Meditating on the Passion

"We will not be able to share in Our Lord's Resurrection unless we unite ourselves with him in his Passion and death (cf Rom 8:17).  If we are to accompany Christ in his glory at the end of Holy Week, we must first enter into his holocaust and be truly united to him as he lies dead on Calvary.  So during these days let us accompany Jesus, in our prayers, along his painful way to Calvary and his death on the cross.  As we keep him company let us not forget that we too were protagonists in all those horrors, for Jesus bore the burden of our sins, each and every one of them.  We were freed from the hands of the devil and from eternal death at a great price, that of the Blood of Christ."  -- from In Conversation with God, vol. 2, p. 229.

The Force of Habit

"We must consider the force of habit.  Conscience first warns us against sin;  but if we disregard it, it soon ceases to upbraid us; and thus sins, once known, in time become secret sins.  It seems then (and it is a startling reflection), that the more guilty we are, the less we know it; for the oftener we sin, the less we are distressed by it..Such is the force of habit...take..the duty of stated private prayer; at first it is omitted with compunction, but soon with indifference.  But it is not the less a sin because we do not feel it to be such.  Habit has made it a secret sin.

To think of these things, and to be alarmed, is the first step towards acceptable obedience; to be at ease, is to be unsafe.  We must know what the evil of sin is hereafter if we do not learn it here.  God give us all grace to choose the pain of present repentance before the wrath to come!"  --Blessed John Henry Newman, in Magnificat, p.389-390.

Ecce, Fiat

"O Mary, my sweet love, you opened to the eternal Divinity the door of your will, and the Word immediately became incarnate within you.  By this you teach me that God, who created me without my help, will not save me without it...but knocks at the door of my will and waits for me to open it to Him"  (St. Catherine of Siena).  Divine Intimacy, p. 1136.

Take Sides

Thoughts from Fr. Apostoli, CFR, at St. John the Apostle Church this morning:

Simeon was a holy man who longed to see the Messiah.  When he saw Jesus, he prophesied that He would be a sign of contradiction.  Jesus would cause division because some would reject Him and some would accept Him.  But why would some not accept Him?  Three reasons:
       1.  Some don't understand, they are confused
       2.  Some understand but don't want to to obey, they want to choose which parts to accept, therefore they refuse to accept Him.
       3.  Some are hostile and react with violence to destroy Him because they don't want to be reminded of what they don't want to be true.

We have to accept Jesus with all our hearts.  We must proclaim Him.  We must take sides.  Every one who speaks the truth is a voice that dispels some of the darkness.  We need to have courage.  Pay attention to the message of Fatima.  It is through Our Lady that we will win this struggle.

Accepting God's Will

"There is not a single moment when God is not communicating himself to us...

"As long as we want to decide for ourselves where we will find God, we need not fear that we shall meet him!  We will meet only ourselves, a touched-up version of ourselves.  Genuine spirituality begins when we are prepared to die.  Could there be a quicker way to die than to let God form our lives from moment to moment and continually consent to his action?" --taken from Into Your Hands, Father, by Wilfrid Stinissen, pp. 23-34.

Comfort

As a mother comforts her son, so will I comfort; in Jerusalem you shall find your comfort. (Is 66:13)

The three great works of Lent - fasting, almsgiving, and prayer - should free us to live the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ in full as we celebrate it in full in the liturgy. In his cross is our comfort.

Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her service is at an end, her guilt is expiated; Indeed, she has received from the hand of the Lord double for all her sins. (Is 40:1-2)   

I will never forget you, says the Lord. (Is 49:15) 
                                                                              Magnificat pps 305 & 306

I will heal you

"We wait by the waters of Christ's open side from which a river flows that gives life to every living creature." (Magnificat, p. 296)

"The Angel brought me, Ezekiel, back to the entrance of the temple of the Lord, and I saw water flowing out from beneath the threshold of the temple...Wherever the river flows, every sort of living creature that can multiply shall live... for wherever this water comes the sea shall be made fresh.  Along both banks of the river, fruit trees of every kind shall grow..for they shall be watered by the flow from the sanctuary.  Their fruit shall serve for food, and their leaves for medicine."  (parts of Ezekiel 47: 1-12)

"I have heard your prayer and seen your tears.  I will heal you."  (2Kgs 20:5)  "The Lord gathers up the tears of humanity and transforms them into the waters of life by the alchemy of the cross, where suffering and death are changed into joy and life by the self-gift of love."  (from Magnificat, p. 301)

What is it that keeps you (and me) on the banks of the river? What keeps us from abandoning ourselves to the life-giving flow of that living water?  The Lord invites us to trust Him; to throw ourselves into the river flowing from His side.  In a mysterious way, it is an invitation to join in His sufferings and His love for the healing of the nations.