lady's February 25th message for 2001 and more on Medjugorje, see MEDJUGORJE AND MORE
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March 5, 2001 volume 12, no. 64
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