| Sat Mar 7 | am: 75, 76 pm: 23, 27 | Gen 43:16-34 | 1 Cor 7:10-24 | John 7:1-13 |
SATURDAY OF LENT II – Perpetua & her Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 292
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: Vibia Perpetua was a young, married noblewoman of Carthage, and Felicity was her personal slave. Saturas was possibly a priest, and there were two other men, Saturninus and Revocatus, the latter also a slave. Felicity was pregnant. It seems most of them were catechumens when arrested and only baptized later in prison. They were condemned as Christians by the Roman authorities and dispatched to the public arena, there to be mauled by wild animals. They all survived and were then taken to be executed by the sword. Before this, they all exchanged the Kiss of Peace and affirmed their faith in Christ, the Son of God.
BIBLICAL MEDITATION OF THE DAY: As we walk the Lenten path, the world can feel dim—our routines grow heavy, doubts whisper louder. Psalm 27 reminds us that God’s light pierces even the darkest valleys, which certainly Saint Perpetua had a sense of.
Lent invites us to seek God’s presence more intently—through prayer, Scripture, silence, or the simple act of pausing in the day. It is a time to consider the season as one of repentance, meant to be a grim fast but a confident waiting, trusting that God’s promises endure, even when our plans falter.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: Lord, you are my light and salvation. In this Lenten journey, help me to seek your presence, to trust your promises, and to walk boldly in the confidence that you are my stronghold. May the darkness of my habits be replaced by the radiance of your love. Amen..
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE “‘The believing have, in love, the character of God the Father by Jesus Christ, by whom, if we are not in readiness to die into his suffering, his life is not in us. – St. Ignatius of Antioch, (from the Letter to the Magnesians 5)
LENTEN DISCIPLINE – Reflect on the challenges and choices you have in your life to express a sincere and truthful celebration of the Gospel. Keep a journal of when you have been sincere in the faith and perhaps the times you may have been disingenuous about your faith and practice. Pray that the Holy Spirit will fill you with the conviction to bear witness to your baptism just as St. Perpetual and her companions did without compromise.
SONG OF THE HEART, SONG OF THE SEASON – Hymn for St. Perpetua by K.L. Cooper