Readings & Reflections: Friday after Ash Wednesday & Blessed Daniel Brottier, February 28, 2020

Christians recognize when to rejoice and to mourn, to celebrate and to fast. The reason why Christ’s disciples do not fast is that fasting is a means to what they are enjoying at that very moment: the tremendous richness of the presence of Jesus. Fasting is a form of self-deprivation that deepens our appreciation of and longing for the food we really need; we fast so that this Lent we may “merit to come and behold Jesus forever.”

AMDG+

Opening Prayer

Heavenly Father, this season of Lent, enable me to fast in a manner that leads to conversion of my heart — to compassion:  Enable a conversion in my heart so that I may be your instrument of compassion in releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the homeless; clothing the naked when I see them, and not turn my back on them. In Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Reading 1
Is 58:1-9a

Thus says the Lord GOD:
Cry out full-throated and unsparingly,
lift up your voice like a trumpet blast;
Tell my people their wickedness,
and the house of Jacob their sins.
They seek me day after day,
and desire to know my ways,
Like a nation that has done what is just
and not abandoned the law of their God;
They ask me to declare what is due them,
pleased to gain access to God.
“Why do we fast, and you do not see it?
afflict ourselves, and you take no note of it?”

Lo, on your fast day you carry out your own pursuits,
and drive all your laborers.
Yes, your fast ends in quarreling and fighting,
striking with wicked claw.
Would that today you might fast
so as to make your voice heard on high!
Is this the manner of fasting I wish,
of keeping a day of penance:
That a man bow his head like a reed
and lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Do you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the LORD?
This, rather, is the fasting that I wish:
releasing those bound unjustly,
untying the thongs of the yoke;
Setting free the oppressed,
breaking every yoke;
Sharing your bread with the hungry,
sheltering the oppressed and the homeless;
Clothing the naked when you see them,
and not turning your back on your own.
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your wound shall quickly be healed;
Your vindication shall go before you,
and the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
you shall cry for help, and he will say: Here I am!

The word of the Lord.

Responsorial Psalm
Ps 51:3-4, 5-6ab, 18-19

R. (19b) A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
Have mercy on me, O God, in your goodness;
in the greatness of your compassion wipe out my offense.
Thoroughly wash me from my guilt
and of my sin cleanse me.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For I acknowledge my offense,
and my sin is before me always:
“Against you only have I sinned,
and done what is evil in your sight.”
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
For you are not pleased with sacrifices;
should I offer a burnt offering, you would not accept it.
My sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit;
a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.
R. A heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn.

Gospel
Mt 9:14-15

The disciples of John approached Jesus and said,
“Why do we and the Pharisees fast much,
but your disciples do not fast?”
Jesus answered them, “Can the wedding guests mourn
as long as the bridegroom is with them?
The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them,
and then they will fast.”

The Gospel of the Lord.

Reflection – Then they will fast

A typical Jewish wedding during the time of Christ normally took a number of days and just like any feast it was a time of great joy for both bride and groom, their families and guests. Fasting during such eventful celebration was unthinkable and never crossed the minds of people. That is why when the Pharisees asked: “Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus responded: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them.”

In His response, Jesus actually compared the ‘coming’ of God’s kingdom which He announced, to a Jewish wedding feast. He was referring to Himself as the groom and His disciples as His friends. As such it should be a time for rejoicing. Their days of fasting shall commence the day He is taken away from them.

That day is upon all of us now and we are all expected to do His work among His people. Jesus fasted and prayed as He began His ministry. We too need our Father’s abundant grace by going into deeper prayer and fasting as we carry out His work of bringing God’s kingdom into fulfillment. We are now in the season of Lent… a time when we mourn in a special way the absence of Jesus…a time to renew one’s life… a season of preparation as we await the celebration of our redemption and the final coming of Jesus…a time for reflection, prayer and fasting and being ready   before we rejoice with unending joy.

Today we need to ask our hearts the best way we could fast and prepare for Jesus’ final coming. The very essence of today first readings responds to this very question. Isaiah 58: 6-7 states: “This, rather, is the fasting that I wish: releasing those bound unjustly, untying the thongs of the yoke; Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them, and not turning your back on your own.”

What have we done to make all these happen?

What should we do today in the Name of our Lord Jesus?

Direction

Let us respond to the question: What are we doing to feed the hungry… shelter the homeless… clothe the naked? Let us MOVE to action…

Prayer

Heavenly Father, my sacrifice, O God, is a contrite spirit; a heart contrite and humbled, O God, you will not spurn. In Jesus, I pray. Amen.

Reflection 2 – All Year Long

[The Lord said], “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?” —Isaiah 58:6-7

During Lent (the 40 days prior to Easter) many Christians follow the practice of giving up something and taking the time to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself for us.

One group of middle-class believers in a church in the UK decided to live on the minimum wage. Their goal was to identify with those who live on little, to learn the joy of giving, to invite God to change their attitude toward money, and to challenge others in their church to do the same. For their study they chose Isaiah 58.

Afterward, one of the leaders of the group said they learned an important lesson. Living on less “makes you realize just how much you really can give away. It makes you look at what you normally give and realize that it is far from being sacrificial.”

What they learned agrees with God’s idea of what fasting and sacrificial living are all about. The Lord said to Israel, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out?” (Isaiah 58:6-7). God was chiding His people because their fasting had become an empty ritual with no concern for others.

Let’s give sacrificially to others—not just during Lent but all year long.
— Anne Cetas

Grant us, then, the grace for giving
With a spirit large and free,
That our life and all our living
We may consecrate to Thee. —Murray

Your standard of giving is more important than your standard of living (Source: Our Daily Bread, RBC Ministries).

Reflection 3 – Fasting for the Kingdom of God

Are you hungry for God? Hungering for God and fasting for his kingdom go hand in hand. When asked why he and his disciples did not fast Jesus used the vivid picture of a wedding celebration. In Jesus’ time the newly wed celebrated their honeymoon at home for a whole week with all the guests! This was a time of great feasting and celebrating. Jesus points to himself as the bridegroom and his disciples as the bridegroom’s friends. He alludes to the fact that God takes delight in his people as a groom delights in his bride (Isaiah 62:5).

Humble yourself before the Lord your God
To be in God’s presence is pure delight and happiness. But Jesus also reminds his followers that there is a time for fasting and for humbling oneself in preparation for the coming of God’s kingdom and for the return of the Messianic King. The Lord’s disciples must also bear the cross of affliction and purification. For the disciple there is both a time for rejoicing in the Lord’s presence and celebrating his goodness and a time for seeking the Lord with humility, fasting, and mourning for sin. If we hunger for the Lord, he will not disappoint us. His grace draws us to his throne of mercy and favor. Do you seek the Lord with confident trust and allow his Holy Spirit to transform your life with his power and grace?

Fast and hunger for more of God and his righteousness
What kind of fasting is pleasing to God? Fasting can be done for a variety of reasons – to gain freedom from some bad habit, addiction, or vice, to share in the suffering of those who go without, or to grow in our hunger for God and for the things of heaven. Basil the Great wrote: “Take heed that you do not make fasting to consists only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice. Shred to pieces all your unjust contracts. Pardon your neighbors. Forgive them their trespasses.” Do you hunger to know God more, to grow in his holiness, and to live the abundant life of grace he offers you?

“Come Lord, work upon us, set us on fire and clasp us close, be fragrant to us, draw us to your loveliness, let us love, let us run to you.” (Prayer of St. Augustine) – Read the source: http://dailyscripture.servantsoftheword.org/readings/2020/feb28.htm

Reflection 4 – What kind of fasting does God want?

During Lent (the 40 days prior to Easter) many Christians follow the practice of giving up something and taking the time to reflect on Jesus’ sacrifice of Himself for us.

One group of middle-class believers in a church in the UK decided to live on the minimum wage. Their goal was to identify with those who live on little, to learn the joy of giving, to invite God to change their attitude toward money, and to challenge others in their church to do the same. For their study they chose Isaiah 58.

Afterward, one of the leaders of the group said they learned an important lesson. Living on less “makes you realize just how much you really can give away. It makes you look at what you normally give and realize that it is far from being sacrificial.”

What they learned agrees with God’s idea of what fasting and sacrificial living are all about. The Lord said to Israel, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: . . . Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out?” (Isaiah 58:6-7). God was chiding His people because their fasting had become an empty ritual with no concern for others.

The first reading (Is 58:1-9) repeats for us the warning of the prophet Isaiah. What good is it to give up candy for Lent if we don’t give the hungry something to eat? What good is our penance if we don’t truly convert to the ways of Christ? There is wrong fasting and there is right fasting. Wrong fasting is self-centered and accomplishes nothing. Right fasting is other-directed and it feeds, shelters, clothes, counsels, encourages, listens and sets others free.

St. Basil the Great wrote: “Take heed that you do not make fasting to consist only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice. Shred to pieces all your unjust contracts. Pardon your neighbors. Forgive them their trespasses” Do you hunger for more of God and his holiness and for the abundant life he has to offer you?

Reflection 7 – Small acts of kindness

“This, rather, is the fasting that I wish… Setting free the oppressed, breaking every yoke; Sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless; Clothing the naked when you see them…” (Is 58:6-7).

A teenager was lounging on the floor watching television when the phone rang: “Hello, son,” the caller said, “where is you mother?” “She’s out working in the garden.” “What!” barked the voice. “Your mother isn’t as young and strong as she used to be. Why aren’t you helping her?” “I can’t” was the reply, “Grandma is using the other hoe.”

Lent is often associated with personal acts of discipline – giving up dessert, coffee or a favorite delicacy. Such acts have a place, but we should not stop there. Our disciplines should open us to the needs of others.

If we are willing to get up and look for those opportunities we will find them. They don’t have to be heroic acts. Small acts of kindness will do. This Lent, I urge you to seek out someone who needs a helping hand – your helping hand.

“Father of the downtrodden, grant me a heart like yours. Help me see the needs of others, and to lend a hand, which the Gospel calls me to do and which I know is pleasing to you. I pray in Jesus, who is the brother of the poor. Amen.” (Fr. Thomas Connery, Lenten Light Reflections and Prayers).

Please follow Romeo Hontiveros at Twitter click this link: https://twitter.com/Trumpeta

Reflection 8 – Blessed Daniel Brottier (1876-1936 A.D.)

Daniel spent most of his life in the trenches—one way or another.

Born in France in 1876, Daniel was ordained in 1899 and began a teaching career. That didn’t satisfy him long. He wanted to use his zeal for the gospel far beyond the classroom. He joined the missionary Congregation of the Holy Spirit, which sent him to Senegal, West Africa. After eight years there, his health was suffering. He was forced to return to France, where he helped raise funds for the construction of a new cathedral in Senegal.

At the outbreak of World War I Daniel became a volunteer chaplain and spent four years at the front. He did not shrink from his duties. Indeed, he risked his life time and again in ministering to the suffering and dying. It was miraculous that he did not suffer a single wound during his 52 months in the heart of battle.

After the war he was invited to help establish a project for orphaned and abandoned children in a Paris suburb. He spent the final 13 years of his life there. He died in 1936 and was beatified by Pope John Paul II in Paris only 48 years later.

Read the source:   http://www.americancatholic.org/features/saints/saint.aspx?id=1892

SAINT OF THE DAY
Catholic saints are holy people and human people who lived extraordinary lives. Each saint the Church honors responded to God’s invitation to use his or her unique gifts. God calls each one of us to be a saint. Click here to receive Saint of the Day in your email.

BLESSED DANIEL BROTTIER, C.S.SP.
Blessed Daniel Brottier while serving as military chaplain for the French Army during the First World War.
BORN	7 September 1876 La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, Loir-et-Cher, France
DIED	February 28, 1936 (aged 59) Paris, France
VENERATED IN	Roman Catholic Church (Holy Ghost Fathers)
BEATIFIED	25 November 1984, Paris, France, by Pope John Paul II
FEAST	23 February

The Blessed Daniel Jules Alexis Brottier, C.S.Sp. (7 September 1876 – 28 February 1936), was a French Roman Catholic priest in the Congregation of the Holy Spirit (who currently refer to themselves as Spiritans). He was awarded the Croix de guerre and the Légion d’honneur for his services as a chaplain during World War I, did missionary work in Senegal, and administered an orphanage in Auteuil, a suburb of Paris. He was declaredvenerable in 1983, and then beatified on the 25 November 1984, by Pope John Paul II.

Contents

 [hide] 

• 1Biography
  • 1.1Early life
  • 1.2Missionary work in Africa
  • 1.3Service during World War I
  • 1.4Work with the orphans of Auteuil
• 2Veneration
• 3Legacy
• 4Selected bibliography
• 5Notes
• 6References

Biography[edit]

Early life[edit]

Brottier was born in La Ferté-Saint-Cyr, a commune in the Loir-et-Cher Department of France on 7 September 1876, the second son of Jean-Baptiste Brottier, coachman for the Marquis Durfort, and his wife Herminie (neé Bouthe).^[1] A story from his childhood recounts that his mother asked him what he would like to be when he grew up. Daniel’s answer was, “I won’t be either a general or a pastry chef—I will be the Pope!” His mother reminded him that to be the pope, he would first have to become a priest. Little Daniel piped up, “Well, then I’ll become a priest!” ^[a] At the age of 10, Brottier made his First Communion, and enrolled a year later in the minor seminary at Blois. In 1896, at the age of 20, he did one year of military service at Blois.^[2] He was ordained on 22 October 1899, after which he was assigned to teach for three years at a secondary school in Pontlevoy, France.^[1]

Missionary work in Africa[edit]

A young Father Brottier in 1903, ready to set out for Senegal, posed for a picture with his parents, Jean-Baptiste and Herminie

Restless in his life as a teacher and determined to be a missionary, the young Abbé Brottier joined the Congregation of the Holy Spirit at Orly in 1902. After completing his novitiate, the now-Father Brottier was sent by the congregation to serve as a vicar in a mission parish in Saint-Louis, Senegal in 1903. He was disappointed that he had been assigned to a city rather than the more difficult interior.^[3]

Nevertheless, Brottier immediately set to work. He gave weekly instructions to secondary school students, founded a center for child welfare, and published a parish bulletin, The Echo of St. Louis.^[3] His health suffered from the climate, however, and he spent a six-month period of convalescence in France in 1906.^[1] In 1911 his poor health would force him to return to France for good.^[4]

After his final departure from Senegal, Brottier spent a brief, but personally significant, stay at the Trappistmonastery at Lérins—the same island monastery associated with Saint Patrick‘s preparation for evangelization in Ireland. Brottier had felt called to a more contemplative life than he had been living as a missionary in Africa, but the stay at Lérins rid him of that idea. As Brottier wrote to his sisters, “I lived unforgettable hours in the recollection of the cloister in an atmosphere of sacrifice and immolation. But the lack of sleep, and especially of food, wore me down, and after a few days I had to yield to the evidence: I was not made for this kind of life”.^[3]

Even after he had left Senegal, Brottier was asked by Bishop Hyacinthe Jalabert, the Apostolic Vicar of Senegal, to conduct a fund-raising campaign to build a cathedral in Dakar.^[1] To this end, Brottier was appointed the Vicar General of Dakar, even though he was residing in Paris.^[3] Brottier focused on this project for seven years over two periods (i.e., 1911–1914 and 1919–1923), the interlude being a result of the First World War.^[3] The so-called “African Memorial Cathedral” was consecrated on February 2, 1936, just a few weeks before Brottier’s death.

My secret is this: help yourself and heaven will help you. … I have no other secret. If the good God worked miracles [at Auteuil], through Thérèse’s intercession, I think I can say in all justice that we did everything, humanly speaking, to be deserving, and that they were the divine reward of our work, prayers and trust in providence.

—Daniel Brottier^[3]

Service during World War I[edit]

At the outbreak of the First World War, Brottier became a volunteer chaplain for France’s 121st Infantry Regiment. He was cited six times for bravery, and awarded the Croix de guerre and the Légion d’honneur. He attributed his survival on the front lines to the intercession of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and built a chapel for her at Auteuilwhen she was canonized: the first church dedicated to the saint.^[5]After the war, Brottier founded the National Union of Servicemen(L’Union Nationale des Combattants), an organization of French veterans of various conflicts.^[1]

Work with the orphans of Auteuil[edit]

In November 1923, the Cardinal Archbishop of Paris, Louis-Ernest Dubois, asked the Congregation of the Holy Spirit to assume charge of an orphanage in an arrondissement of Paris, the Orphan Apprentices of Auteuil. Father Brottier, with his associate chaplain Yves Pichon, labored for 13 years to expand the facilities and worked for the welfare of the orphans. He dedicated his work to two aims: to save the most poor and unfortunate, and to dedicate those efforts to the intercession of Saint Thérèse.^[1] In 1933, Brottier pioneered a program that placed the children in the households of Catholicpaysansassociated with the Orphan Apprentices. The fruit of his labors at Auteuil included the construction of workshops, opening a printing house and a cinema, and launching magazines. At the time of his arrival, the facility was in charge of 140 orphans; when Brottier died, there were more than 1,400.^[1]

Particularly notable of Brottier’s work with the orphans of Auteuil, and perhaps of his work in general, was his eagerness to expand to previously unexplored means of seeking financial support. An example of this is that he mastered the art of the camera and offered instruction on film making to the children. He even produced a popular film on the life of his personal patron, Saint Thérèse.^[3]

Brottier died on 28 February 1936 in the Hospital of St. Joseph in Paris.^[1] Fifteen thousand Parisians attended his funeral Mass.^[2] He was buried in the Chapel of St. Thérèse in Auteuil on 5 April 1936.^[1]

Veneration[edit]

Father Brottier was declared venerable on 13 January 1983 with a decree of heroic virtue by Pope John Paul II. He was beatified by John Paul II in Paris on 25 November 1984.^[4] The cause for his canonization was greatly advanced by the claim, in 1962, that his body was as intact as on the day of his burial.^[2] In addition, many miracles have been attributed to his intercession.^[3] His feast day is celebrated by the Spiritan Fathers on 28 February.

Legacy[edit]

A residence hall at Duquesne University—an American university founded and administered by the Spiritan Fathers—is named Brottier Hall in memory of Blessed Daniel Brottier.^[6]

Brottier Refugee Services is a Non Profit organization set up to assist private sponsors welcome refugees to Canada.^[7]

Selected bibliography[edit]

• Delgado, Pierre (1946). Un grand ami des enfants. Le père Brottier (in French). Paris.
• Cristiani, Léon (1963). Le Serviteur de Dieu, Daniel Brottier (in French). France-Empire.
• Gilbert, Alphonse (2000). Le bienheureux Daniel Brottier (in French). Paris: Sarment-Fayard. ISBN 2-86679-285-8.
• Grach, Antoine (2006). Le bienheureux père Daniel Brottier, 1876-1936. Du Sénégal à l’œuvre d’Auteuil (in French). Karthala. ISBN 2-84586-791-3.
• O’Carroll, Michael (1944). Disciples of Saint Thérèse of Lisieux (On Pope Pius XI., Marie, sister of Saint Theresa, and Daniel Brottier. With portraits). Dublin: Catholic Truth Society of Ireland.
• Pichon, Yves (1954). Le Père Brottier, 1876–1936 (in French). L’Oeuvre d’Auteuil.
• Vast, Jean (1984). Père Daniel Brottier : missionnaire à Saint-Louis du Sénégal (in French). Saint-Louis: Unir.

Notes[edit]

• ¹ In French, the story runs as follows. MOTHER: Que seras-tu plus tard? — DANIEL: Plus tard, maman je ne serai ni patissier ni général, je serai pape! — MOTHER:Pour devenir Pape, il faut devenir prêtre. — DANIEL: Et bien je serai prêtre.^[1]

References[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h i j} “Chronologie” (in French). Fondation D’Auteuil. 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2010.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b c “Blessed Daniel Brottier”, The Spiritans
3. ^ Jump up to:^{a b c d e f g h} Mushi, Gaudence. “Blessed Daniel Brottier (1876-1936)”. The Spiritans. Spiritan Generalate. Archived from the original on October 4, 2010. RetrievedMarch 31, 2010.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b