Behold I stand at the door and knock

Theme: Entering into Jesus' suffering and death
Grace: To be one with Him through the Mass
Reading: Luke 23:26-38

"When it is a question of the first conversion, from incredulity to faith, or from sin to grace, Christ is outside and knocks on the walls of the heart to come in; when it is a question of successive conversions, from a state of grace to a higher state, from lukewarmness to fervor, the opposite happens: Christ is within and knocks on the walls of the heart to go out!

In baptism we received the Spirit of Christ; it remains in us as in His temple, as long as it is not chased away by mortal sin. But it can happen that this Spirit ends up being imprisoned and walled up by the heart of stone that is formed around it. It does not have the possibility to expand and permeate the faculties, actions and feelings of the person.

Christ is not imprisoned in an armor-plate but, so to speak, in guarded liberty. He is free to move but within very precise limits. This happens when He is made to tacitly understand what He can and cannot ask us. Prayer yes, but not if it compromises sleep, rest; obedience yes, but only if it does not abuse our willingness; chastity yes, but not to the point of depriving us of some relaxing entertainment, even if daring; in sum, the use of half measures.

It was contemplation of the Christ of the Passion that gave St. Theresa the decisive push that made her the saint and mystic we know."
--(from Fr. Cantalamessa in his third Lenten sermon)