• St. John Climacus (605). Abbot or Abbess. (Historical)
• St. Quirinius of Neuss (117). Martyr. (Historical)

JOHN made, while still young, such progress in learning that he was called the Scholastic. At the age of sixteen he turned from the brilliant future which lay before him, and retired to Mt. Sinai, where he put himself under the direction of a holy monk. Never was novice more fervent, more unrelaxing in his efforts for self-mastery. After four years, he took the vows, and an aged abbot foretold that he would some day be one of the greatest lights of the Church. Nineteen years later, on the death of his director, he withdrew into a deeper solitude, where he studied the lives and writings of the Saints, and was raised to an unusual height of contemplation. The fame of his holiness and practical wisdom drew crowds around him for advice and consolation. For his greater profit he visited the solitudes of Egypt. At the age of seventy-five he was chosen abbot of Mt. Sinai, and there “he dwelt in the mount of God, and drew from the rich treasure of his heart priceless riches of doctrine, which he poured forth with wondrous abundance and benediction.” He was induced by a brother abbot to write the rules by which he had guided his life; and his book, called the Climax, or Ladder of Perfection, has been prized in all ages for its wisdom its clearness, and its unction. At the end of four years, he would no longer endure the honors and distractions of his office, and retired to his solitude, where he died A.D. 605.

REFLECTION: “Cast not from thee, my brother,” says the Imitation of Christ, “the sure hope of attaining to the spiritual life; still hast thou the time and the means.”

WORD OF THE DAY

INCREASE OF MERIT. Factors that increase a person’s supernatural reward for good works performed in the state of grace. There are four such factors: 1. the degree of sanctifying grace in which a person does some morally good action; 2. the intensity of will with which an act is done; 3. the sublimity of the action performed; and 4. the purity of love or selflessness that animates the performance. Difficulties of themselves do not increase supernatural merit, but, provided that a difficulty is not culpable, it normally demands additional effort of will and thus indirectly adds to the merit derived from a morally good act done in the state of grace.

Modern Catholic Dictionary, Fr. John Hardon SJ (Get the real one at Eternal Life — don’t accept an abridged or edited version of this masterpiece!)

HOLY WEEK MEDITATIONS

Special meditations focused on Holy Week: MONDAY IN HOLY WEEK

LENT MEDITATION DAY 41

Enjoy daily meditations this lent from Fr. Richard Clarke, SJ. Short and powerful, written in 1880 for busy lay people to reap rewards through lent. (includes audio): Lent Day 41: Monday in Holy Week — The Dereliction of Jesus on the Cross.

March is the Month of St. Joseph

Daily devotional meditations on Saint Joseph: March 30th — St. Joseph’s Glory in Heaven.