The CatholiCity Message

Volume XII, Number 3 – March 13, 2008

Dear CatholiCity Citizen,

This is Lazarus Week. We offer you a short message of spiritual encouragement. During these dog days of Lent and the semi-depressing waning weeks of winter, some of us become discouraged and begin to fall short in our Lenten mortifications and intentions. If that's the case with you, we offer these words:

You are not alone.

We're with you, and your fellow Catholics reading this message and indeed all over the world who are committed to their faith are with you. We recall the wisdom of a wise priest who, during Confession almost three decades ago, reminded a discouraged sinner that it was no coincidence that Jesus fell three times while carrying the cross. Before the end of his climb, he needed another man to carry it for him.

Resolve to take up your cross and rise again. You are carrying it for Christ. You are carrying it for all your brothers and sisters. And they carry it for you. Remember, always, that the coming Resurrection is not an ending, but the beginning.

QUOTES FOR LAZARUS WEEK

"Take the cross He sends, as it is, and not as you imagine it to be."
Mother Cornelia Connelly

"We cannot command our final perseverance, but must ask it from God."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

"Though perseverance does not come from our power, it does come within our power."
Saint Francis de Sales

"Before sinning, let man fear God's justice. But after sinning, let him presume on His mercy. And let him not so fear His justice as not to be strengthened by the consolation of hope; nor so confident of His mercy as to neglect to apply to his wounds the medicine of adequate penance."
Pope Saint Gregory the Great

"Nothing is so hard that it does not yield to that which is harder."
Saint Bernard

"Torture us, rack us, condemn us, crush us. Your cruelty only proves our innocence. That is why God suffers us to suffer all this."
Tertullian

"You do right when you offer faith to God; you do right when you offer works. But if you separate the two, then you do wrong. For faith without works is dead, and lack of charity in action murders faith, just as Cain murdered Abel, so that God cannot respect your offering."
Saint Bernard

This is the time when bit by bit
the days begin to lengthen sweet,
and every minute gained is joy,
and love stirs in the heart of a boy.
Katharine Hinkson

LET US PRAY TOGETHER
Tens of thousands of CatholiCity Citizens are receiving this message. Let us pray with each other, to Jesus...

"Dear Lord,
In place of our death, Your life
In place of our comfort, Your cross
In our eyes, Your sight
In our desires, Your holy will
In our sweat, Your tears
In our works, Your love
What is ours, be Yours, in all things
And in everything and in everything beyond
Everything, forever, Amen."

Thank you for being a part of our work. It is not too late to order Mary Foundation CDs to arrive in time for all the Once-A-Year Catholics who are going to show up at church during Holy Week and Easter:

https://secure.catholicity.com/order.html

May your Holy Week be filled with grace.

With Christ,

Your Friends at CatholiCity