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March 14 Saint Mathilda Empress († 968) This princess, the greatest glory of her noble family, was the daughter of Theodoric, a powerful Saxon count, and Reinhilde, a princess of Denmark. Her parents …More
March 14 Saint Mathilda Empress († 968)

This princess, the greatest glory of her noble family, was the daughter of Theodoric, a powerful Saxon count, and Reinhilde, a princess of Denmark. Her parents placed her very young in the monastery of Erfurt, of which her grandmother Maude had become the Abbess. The young girl became in that house an accomplished model of all virtues and domestic arts. She remained there until her parents married her to the virtuous and valiant Henry, son of Otto, Duke of Saxony, in 913. On the death in 919 of the Emperor of Germany, Conrad I, Henry was chosen by his troops to succeed him. Henry was a pious and diligent prince, and very kind to his subjects. By his arms he checked the insolence of invading neighboring armies, and enlarged his dominions by adding to them Bavaria.
Saint Mathilda, during those years, gained over the enemies of God spiritual victories yet more worthy of a Christian and far greater in the eyes of heaven. Blessed with five children, whom she raised in the fear of God, she nourished in their souls the precious seeds of devotion and humility through prayer and good works. It was her delight to visit, comfort, and exhort the sick and the afflicted; to serve and instruct the poor, and to afford her charitable assistance to prisoners. Her husband, edified by her example, concurred with her in every pious undertaking which she proposed, and his military victories served for the propagation of the Gospel in pagan lands. The two sovereigns labored concertedly for the reign of justice in all their domains, and for the happiness and welfare of their subjects, constructing hospitals, churches and monasteries. Their three sons became Saint Bruno, Archbishop of Cologne; Otto the Great, who succeeded his father as emperor of Germany; and Henry, Duke of Bavaria. The two daughters married Louis d'Outremer, King of France, and Hugh Capet, first of the Capetian race of French kings.
After twenty-three years of marriage God was pleased in the year 936 to call the king to Himself. Before his death, he thanked his worthy companion for having moderated his sometimes too-severe justice, and praised her in the presence of the entire court. Saint Mathilda persevered long in prayer, continuing her good works as before, but could not avoid the difficulties which jealousy of sovereigns almost invariably provokes. She was successfully accused to her own son, Otto, of concealing great riches, and he caused guards to be posted around her, and he led his brother Henry into his own error, to oblige her to leave the court. Without bitterness towards them, she took refuge elsewhere. Eventually Edith, wife of Otto, saw in the mortal illness threatening Henry, a sign of God's anger provoked by their conduct toward their mother, and recommended the return of Saint Mathilda. Her sons begged her pardon with tears, and afterwards perfect understanding reigned between the mother and sons.
Henry died not long afterwards, and his mother thereafter retired almost completely from court life to concern herself with the care of prisoners, the poor and the sick, and the construction of a very large monastery for women at Nordhausen. Eventually she herself entered it, and on March 14, 968, after spending her final years in prayer and penance, she died lying on the floor, having spread ashes upon her head herself. She was venerated as a Saint immediately after her death.
Reflection. The beginning of true virtue is to desire it ardently, and to ask it of God with perseverance and earnestness. Fervent prayer, holy meditation, and reading of pious books are the principal means by which the interior life and virtue must be constantly strengthened.
Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 3; The Catholic Encyclopedia, edited by C. G. Herbermann with numerous collaborators (Appleton Company: New York, 1908); Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler's Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894)
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Tina 13
🤗 Im Gebet verbunden 😇
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Tina 13 🤗 👍 🙏 👍 Richtig! "Im Gebet verbunden"....
Tina 13
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😁 penitentis 🤗 You are back... 👍 ✍️ Quedlinburg is beautiful.... 🤗
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✍️ Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Book of Daniel 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62.

In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich; he had a garden near his house, and the Jews had recourse to him often because he was the most …More
✍️ Monday of the Fifth Week of Lent

Book of Daniel 13:1-9.15-17.19-30.33-62.

In Babylon there lived a man named Joakim,
who married a very beautiful and God-fearing woman, Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah;
her pious parents had trained their daughter according to the law of Moses.
Joakim was very rich; he had a garden near his house, and the Jews had recourse to him often because he was the most respected of them all.
That year, two elders of the people were appointed judges, of whom the Lord said, "Wickedness has come out of Babylon: from the elders who were to govern the people as judges."
These men, to whom all brought their cases, frequented the house of Joakim.
When the people left at noon, Susanna used to enter her husband's garden for a walk.
When the old men saw her enter every day for her walk, they began to lust for her.
They suppressed their consciences; they would not allow their eyes to look to heaven, and did not keep in mind just judgments.
One day, while they were waiting for the right moment, she entered the garden as usual, with two maids only. She decided to bathe, for the weather was warm.
Nobody else was there except the two elders, who had hidden themselves and were watching her.
"Bring me oil and soap," she said to the maids, "and shut the garden doors while I bathe."
As soon as the maids had left, the two old men got up and hurried to her.
"Look," they said, "the garden doors are shut, and no one can see us; give in to our desire, and lie with us.
If you refuse, we will testify against you that you dismissed your maids because a young man was here with you."
"I am completely trapped," Susanna groaned. "If I yield, it will be my death; if I refuse, I cannot escape your power.
Yet it is better for me to fall into your power without guilt than to sin before the Lord."
Then Susanna shrieked, and the old men also shouted at her,
as one of them ran to open the garden doors.
When the people in the house heard the cries from the garden, they rushed in by the side gate to see what had happened to her.
At the accusations by the old men, the servants felt very much ashamed, for never had any such thing been said about Susanna.
When the people came to her husband Joakim the next day, the two wicked elders also came, fully determined to put Susanna to death. Before all the people they ordered:
"Send for Susanna, the daughter of Hilkiah, the wife of Joakim." When she was sent for,
she came with her parents, children and all her relatives.
All her relatives and the onlookers were weeping.
In the midst of the people the two elders rose up and laid their hands on her head.
Through her tears she looked up to heaven, for she trusted in the Lord wholeheartedly.
The elders made this accusation: "As we were walking in the garden alone, this woman entered with two girls and shut the doors of the garden, dismissing the girls.
A young man, who was hidden there, came and lay with her.
When we, in a corner of the garden, saw this crime, we ran toward them.
We saw them lying together, but the man we could not hold, because he was stronger than we; he opened the doors and ran off.
Then we seized this one and asked who the young man was,
but she refused to tell us. We testify to this." The assembly believed them, since they were elders and judges of the people, and they condemned her to death.
But Susanna cried aloud: "O eternal God, you know what is hidden and are aware of all things before they come to be:
you know that they have testified falsely against me. Here I am about to die, though I have done none of the things with which these wicked men have charged me."
The Lord heard her prayer.
As she was being led to execution, God stirred up the holy spirit of a young boy named Daniel,
and he cried aloud: "I will have no part in the death of this woman."
All the people turned and asked him, "What is this you are saying?"
He stood in their midst and continued, "Are you such fools, O Israelites! To condemn a woman of Israel without examination and without clear evidence?
Return to court, for they have testified falsely against her."
Then all the people returned in haste. To Daniel the elders said, "Come, sit with us and inform us, since God has given you the prestige of old age."
But he replied, "Separate these two far from one another that I may examine them."
After they were separated one from the other, he called one of them and said: "How you have grown evil with age! Now have your past sins come to term:
passing unjust sentences, condemning the innocent, and freeing the guilty, although the Lord says, "The innocent and the just you shall not put to death.'
Now, then, if you were a witness, tell me under what tree you saw them together."
"Under a mastic tree," he answered. "Your fine lie has cost you your head," said Daniel; "for the angel of God shall receive the sentence from him and split you in two."
Putting him to one side, he ordered the other one to be brought. "Offspring of Canaan, not of Judah," Daniel said to him, "beauty has seduced you, lust has subverted your conscience.
This is how you acted with the daughters of Israel, and in their fear they yielded to you; but a daughter of Judah did not tolerate your wickedness.
Now, then, tell me under what tree you surprised them together."
"Under an oak," he said. "Your fine lie has cost you also your head," said Daniel; "for the angel of God waits with a sword to cut you in two so as to make an end of you both."
The whole assembly cried aloud, blessing God who saves those that hope in him.
They rose up against the two elders, for by their own words Daniel had convicted them of perjury. According to the law of Moses, they inflicted on them the penalty they had plotted to impose on their neighbor:
they put them to death. Thus was innocent blood spared that day.

Psalms 23(22):1-3a.3b-4.5.6.
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
In verdant pastures he gives me repose;
beside restful waters he leads me;
he refreshes my soul.

He guides me in right paths
for his name's sake.
Even though I walk in the dark valley
I fear no evil; for you are at my side
with your rod and your staff
that give me courage.

You spread the table before me
in the sight of my foes;
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Only goodness and kindness follow me
all the days of my life;
and I shall dwell in the house of the LORD
for years to come.

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 8:12-20.
Jesus spoke to them again, saying, «I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.»
So the Pharisees said to him, "You testify on your own behalf, so your testimony cannot be verified."
Jesus answered and said to them, "Even if I do testify on my own behalf, my testimony can be verified, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you do not know where I come from or where I am going.
You judge by appearances, but I do not judge anyone.
And even if I should judge, my judgment is valid, because I am not alone, but it is I and the Father who sent me.
Even in your law it is written that the testimony of two men can be verified.
I testify on my behalf and so does the Father who sent me."
So they said to him, "Where is your father?" Jesus answered, "You know neither me nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also."
He spoke these words while teaching in the treasury in the temple area. But no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Commentary of the day : Saint Clement of Alexandria
"I am the light of the world"
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