Category: HOLY WEEK

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, MARIAN TITLES, SAINT of the DAY

Friday of the Passion of the Lord, Our Lady of Kieff (1010) and Memorials of the Saints

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Friday of the Passion of the Lord +2022

Tre Ore (The Three Hours Devotion)
The Three Hours’ Agony on Good Friday from Noon until 3 o’clock to commemorate the three hours of Christ’s Hanging at the Cross.
It includes sermons on the Seven Last Words from the Cross and usually occurs between Noon and 3PM, the latter being the time when Jesus Died on the Cross and the time the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion begins.
In 1815, Pope Pius VII decreed a plenary indulgence to those who practice this devotion on Good Friday.

It is a fine tradition to keep silent
from Noon to 3:00 PM today.

Our Lady of Kieff (1010)– 15 April:
HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/15/our-lady-of-kieff-1010-and-memorials-of-the-saints-15-april/

St Abbo II of Metz

St Abbondio of Como (Died c 564) The Fourth Bishop of Como, Italy, Confessor, Theologian, Papal Legate.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.com/2021/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-saint-abbondio-of-como-died-c-564/

St Acuta

Saint Anastasia of Rome (Died c 68) Martyr, Spiritual Student of St Peter the Apostle AND:
St Basilissa of Rome (Died c 68) Martyr, Spiritual Student of St Peter the Apostle

St Cesar de Bus (1544-1607) Priest, Teacher, Founder of two religious Congregations: the Secular Priests of the Christian Doctrine and the Daughters of the Christian Doctrine – Patron of Catechists.
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-bl-cesar-de-bus/

St Crescens of Myra
St Eutyches of Rome
St Eutychius of Ferentino
St Huna of Slättåkra

St Hunna (of Strasbourg) (died 679) Known as the Holy Washerwoman,
The life of St Hunna:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-st-hunna-died-679/

Bl Laurentinus Sossius
St Maro of Rome
St Maximus of Persia
St Mundus
St Nidger of Augsburg
St Olympiades of Persia
St Ortario of Landelles

St Paternus/Padarn of Wales (c 482-c 568) Bishop, Monk, Hermit, renowned Preacher – he built a Monastery of Llanbadarn Fawr in Wales.
About St Paternus:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-st-paternus-of-wales-c-482-c-568/

St Pausilopo of Thrace

St Ruadhan of Lorrha (Died 584) Irish Priest, Monk, Abbot. He was known for his prophesies
About St Ruadhan:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/15/saint-of-the-day-15-april-st-ruadan-died-584/

St Sylvester of Réome
St Theodore of Thrace
St Victorinus of Rome
St Waltmann of Cambrai

Mercedarian Martyrs of Africa: A group of Mercedarian Monks sailing to Africa as on a mission to redeem capture Christians. Captured by Moors, they were tortured and executed for their faith. Martyrs. 1393.

Martyred in Rome
Anastasia
Basilissa
Eutyches
Maro
Victorinus

Martyred in Thrace
Pausilopo
Theodore

Posted in CHRIST the HIGH PRIEST, CHRIST the JUDGE, CHRIST the KING, CHRIST the LIGHT, CHRIST the PHYSICIAN, CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the BRIDEGROOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, MAUNDY THURSDAY, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The LAMB of GOD, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 14 April – This is Jesus Christ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 14 April – Maundy Thursday – 1 Corinthians 11:20-32, John 13:1-15

“He loved them unto the end.”

John 13:1

“Born as a Son,
led forth as a Lamb,
sacrificed as a sheep,
buried as a man,
He rose from the dead as a God,
for He was by nature God and man.

He is all things –
He judges and so, He is Law.
He teaches and so, He is Wisdom.
He saves and so, He is Grace.
He begets and so, He is Father.
He is begotten,and so, He is Son.
He suffers and so, He is Sacrifice.
He is buried and so, He is Man.
He rises again and so, He is God.
This is Jesus Christ,
to whom belongs glory for all ages.”

St Melito of Sardis (Died c 180)
Bishop, Early Church Father

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, MAUNDY THURSDAY, QUOTES on The SOUL, QUOTES on TRUST and complete CONFIDENCE in GOD, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 14 April – ‘… Place all your trust in the Blood of Christ Crucified …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 14 April – Maundy Thursday – 1 Corinthians 11:20-32, John 13:1-15

“Jesus, knowing that his hour was come, … he loved them unto the end.” – John 13:1

REFLECTION – “Be obedient to the death, following the example of the spotless Lamb who obeyed His Father even to a shameful death on the Cross. Reflect that He is the way and the rule you are to follow. Always hold Him present before the eyes of your spirit. See how obedient He is, this Word, this Utterance of God! He does not refuse to take up the burden of suffering laid on Him by His Father; to the contrary, He throws Himself into it, spurred on by His great desire. Isn’t this what He reveals during the Last Supper on Maundy Thursday, when He says: “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer” (Lk 22:15)? By “eat this Passover” He means, the accomplishment of the Father’s will and His desire. Seeing that scarcely any time lies before Him (He was already looking ahead to the end, when He would sacrifice His body for our sake), He rejoices, He is glad and joyfully says: “I have greatly desired.” Here is the Passover He is speaking about – that which consists in giving His own self as food, in laying down His own body in obedience to the Father.

Jesus had celebrated many another Passover with His disciples but never this one, O unspeakable, sweet and burning charity! You think neither of Your suffering nor of Your humiliating death – if You had thought of them, You would not have been so joyful, You would not have called it a Passover. The Word sees ,that it is He Himself Who has been chosen, He Himself Who has received all our humanity as His spouse. He has been asked to give us His own Blood so that God’s will might be accomplished in us, so that it might be His Blood that sanctifies us. This is, indeed, the sweet Passover, this Lamb without blemish accepts (cf. Ex 12:5) and it is with great love and great desire that He fulfils the Father’s will and wholly carries out His design. What unspeakably sweet love! …

That is why, my beloved, I beg you never to entertain the least dread and to place all your trust in the Blood of Christ Crucified … May all servile fear be banished from your spirits. You will say with Saint Paul …: “I can do all things through Christ crucified, since he is within me by desire and love and he strengthens me” (cf. Phil 4:13; Gal 2:20). Love, love, love! By His Blood, the gentle Lamb has made an unassailable rock of your soul.” – St Catherine of Siena (1347-1380) Dominican tertiary, Doctor of the Church, Co-patron of Europe – Letter 129

PRAYER – O God, from whom Judas received the punishment of his guilt and the thief the reward of his confession: grant unto us the full fruit of Thy clemency, that even as in His Passion, our Lord Jesus Christ gave to each a retribution according to his merits, so having taken away our old sins, He may bestow upon us the grace of His Resurrection. Who with Thee lives and reigns in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, world without end. Amen

Posted in HOLY WEEK, Our MORNING Offering, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 14 April – O Cross of Christ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 14 April – Maundy Thursday

O Cross of Christ
Stanbrook Abbey

O Cross of Christ, immortal tree
On which our Saviour died,
The world is sheltered by your arms
That bore the Crucified.

From bitter death and barren wood
The tree of life is made;
Its branches bear unfailing fruit
And leaves that never fade.

O faithful Cross, you stand unmoved
While ages run their course,
Foundation of the universe,
Creation’s binding force.

Give glory to the risen Christ
And to His Cross give praise,
The sign of God’s unfathomed love,
The hope of all our days.
Amen

Posted in HOLY WEEK

The Office of Tenebrae

Posted on by AnaStpaul

The Office of Tenebrae

The public singing of part of the Divine Office, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday evenings of Holy Week, anticipating Matins and Lauds of Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. A custom that went back centuries, it acquired the name because of the mourning ritual surrounding the ceremony, which included a triangular stand with fifteen candles. These were put out one by one until, after the last candle was extinguished, a prayer was said in darkness, one candle was lighted, and the assembly dispersed in silence. — Fr John Hardon, Modern Catholic Dictionary

The Matins and Lauds of the Divine Office sung during the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday) are known as the Tenebrae services (“tenebrae” meaning “darkness or shadows”), which is basically a funeral service for Our Lord.

During the Matins on Good Friday, one by one, the candles are extinguished in the Church, leaving the congregation in total darkness and in a silence that is punctuated by the “strepitus” (a loud clang intended to evoke the earthquake that occurred at the moment of Our Saviour’s Death) meant to evoke the convulsion of nature at the Death of Christ. It has also been described as the sound of the tomb door closing.

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, HOLY WEEK, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, QUOTES on HUMILITY, QUOTES on TRUTH, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 13 April – The Night of the Passion

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 13 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Night of the Passion

“The night of the Passion of Jesus Christ began in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Here the tired Apostles left Him to pray alone and to endure the agonising pre-vision of the torments and death which awaited Him, as well as of the ingratitude with which men would repay His Infinite love.
Soon afterwards, abandoned by everyone, He was led before the Sanhedrin as a criminal and a disturber of the public peace.
Not only was the accusation false but, it was, of course, a complete inversion of the truth.

Jesus had, in fact, taught the noblest and most elevating of doctrines for all humanity.
He had proved the truth of His teaching by His miracles.
He restored sight to the blind, health to the lepers, to the lame and to the paralysed and even, life to the dead.
He had stated quite clearly, “Render to Caesar, the things that are Caesar’s and to God, the things that are God’s” (Mt 22:21).
Nevertheless, in the presence of His wicked judges, He showed Himself to be meek and humble.
But when He was confronted with an obvious falsehood, He spoke out in defence of the truth of His teaching.
For this, He was struck by one of the High Priests’s attendants , who said: “Is that the way thou dost answer the high priest?”
“If I have spoken ill,” Jesus replied quietly, “bear witness to the evil but if well, why dost thou strike me?” (Jn 18:19-23).

Let us learn from our Divine Redeemer to conquer self-love and to bear insults humbly and peacefully.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, ONE Minute REFLECTION, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 13 April – But Jesus he delivered up to their will. – Luke 23:25

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 13 April – Spy Wednesday in Holy Week – Isaias 53:1-12, Luke 22:39-71; 23:1-53

“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

REFLECTION – “Jesus made His way of His own free will towards the sufferings Scripture had foretold. He had frequently predicted them to His disciples and had even severely rebuked Peter, who had received their discovery with indignation (Mt 16:23). Finally, He showed how they were the cause of the world’s salvation. This was why, to the men coming to arrest Him, He referred to Himself as: “I am he whom you are seeking” (cf. Jn 18:5.8) … He was struck, covered with spittle, mocked, tortured, scourged and, in the end crucified. He allowed two outlaws, one at His right and one at His left, to share His suffering. Classed alongside murderers and criminal, He took vinegar and gall, fruits of a bitter vine. He was struck in mockery by a reed, pierced by a lance in His side and, in the end, laid in a tomb.

All this He suffered while working out our salvation … By His thorns He brought an end to the punishment laid on Adam, since the latter, having sinned, received this sentence: “Cursed be the ground because of you! Thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to you” (Gn 3:17-18). With the gall He took to Himself all that is bitter and painful in mortal life and sorrowful to men. With the vinegar He accepted human nature’s decline and bestowed on it, its restoration to a higher state. By the purple he symbolised His royalty; with the reed, He indicated how weak and feeble the devil’s power is. Being slapped, He made known our enfranchisement [just as we do in the case of a slave]. He bore with the abuse, punishment and beating due to us.

He was struck in the side, making Him more like Adam. But, far from bringing forth the woman, who, by her straying, gave birth to death, He made a spring of life to gush out (Gn 2:21; Jn 19:34). And this gives life to the world by means of a twofold stream – the first renews and re-clothes us in the garment of immortality in the baptistery and following this birth, the second, feeds us at God’s table, just as one suckles a newborn child.” … St Theodoret of Cyrus (c 393-c 460) Bishop (Treatise on the Incarnation, 26-27).

PRAYER – O God, Who to drive far from us, the power of the enemy, didst will that Thy Son should suffer for us on the gibbet of the Cross, grant us Thy servants, that we may obtain the grace of the 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).

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, Our MORNING Offering, POETRY, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on GRATITUDE, Quotes on SALVATION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST HOLY REDEEMER, Our SAVIOUR, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Our Morning Offering – 13 April – In Your Hour of Holy Sadness

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 13 April – Wednesday of Holy Week

In Your Hour of Holy Sadness
By St Bernard (1090-1153)
Father & Doctor of the Church

In Your hour of holy sadness
could I share with You, what gladness
should Your Cross to me be showing.
Gladness past all thought of knowing,
bowed beneath Your Cross to die!
Blessed Jesus, thanks I render
that in bitter death, so tender,
You now hear Your supplicant calling,
Save me Lord
and keep from falling from You,
when my hour is nigh.
Amen.

Posted in CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on PATIENCE, Quotes on SALVATION, The PASSION, The WORD

Tuesday of Holy Week – 12 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘… If we put Him on, if He is the Way of our salvation …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Tuesday of Holy Week – 12 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Jeremias 11:18-20, Mark 14:32-72; 15, 1-46

“May God have mercy on us and bless us; may He cause the Light of His Countenance to shine upon us and may He have mercy on us.” – Psalm 66:2

“And some began to spit on Him
and to cover His face
and to buffet Him
and to say unto Him: Prophesy;
and the servants struck Him
with the palms of their hands.”

Mark 14:65

“HE RECEIVED the spittings of insulters, who with His spittle had a little before made eyes for a blind man.
And He in Whose Name the devil and his angels is now scourged by His servants, Himself suffered scourgings!
He was crowned with thorns, Who crowns Martyrs with eternal flowers.
He was smitten on the Face with palms, Who gives the true palms to those who overcome.
He was despoiled of His earthly garment, Who clothes others in the vesture of immortality.
He was fed with gall, Who gave heavenly food.
He was given to drink of vinegar, Who appointed the cup of salvation.
That guiltless, that just One—nay, He who is Innocency itself and Justice itself—is counted among transgressors and Truth is oppressed with false witnesses.

HE, WHO SHALL JUDGE, is judged and the Word of God is led silently to the slaughter.
And when, at the Cross, of the Lord the stars are confounded, the elements are disturbed, the earth quakes, night shuts out the day, the sun… He speaks not, nor is moved, nor declares His Majesty even in His very Passion itself.
Even to the end, all things are borne perseveringly and constantly, in order that in Christ, a full and perfect patience may be consummated.

AND AFTER ALL THESE THINGS, He still receives His murderers, if they will be converted and come to Him.
And with a saving patience, He who is benignant to preserve, closes His Church to none.
Those adversaries…, if they repent of their sin, if they acknowledge the crime committed, He receives, not only to the pardon of their sin but to the reward of the Heavenly Kingdom.

WHAT CAN BE SAID, more Patient, what more Merciful? Even he is made alive by Christ’s Blood, who has shed Christ’s Blood!
Such and so great is the Patience of Christ and had it not been such and so great, the Church would never have possessed Paul as an Apostle.

BUT IF WE ALSO, beloved brethren, are in Christ.
If we put Him on, if He is the Way of our salvation, who follow Christ in the footsteps of salvation, let us walk by the example of Christ, as the Apostle John instructs us, saying, He who says, he abides in Christ, ought himself also, to walk even as He walked.
Peter also, upon whom by the Lord’s condescension the Church was founded, lays it down in his epistle and says:

CHRIST SUFFERED FOR US, leaving you an example, that ye should follow His Steps, Who did no sin, neither was deceit found in His Mouth; Who, when He was reviled, reviled not again; when He suffered, threatened not but gave Himself up to him that judged Him unjustly.” – St Cyprian of Carthage (200-258) Bishop of Carthage and Martyr, Father of the Church (On Patience, 7-9).

Posted in CATHOLIC-PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH, HOLY WEEK, LENT 2022, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, MORNING Prayers, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 11 April – Dearest Lord Jesus Christ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 11 April – Monday of Holy Week

Dearest Lord Jesus Christ
The Old Roman Missal

Dearest Lord Jesus Christ,
I entreat Thee
to let me find in Thy Passion,
a strong defence, protection and safegiard.
Let Thy Wounds be my food and drink,
to nourish and make me drunk with delight.
Let the shedding of Thy Blood
wash all my offenses away,
Thy Death, bring me,
the life that knows no ending,
Thy Cross be my everlasting glory.
In them, let my heart find renewal,
gladness, health and delight,
Thou Who lives and reigns,
forever and ever.
Amen.

Posted in HOLY WEEK, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on THE WORLD, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 10 April – The Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, ONE Minute REFLECTION, POETRY, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 10 April – “Behold the hour is at hand … ” – Matthew 26:45

Posted on by AnaStpaul

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).

Posted in franciscan OFM, HOLY WEEK, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for SEASONS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS

Our Morning Offering – 10 April – To Thee O Jesus, Hosanna!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 10 April – Palm Sunday

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!

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, LENT 2022, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on GRACE, QUOTES on OBEDIENCE, The WORD

Wednesday of Passion Week – 6 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – ‘The mark of Christ’s sheep …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Wednesday of Passion Week, the Fifth Week of Lent – 6 April – Our Lenten Journey with the Great Fathers – Leviticus 19:1-2, 11-19, 25, John 10:22-38

“O Lord, deal with us not according to our sins, nor requite us according to our crimes.” – Psalm 102:10

“My sheep hear My Voice;
I know them and they follow Me.”

John 10:27

“THE MARK OF CHRIST’S SHEEP is their willingness to hear and obey, just as the sign of those who are not His, is their disobedience. We take the word “Hear” to imply obedience to what has been said. People who hear God are known by Him. No-one is entirely unknown by God but to be known in this way, is to become His Kin. Thus, when Christ says, “I know mine,” He means, “I will receive them and give them permanent Mystical Kinship with Myself.” It might be said, that inasmuch as He has become man, He has made all human beings His Kin, since all are members of the same race; we are all united to Christ in a Mystical relationship because of His Incarnation. Yet, those who do not preserve the likeness of His holiness are alienated from Him… .

“MY SHEEP FOLLOW ME,” says Christ. By a certain God-given grace, believers follow in the footsteps of Christ. No longer subject to the shadows of the Law, they obey the commands of Christ and, guided by His Words rise, through grace, to His own dignity, for they are called children of God. When Christ ascends into Heaven, they also follow Him.” – St Cyril of Alexandria (376-444) Bishop, Father & Doctor of the Church (Commentary on Saint John’s Gospel, 7, 10, 26).

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, Our MORNING Offering

Our Morning Offering – 5 November – Come Jesus,for My Feet are Soiled

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 5 November – “Month of the Holy Souls in Purgatory”

Come Jesus,
for My Feet are Soiled
By Origen of Alexandria (c 185-253)

Come Jesus,
for my feet are soiled.
Become once more,
a Servant for my sake.
Pour water into Your basin
and come and wash my feet.
I know these words of mine,
presume too much
and yet, I dread those
frightening Words of Yours,
“If I do not wash your feet,
you can have no part in me!”
Then wash my feet,
so that I belong to You.
Yet how can I dare to say,
“Wash my feet?”
Let Peter say so;
he needed only
to have his feet washed
For he was clean through and through.
I too have been washed once in Baptism
and yet, I need that other cleansing
that You spoke of,
when You said:
“I have another baptism to undergo;”
Cleanse me Lord thoroughly,
by Your saving Death.
Amen

Origen Adamantius (c 185-253)
Priest, Theologian, Exegist,
Writer, Apologist, Father

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, NOVEMBER - Month of the SOULS in PURGATORY, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on COURAGE, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on LOVE, QUOTES on LOVE of GOD, QUOTES on SACRIFICE, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HEART, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The SECOND COMING

Quote/s of the Day – 2 November – ‘Death is then no cause for mourning … ‘

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 2 November – All Souls Day – Readings: Wisdom 3: 1-9; Romans 5: 5-11 or Romans 6: 3-9; Gospel: John 6: 37-40

“We should have a daily
familiarity with death,
a daily desire for death.
By this kind of detachment,
our soul must learn to free itself
from the desires of the body.
It must soar above earthly lusts,
to a place where they cannot come near,
to hold it fast.
It must take on the likeness of death,
to avoid the punishment of death!”

“Death is then no cause for mourning,
for it is the cause of mankind’s salvation.
Death is not something to be avoided,
for the Son of God
did not think it beneath His dignity,
nor did He seek to escape it.”

St Ambrose (340-397)
Father and Doctor of the Church

“We should consider how much good
our Lord did us,
by His first coming
and how much more He will do for us,
by His second.
This thought will help us,
to have a great love
for that first coming of His
and a great longing for His return.”

St Aelred of Rievaulx (1110-1167)

“Keep a clear eye toward life’s end.
Do not forget your purpose
and destiny as God’s creature.
What you are in His sight,
is what you are and nothing more.
Remember that when you leave this earth,
you can take nothing that you have received…
but only what you have given – a full heart
enriched by honest service, love, sacrifice and courage.”

St Francis of Assisi (c 1181-1226)

“Do now,
what you wish to have done,
when your moment
comes to die.”

St Angela Merici (1474-1540)

Sabbatum Sanctum
By St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

I look at You, my Lord Jesus
and think of Your most holy Body
and I keep it before me,
as a pledge of my own resurrection.
Though I die, as die I certainly shall,
nevertheless, I shall not forever die,
for I shall rise again.
O You, who are the Truth,
I know and believe with my whole heart,
that this very flesh of mine will rise again.
I know, base and odious as it is at present,
that it will one day, if I be worthy,
be raised incorruptible
and altogether beautiful and glorious.
This I know,
this by Your grace,
I will ever keep before me.
Amen

Posted in CHRIST the WORD and WISDOM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY WEEK, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The LAMB of GOD, The PASSION, The WORD

Quote/s of the Day – 25 September – ‘How precious the gift of the Cross …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 25 September – Readings: Zechariah 2: 5-9, 14-15a; Jeremiah 31: 10-12ab, 13; Luke 9: 43b-45“

“Pay attention to what
I am telling you.
The Son of Man
is to be handed over to men.”

Luke 9:44

“Behold, the Lamb of God,
who takes away the sin of the world!”

John 1:29

“Greater love than this
no man hath, that a man
lay down his life for his friends.”

John 15:13

“Man’s Maker was made man,
that He, Ruler of the stars,
might nurse at His mother’s breast,
that the Bread might hunger,
the Fountain thirst,
the Light sleep,
the Way be tired on its journey,
that the Truth might be accused of false witness,
the Teacher be beaten with whips,
the Foundation be suspended on wood,
that Strength might grow weak,
that the Healer might be wounded,
that Life might die.”

“He died, but He vanquished death.
In Himself, He put an end to what we feared;
He took it upon Himself and He vanquished it,
as a mighty hunter,
He captured and slew the lion.”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“How precious the gift of the Cross,
how splendid to contemplate!
In the Cross there is no mingling of good and evil,
as in the tree of paradise;
it is wholly beautiful to behold
and good to taste.
The fruit of this tree is not death but life,
not darkness but light.
This tree does not cast us out of paradise
but opens the way for our return.”

St Theodore the Studite (750–826)
Father, Abbot, Theologian, Writer

Posted in BAPTISM, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, HOLY SATURDAY, HOLY WEEK, QUOTES on DEATH, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on HELL, QUOTES on WATCHING, The LAST THINGS, The RESURRECTION, The SECOND COMING

Quote/s of the Day – 27 July – Last things

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 27 July – “Month of the Most Precious Blood” – Readings: Exodus 33: 7-11; 34: 5b-9, 28; Psalms 103:6-7, 8-9, 10-11, 12-13; Matthew 13: 36-43

“The Son of Man will send his angels
and they will gather out of his kingdom,
all causers of sin and all law-breakers
and throw them into the fiery furnace.
In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Then the righteous shall shine like the sun
in the kingdom of their Father.
He who has ears, let him hear.”

Matthew 13:41-43

“You do not know
when your last day may come.
You are an ingrate!
Why not use the day, today,
that God has given you
to repent?”

St Augustine (354-430)
Father and Doctor of Grace

“Ah Jesus, Sun of Justice,
make me clothe myself with You,
so that I may be able to live
according to Your will.
Make me, under Your guidance,
preserve my robe of baptismal innocence,
white, holy and spotless
and present it undefiled,
before Your tribunal,
so that I may wear it,
for eternal life.”

St Gertrude the Great of Helfta (1256-1301)

“This then is to watch –
to be detached from what is present
and to live in what is unseen,
to live in the thought of Christ
as He came once and as He will come again,
to desire His second coming,
from our affectionate
and grateful remembrance,
of His first. ”

Sabbatum Sanctum

I look at You, my Lord Jesus
and think of Your most holy Body
and I keep it before me,
as a pledge of my own resurrection.
Though I die, as die I certainly shall,
nevertheless, I shall not forever die,
for I shall rise again.
O You, who are the Truth,
I know and believe with my whole heart,
that this very flesh of mine will rise again.
I know, base and odious as it is at present,
that it will one day, if I be worthy,
be raised incorruptible
and altogether beautiful and glorious.
This I know,
this by Your grace,
I will ever keep before me.
Amen

St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, GOOD FRIDAY, HOLY WEEK, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Thought for the Day – 3 April – The Death of our Saviour

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 3 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Death of our Saviour

“Quite apart from the most fearful physical torments, such as the Scourging, the Crowning with Thorns and the Crucifixion, Jesus willed to endure extreme moral sufferings, such as the betrayal by Judas, the desertion by His Apostles in His hour of trial and the denial by the Head of the Apostles himself.
He willed to endure an even greater spiritual affliction than these, which was so mysterious as to be almost beyond our understanding.
This, was His abandonment by His heavenly Father.
“My God, my God,” He cries out in His last agony, “why hast thou forsaken me.”
His human heart elected to experience, at that moment, the removal of the inmost consolations and joys, which flowed from His continual union with His heavenly Father.
He was both Man and God.
His human nature was hypostatically united to the Word and in this way, even His human nature participated in His infinite happiness.
As Man, however, He chose to be deprived of this happiness.
Being burdened with all our sins, He wished to endure the most frightful sufferings and even abandonment by His heavenly Father.

We shall be able to understand this, if we ever experience moral affliction, which can be much worse than physical pain.
On these occasions, we should we should console ourselves with the reflection, that Jesus has walked this way of sorrows before us.
Then we shall remain united in these tials to Him, Who is the only source of comfort and resignation.
Let us prostrate ourselves before His lifeless Body, covered with sores and furrowed with blood!”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

PART ONE HERE:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/14/thought-for-the-day-14-april-the-death-of-our-saviour/

Posted in "Follow Me", DOCTORS of the Church, EASTER, HOLY SATURDAY, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The REDEMPTION

Quote of the Day – 3 April – ‘By nothing else except the CROSS …’

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote of the Day – 3 April – Holy Saturday

“By nothing else except the CROSS
of our Lord Jesus Christ
has death been brought low.
The sin of our first parent destroyed,
hell plundered,
resurrection bestowed,
the power given us to despise the things of this world,
even death itself,
the road back to the former blessedness made smooth,
the gates of paradise opened,
our nature seated at the right hand of God
and we made children and heirs of God.
By the CROSS, all these things have been set aright…
It is a seal that the destroyer may not strike us,
a raising up of those who lie fallen,
a support for those who stand,
a staff for the infirm,
a crook for the shepherded,
a guide for the wandering,
a perfecting of the advanced,
salvation for soul and body,
a deflector, of all evils,
a cause of all goods,
a destruction of sin,
a plant of resurrection
and a tree of eternal life!”

St. John Damascene (675-749)
Father and Doctor

Posted in EASTER, HOLY SATURDAY, QUOTES on DEATH, The RESURRECTION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 3 April – Holy Saturday – Lumen Christi …. Deo Gratias!

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 3 April – Holy Saturday, The Easter Vigil of the Holy Night, Readings: First Reading: Genesis 1: 1 – 2: 2 or 1: 1, 26-31a, Psalm: Psalms 104: 1-2, 5-6, 10, 12, 13-14, 24, 35 Second Reading: Genesis 22: 1-18 or 22: 1-2, 9a, 10-13, 15-18, Gospel: Mark 16: 1-7

“But go, tell his disciples and Peter, that he goeth before you into Galilee; there you shall see him, as he told you” – Mark 1:7

REFLECTION – “Solomon says, there is a time for joy and a time for grief. Grief has departed, the time for joy has come, that true joy which proceeds from Christ’s Resurrection. …
For you, the Victor rose from hell; He wore down the gates of brass and broke the bars of iron. He occupied hell’s fortresses and crushed the dragon’s head. He inflicted great slaughter upon His enemies and bound the prince of hell. He slew death and cast into chains, the author of death. … Then He brought back His own, from the darkness and broke their chains. He united with Himself, the souls of all the just, walking in the light of His Countenance and rejoicing in His Name. Raised high by His justice, were they, who were brought low, through injustice.
For him: “I am alone until I pass over.” (cf. Ps 140[141]:10) Alone when He entered but by no means alone, as He went forth, for He brought back with Him, countless thousands of the saints. He fell to the earth and died, that He might bear much fruit. (Jn 12:24) He laid Himself down at seed time, that He might, at the harvest, gather the human race. … For at the baptismal font, dead to the sins within ourselves, we are born again to Christ through the cleansing of regeneration, that we may live to Him, Who died for all. So the Apostle Paul says: “As many of you as were baptised in ChristM have put on the person of Christ.” (Gal 3:27) Therefore, from one grain come many harvests. …
Of Him also the Apostle says: “Therefore, God has exalted him and given him a name above all other names, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, things on earth and of things under the earth.” (Phil 2:9-10) In truth, the knee of those in hell, bend before him in dread, the knee of those on earth, through self-interest, of those in heaven, through their blessedness.” – Saint Amadeus of Lausanne (1108-1159) Cistercian Monk, then Bishop – Homily VI on the Blessed Virgin Mary, SC 72 (Magnificat: Homilies in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary,

PRAYER – Almighty, ever-living God, Whose only-begotten Son descended to the realm of the derad and rose from there to glory, grant that Your faithful people who were buried with Him in Baptism, may by His Resurrection, obtain eternal life. Lumen Christi …. Deo Gratias! Amen

Posted in HOLY SATURDAY, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS for VARIOUS NEEDS, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES on DEATH, The LAST THINGS, The RESURRECTION

Our Morning Offering – 3 April – Sabbatum Sanctum

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 3 April – Holy Saturday

Sabbatum Sanctum
By St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

I look at You, my Lord Jesus
and think of Your most holy Body
and I keep it before me,
as a pledge of my own resurrection.
Though I die, as die I certainly shall,
nevertheless, I shall not forever die,
for I shall rise again.
O You, who are the Truth,
I know and believe with my whole heart,
that this very flesh of mine will rise again.
I know, base and odious as it is at present,
that it will one day, if I be worthy,
be raised incorruptible
and altogether beautiful and glorious.
This I know,
this by Your grace,
I will ever keep before me.
Amen

Posted in EASTER, HOLY SATURDAY, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN Saturdays

Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday: “Watching” – The Easter Vigil of the Holy Night

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Sabbatum Sanctum – Holy Saturday:  “Watching” – The Easter Vigil of the Holy Night

On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb, meditating on His suffering and death.   The Altar is left bare and the Sacrifice of the Mass, is not celebrated.   Only after the solemn Vigil during the night, held in anticipation of the Resurrection, does the Easter celebration begin, with a spirit of joy which overflows into the following period of fifty days.

Holy Saturday (from Sabbatum Sanctum, its official liturgical name) is sacred as the day of the Lord’s rest; it has been called the “Second Sabbath” after creation.   The day is and should be the most calm and quiet day of the entire Church year, a day broken by no liturgical function.   Christ lies in the grave, the Church sits near and mourns.   After the great battle He is resting in peace but upon Him, we see the scars of intense suffering…The mortal wounds on His Body remain visible…J esus’ enemies are still furious, attempting to obliterate the very memory of the Lord by lies and slander.

Mary and the disciples are grief-stricken, while the Church must mournfully admit, that too many of her children return home from Calvary cold and hard of heart.   When Mother Church reflects upon all of this, it seems as if the wounds of her dearly Beloved were again beginning to bleed.

The entire body of the Church is represented in Mary for she is the “credentium collectio universa” (Congregation for Divine Worship, Lettera circolare sulla preparazione e celebrazione delle feste pasquali, 73).   Thus, the Blessed Virgin Mary, as she waits near the Lord’s tomb, as she is represented in Christian tradition, is an icon of the Virgin Church keeping vigil at the Tomb of her Spouse while awaiting the celebration of His Resurrection.

The pious exercise of the Ora di Maria is inspired by this intuition of the relationship between the Virgin Mary and the Church – while the Body of her Son lies in the Tomb and His soul has descended to the dead ,to announce liberation, from the shadow of darkness ,to His ancestors, the Blessed Virgin Mary, foreshadowing and representing the Church, awaits, in faith, the victorious triumph of her Son over death. — Directory on Popular Piety and the Liturgy.

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, franciscan OFM, HOLY SATURDAY, MARIAN REFLECTIONS, MARIAN Saturdays, MATER DOLOROSA - Mother of SORROWS, REDEMPTORISTS CSSR, SAINT of the DAY

Holy Saturday +2021 and Memorials of the Saints – 3 April

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Holy Saturday +2021
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/11/sabbatum-sanctum-holy-saturday-the-second-sabbath-10-april/

Our Glorious Most Sorrowful Mother – By St Alphonsus Maria de Liguori (1696-1787)
Most Zealous Doctor

Mary is our Mother — not by the flesh but by love. That is, she is our Mother by love alone. So someone observes that she glories in being the mother of love. She is all love for us, her adopted children.
The first reason for Mary’s great love for human beings, is that she loves God so much. She loved Him more in the first moment of her existence, than all the Saints and Angels every loved Him or will love him.

Just as there is not one, among all the blessed ,who loves God as Mary does, so there is no one, after God, who loves us as much as this most loving Mother does. Furthermore, if we heaped together all the love that mothers have for their children, all the love of husbands and wives, all the love of all the Angels and Saints for their clients, it could never equal Mary’s love for even a single soul.
Mary, to obtain the life of grace for us … offered her beloved Jesus to an ignominious death, and watched him die before her eyes, in cruel and unexampled torments.
It is written of the Eternal Father, that God so loved the world as to give His only-begotten Son (Jn 3:16), so also, we can say of Mary, that she so loved the world, as to give her only-begotten Son.
So with St Anselm I will cry:

“Let my heart languish and my soul melt away and be consumed with love of you, my beloved Saviour Jesus and my dear Mother Mary! But because I cannot love you unless You give me grace, then give me grace, O Jesus and Mary — by Your merits, not mine — to love You as You deserve to be loved. O God, lover of humankind, You loved sinful human beings to the point of death. Will You deny Your love and Your Mother’s to anyone who begs for it?”

__
Bl Alexandrina di Letto
St Attala of Taormina
St Benatius of Kilcooley
St Benignus of Tomi
St Burgundofara
St Chrestus
St Comman
St Evagrius of Tomi
Bl Francisco Solís Pedrajas
Saint or Blessed (conflicting reports?) Gandulphus of Binasco OFM (c 1200-1260)
https://youtu.be/MH42oExIiEI?list=PL5_ax08Z6UX-Mp6eiMLvUNsbqM5V47Q9q

Bl Iacobus Won Si-bo
St John I of Naples
Blessed John of Penna OFM (c 1193-1271) Priest, Friar
Blessed John of Jesus and Mary/Juan Otazua Madariaga O.SS.T (1895-1937)
Priest Martyr
His Life and Death:
https://anastpaul.com/2020/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-blessed-john-of-jesus-and-mary-o-ss-t-1895-1937-priest-martyr/
Bl Lawrence Pak Chwi-deuk
St Luigi Scrosoppi Cong. Orat. (1804-1884)
About St Luigi: https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2017/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-st-luigi-scrosoppi/

A little Note about St Luigi – his Canonisation Miracle occurred in my previous Parish in Oudtshoorn, Cape Town!

Blessed Maria Teresa Casini (1864–1937)
Her life:
https://anastpaul.com/2019/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-blessed-maria-teresa-casini-1864-1937/
St Nicetas of Medicion
St Papo
Bl Piotr Edward Dankowski
St Richard of Chichester (1197-1253)
Biography:
https://anastpaul.wordpress.com/2018/04/03/saint-of-the-day-3-april-st-richard-of-chichester-1197-1253/

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, GOOD FRIDAY, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES for CHRIST, QUOTES on HEAVEN, QUOTES on SUFFERING, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Thought for the Day – 2 April – The Crucifixion

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 2 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Crucifixion

“After a painful and exhausting journey, Jesus reaches Calvary, where He is to be Crucified.
Once again, He is stripped of His garments, which, by this time, have become stuck to His swollen sores.
Then, He is stretched upon the wooden Cross, to which, one of the brutal executioners fastens His Hands and Feet, with blows from a hammer.
The sharp nails are driven through His flesh into the hard wood.
Jesus looks upwards and offers Himself in silence, as a Victim of Expiation, on behalf of His tormentors and of all of us.
His Mother Mary, is standing a few paces away in the company of the holy women and of the beloved Disciple.
The blows of the hammer pierce the maternal heart of the Blessed Virgin but,she remains silent also and prays.

When we have been afflicted by misfortune or sorrow and our hearts are racked with grief, how do we behave?
Have we the resignation, the trust in God and the spirit of prayer, which Jesus and Mary had on Calvary?
Let us remind ourselves, that we are members of the Mystical Body of Christ.
If Jesus our Head, has suffered, how much more, do miserable sinners like the rest of us ,deserve to suffer!?
Jesus wishes us to participate in the work of redemption by uniting our sufferings to His.
“I rejoice now,” says St Paul, “in the suffering I bear … and what is lacking of the suffering of Christ, I fill up in my flesh…” (Col 1:24).

Let us face adversity with courage, therefore and keep our eyes hopefully towards Heaven.
Let us remember, as St Paul also says, that even as we share in the sufferings of Christ, so we shall share in His triumph (Cf 2 Cor 1:7).
Jesus had to ascen Mount Calvary, before He could ascend to Heaven.
If we are to walk in His footsteps, we shall have to do the same.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci

Posted in "Follow Me", CHRIST, the WAY,TRUTH,LIFE, DOCTORS of the Church, FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, JULY - The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, LENTEN THOUGHTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The MOST PRECIOUS BLOOD, The PASSION, The REDEMPTION

Good Friday Refletion – 2 April – CONTEMPLATING THE LORD’S PASSION

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Good Friday Refletion – 2 April

CONTEMPLATING THE LORD’S PASSION

From a Sermon by St Pope Leo the Great (400-461)
Father and Doctor unitatis Ecclesiae

True reverence for the Lord’s passion means, fixing the eyes of our heart on Jesus crucified and recognising in Him our own humanity.

The earth – our earthly nature – should tremble at the suffering of its Redeemer. The rocks – the hearts of unbelievers – should come forth, the massive stones now ripped apart. Foreshadowings of the future Resurrection, should appear in the holy city, the Church of God, what is happening to our bodies, should now take place in our hearts.

No-one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the Cross. No-one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against Him. How much more, does it bring, to those who turn to Him in repentance.

Ignorance has been destroyed, obstinacy has been overcome. The Sacred Blood of Christ, has quenched the flaming sword that barred access to the tree of life. The age-old night of sin has given place, to the true light.

The Christian people are invited to share the riches of paradise. All who have been reborn have the way open before them, to return to their native land, from which they had been exiled. Unless, indeed ,they close off for themselves, the path that could be opened before the faith of a thief.

The business of this life should not preoccupy us with its anxiety and pride, so that we no longer strive, with all the love of our heart, to be like our Redeemer and to follow His example. Everything that He did, or suffered, was for our salvation – He wanted His Body to share the goodness of its Head.

First of all, in taking our human nature, while remaining God, so that the Word became man, He left no member of the human race, the unbeliever excepted, without a share in His mercy. Who does not share a common nature with Christ, if he has welcomed Christ, who took our nature and is reborn in the Spirit, through whom Christ was conceived?

Again, who cannot recognise in Christ, his own infirmities? Who would not recognise that Christ’s eating and sleeping, His sadness and His shedding tears of love, are marks of the nature of a slave?

It was this nature of a slave, that had to be healed of its ancient wounds and cleansed of the defilement of sin. For that reason, the only-begotten Son of God, became also the Son of Man. He was to have both the reality of human nature and the fullness of the Godhead.

The Body, that lay lifeless in the tomb, is ours. The Body that rose again on the third day, is ours. The Body, that ascended above all the heights of heaven, to the right hand of the Father’s glory, is ours. If then we walk in the way of His commandments and are not ashamed to acknowledge, the price He paid for our salvation in a lowly Body, we too are to rise to share His glory. The promise He made will be fulfilled, in the sight of all: –“whoever acknowledges Me before men, I too will acknowledge him before My Father who is in heaven.”

Posted in DOCTORS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, HYMNS, PRAYERS of the CHURCH, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, QUOTES of the SAINTS, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION

Quote/s of the Day – 2 April – Good Friday

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Quote/s of the Day – 2 April – Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord

“O SACRED HEAD”
By St Bernard (1090-1153)
Mellifluous Doctor

O Sacred Head surrounded
By a crown of piercing thorn!
O bleeding Head, so wounded,
Reviled and put to scorn!
Death’s pallid hue comes o’er Thee,
The glow of life decays,
Yet angel hosts adore Thee
And tremble as they gaze.

I see Thy strength and vigour
All fading in the strife,
And death, with cruel vigour,
Bereaving Thee of life;
O agony and dying!
O love to sinners free!
Jesus, all grace supplying,
O turn Thy face on me!

In this Thy bitter Passion,
Good Shepherd, think of me,
With Thy most sweet compassion,
Unworthy though I be.
Beneath Thy Cross abiding,
‘Forever would I rest,
In Thy dear love confiding,
And will Thy presence blest.

“Do not pass one day without devoting a half hour,
or at least a quarter of an hour,
to meditation on the sorrowful Passion of your Saviour.
Have a continual remembrance
of the agonies of your crucified Love
and know, that the greatest saints,
who now, in heaven,
triumph in holy love,
arrived at perfection in this way.”

St Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)

Posted in FATHERS of the Church, GOOD FRIDAY, ONE Minute REFLECTION, QUOTES on the CROSS of CHRIST, The HOLY CROSS, The PASSION, The WORD

One Minute Reflection – 2 April – Good Friday – The Precious and Life-giving Cross of Christ

Posted on by AnaStpaul

One Minute Reflection – 2 April – Good Friday, Readings: First: Isaiah 52: 13 — 53: 12.salm: Psalms 31: 2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25. Second: Hebrews 4: 14-16; 5: 7-9
Gospel: John 18: 1 — 19: 42

“But one of the soldiers with a spear opened his side, and immediately there came out blood and water.”– John 18:34

REFLECTION – “How precious the gift of the Cross, how splendid to contemplate! In the Cross there is no mingling of good and evil, as in the tree of paradise, it is wholly beautiful to behold and good to taste. The fruit of this tree is not death but life, not darkness but light. This tree does not cast us out of paradise but opens the way for our return.

This was the tree upon which, Christ, like a king on a chariot, destroyed the devil, the lord of death and freed the human race from his tyranny. This was the tree upon which the Lord like a brave warrior wounded in hands, feet and side, healed the wounds of sin that the evil serpent had inflicted on our nature. A tree once caused our death but now, a tree brings life. Once deceived by a tree, we have now repelled the cunning serpent, by a tree. What an astonishing transformation! That death should become life, that decay should become immortality, that shame should become glory! Well might the holy Apostle exclaim – Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me and I to the world! The supreme wisdom that flowered on the Cross has shown the folly of worldly wisdom’s pride. The knowledge of all good, which is the fruit of the Cross, has cut away the shoots of wickedness.

The wonders accomplished through this tree were foreshadowed clearly, even by the mere types and figures that existed in the past. Meditate on these, if you are eager to learn. Was it not the wood of a tree that enabled Noah, at God’s command, to escape the destruction of the flood, together with his sons, his wife, his sons’ wives and every kind of animal? And surely the rod of Moses prefigured the Cross, when it changed water into blood, swallowed up the false serpents of Pharaoh’s magicians, divided the sea at one stroke and then restored the waters to their normal course, drowning the enemy and saving God’s own people? Aaron’s rod, which blossomed in one day, in proof of his true priesthood, was another figure of the Cross and did not Abraham foreshadow the Cross, when he bound his son Isaac and placed him on the pile of wood?

By the Cross, death was slain and Adam was restored to life. The Cross is the glory of all the Apostles, the crown of the Martyrs, the sanctification of the Saints. By the Cross, we put on Christ and cast aside our former self. By the Cross we, the sheep of Christ, have been gathered into one flock, destined for the sheepfold of heaven.” – St Theodore the Studite (759-826) Father, Abbot, Theologian, Writer

PRAYER – Be mindful Lord, of this Your family, for whose sake, our Lord Jesus Christ, when betrayed, did not hesitate to yield Himself into His enemies hands and undergo the agony of the Cross – He Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, God forever and ever, amen.

Posted in HOLY WEEK, LENTEN PRAYERS & NOVENAS, Our MORNING Offering, PRAYERS of the SAINTS, The PASSION

Our Morning Offering – 2 April – The Angel of the Agony

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Our Morning Offering – 2 April – Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord

The Angel of the Agony
St John Henry Newman (1801-1890)

Jesu! by that shuddering dread which fell on Thee;
Jesu! by that cold dismay which sicken’d Thee;
Jesu! by that pang of heart which thrill’d in Thee;
Jesu! by that mount of sins which crippled Thee;
Jesu! by that sense of guilt which stifled Thee;
Jesu! by that innocence that girded Thee;
Jesu! by that sanctity that reign’d in Thee;
Jesu! by that Godhead which was one with Thee;
Jesu! spare those souls which are so dear to Thee;
Who in prison, calm and patient, wait for Thee;
Hasten, Lord, their hour and bid them come to Thee;
To that glorious Home, where they shall ever gaze on Thee.
Amen

Posted in MAUNDY THURSDAY, MEDITATIONS - ANTONIO CARD BACCI, QUOTES on CONSCIENCE, QUOTES on FORGIVENESS, QUOTES on REPENTANCE, QUOTES on SIN, SACRED HEART QUOTES, The PASSION

Thought for the Day – 1 April – The Betrayal of Judas

Posted on by AnaStpaul

Thought for the Day – 1 April – Meditations with Antonio Cardinal Bacci (1881-1971)

The Betrayal of Judas

“Ingratitude is a very cruel thing.
It imprints a deep wound on the human heart and the heart of Jesus, was infinitely more sensitive than ours.
He had raised Judas to the high rank of the Apostolate;  He had made him one of His closest friends and had entrusted him with the secrets of His infinite love.
Now Judas betrays Him for the wretched sum of thirty pieces of silver.
Worse is to follow, however.
While Jesus is praying and perspiring blood at the thought of the ingratitude of men and of the nearness of His passion and death, the Garden of Gethsemane becomes suddenly aglow with torches and reverberates with the shouting of the hired ruffians, whom Judas has brought with him to arrest Jesus.
The treacherous Apostle comes forward.
He embraces our divine Redeemer, hails Him as his Master and greets Him with a sacrilegious kiss upon the cheek.
Jesus neither repulses nor rebukes him but, with a gesture of infinite mercy, He addresses him as a friend.
“Friend,” He says, “for what purpose hast thou come?” (Mt 26:50).
“Dost thou betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Lk 22:28).
If only Judas could have heeded this last appeal and begged for forgiveness at Jesus’ feet with tears of repentance!
Jesus would certainly have taken him to His heart and returned his kiss with a kiss of pardon and divine friendship.
Perhaps, we have also stood at times on the brink of sin and have been aware of a higher appeal to go back!
But, have we heeded it?
If ever we are in danger again, let us listen to this quiet voice which speaks to our conscience.
Let us fall on our knees before Jesus and earnestly implore Him: “Be not silent, Lord, be not far from me!” (Ps 34:22).
Let us ask Him to have pity on our weakness and to come to our assistance.”

Antonio Cardinal Bacci