Thought for the Day – 27 March – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)
The Agony of Jesus
“While Jesus was praying and suffering in the Garden of Gethsemane and the Apostles were unconcernedly sleeping, a group of hired ruffians approached, led by the traitor, Judas. Jesus went to meet them and quietly allowed Himself to be fettered by these rascals. He could have struck them to the ground in an instant or, as He said Himself, called more than twelve legions of Angels to His defence (Cf Mt 16:33). But this was the hour of the power of darkness. “This is your hour and the power of darkness” (Lk 22:53). When the Apostles saw Him being bound and led away, like an evil-doer, they deserted Him and ran away. “Then, all the disciples left him and fled” (Mt 26:56).
We also, may have been guilty of such shameful conduct on many occasions! Whenever God granted us the experience of His consoling presence by means of His grace or favours, we formed the most generous resolutions. But, in the presence of difficulties or of bad example from others, we may have shamefully deserted Jesus! Let us reflect whether this is so and reinforce our good resolutions.”
Quote/s of the Day – 27 March – St John Damascene (675-749) Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church
Before retiring, The Examination of Conscience: (or if one prefers, before beginning prayers) go through all the points suggested below in your mind and memory.
Give thanks to Almighty God for granting you during the past day, by His grace, His gifts of life and health.
Examine your conscience by going through each hour of the day, beginning from the time you rose from your bed and recall to memory – where you went, how you acted and reacted towards all persons and other creatures and what you talked about. Recall and consider with all care, your thoughts, words and deeds from morning until the evening.
If you have done any good, do not ascribe it to yourself but to God Who gives us all the good things and thank Him. Pray that He may confirm you in this good and enable you to do other good works.
But if you have done anything evil, admit that this comes from yourself and your own weakness, from bad habits or weak will. Repent and pray to the Lover of men that He may forgive you and promise Him firmly, never to do this evil again.
Implore your Creator with tears, to grant you a quiet, undisturbed, pure and sinless night and to enable you, in the coming day, to devote yourself wholly to the glory of His holy Name.
If you find a soft pillow, leave it and put a stone in its place, for Christ’s sake. If you sleep in winter, bear it, saying – Some did not sleep at all!”
Our Lenten Journey with the Angels and the Saints – 27 March – Wednesday in Holy Week – Isaias 53:1-12, Luke 22:1-71 and 23:1-53 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“When Christ has already given us the gift of His Death, who is to doubt that He will give the Saints, the gift of His own Life?” St Augustine
“And he released unto them, him who for murder and sedition had been cast into prison, whom they had desired. But Jesus he delivered up to their will.” Luke 23:25
Let Us, Too, Glory in the Cross of the Lord
St Augustine (354-430) Father and Doctor of the Church
“The Passion of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ is the hope of glory and a lesson in patience. What may not the hearts of believers promise themselves as the gift of God’s grace, when for their sake, God’s only Son, co-eternal with the Father, was not content only to be born as man from human stock but even, died at the hands of the men He had created?
It is a great thing that we are promised by the Lord but far greater, is what has already been done for us and which we now commemorate. Where were the sinners, what were they doing when Christ died for them? When Christ has already given us the gift of His Death, who is to doubt that He will give the Saints the gift of His own Life? Why does our human frailty hesitate to believe that mankind will one day, live with God?
Who is Christ if not the Word of God – in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God? This power of Himself to die for us – He had to take from us, our mortal flesh. This was the way in which, although immortal, He was able to die; the way in which He chose to give Life to mortal men – He would first share with us and then enable us to share with Him. Of ourselves, we had no power to live, nor did He of Himself have the power to die.
Accordingly, He effected a wonderful exchange with us, through mutual sharing – we gave Him the power to die, He will give us the power to Live!
The death of the Lord our God, should not be a cause of shame for us; rather, it should be our greatest hope, our greatest glory. In taking upon Himself the death which He found in us, He has most faithfully promised, to give us Life in Himself, such as we cannot have of ourselves.
He loved us so much that, sinless Himself, He suffered for us sinners the punishment we deserved for our sins. How then can He fail to give us the reward we deserve for our righteousness, for He is the Source of righteousness? How can He, Whose promises are true, fail to reward the Saints, when He bore the punishment of sinners, although without sin Himself?
Brethren, let us then fearlessly acknowledge and even openly proclaim that Christ was Crucified for us; let us confess it, not in fear but in joy, not in shame but in glory.
The Apostle Paul saw Christ and extolled His claim to glory. He had many great and inspired things to say about Christ but he did not say that he boasted in Christ’s wonderful works: in creating the world, since He was God with the Father, or in ruling the world, although He was also a man like us. Rather, he said: Let me not boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ!” – (Reflections on the Cross from the Early Church Fathers).
One Minute Reflection – 27 March – St John Damascene (675-749) Confessor, Father and Doctor of the Church – Wednesday in Holy Week – Isaias 53:1-12, Luke 22:1-71 and 23:1-53 – Scripture search here: https://www.drbo.org/
“But Jesus he delivered up to their will.” – Luke 23:25
REFLECTION – “Come, come, let us go up together to the Mount of Olives. Together let us meet Christ, Who is returning today from Bethany and going of His own accord to that Holy and Blessed Passion, to complete the Mystery of our Salvation. And so He comes, willingly taking the road to Jerusalem, He Who came down from the heights for us, to raise us who lie in the depths, to exaltation with Him, as the revealing Word says: “above all authority and rule and power and above every Name that is named” (Eph 1:21). He comes without display, without boast. For, as the Prophet says, “He will not contend or shout out and no-one will hear His Voice” (Is 42:2). He is gentle and lowly and His entrance is humble…
Then, let us run with Him as He presses on, to His Passion. Let us imitate those who have gone out to meet Him, not scattering olive branches or garments or palms in His path but spreading ourselves before Him as best we can, with humility of soul and upright purpose. So may we welcome the Word as He comes (Jn 1:9); so may God, Who cannot be contained within any bounds, be contained within us.
For He is pleased to have shown us this gentleness, He Who is gentle and who “rides upon the setting sun” (Ps 56:12) which refers to our extreme lowliness. He is pleased to come and live with us and to raise us up, or bring us back to Himself through the Word which unites to God.” – St Andrew of Crete (660-740) Bishop and Father (Homily for Palm Sunday).
RAYER – Almighty, eternal God, Who to defend the honour paid to sacred images, filled blessed John with heavenly learning and wondrous strength of soul, grant that, by his intercession and example, we may imitate the virtues of those whose images we honour and may enjoy the help of their patronage. Through 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).
Our Morning Offering – 27 March – “Spy” Wednesday in Holy Week
In Thine Hour of Holy Sadness By St Bernard (1090-1153) Father & Doctor of the Church
In Thine hour of holy sadness could I share with Thee, what gladness should Thine Cross to me be showing. Gladness past all thought of knowing, bowed beneath Thine Cross to die! Blessed Jesus, thanks I render that in bitter death, so tender, Thou now hear Thy supplicant calling, Save me Lord! and keep from falling, from Thee, when my hour is nigh. Amen.
Saint of the Day – 27 March – Saint John Damascene (675-749) Confessor, Father & Doctor of the Church – Priest, Monk, Theologian, Writer, Defender of Iconography, Poet, a Polymath and more. Patronages – Pharmacists, Artists, Theologians and Theology Students.
John Damascene, was a Monk and Theologian, whose writings were crucially important in staunchly defending the value of visual art in communicating the Christian faith and in the acquisition and growth of devotion, piety and the worship of God alone..
John was born into an Arabic Christian family, around the year 675 in Damascus, in present-day Syria, ASas the son of Mansur, the Representative of the Christians to the Court of the Muslim Caliph. In the period following the Muslim Caliphs conquering of the City, most of the Christians who had lived in Damascus were either displaced, or forced to convert. John’s family, however, had worked with the Muslim rulers once they captured the City and John’s father had a position in the Court of the Caliphate, thus their family had been allowed to remain Christian. John’s father ensured that his son received the best education possible, providing his son with a Christian Monk as a tutor. The brilliant young John became a scholar of astronomy, mathematics, classical Greek and Arabic texts.
Some sources claim that John himself became the Chief Administrator of the Caliph’s Court. Eventually, however, John, hearing the call of Christ, resigned his life at the Court and made his way to Jerusalem, to become a Priest and Monk at the Monastery of Mar Saba, outside Jerusalem.
Wheile John was establishing himself at Mar Saba, a great debate, known as the Iconoclastic Controversy, continued to divide the Church. Emperor Leo III issued an Edict forbidding the use of images. John wrote vehemently in favour of the use of images and encouraged lay Christians to continue using them, in defiance of the Emperor’s edict. John’s treatises are beautiful defences of an Incarnation Theology and of the importance of the imagination in developing faith in Christ.
John wrote that art is appropriate for depicting a God Who became human: “I do not draw an image of the immortal Godhead, I paint the visible flesh of God, for it is impossible to represent a spirit, how much more God Who gives breath to the spirit. When the Invisible One becomes visible in the flesh, you may then draw a likeness of His form.” Indeed, “I do not worship matter,” wrote John, “I worship the God of matter, Who became matter for my sake. Do not despise matter, for it is not despicable.”
John continues to discuss the human imagination, “the mind, which is set upon getting beyond corporeal things, is incapable of doing it. For the invisible things of God, since the creation of the world, are made visible through images.” The imagination reaches towards God but needs faith, needs grace, to receive the image of God’s own self which God brings to the human being. And images are important for igniting the imagination, for “Image speaks to the sight, as words to the ear, it brings understanding.”
In 787, at the Second Council of Nicaea, forty years after John’s death in 749, John’s writings were essential arguments which were used, when the Iconoclastic Controversy was finally settled in favour of the Iconophiles—those who advocated the use of Sacred Images in Christian life.
St John Damascene at the Faculty of Theology, at the Convent of St Simplician in Milan
John wrote and adapted many Scriptural texts for musical use in the Liturgy —these texts still survive and are frequently used.
Known as the last of the Greek Fathers, John Damascene was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church in 1890 by Pope Leo XIII for his orthodox works and especially for his defence of Sacred Art.
St John of Damascus, saint who defended art’s power to move the heart and mind, to God—pray for us!
Martyrs of Bardiaboch: A group of Christians who were arrested, tortured and executed together for their faith during the persecutions of Persian King Shapur II. Martyrs. – Abibus, Helias, Lazarus, Mares, Maruthas, Narses, Sabas, Sembeeth and Zanitas. 27 March 326 at Bardiaboch, Persia.
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