One Minute Reflection – 9 July – The Memorial of Blessed Adrian Fortescue T.O.S.D. (1476-1539) Martyr
“Even though I should have to die with you, I will not deny you.” And all the disciples spoke likewise”…Matthew 26:35.
REFLECTION – “The road is narrow. He who wishes to travel it more easily must cast off all things and use the cross as his cane. In other words, he must be truly resolved to suffer willingly for the love of God in all things.”…St John of the Cross (1542-1591) Doctor of the Church
PRAYER – O God, You specially strengthened Blessed Adrian Fortescue with a wonderful spirit of holiness and courage. Hear the prayers of Your people and from his renowned example, may we learn to be obedient to You rather than to human authority. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen
Our Morning Offering – 5 July 2018 – The Memorial of St Anthony Mary Zaccaria (1502-1539)
Prayer for the Intercession of St Anthony Mary Zaccaria
St Anthony Mary Zaccaria,
lover of the Cross and of the Eucharist,
helper of the poor and of the sick,
you who devoted your life
to promote the glory of God and
the salvation of souls, protect me,
and be my intercessor from heaven.
Obtain from Jesus,
true contrition for my sins;
inflame my heart
with sentiments of faith and love
to embrace my daily cross
and to lead others to Christ.
May your eyes follow me in every step,
your wise counsel enlighten me,
your hand uphold me,
your virtue make me holy.
May I follow your call
to holiness and renewal.
Help me to always keep
Jesus’ love and peace
with my brothers and sisters,
so that I may become worthy of Him
and receive eternal glory in heaven.
Amen
Thought for the Day – 13 June – The Memorial of St Anthony of Padua (1195-1231) Doctor of the Church
Not only the Nativity, a central point of Christ’s love for humanity but also the vision of the Crucified One inspired in Anthony thoughts of gratitude to God and esteem for the dignity of the human person, so that all believers and non-believers might find in the Crucified One and in His image a life-enriching meaning.
St Anthony writes: “Christ, who is your life, is hanging before you, so that you may look at the Cross, as in a mirror. There you will be able to know, how mortal were your wounds, that no medicine other, than the Blood of the Son of God, could heal. If you look closely, you will be able to realise, how great your human dignity and your value are…. Nowhere other than looking at himself, in the mirror of the Cross, can man better understand how much he is worth”(Sermones Dominicales et Festivi III, pp. 213-214).
In meditating on these words we are better able to understand the importance of the image of the Crucified One for our culture, for our humanity that is born from the Christian faith. Precisely by looking at the Crucified One we see, as St Anthony says, how great are the dignity and worth of the human being. At no other point can we understand how much the human person is worth, precisely because God makes us so important, considers us so important that, in his opinion, we are worthy of his suffering; thus all human dignity appears in the mirror of the Crucified One and our gazing upon him is ever a source of acknowledgement of human dignity…..Pope Benedict XVI (General Audience – February 10, 2010)
Quote/s of the Day – and Marian too – 29 May “Mary’s Month!” – The Memorial of Blessed Joseph Gerard O.M.I. (1831-1914)
“Always believe, in the power of love and truth, the love of neighbour, which is rooted in the love of God and the truth, which sets people free.”
“Reject violence as a solution to any situation, no matter how unjust it may be.”
“Above all, trust in the God of justice, who created all things, who sees all human events, who holds in His hands, the destiny of every person and of every nation.”
“Let the eyes of our faith never wander from the Cross of Calvary.”
“May each of you, discover Mary, as your Mother.”
“May each of you, seek to be a son, a daughter, of Mary, who at the foot of the Cross, becomes in a particular way for us, the “Mother of Divine Grace”.”
May each of you, “make a place for her in your home” and even more so in your heart, every day and throughout your life, especially at those times, of trial and suffering.”
Maseru Race Course (Lesotho) Thursday, 15 September 1988
St Pope John Paul II (1920-2005)
Taken from the Beatification Homily of St Pope John Paul II (See today’s thought for the Day)
One Minute Marian Reflection – 26 May “Mary’s Month!” Saturday of the Seventh Week in Ordinary Time, Year B
You are the glory of Jerusalem, the surpassing joy of Israel…Judges 15:9
REFLECTION – “MARY: THE WAY TO JESUS – “Mary does the immense favour of bringing to the cross, of placing face to face with the example of the Son of God, those who come close to her and contemplate her life. It is in this confrontation that Christian life is decided. And here, Mary intercedes for us, so that our behaviour may lead to a reconciliation of the younger brother — you and me — with the firstborn Son of the Father. “Many conversions, many decisions to give oneself to the service of God have been preceded by an encounter with Mary. Our Lady has encouraged us to look for God, to desire to change, to lead a new life.”…St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) “To Jesus through Mary,” Christ is Passing By 149 Let us offer to our Mother today: Teaching someone how to say the Holy Rosary.
PRAYER – “Hail, Mother of the Lord, Virgin Mary, Queen of the Rosary! Blessed among all women, you are the image of the Church robed in paschal light, you are the honour of our people, you are the victory over every assault of evil.” ……………..Excerpt from the Prayer of Pope Francis at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima,12 May 2017. Pray for us Holy Mother of God and our Mother, lead us to your Son!
One Minute Marian Reflection – 17 May “Mary’s Month” – Thursday of the Seventh Week of Eastertide
And at three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”…Mark 15:34
REFLECTION – “MARY: THE SORROWING MOTHER – “Our Lady is there listening to the words of her Son, united to Him in His suffering, when He cried out ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ What could she do? She united herself fully, with the redemptive love of her Son and offered to the Father, her immense sorrow, which pierced her pure heart, like a sharp-edged sword.”…St Josemaría Escrivá (1902-1975) “Mother of God and Our Mother,” Friends of God, 288 Let us offer to our Mother today: The mortification of keeping quiet about any pain or discomfort, any inconvenience or disappointment, uniting it with her pain as she stood by her crucified Son.
PRAYER – Almighty God and Father, forgive the sins of Your people and as nothing we can do is worthy in Your sight, save us through the intercession of the Mother of our Lord Jesus Christ. As Christ suffered for our sins, so Mary, the Blessed Virgin His Mother, suffered with Him and for us too. Grant we pray, that by her prayers we may learn to give You these sufferings alone, in silence for our sins in union with our suffering Lord and His Mother, with the Holy Spirit, one God with You, forever amen.
Apparition of the Holy Cross over Jerusalem: Commemorates the appearance on 7 May 351, Pentecost that year, of a luminous image of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. It stretched from Mount Golgotha to the Mount of Olives (about two miles / three kilometers), was brighter than the sun, lasted several hours and was seen by the entire city. It led to many conversions and was reported in a letter attribued to Saint Cyril of Jerusalem.
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St Abba
St Agostino Roscelli
Bl Albert of Bergamo
Bl Antonio de Agramunt
St Augustine of Nicomedia
St Augustus of Nicomedia
St Cerenico of Spoleto
St Domitian of Huy
St Duje
St Flavia Domitilla of Terracina
St Flavius of Nicomedia
Bl Francesco Paleari
Bl Gisela of Ungarn
Bl Jan Eugeniusz Bajewski
St John of Beverley
St Juvenal of Benevento
St Maurelius of Voghenza-Ferrara
Bl Miqael of Ulompo
St Peter of Pavia
St Placid of Autun
St Quadratus of Herbipolis
St Quadratus of Nicomedia
St Rose Venerini (1656-1728)
St Serenicus of Hyesmes
St Serenus of Hyesmes
Bl Villanus of Gubbio
Quote/s of the Day – 26 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938)
“Every day, I am happier, in my complete abandonment, into His Hands. I see His will, even in the most insignificant and tiny things that happen. In everything I find a lesson, that serves to make me understand better, His mercy toward me. I love His designs, with my whole being and that is enough.
If at times, God is not in the soul, it is because we do not want Him there. We have such an accumulation of things to do, of distractions, of interests, vain desires, conceit, we have so much world within us, that God distances Himself… but, all we have to do is want Him.
It is difficult to explain why one loves suffering! But I believe, that it can be explained, because it is not suffering in itself but rather as it is in Christ and whoever loves Christ loves His Cross.
To savour the Cross…to live sick, unknown, abandoned by all— only You…and on the Cross. How sweet the bitterness, the loneliness, the grief, the pain, wolfed down and swallowed in silence, without help. How sweet the tears shed next to Your Cross.
Ah! If I knew how to tell the world where true happiness is! But this the world does not understand, nor can it… because to understand the Cross…one must love it. To love it one must suffer and not only suffer but love the suffering… In this, Lord, how few follow You to Calvary.”
One Minute Reflection – 26 April – Thursday of the Fourth Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938)
The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing but to us, who are being saved, it is the power of God…1 Cor 1:18
REFLECTION – …(I am) “a humble lay brother who has chosen the road of truth in the dark night of the world…only the Cross of Christ sheds light on the path of this life….God is in the detached heart, in the silence of prayer, in the voluntary sacrifice to pain, in the emptiness of the world and its creatures. God is in the Cross and, as long as we do not love the Cross, we will not see Him, or feel Him…. If the world and men knew…. But they will not know; they are very busy in their interests; their hearts are very full of things that are not God.”…St Rafael Arnáiz Barón (1911-1938)
PRAYER – Lord God, we were sinners and Your grace made us holy. We were without hope and You filled us with joy. Stand by us in Your saving work and stay with us in Your gifts of grace. May we never fail to persevere in the path of holiness that comes from following You, carrying our crosses behind the Cross of Your Son and looking forward in hope to the promise His Resurrection. Grant Lord, that our faith may increase and our courage grow, by the prayers of St Rafael Arnáiz Barón. Through Jesus our Lord, one God with You in the unity of the Holy Spirit, forever and ever, amen.
Quote/s of the Day – 19 April – Thursday of the Third Week of Eastertide
“Speaking of: Becoming a Saint”
“Think well. Speak well. Do well. These three things, through the mercy of God, will make a man go to Heaven.”
St Camillus de Lellis (1550-1614)
“He who wishes for anything but Christ, does not know what he wishes; he who asks for anything but Christ, does not know what he is asking; he who works and not for Christ, does not know what he is doing.”
St Philip Neri (1515-1595)
“The great saint may be said, to mix all his thoughts with thanks. All goods look better, when they look like gifts.”
G K Chesterton (1874-1936)
“Enemy-occupied territory – that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how, the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise and is calling us all, to take part, in a great campaign of sabotage.”
C S Lewis (1898-1963)
“What people don’t realise, is how much Christianity costs. They think faith is a big electric blanket, when of course, it is the cross.”
Flannery O’Connor (1925-1964)
“Take courage! Fix your gaze on our saints.”
Pope Benedict XVI
“Take the Crucifixion personally.”
“The road to holiness goes through your neighbour.”
One Minute Reflection – 16 April – Monday of the Third Week of Eastertide and the Memorial of St Bernadette Soubirous (1844-1879)
For to you has been granted, for the sake of Christ, not only to believe in him but also to suffer for him...Philippians 1:29
REFLECTION – “The more I am crucified, the more I rejoice.”…St Bernadette Soubirous
PRAYER – Let the crucifix be not only in my eyes and on my breast but in my heart. O Jesus! Release all my affections and draw them upwards. Let my crucified heart sink forever into Thine and bury itself in the mysterious wound made by the entry of the lance…By St Bernadette Soubirous, of whom we request, your prayers!
Christós anésti. Jesus Christ is risen! He is truly risen!
In the words of Pope Francis in the Urbi et Orbi Message of Easter 2013, “let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy, let us be loved by Jesus, let us enable the power of His love to transform our lives too and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish”.
The tomb is empty. It is a silent witness to the central event of human history: the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. For almost 2,000 years the empty tomb has borne witness to the victory of Life over death. With the Apostles and Evangelists, with the Church of every time and place, we too bear witness and proclaim: “Christ is risen! Raised from the dead he will never die again; death no longer has power over him” (cf. Rom 6:9).
“Mors et vita duello conflixere mirando; dux vitae mortuus, regnat vivus” (Latin Easter Sequence Victimae paschali). The Lord of Life was dead; now He reigns, victorious over death, the source of everlasting life for all who believe.
Resurrection of Christ – Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
“Dear Brothers and Sisters,
These have been days of intense emotion, a time when our soul has been stirred not only by the memory of what God has done but by His very presence, walking with us once again in the land of Christ’s Birth, Death and Resurrection. And at every step of this Jubilee Pilgrimage Mary has been with us, lighting our pilgrim path and sharing the joys and sorrows of her sons and daughters.
With Mary, Mater dolorosa, we stand in the shadow of the Cross and weep with her over the affliction of Jerusalem and over the sins of the world. We stand with her in the silence of Calvary and see the blood and water flowing from the wounded side of her Son. Realising the terrible consequences of sin, we are moved to repentance for our own sins and for the sins of the Church’s children in every age. O Mary, conceived without sin, help us on the path to conversion!
With Mary, Stella matutina, we have been touched by the light of the Resurrection. We rejoice with her that the empty tomb has become the womb of eternal life, where He who rose from the dead now sits at the Father’s right hand. With her we give endless thanks for the grace of the Holy Spirit whom the risen Lord sent upon the Church at Pentecost and whom He continually pours into our hearts, for our salvation and for the good of the human family.
Mary, Regina in caelum assumpta . From the tomb of her Son, we look to the tomb where Mary lay sleeping in peace, awaiting her glorious Assumption. The Divine Liturgy celebrated at her tomb in Jerusalem has Mary say: “Even beyond death, I am not far from you”. And in the Liturgy her children reply: “Seeing your tomb, O holy Mother of God, we seem to contemplate you. O Mary, you are the joy of the angels, the comfort of the afflicted. We proclaim you as the stronghold of all Christians and, most of all, as our Mother”.
In contemplating the Theotókos, almost at this journey’s end, we look upon the true face of the Church, radiant in all her beauty, shining with “the glory of God which is on the face of Christ” (2 Cor 4:6). O Advocate, help the Church to be ever more like you, her exalted model. Help her to grow in faith, hope and love, as she searches out and does the will of God in all things (cf. Lumen gentium, n. 65). O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!”
Devotion of The Seven Last Words of Christ – The Seventh Word – 31 March – Holy Saturday 2018
The Seven Last Words of Christ refer, not to individual words but to the final seven phrases that Our Lord uttered as He hung on the Cross. These phrases were not recorded in a single Gospel but are taken from the combined accounts of the four Gospels. Greatly revered, these last words of Jesus have been the subject of many books, sermons and musical settings.
The Seven Last Words of Christ
” Jesus reaches the heights of the depth of his prayer to the Father during His Passion and Death, when He pronounces His supreme “yes” to the plan of God and reveals how the human will finds its fulfilment precisely in adhering fully to the divine will, rather than the opposite. In Jesus’ prayer, in His cry to the Father on the Cross, “all the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all the petitions and intercessions of salvation history are summed up … Here the Father accepts them and, beyond all hope, answers them beyond all hope, answers them by raising His Son. Thus is fulfilled and brought to completion the drama of prayer in the economy of creation and salvation” (CCC 2606)
Pope Benedict 7 March 2012
The Seventh Word
“Into Your hands I commend My spirit” (Luke 23:46)
Gospel: It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” and when he had said this, he breathed his last…Luke 23:44-46
The Word Incarnate utters His last sentence and in doing so, every last word takes on a special significance. In the act of dying, the God-Man teaches His brothers and sisters in the human family how to die. What is the final lesson?
Jesus died resigned to the Will of the One Who sent Him. However, we should not see this as passivity; it is an active resignation, which sums up His entire life: “As a man lives so shall He die.”
As we listen to the dying Saviour, two words draw our attention: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” “Father” and “thy” are the keys to the mystery of death. Jesus, in His humanity, does not rely on His own resources but casts His cares upon His heavenly Father, the Abba (“Papa”) in Whom He encouraged His disciples to have complete trust.
His heart is thus other-directed or, better, Other-directed toward the One “who was able to save Him from death” (Heb 5:7). With eyes fixed on Jesus (cf. Heb 3:1), then, Christians ponder what they need in death. They are three: the grace of perseverance, the grace of final repentance and the grace of a happy death.
Such a gift then leads to that most blessed thing of all – the grace of a happy death. Several years ago I received an early morning call to the hospital to bring Viaticum for a cancer patient I had attended the entire summer. Always thoughtful to a fault, she had restrained her family from contacting a priest during the night, lest he lose sleep. Upon my arrival, the woman stirred herself to prepare for her final encounter with the Eucharist. As I placed the Sacred Host on her tongue, she smiled, swallowed and died. Her son looked at me and said, “Father, that’s all she was waiting for all night.”
What a holy death! What a calming effect it had on her entire family! What a powerful and unforgettable witness she had offered! A holy death ensures a happy death because our eyes are “fixed on Jesus.”
Thinking about death – our own death – should not be an exercise in morbidity but a truly positive opportunity. St Alphonsus Liguori, author of the classic “Way of the Cross,” provides ample food for thought in his reflection for the Fifth Station . It has within it all the serenity of Jesus’ serenity in His final moments and thus recommends itself to our thoughts and as a guide for our actions – perennially.
And so we are encouraged to say and to mean: “My beloved Jesus, I will not refuse the cross, as the Cyrenian did; I accept it, I embrace it. I accept in particular the death You have destined for me; with all the pains that may accompany it; I unite it to your death, I offer it to You. You have died for love of me; I will die for love of You, and to please You. Help me by your grace. I love You, Jesus, my love; I repent of ever having offended You. Never permit me to offend You again. Grant that I may love You always and then do with me what you will.” (St Alphonsus Liguori (1696-1787) Doctor of the Church) ...Excerpt from Fr Peter Stravinskas
Prayer of Abandonment to God’s Providence
Lord, Your Cross is high and uplifted;
I cannot mount it in my own strength.
You have promised:
“I, when I am lifted up from the earth,
I will draw all to Myself.”
Draw me, then, from my sins to repentance,
from darkness to faith,
from the flesh to the spirit,
from coldness to ardent devotion,
from weak beginnings to a perfect end,
from smooth and easy paths,
if it be Your will, to a higher and holier way,
from fear to love,
from earth to heaven,
from myself to You.
And as You have said:
“No man can come to Me,
except the Father, who sent Me, draw him,”
give unto me the Spirit Whom the Father hath sent in Your Name,
that in Him and through Him,
I being wholly changed,
may hasten to You
and go out no more for ever.
Amen
(From a Prayer a Day for Lent – 1923)
“O injured Lord, what can I say? I am very guilty concerning You, my brother; and I shall sink in sullen despair if You do not raise me. I cannot look on You; I shrink from You; I throw my arms round my face; I crouch to the earth. Satan will pull me down if You do not take pity. It is terrible to turn to You; but oh, turn me and so shall I be turned.
It is a purgatory to endure the sight of You, the sight of myself – I most vile, You most holy. Yet make me look once more on You whom I have so incomprehensibly affronted, for Your countenance is my only life, my only hope and health lies in looking on You whom I have pierced. So I put myself before You; I look on You again; I endure the pain in order to receive the purification.
O my God, how can I look You in the face when I think of my ingratitude, so deeply seated, so habitual, so immovable – or rather so awfully increasing!
You load me day by day with Your favours and feed me with Yourself, as You did Judas, yet not only do I not profit thereby but I do not even make any acknowledgement at the time.
Lord, how long? When shall I be free of this real, this fatal captivity? He who made Judas his prey has got foothold of me in my old age and I cannot get loose. It is the same day after day. When will You give me a still greater grace than You have given, the grace to profit by the graces that You give? When will You give me Your effectual grace, which alone can give life and vigour to this effete, miserable, dying soul of mine?
My God, I know not in what sense I can pain You in Your glorified state but I know that every fresh sin, every fresh ingratitude I now commit, was among the blows and stripes that once fell on You in Your Passion. Oh, let me have as little share in those past sufferings as possible. Day by day goes and I find I have been more and more, by the new sins of each day, the cause of them. I know that at best I have a real share of them all but still it is shocking to find myself having a greater and greater share. Let others wound You – let not me. Let me not have to think that You would have had this or that pang of soul or body the less, except for me.
O my God, I am so fast in prison that I cannot get out. O Mary, pray for me.”
Quote/s of the Day – 30 March 2018 – Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord
“But 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.”
St Paul
“We give glory to You, Lord, who raised up Your Cross to span the jaws of death like a bridge by which souls might pass from the region of the dead to the land of the living. .. You are incontestably alive. Your murderers sowed Your living body in the earth as farmers sow grain but it sprang up and yielded an abundant harvest of men raised from the dead.”
St Ephrem the Syrian (306-373) Father & Doctor of the Church
“Mount Calvary is the academy of love.”
St Francis de Sales (1567-1622) Doctor of the Church
” …Let us direct today our gaze toward Christ, a gaze frequently distracted by scattered and passing earthly interests. Let us pause to contemplate His Cross. The cross, fount of life and school of justice and peace, is the universal patrimony of pardon and mercy. It is permanent proof of a self-emptying and infinite love that brought God to become man, vulnerable like us, unto dying crucified.”
One Minute Reflection – 30 March 2018 – Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples across the Kidron valley, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with his disciples..…..John 18:1-2
REFLECTION – “Jesus was in a garden, not of delight as the first Adam, in which he destroyed himself and the whole human race but in one of agony, in which He saved Himself and the whole human race.”…Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)
“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)
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. Help us holy Father, to ever keep the Cross in our hearts and minds and to accept our own with love of You. Through Jesus our Lord, with the Holy Spirit, one God, amen.
Our Morning Offering – 39 March 2018 – Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord
The Angel of the Agony Blessed 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
Devotion of The Seven Last Words of Christ – The Fourth Word – 29 March – Holy Thursday 2018
The Seven Last Words of Christ
The Seven Last Words of Christ refer, not to individual words but to the final seven phrases that Our Lord uttered as He hung on the Cross. These phrases were not recorded in a single Gospel but are taken from the combined accounts of the four Gospels. Greatly revered, these last words of Jesus have been the subject of many books, sermons and musical settings. For centuries The Seven Last Words have been built into various forms of devotion for the consideration and consolation of the Christian people.
“Take your crucifix in your hand and ask yourselves whether this is the religion of the soft, easy, worldly, luxurious days in which we live; whether the crucifix does not teach you a lesson of mortification, of self-denial, of crucifixion of the flesh.”
Cardinal Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892)
“As is well known, the initial cry of the Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”, is recorded by the Gospels of Matthew and Mark as the cry uttered by Jesus dying on the Cross (cf. Mt 27:46, Mk 15:34). It expresses all the desolation of the Messiah, Son of God, who is facing the drama of death, a reality totally opposed to the Lord of life. Forsaken by almost all His followers, betrayed and denied by the disciples, surrounded by people who insult Him, Jesus is under the crushing weight of a mission that was to pass through humiliation and annihilation. This is why He cried out to the Father and His suffering took up the sorrowful words of the Psalm. But His is not a desperate cry, nor was that of the Psalmist who, in his supplication, takes a tormented path which nevertheless opens out at last into a perspective of praise, into trust in the divine victory.”…Pope Benedict XVI – General Audience 14 September 2011
The Fourth Word
“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
Gospel – From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o’clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”…Matthew 27:45-46 (Psalm 22(21))
Reflection: To ensure that He suffered every torment that normal man is prone to, Christ allowed Himself to experience despair. Up to this point, Jesus had suffered mainly physically. These torments had left His body racked with pain and agony. But now it was time for the ultimate pain, the pain a soul feels when it is separated from God.
The soul is spiritual being in the image of God. The human soul is like a plant is nourished by the bright sunlight of God. The human soul needs this light to grow and flourish. However, unlike a plant, the human soul does not die when it is separated from God because it cannot die. Instead the soul endures great and debilitating agony. It was this kind of agony that Our Lord willingly accepted on the Cross.
O sinful man, how can you claim that Our Lord does not understand the pain you are going through? He has suffered every imaginable punishment. He has felt the rejection of His own people. He has endured the dreadful physical pains of a brutal scourging and ignominious death on a Cross. He had endured the despair of a soul separated from God. He understands pain, agony, loss and despair. And He wishes to console you . He stands with arms out stretched on the Cross, looking to comfort you in all your distress.
Lord Jesus Christ, You know better than anyone what suffering I am enduring. I beg you to give me the grace and strength to endure these hardships, that I may offer them as penance for my sins. Help me to never refuse my cross, so that by taking it up daily I may be worthy of You one day. Amen.
Prayer of Abandonment to God’s Providence
My Lord and my God:
into your hands I abandon the past and the present and the future,
what is small and what is great,
what amounts to a little and what amounts to a lot,
things temporal and things eternal.
Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
Devotion of The Seven Last Words of Christ – The Third Word – 28 March – Wednesday of Holy Week 2018
The Seven Last Words of Christ
The Seven Last Words of Christ refer, not to individual words but to the final seven phrases that Our Lord uttered as He hung on the Cross. These phrases were not recorded in a single Gospel but are taken from the combined accounts of the four Gospels. Greatly revered, these last words of Jesus have been the subject of many books, sermons and musical settings. For centuries The Seven Last Words have been built into various forms of devotion for the consideration and consolation of the Christian people.
“…As we are under great obligations to Jesus, for His Passion endured for our love, so also are we under great obligations to Mary, for the martyrdom which she voluntarily suffered, for our salvation, in the death of her Son”.
St Bonaventure (1217-1274) Doctor of the Church
The Third Word
“Woman, behold, your son.”… “Behold, your mother.” John 19:26-27
Gospel: When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home…Jn 19:26-27
Reflection: Sinful man, behold the sorrowful face of Our Blessed Mother. She, who through her acceptance of God’s will brought the Son of God into the world, now sees Him stretched between heaven and earth suffering unbearable torments for your sake. This Mother, who accepted God’s Gift to the world with great joy, is now overcome with great sorrow to see Him who is Innocent put to death for our sakes. Weep. o sinful man, for you and your sinful habits are the cause of her sorrow.
Looking down on His Most Holy Mother, the Saviour of the world gives her a parting gift: sinful mankind. With four words He gives us who have crucified Him into her care, so that she may care for us with the same kindness and dedication as she had for Him. The sorrow at losing her only Son is replaced with the sorrow of a mother who is forced to watch as her children blindly go down the path to destruction.
But Our Saviour is not finished. Turning to St John and speaking through him to us, He reminds and warns us to honour His mother. How can we return to sin when we remember that our sin hurts Our Blessed Mother twice? First, we hurt her when our sin adds to Our Lord’s suffering. Second, just like any other mother, Our Blessed Mother is saddened to the point of tears when we turn from the narrow path that leads to Salvation and instead take the wide path that leads to Eternal Damnation.
O, Most Blessed Mother,
I beg that you forgive me
for all that I have done to offend you
and your Most Holy Son.
I beg you further to intercede with your Son on my behalf.
I deserve Eternal Punishment for my continual offenses
against both you and your Son.
Take me by the hand so that I may never again offend you
and help me to grow in virtue,
that I may make reparation for my offences.
Amen.
Prayer of Abandonment to God’s Providence
My Lord and my God:
into your hands I abandon the past and the present and the future,
what is small and what is great,
what amounts to a little and what amounts to a lot,
things temporal and things eternal.
Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
Quote of the Day – 28 March – Wednesday of Holy Week 2018
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 & Doctor of the Church
Quote/s of the Day – 27 March – Tuesday of Holy Week 2018
“Nobody can reign with Christ without having imitated His Passion. For things of great value can only be acquired at a great price.”
St John Chrysostom (347-407) Father & Doctor of the Church
“Great thing is the knowledge of the crucified Christ. How many things are enclosed inside this treasure! Christ crucified! Such is the hidden treasure of wisdom and science. Do not be deceived, then, under the pretext of wisdom. Gather before the covering and pray that it may be uncovered. Foolish philosopher of this world, what you are looking for is worthless… What is the advantage of being thirsty, if you despise the source? … And what is His precept but that we believe in Him and love each other? In whom? In Christ crucified. This is His commandment: that we believe in Christ crucified … But where humility is, there is also majesty, where weakness is, there shall one find power, where death is, there shall be life as well. If you wish to arrive at the second part, do not despise the first. “ (Sermon 160, 3-4).
St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
Devotion of The Seven Last Words of Christ – The Second Word – 27 March – Tuesday of Holy Week 2018
The Seven Last Words of Christ
The Seven Last Words of Christ refer, not to individual words but to the final seven phrases that Our Lord uttered as He hung on the Cross. These phrases were not recorded in a single Gospel but are taken from the combined accounts of the four Gospels. Greatly revered, these last words of Jesus have been the subject of many books, sermons and musical settings. For centuries The Seven Last Words have been built into various forms of devotion for the consideration and consolation of the Christian people.
“The tree upon which were fixed the members of Him dying was even the chair of the Master teaching.”
St Augustine (354-430) Father & Doctor of the Church
The Second Word
“Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
(Lk 23:43)
Gospel: Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”...Lk 23:39-43
Reflection: “The Christian is obliged to be alter Christus, ipse Christus: another Christ, Christ himself. Through baptism all of us have been made priests of our lives, ‘to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’ Everything we do can be an expression of our obedience to God’s will and so perpetuate the mission of the God-man.
“Once we realize this, we are immediately reminded of our wretchedness and our personal failings. But they should not dishearten us; we should not become pessimistic and put our ideals aside. Our Lord is calling us, in our present state, to share His life and make an effort to be holy. I know holiness can sound like an empty word. Too many people think it is unattainable, something to do with ascetical theology — but not a real goal for them, a living reality. The first Christians didn’t think that way. They often used the word “saints” to describe each other in a very natural manner: ‘greetings to all the saints’;‘my greetings to every one of the saints in Jesus Christ.’
“Take a look now at Calvary. Jesus has died and there is as yet no sign of His glorious triumph. It is a good time to examine how much we really want to live as Christians, to be holy. Here is our chance to react against our weaknesses with an act of faith.”…St Josemaria Escriva – Christ is Passing By, no. 95
Prayer of Abandonment to God’s Providence
My Lord and my God:
into your hands I abandon the past and the present and the future,
what is small and what is great,
what amounts to a little and what amounts to a lot,
things temporal and things eternal.
Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
Devotion of The Seven Last Words of Christ – The First Word – 26 March – Monday of Holy Week 2018
The Seven Last Words of Christ
The Seven Last Words of Christ refer, not to individual words but to the final seven phrases that Our Lord uttered as He hung on the Cross. These phrases were not recorded in a single Gospel but are taken from the combined accounts of the four Gospels. Greatly revered, these last words of Jesus have been the subject of many books, sermons and musical settings.
For centuries The Seven Last Words have been built into various forms of devotion for the consideration and consolation of the Christian people. English Catholics of the late Middle Ages were especially devoted to this pious exercise and passed it on in latter-day prayer books.
Hear the famous English mystic, Julian of Norwich (1342-1430) :
Suddenly it came into my mind that I ought to wish for the second wound, that our Lord, of His gift and of His grace, would fill my body full with recollection and feeling of His blessed Passion, as I had prayed before, for I wished that His pains might be my pains, with compassion which would lead to longing for God. . . . And at this suddenly I saw the red blood trickling down from under the crown, all hot, flowing freely and copiously, a living stream, just as it seemed to me that it was at the time when the crown of thorns was thrust down upon His blessed head. . . . With this sight of His blessed Passion and with His divinity, I saw that this was strength enough for me, yesand for all living creatures who will be protected from all the devils from hell and from all spiritual enemies.
Holy Week, especially Good Friday, is an ideal time to make use of this devotion for personal prayer: to silently and prayerfully contemplate Jesus’s passion and death, to be united to Him in His suffering and to dwell on the strength and mercy of His love.
The following meditations are from on the writings of St Josemaria Escrivá (1902-1975)
The First Word
“Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34)
Gospel: When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”] They divided his garments by casting lots…Lk 23:33-34
Reflection: “Christ’s generous self-sacrifice is a challenge to sin. We find it hard to accept the reality of sin, although its existence is undeniable. Sin is the mysterium iniquitatis: the mystery of evil, the inexplicable evil of the creature whose pride leads him to rise up against God. The story is as old as mankind. It began with the fall of our first parents; then came the unending depravities which punctuate the behaviour of mankind down the ages; and, finally, our own personal rebellions. It is very difficult to realise just how perverse sin is and to understand what our faith tells us. We should remember that even in the human context the scale of an offence is frequently determined by the importance of the injured party — his social standing, his qualities. But with sin man offends God, the creature repudiates his creator.
“But ‘God is love.’ The abyss of malice which sin opens wide has been bridged by His infinite charity. God did not abandon men. His plans foresaw that the sacrifices of the old law would be insufficient to repair our faults and re-establish the unity which had been lost. A man who was God would have to offer Himself up. To help us grasp in some measure this unfathomable mystery, we might imagine the Blessed Trinity taking counsel together in its uninterrupted intimate relationship of infinite love. As a result of its eternal decision, the only-begotten Son of God the Father takes on our human condition and bears the burden of our wretchedness and sorrows, to end up sewn with nails to a piece of wood.”…St Josemaria Escriva – Christ is Passing By, no. 95
Prayer of Abandonment to God’s Providence
My Lord and my God:
into Your hands I abandon the past and the present and the future,
what is small and what is great,
what amounts to a little and what amounts to a lot,
things temporal and things eternal.
Amen. Our Father. Hail Mary. Glory Be.
Holy Week (Latin: Hebdomas Sancta or Hebdomas Maior, “Greater Week”; Greek: Μεγάλη Ἑβδομάς, Megale Hebdomas) in Christianity is the last week of Lent and the week before Easter. It includes the religious holidays of Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday (Holy Thursday) and Good Friday and lasts from Palm Sunday until but not including, Easter Sunday, as Easter Sunday is the first day of the new season of The Great Fifty Days. It commemorates the last week of the earthly life of Jesus Christ as recorded in the Canonical gospels.
The tragedy of the passion brings to fulfilment our own life and the whole of human history. We can’t let Holy Week be just a kind of commemoration. It means contemplating the mystery of Jesus Christ as something which continues to work in our souls. The Christian is obliged to be altered – Christus, ipse Christus: another Christ, Christ Himself.
Everything we do
Through baptism all of us have been made priests of our lives, “to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Everything we do can be an expression of our obedience to God’s will and so perpetuate the mission of the Godman.
Once we realise this, we are immediately reminded of our wretchedness and our personal failings. But they should not dishearten us; we should not become pessimistic and put our ideals aside. Our Lord is calling us, in our present state, to share his life and make an effort to be holy. I know holiness can sound like an empty word. Too many people think it is unattainable, something to do with ascetical theology — but not a real goal for them, a living reality. The first Christians didn’t think that way. They often used the word “saints” to describe each other in a very natural manner: “greetings to all the saints”; “my greetings to every one of the saints in Jesus Christ.”
A chance
Take a look now at Calvary. Jesus has died and there is as yet no sign of His glorious triumph. It is a good time to examine how much we really want to live as Christians, to be holy. Here is our chance to react against our weaknesses with an act of faith. We can trust in God and resolve to put love into the things we do each day. The experience of sin should lead us to sorrow. We should make a more mature and deeper decision to be faithful and truly identify ourselves with Christ, persevering, no matter what it costs, in the priestly mission that He has given every single one of His disciples. That mission should spur us on to be the salt and light of the world….Christ is Passing By, 96
Symbol of the Redemption
Let us not forget that in all human activities there must be men and women who, in their lives and work, raise Christ’s Cross aloft for all to see, as an act of reparation. It is a symbol of peace and of joy, a symbol of the Redemption and of the unity of the human race. It is a symbol of the love that the Most Holy Trinity, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit had, and continues to have, for mankind….Furrow, 985
Thinking about Christ’s death
So, in thinking about Christ’s death, we find ourselves invited to take a good hard look at our everyday activities and to be serious about the faith we profess. Holy Week cannot be a kind of “religious interlude”; time taken out from a life which is completely caught up in human affairs. It must be an opportunity to understand more profoundly the love of God, so that we’ll be able to show that love to other people through what we do and say. …
That’s the key. Jesus says we must also hate our life, our very soul — that is what our Lord is asking of us. If we are superficial, if the only thing we care about is our own personal well-being, if we try to make other people and even the world, revolve around our own little self, we have no right to call ourselves Christians or think we are disciples of Christ. We have to give ourselves really, not just in word but in deed and truth. Love for God invites us to take up the cross and feel on our own shoulders the weight of humanity. It leads us to fulfil the clear and loving plans of the Father’s will in all the circumstances of our work and life. In the passage we’ve just read Jesus goes on to say: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.” (Luke 14:27)
Let us accept God’s will and be firmly resolved to build all our life in accordance with what our faith teaches and demands. We can be sure this involves struggle and suffering and pain but if we really keep faith we will never feel we have lost God’s favour. In the midst of sorrow and even calumny, we will experience a happiness which moves us to love others, to help them share in our supernatural joy….Christ is Passing By, 97
“Conversion is the task of a moment; sanctification is the work of a lifetime. To begin is for everyone, to persevere is for saints!”
Quote of the Day – 26 March 2018 – Monday of Holy week
“In the passion of our blessed Saviour, six things chiefly are to be meditated upon.
First, the bitterness of His sorrow, that we may compassionate with Him.
Secondly, the greatness of our sins, which were the cause of His torments, that we may abhor them.
Thirdly, the greatness of the benefit, that we may be grateful for it.
Fourthly, the excellency of the divine charity and bounty therein manifested, that we may love Him more fervently.
Fifthly, the convenience of the mystery, that we may be drawn to admiration of it.
Lastly, the multiplicity of virtues of our blessed Saviour which did shine in this stupendous mystery, that we may partly imitate and partly admire them.”
One Minute Reflection – 26 March 2018 – Monday of Holy week and the Memorial of St Braulio (590-651)
Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment…John 12:3
REFLECTION – “O souls! Seek a refuge, like pure doves, in the shadow of the crucifix. There, mourn the Passion of your divine Spouse and drawing from your hearts flames of love and rivers of tears, make of them a precious balm with which to anoint the wounds of your Saviour.”…St Paul of the Cross (1694-1775)
PRAYER – Almighty God, grant that we who are constantly betrayed by our own weakness, may draw the breath of new life from the passion and death of Your only-begotten Son. St Braulio, you who worked so zealously to assist those in weakness, both in body and soul, please pray for us too. Through our Lord and Saviour, who suffered and died for us, in unity with the Holy Spirit, one God forever, amen.
One Minute Reflection – 23 March – Friday of the 5th Week of Lent 2018 and the Memorial of St Turibius of Mogrovejo (1538-1606) – Today’s Gospel John 10:31-42
The Jews took up stones again to stone him...John 10:31
REFLECTION – “If all goes well with you on earth, how can you expect to be crowned in heaven for a patience you never practised? How can you be Christ’s friend if you will not be opposed? Therefore, you must suffer with Christ and for Christ, if you want to reign with Him.”…Thomas à Kempis (1380-1471) The Imitation of Christ, Book 2
PRAYER – Lord, through the pastoral care, suffering and zeal of St Turibius, You built up Your Church in Peru. Grant that the people of God may continually grow in faith and holiness. Accept his prayers on our behalf, that we may always be willing to stand at Your Cross. Through our Lord, Jesus Christ, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever amen.
Lenten Reflection – 17 March 2018 – Saturday of the 4th Week of Lent
Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalms 7:2-3, 9-12, John 7:40-53
Jeremiah 11:18 – “The Lord made it known to me and I knew; then thou didst show me their evil deeds.”
John 7:50-53 – Nicodemus, who had gone to him before and who was one of them, said to them, “Does our law judge a man without first giving him a hearing and learning what he does?” They replied, “Are you from Galilee too? Search and you will see that no prophet is to rise from Galilee.” They went each to his own house…”
Tomorrow we shall enter Passiontide and the long shadow of the Cross is now cast over our Lenten journey. In today’s first reading, the first of Jeremiah’s ‘confessions’, he is coping with the shocking fact that people are trying to murder him. And how does he cope? In the way that we all must, by turning back to God.
In the Gospel, we hear the sinister note of the forces who are moving towards the destruction of Jesus. It starts (as so often in the fourth Gospel) with divisions among “the crowd”. There are three positions that they variously adopt – i) that Jesus is the prophet; ii) that He is the Messiah; iii) that Jesus is none of the above, because Messiah’s don’t come from Galilee.
The next division is between the servants who had been sent to arrest Jesus and the authorities who had sent them. The servants fail to bring him back because ‘no human being ever spoke like this’ – the Pharisees respond with a bullying argument argument ‘The crowd don’t know the law and they’re accursed.’
The final division is between Nicodemus, battling bravely against the tide and his peers. He wants due process of law whilst they simply re-assert their slogan ‘prophets don’t come from Galilee’.
Significantly, the division remains and no unity is produced amongst the dissidents but ‘they each went to their own home’. And yet, Jesus’ death is now visible on the horizon, less than two weeks away!…(Fr Nicholas King S.J. – The Lenten Journey to Easter)
Have I ever been the cause of division and arguments, perhaps unfairly? What ideologies might I cling to that blind me from seeing the true and bigger picture? Have I the strength to battle against the tide of evil?
“Great thing is the knowledge of the crucified Christ. How many things are enclosed inside this treasure! Christ crucified! Such is the hidden treasure of wisdom and science. Do not be deceived, then, under the pretext of wisdom. Gather before the covering and pray that it may be uncovered. Foolish philosopher of this world, what you are looking for is worthless… What is the advantage of being thirsty, if you despise the source? … And what is His precept but that we believe in Him and love each other? In whom? In Christ crucified. This is His commandment: that we believe in Christ crucified … But where humility is, there is also majesty, where weakness is, there shall one find power, where death is, there shall be life as well. If you wish to arrive at the second part, do not despise the first “(Sermon 160, 3-4) St Augustine
Our Lord’s Passion St Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153) 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 night.
Our Morning Offering – 14 March 2018 – Wednesday of the 4th Week of Lent
Prayer in Honour of the Holy Cross from the Seven Penitential Psalms Devotion
Lord Jesus Christ,
glorious Creator of the World,
splendour of the Father’s glory,
co-eternal with Him and the Holy Spirit,
Who deigned to take flesh of the spotless Virgin
and permitted Your glorious hands to be
fixed to the gibbet of the Cross,
that You might overthrow the gates of hell
and free the human race
from everlasting death,
look down frpm heaven
and have mercy on me,
a wretch borne down by the weight of sin
and polluted by the stains of my many misdeeds,
in Your mercy, do not forsake me,
most loving Jesus
but forgive that which I have sinned.
Hear me, prostrate before Your most
glorious Cross,
that I may stand before You,
pure and pleasing in Your sight,
Who reigns with the Father,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
Thought for the Day – 28 February 2018 – Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent
“The cup that Jesus speaks about is neither a symbol of death nor a symbol of victory.
It is a symbol of life, filled with sorrows and joys, that we can hold, lift and drink
as a blessing and a way to salvation. “Can you drink the cup that I am going to drink?”,
Jesus asks us. It is a question that will have a different meaning every day of our lives.
Can we embrace fully the sorrows and joys that come to us day after day?
Drinking the cup that Jesus drank is living a life in and with the spirit of Jesus, which is
the spirit of unconditional love. The intimacy between Jesus and His Father is an
intimacy of complete trust….it is only love – pure, unrestrained and ultimate love.
That intimacy gave Jesus the strength to drink the cup.
That same intimacy Jesus wants to give us so that we can drink ours!”
Fr Henri Nouwen (1932-1996) (Can you drink the Cup)
AnaStpaul 
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