Thought for the Day – 10 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
The Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem
“Imagine the joyful and triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. The cheering crowds line the street along which He approaches, riding upon the foal of an ass. Palm and olive branches are waved aloft, while groups of children cry out: “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest” (Cf Mt 21:9). In the midst of all this exultation, Jesus appears to be absorbed and detached. In his representation of this scene, a famous artist painted a large cross in the distance, far beyond the cheering crowd. The divine vision of Jesus, certainly saw this cross. He knew that in a few days, He would be arrested as a malefactor and Crucified between two thieves. The ingratitude of men towards the Divine Redeemer was to go, even to this length.
We also shall have our moments of happiness and of victory in life. But, like Jesus, we must not trust too much in the joys and conquests of this world. The warning of the Holy Spirit, that “the end of joy may be sorrow” (Prov 14:13), is unfortunately, only too true. Earthy happiness lasts for a short time and ends in grief. So we must seek the true and lasting happiness which comes from Divine grace and from constant conformity with the will of God. This happiness will never pass away but, will become everlasting in Heaven.”
Palm Sunday – 10 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Philippians 2:5-11, The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 26:36-75; 27:1-60
“My God, my God, look upon me, why have You forsaken me?” – Psalm 21:2
“Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Matthew 26:45
“OUR UNDERSTANDING, which is enlightened by the Spirit of Truth, should receive with purity and freedom of heart the glory of the Cross, as it shines in Heaven and on earth. It should see with inner vision. the meaning of the Lord’s Words when He spoke of the imminence of His passion – The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Afterward He said – Now my soul is troubled and what am I to say? Father, save Me from this hour. But it was for this that I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your Son. When the voice of the Father came from Heaven, saying, I have glorified him, and will glorify Him again, Jesus said in reply to those around Him – It was not for Me that this Voice spoke but for you. Now is the judgement of the world, now will the prince of this world be cast out. And I, if I Am lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.
HOW MARVELLOUS the Power of the Cross, how great beyond all telling, the glory of the Passion – here is the Judgement-Seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the world, the supremacy of Christ Crucified.LORD, You drew all things to Yourself so that the devotion of all peoples, everywhere, might celebrate, in a Sacrament made perfect and visible, what was carried out in the one temple of Judea, under obscure foreshadowings. …
DEARLY BELOVED, let us then acknowledge what Saint Paul, the teacher of the nations, acknowledged so exultantly: This is a saying worthy of trust, worthy of complete acceptance – Christ Jesus came into this world to save sinners. God’s compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for the righteous, or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful and, although the Divine Nature could not be touched by the sting of death, He took to Himself, through His birth as one of us, something He could offer on our behalf.
THE POWER OF HIS DEATH, once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea, the prophet: Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying He submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again, He destroyed them. He did away with the everlasting character of death, so as to make death a thing of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in Christ.” – St Leo the Great (400-461) Great Father and Doctor of the Church (Excerpt from his “On the Lord’s Passion” Sermon 8).
Quote/s of the Day – 10 April – Palm Sunday – Philippians 2:5-11, he Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 26:36-75; 27:1-60
“Could you not watch one hour with Me?”
Matthew 26:40
“Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.”
Matthew 26:45
“Yesterday, Christ raised Lazarus from the dead; today, He is going to His own death. Yesterday, He tore off the strips of cloth which bound Lazarus; today, He is stretching out His Hand, to those who want to bind Him. Yesterday, He tore that man away from darkness; today, for humankind, He is going down into darkness and the shadow of death. And the Church is celebrating. She is beginning the feast of Feasts, for she is receiving her King as a Spouse, for her King is in her midst.”
St Ephrem (306-373) (Attri) Father ad Doctor of the Church
“Hosanna!”—which means : “Save!” “Hosanna to You Who are in the highest. O Almighty, save those who are humbled. Have mercy on us, in consideration of our palms, may the palms we wave move Your Heart, You who come to call Adam”…
One Minute Reflection – 10 April – Palm Sunday – Philippians 2:5-11, The Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Matthew 26:36-75; 27:1-60
“Behold the hour is at hand and the Son of man shall be betrayed into the hands of sinners.” – Matthew 26:45
REFLECTION – By St Nerses Chnorhali (1102-1173) Armenian Bishop (Jesus, Only Son of the Father, § 708-724)
“Because of sin, O innocent One, You were set before the criminal’s judgement seat; When You return in the Father’s glory Do not judge me together with him.
You were put to scorn with sacrilegious spittle On account of the first created man’s shame; Wipe away the dishonour of the impudent man’s sins, With which my face is covered…
You have put on crimson, Set the scarlet cloak over You As a dishonour and an affront, As Pontius Pilate’s soldiers thought it to be (Mt 27:28).
Remove sin’s shirt of hair from me, Crimson red, colour of blood, Reclothe me in the garment of joy With which You clothed the first man.
Kneeling, they made sport, Acting ridicule, they mocked; When they saw it, Heaven’s armies Worshipped in fear.
This You underwent that You might remove The shame, of being sin’s accomplice, from Adam’s nature in us That, from my soul and my conscience, You might suppress my sorrowing shame…
Following the judge’s verdict, You received the terrible blows of flagellation Over Your whole body And on Your limbs’ every part.
As for me who, from foot to head Suffer unbearable pain: Be pleased to heal me once again As through the grace of Baptism’s fount.
In exchange for the thorns of sin That the curse caused to grow up for us (Gn 3,18) A Crown of Thorns was set on Your Head By the labourers in Jerusalem’s vineyard (Mt 21,33f.).
Pull out the thorns of sin from me, Which my enemy planted within me, And heal in me the bite of the wound That the marks of sin might be erased.”
PRAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Who, to provide mankind an example of humility for it to imitate, willed that the Saviour should assume our flesh and suffer death upon the Cross, mercifully grant that we may be found worthy of the lesson of His endurance and the fellowship of His Resurrection. Through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, Our Lord, Who lives and reigns with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen (Collect).
To Thee, O Jesus, Hosanna! By St Bonaventure (1217-1274) Seraphic Doctor of the Church
To Thee, O Jesus, do I turn, as my true and last end. Thou art the River of Life which alone can satisfy my thirst. Without Thee, all else is barren and void. Without all else, Thou alone art enough for me. Thou art the Redeemer of those that are lost, the sweet Consoler of the sorrowful, the Crown of Glory of the victors, the recompense of the Blessed. One day I hope to receive of Thy Fullness and to sing the song of praise, in my true home. Give me only on earth, some few drops of consolation and I will patiently await Thy Coming, when I hope to enter into the joy of my Lord. Hosanna!
Saint of the Day – 10 April – Blessed Marcus Fantuzzi OFM (c 1405-1479) Priest and Friar of the Friars Minor, renowned Preacher, Superior, then Vicar General of the Observant Friars Minor. Born in c 1405 at Bologna, Italy as Pace or Pasotto and died on 10 April 1479 at Piacenza, Italy of natural causes. Also known as – Marcus Fantucci, Mark Fantucci, Marcus of Bologna, Pace, Pasotto. Additional Memorial – 19 April on some local calendars.
The Roman Martyrology reads: “In Piacenza, Blessed Marcus Fantuzzi of Bologna, Priest of the Order of Minors, distinguished for his piety, prudence and preaching.”
Among the beautiful Palaces in Bologna, which, to this day, gives evidence of the glory enjoyed by this City in the Middle Ages, one of the most beautiful is the Palace of the Fantuzzi. Marcus was born there, in the year c 1405, the only son of this wealthy patrician family.
When Blessed Marcus had completed his studies in philosophy as well as in civil and ecclesiastical law, at the University of his native City and the question of choosing a state of life arose, this generous young man, for whom the glory of his world was too insignificant, went to the door of the poor Franciscan Convent and asked to be admitted there.
Marcus received the habit on the Feast of his holy Patron, St Mark. He was then twenty-six years old. Blessed James Primadizzi was charged to initiate him in the religious life and St Bernardine of Siena was his teacher in theology. Under such direction, Marcus made rapid progress in perfection and, within a few years, had developed into so perfect a religious, that he was appointed Guardian of the Convent of Fonte Colombo, that venerable abode where our Divine Saviour dictated the holy Rule to St Francis.
Marcus was ever zealous for the faithful observance of the holy Rule. After he had given proof of his sterling qualities as Superior in several other Convents, he was elected Provincial and in the year 1452, Vicar General of the Observant Friars Minor. Later again, he had to discharge the duties of this office for two terms announcing the word of God to the people but above all, he was solicitous to maintain the faithful observance of the Rule of his Convents.
When the King of Bosnia, who had lately been converted to the Faith by the Friars Minor, imposed upon his subjects a special tax for the support of the Convents, Marcus begged him to leave his people full liberty in the matter, so that the benefactors might not lose their merits and the spirit of poverty of his brethren might not suffer injury. On the other hand, this wise director did not wish to impose any precepts over and above those already laid down in the Rule. Hence, when a suggestion was made, at one of the Chapters, that perpetual abstinence should be imposed on all the religious, Father Marcus would not permit its adoption, saying:
“Our perfection consists in the observance of our Rule. It can do no good to add thereto anything more perfect,, since in such cases, the more perfect is enemy to that which is good.”
More edifying than his zeal and wisdom in the administration of his office, was the humility he displayed when he completed his third period of administration. He prostrated himself before his brethren and, with tears, accused himself of the many faults which he believed he had committed, in the administration of his office.
Because of his wisdom and zeal for the interests of the Church, Popes Nicholas V, Callistus III, Pius II and Paul II held him in high regard. The last named Pope wished even to raise him to the Cardinalate but Father Marcus, however, withdrew from Rome and found a way to evade this honour. It was not without the permission of God, that for a time, Marcus received little consideration in the order but the holy Friar bore all without a word of complaint.
Full of zeal for the honour of God and the salvation of souls, Blessed Marcus preached everywhere with the fervour of an Apostle. In his seventy-fourth year he still preached the Lenten sermons at Piacenza. It was then that he was attacked by a fever that brought him close to death’s door. He asked to see the Guardian of the Convent of the Friars Minor, which was located in the suburbs of the City and said to him:
“Father, although I am a great sinner and not worthy to die in your Convent, still I beg you to grant me the privilege that I may be taken to it.”
There, after devoutly receiving the Viaticum, Blessed Marcus Fantuzzi died the death of the just in Holy Week, of the year 1479. His mortal remains are kept in the Church of Santa Maria di Campagna. The cult, paid to him, which had already been widespread for four centuries, was confirmed by Pope Pius IX in 1868.
Bl Antonio Vallesio St Apollonius of Alexandria Bl Archangelus Piacentini St Bademus St Bede the Younger St Beocca of Chertsey Bl Boniface Zukowski Bl Eberwin of Helfenstein St Ethor of Chertsey St Ezekiel the Prophet
St Malchus of Waterford Bl Marco Mattia Blessed Marcus Fantuzzi OFM (c 1405-1479) Priest
St Miguel de Sanctis O.SS.T (1591-1625) Priest of the Order of the Most Holy Trinity and of the Captives also known as the Trinitarian Order or the Trinitarians, Mystic, Penitent, Ecstatic, Apostle of prayer, mortification, of the poor and the sick, he had a special devotion to the Blessed Sacrament and would fall into ecstatic prayer during the Consecration at Holy Mass, so much so, that he became known as “El Extático”, “The Ecstatic.” Pope Pius IX Canonised Miguel on 8 June 1862. About St Miguel: https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/10/saint-of-the-day-10-april-st-miguel-de-sanctis-o-ss-t-1591-1625/
St Palladius of Auxerre St Paternus the Scot
Martyrs of Carthage – 50 Saints: A group of 50 Christians who were imprisoned in a pen of snakes and scorpions and then Martyred, all during the persecutions of Decius. Only six of their names have come down to us – Africanus, Alessandro, Massimo, Pompeius, Terence and Teodoro. Beheaded in 250 at Carthage.
Martyrs of Georgia: Approximately 6,000 Christian Monks and lay people Martyred in Georgia in 1616 for their faith by a Muslim army led by Shah Abbas I of Persia.
Martyrs of Ostia: A group of criminals who were brought to the faith by Pope Saint Alexander I while he was in prison with them. Drowned by being taken off shore from Ostia, Italy, in a boat which was then scuttled, c 115.
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