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The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Amen. |
Posted on 04/13/2014 9:14:55 PM PDT by Salvation
April 14, 2014
Reading 1 Is 42:1-7
Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching.
Thus says God, the LORD,
who created the heavens and stretched them out,
who spreads out the earth with its crops,
Who gives breath to its people
and spirit to those who walk on it:
I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice,
I have grasped you by the hand;
I formed you, and set you
as a covenant of the people,
a light for the nations,
To open the eyes of the blind,
to bring out prisoners from confinement,
and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness.
Responsorial Psalm Ps 27:1, 2, 3, 13-14
R. (1a) The Lord is my light and my salvation.
The LORD is my light and my salvation;
whom should I fear?
The LORD is my life’s refuge;
of whom should I be afraid?
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
When evildoers come at me
to devour my flesh,
My foes and my enemies
themselves stumble and fall.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Though an army encamp against me,
my heart will not fear;
Though war be waged upon me,
even then will I trust.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
I believe that I shall see the bounty of the LORD
in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD with courage;
be stouthearted, and wait for the LORD.
R. The Lord is my light and my salvation.
Gospel Jn 12:1-11
Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany,
where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served,
while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him.
Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil
made from genuine aromatic nard
and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair;
the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.
Then Judas the Iscariot, one of his disciples,
and the one who would betray him, said,
“Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days’ wages
and given to the poor?”
He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.
So Jesus said, “Leave her alone.
Let her keep this for the day of my burial.
You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
The large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came,
not only because of him, but also to see Lazarus,
whom he had raised from the dead.
And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away
and believing in Jesus because of him.
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The Angel of the Lord declared to Mary:
Behold the handmaid of the Lord: Be it done unto me according to Thy word.
And the Word was made Flesh: And dwelt among us.
Amen. |
Feast Day: April 14
Blessed Lidwina
Feast Day: April 14
Born: 1380 :: Died: 1433
Lidwina was born at Schiedam in Holland. The name Lidwina means "suffering." Her parents were poor folk. Lidwina was quite young, when a deep affection for Our Lady of Schiedam began to grow in her heart. When she was fifteen, Lidwina gave herself completely to God.
She may have become a nun later, but when she was sixteen, in a single afternoon, her whole life changed. Lidwina went skating with her friends and one of them accidentally bumped her. Lidwina fell down hard on the ice and broke a rib. She was in great pain.
But that fall brought other problems, too. In the days ahead, she had very bad headaches, nausea, fever, thirst and her whole body hurt badly.
Crying, Lidwina told her father she could not bear the pain anymore. But the pain got even worse. Sores began to form on her face and body. She also became blind in one eye. Finally, she got paralyzed and could no longer leave her bed.
Lidwina was upset and bitter. Why had God let this happen to her? What did he want from her? And what could she still give to him anyway?
Her parish priest, Father John, came to visit and pray with her. He helped her think of what Jesus had suffered. She began to realize the beautiful gift that she would give to Jesus: she would suffer for him. She would offer her sufferings to console him, who had suffered so much on the cross. Her suffering became a beautiful prayer to God.
For thirty-eight years, Lidwina suffered. It seemed impossible that she could remain alive in such serious condition. But she did. God comforted her in many ways. Lidwina was good to everyone who came to her poor little room. She prayed to God and suffered for their special intentions. They knew God would listen to Lidwina.
Lidwina's special love was for Jesus in the Holy Eucharist. For many years, she seemed to live only on Holy Communion. She saw visions of Heaven and Purgatory and Christ’s Passion. She was also visited by saints.
Miracles took place at her bedside and some people said she was possessed by evil spirits. She became completely blind for the last seven years of her life. She had a beautiful final vision of Jesus giving her Holy Communion shortly before she died.
Reflection: Let us pray today for a heart that is able to give thanks to God when suffering comes our way.
Catholic
Almanac:
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Thursday, April 14 |
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Liturgical Color: Violet |
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Who celebrates the liturgy?
In all earthly liturgies, Christ the Lord himself is the one who celebrates the cosmic liturgy, which encompasses angels and men, the living and the dead, the past, present, and future, heaven and earth. Priests and believers participate in different ways in Christ's divine worship.
When we celebrate the liturgy, we must prepare ourselves interiorly for the great thing that takes place in it: here and now Christ is present and, with him, all of heaven. There everyone is filled with unspeakable joy and at the same time with loving care for us. The last book of Sacred Scripture, Revelation, portrays in mysterious images this liturgy to which we here on earth join our voices. (YOUCAT question 179)
Dig Deeper: CCC section (1136-1139) and other references here.
Part 2: The Celebration of the Christian Mystery (1066 - 1690)
Section 1: The Sacramental Economy (1076 - 1209)
Chapter 2: The Sacramental Celebration of the Paschal Mystery (1135 - 1209)
Article 1: Celebrating the Church's Liturgy (1136 - 1199)
I. WHO CELEBRATES? ⇡
Liturgy is an "action" of the whole Christ (Christus totus). Those who even now celebrate it without signs are already in the heavenly liturgy, where celebration is wholly communion and feast
The celebrants of the heavenly liturgy ⇡
The book of Revelation of St. John, read in the Church's liturgy, first reveals to us, "A throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne": "the Lord God."1 It then shows the Lamb, "standing, as though it had been slain": Christ crucified and risen, the one high priest of the true sanctuary, the same one "who offers and is offered, who gives and is given."2 Finally it presents "the river of the water of life ... flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb," one of most beautiful symbols of the Holy Spirit.3
1.
Rev 4:2, 8; Isa 6:1; cf. Ezek 1:26-28.
2.
Rev 5:6; Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom, Anaphora; cf. Jn 1:29; Heb 4:14-15; 10:19-20.
3.
Rev 22:1; cf. 21:6; Jn 4:10-14.
"Recapitulated in Christ," these are the ones who take part in the service of the praise of God and the fulfillment of his plan: the heavenly powers, all creation (the four living beings), the servants of the Old and New Covenants (the twenty-four elders), the new People of God (the one hundred and forty-four thousand),4 especially the martyrs "slain for the word of God," and the all-holy Mother of God (the Woman), the Bride of the Lamb,5 and finally "a great multitude which no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes, and peoples and tongues."6
4.
Cf. Rev 4-5; 7:1-8; 14:1; Isa 6:2-3.
5.
6.
It is in this eternal liturgy that the Spirit and the Church enable us to participate whenever we celebrate the mystery of salvation in the sacraments.
Daily Readings for:April 14, 2014
(Readings on USCCB website)
Collect: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, though in our weakness we fail, we may be revived through the Passion of your Only Begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
RECIPES
ACTIVITIES
o Holy Week in the Catholic Tradition
o Housecleaning for Holy Week I
o Housecleaning for Holy Week II
o Lent Hymn: Open, O Hard and Sinful Heart!
o Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week in the Home
o Music for Lent and Easter: St. Matthew Passion by Bach
o The Passover Meal: 1. Introduction
PRAYERS
o Prayer for Monday of Holy Week
o Prayer for Palm Sunday and Holy Week
o Family Evening Prayer for Holy Week
· Lent: April 14th
· Monday of Holy Week
Old Calendar: Monday of Holy Week
"Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have endowed him with my spirit that he may bring true justice to the nations. He does not cry out or shout aloud, or make his voice heard in the streets. He does not break the crushed reed, nor quench the wavering flame (Is 42:1-2)."
Meditation - Mary and Judas
Today the liturgy presents two noteworthy characters who play dissimilar roles in the Lord's passion. One fills us with solace and comfort; the other with uneasiness and wholesome fear. Their juxtaposition produces a powerful effect by way of contrast. The two characters are Mary of Bethany and Judas.
Jesus is in the house of Lazarus, at dinner. Mary approaches, anoints the feet of her Savior for His burial and dries them with her hair. Judas resents her action and resolves upon his evil course. These two persons typify man's relation to Christ. He gives His Body to two types of individuals: to Magdalenes to be anointed, to Judases to be kissed; to good persons who repay Him with love and service, to foes who crucify Him. How movingly this is expressed in the Lesson: "I gave My body to those who beat Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked them. I did not turn away My face from those who cursed and spit upon Me."
The same must hold true of His mystical Body. Down through the ages Christ is enduring an endless round of suffering, giving His body to other Marys for anointing and to other Judases to be kissed, beaten, and mistreated. Augustine explains how we can anoint Christ's body:
Anoint Jesus' feet by a life pleasing to God. Follow in His footsteps; if you have an abundance, give it to the poor. In this way you can wipe the feet of the Lord.
The poor are, as it were, the feet of the mystical Christ. By aiding them we can comfort our Lord in His mystical life, where He receives Judas' kisses on all sides-the sins of Christians.
The Gospel account may be understood in a very personal way. In everyone's heart, in my own too, there dwell two souls: a Judas-soul and a Mary-soul. The former is the cause of Jesus' suffering, it is always ready to apostatize, always ready to give the traitor's kiss. Are you full master over this Judas-soul within you? Your Magdalen-soul is a source of comfort to Christ in His sufferings. May the holy season of Lent, which with God's help we are about to bring to a successful conclusion, bring victory over the Judas-soul and strengthen the Magdalen-soul within our breasts.
Excerpted from The Church's Year of Grace, Pius Parsch
The Station today is at the church of St. Praxedes which was built over St. Praxedes' house. It was one of the twenty-five original parishes in Rome. It is easily one of the most beautiful churches in the Eternal City and is bedecked with incredibly beautiful mosaics. The present church is the one built by Pope Adrian I c. 780, completed and altered by Pope St. Paschal I c. 822. It was enlarged at that time mainly to serve as a repository for relics from the catacombs.
Monday of Holy Week
He shall bring forth justice to the nations. (Isaiah 42:1)
Here we are at the beginning of Holy Week, a time when we focus our attention on Jesus’ suffering and death. Now, it’s entirely possible for us to relate to these events simply as onlookers, but we know that we are more than that. Each of us is personally involved in the events of this week since everything Jesus suffered was for our sake.
Today’s first reading is one of the four Songs of the Suffering Servant that appear in the Book of Isaiah. While the servant’s identity is somewhat mysterious, Christians from the very first generation have seen in him a foreshadowing of Jesus, the Messiah. The mission, even the very character, of this servant can give us so many insights into who Jesus is and why he suffered and died for us.
Key to the servant’s mission is the call to bring justice to the world. Of course, we can imagine this kind of justice as focusing on revenge, anger, and violence—a kind of vigilante justice. But that’s not the justice of God. His justice combines tenacity and strength with gentleness and compassion. It’s focused on caring for the weakest and hurting among us. He is concerned not so much with holding each of us to account for every fault as he is with restoring to all of creation what was lost through sin. So in God’s justice, we are the prisoners who are set free; we are the blind whose eyes are opened; we are the poor hearing the good news. All because the Lord has freed us from the bonds of sin.
So take your place in the drama this Holy Week. You’re not an onlooker; you’re a participant. Jesus is about to take your sin upon him and restore you to your place as a beloved child of the Father. Take the words of this servant with you this week. Rejoice that your Savior is gentle and full of care. His eyes are fixed on the “bruised reeds” and “smoldering wicks” in your life. He is mighty to save—to save you!
May the Lord make his salvation the central story not just of Holy Week but of our whole life!
“Lord, thank you for the salvation that you have won for me through your death and resurrection.”
Psalm 27:1-3, 13-14; John 12:1-11
Daily Marriage Tip for April 14, 2014:
If you want someone to change, encouragement is more effective than criticism. Look for one thing about your spouse or child’s behavior that you can compliment today. Although easier with pre-schoolers, perhaps sending an older child an e-mail or text would work. Kiss your spouse.
| John | |||
| English: Douay-Rheims | Latin: Vulgata Clementina | Greek NT: Byzantine/Majority Text (2000) | |
| John 12 |
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| 1. | JESUS therefore, six days before the pasch, came to Bethania, where Lazarus had been dead, whom Jesus raised to life. | Jesus ergo ante sex dies Paschæ venit Bethaniam, ubi Lazarus fuerat mortuus, quem suscitavit Jesus. | ο ουν ιησους προ εξ ημερων του πασχα ηλθεν εις βηθανιαν οπου ην λαζαρος ο τεθνηκως ον ηγειρεν εκ νεκρων |
| 2. | And they made him a supper there: and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that were at table with him. | Fecerunt autem ei cœnam ibi, et Martha ministrabat, Lazarus vero unus erat ex discumbentibus cum eo. | εποιησαν ουν αυτω δειπνον εκει και η μαρθα διηκονει ο δε λαζαρος εις ην των ανακειμενων συν αυτω |
| 3. | Mary therefore took a pound of ointment of right spikenard, of great price, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. | Maria ergo accepit libram unguenti nardi pistici pretiosi, et unxit pedes Jesu, et extersit pedes ejus capillis suis : et domus impleta est ex odore unguenti. | η ουν μαρια λαβουσα λιτραν μυρου ναρδου πιστικης πολυτιμου ηλειψεν τους ποδας του ιησου και εξεμαξεν ταις θριξιν αυτης τους ποδας αυτου η δε οικια επληρωθη εκ της οσμης του μυρου |
| 4. | Then one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, he that was about to betray him, said: | Dixit ergo unus ex discipulis ejus, Judas Iscariotes, qui erat eum traditurus : | λεγει ουν εις εκ των μαθητων αυτου ιουδας σιμωνος ισκαριωτης ο μελλων αυτον παραδιδοναι |
| 5. | Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor? | Quare hoc unguentum non veniit trecentis denariis, et datum est egenis ? | δια τι τουτο το μυρον ουκ επραθη τριακοσιων δηναριων και εδοθη πτωχοις |
| 6. | Now he said this, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and having the purse, carried the things that were put therein. | Dixit autem hoc, non quia de egenis pertinebat ad eum, sed quia fur erat, et loculos habens, ea quæ mittebantur, portabat. | ειπεν δε τουτο ουχ οτι περι των πτωχων εμελεν αυτω αλλ οτι κλεπτης ην και το γλωσσοκομον ειχεν και τα βαλλομενα εβασταζεν |
| 7. | Jesus therefore said: Let her alone, that she may keep it against the day of my burial. | Dixit ergo Jesus : Sinite illam ut in diem sepulturæ meæ servet illud. | ειπεν ουν ο ιησους αφες αυτην εις την ημεραν του ενταφιασμου μου τετηρηκεν αυτο |
| 8. | For the poor you have always with you; but me you have not always. | Pauperes enim semper habetis vobiscum : me autem non semper habetis. | τους πτωχους γαρ παντοτε εχετε μεθ εαυτων εμε δε ου παντοτε εχετε |
| 9. | A great multitude therefore of the Jews knew that he was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake only, but that they might see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. | Cognovit ergo turba multa ex Judæis quia illic est, et venerunt, non propter Jesum tantum, sed ut Lazarum viderent, quem suscitavit a mortuis. | εγνω ουν οχλος πολυς εκ των ιουδαιων οτι εκει εστιν και ηλθον ου δια τον ιησουν μονον αλλ ινα και τον λαζαρον ιδωσιν ον ηγειρεν εκ νεκρων |
| 10. | But the chief priests thought to kill Lazarus also: | Cogitaverunt autem principes sacerdotum ut et Lazarum interficerent : | εβουλευσαντο δε οι αρχιερεις ινα και τον λαζαρον αποκτεινωσιν |
| 11. | Because many of the Jews, by reason of him, went away, and believed in Jesus. | quia multi propter illum abibant ex Judæis, et credebant in Jesum. | οτι πολλοι δι αυτον υπηγον των ιουδαιων και επιστευον εις τον ιησουν |
Grant Us Breathing Space
Monday, 14 April 2014 08:43
Monday of Holy Week
Today’s Collect is, without any doubt, one of the most poignant of the whole liturgical year. Here it is in the original Latin, and in two different English translations:
Da, quaesumus, omnipotens Deus, ut, qui ex nostra infirmitate deficimus, intercedente unigeniti Filii tui passione, respiremus. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti, Deus, per omnia saecula saeculorum.
The Marquess of Bute renders it thus:
O Almighty God,Which knowest that we be in such straits that we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves, we pray Thee mercifully to relieve us for whom continually pleadeth the Suffering of Thine Only-Begotten Son. Who liveth and reigneth with Thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.
Monsignor Knox gives this:
Fainting, thou seest us, Almighty God; so many perils about us, and we so frail! Let but the Passion of thy only-begotten Son come between, to grant us breathing space: who with thee in the bond of the Holy Spirit liveth and reigneth and is God, world without end.
I will go before you
Monday, 14 April 2014 08:50
There You Shall See Me
The bright eighth mode intervals of last evening’s Magnificat Antiphon still echo in our hearts: “It is therefore written: I will strike the shepherd and the sheep of the flock shall be dispersed; but after I shall be risen, I will go before you into Galilee. There you shall see me, says Lord.” Over the words, postquam autem resurrexero — “but after I shall be risen” the melody leaped upward in an uncontainable burst of paschal triumph, ringing out an irrepressible joy.
No One Will Take Your Joy From You
Yesterday, we were in Jerusalem, the holy city of the sufferings of Christ, but the Magnificat antiphon at Second Vespers already promised us a reunion with the risen Lord in Galilee. “There you shall see me.” Through the text and melody of the antiphon one hears that other promise of the Lord in Saint John’s gospel: “So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22).
Dicit Dominus
The cadence over the words, dicit Dominus — “says the Lord,” is strong and full of hope, leaving us utterly certain of the outcome of this Great Week’s bitter agony and sufferings. “This is our comfort,” writes Dame Aemiliana Löhr, “we shall see him again. First Judea and Jerusalem, judgment, death, the tomb. Then Galilee, life and sight. . . . Life hangs on the issue of death; whoever goes with the Lord to die, goes with him to live and rule; whoever dares to go the way to Jerusalem will not miss the way to Galilee.”
Struggles
It is necessary that we hold fast to the promise given us last evening: “There you shall see me, says the Lord.” This is necessary not only in the sacred drama of the liturgy but in all of life’s struggles to the death: the struggles with weakness, temptation, and sin; the struggles against fear, and selfishness, and despair. It is in our lives that “Death and Life contend in the combat stupendous”; it is in our lives that “the Prince of Life, who died, reigns alive” (Sequence, Victimae paschali laudes). “For we are not contending against flesh and blood,” says Saint Paul, “but against the principalities, against the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12).
Introit
Our own experience of struggle and of wrestling with evil allows us to enter into the prayer of Christ given us in the Propers of today’s Mass, not as spectators looking on from the sidelines, but as participants. Today’s Introit is taken from Psalm 34, a passionate appeal for vindication. “Judge, O Lord, those that wrong me, fight against those that fight against me: take hold of arms and shield, and arise to help me, O Lord, the strength of my salvation” (Psalm 34:1-2). This is the prayer of the suffering Christ to the Father; because it is his prayer, it is ours. “In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear” (Hebrews 5:7). It is precisely this prayer of Christ, his costly, agonizing prayer “out of the depths” (Psalm 129:1), that is given us in the psalms.
Prayer of the Suffering Christ
By giving us the prayer of the suffering Christ in the psalms, the Church offers us a holy communion with him. The substance of the prayer of Christ is given us under the humble species of human language in the words of the psalms. The psalms of the suffering Christ are for us a holy communion with his Passion, a way of entering deeply into the sentiments and sorrows of his heart, a way of allowing ourselves to be inhabited by the power of his prayer to the Father.
Communion Antiphon
The Communion Antiphon, like the Introit, is taken from Psalm 34: “Let them be shamed and brought to disgrace those who rejoice at my misfortune: let them be put to shame and fear, those who speak wicked things against me” (Psalm 34:26). This is the prayer of a man brought low, of a man caught in the grip of a mortal terror; it is the prayer of the suffering Christ — of the whole suffering Christ. Paul entered into this prayer: “We do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of the affliction we experienced in Asia; for we were so utterly, unbearably crushed that we despaired of life itself” (2 Corinthians 1:7). The Head who suffered once, suffers still in his members. The prayer made once by the Head becomes each day the prayer of the members “afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested” (2 Corinthians 4:8-11).
His Mystery in Us
The Word of God gives us the filial and priestly prayer of our Lord Jesus Christ. We, by ingesting the words of the psalms, allow Christ’s prayer to indwell us as it indwells the whole Church who breathes it forth again and again in the power of the Holy Ghost. The adorable Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood gives us the whole mystery of Christ’s blessed Passion and glorious Resurrection; it gives us Christ himself. He comes to live out his once-and-for-all Mystery again and again in us, uniting us in one Spirit to himself. Let us receive both the Word of God and the Most Holy Sacrament today confident of the glorious outcome of every bitter struggle with sin and death. We shall see Him again in Galilee, even as he promised.
Only those wounded by Me
Monday, 14 April 2014 09:27
I who am here before you,
I am the Word.
No book, however beautifully written,
can speak to your heart as do I,
for I am Eternal Wisdom,
and Infinite Love,
and Uncreated Beauty
in dialogue with your soul.
My words are not like the words of men,
My words surpass even the words of My saints,
though I often speak through them
and continue to touch souls through their writings.
My words are like arrows of fire shot into the heart
and wounding it
so as to inflame it,
and heal it with Divine Love.
Make yourself vulnerable to My words.
Allow Me to speak to you in such a way as to wound you
with the piercing of Divine Love.
When you come before Me and wait upon Me in silence,
you are, in effect, waiting upon Me and allowing Me,
when I choose and in the way I choose,
to wound you with an interior word
and to set you on fire with a communication of Divine Love.
Expect Me, then, to speak to you,
to console you, and to enlighten you,
but also to wound you.
Unless I wound you in this way,
you will be incapable of withstanding the attacks of the enemy
and of bearing witness to Me in the midst of darkness and tribulation.
In the spiritual battle that is coming,
only those wounded by Me will emerge victorious.
This is why I call all My priests to seek and to accept the healing wounds of My Love. Those who keep watch before My Eucharistic Face
will be among the first to be so wounded.
I have called you to adoration because I desire to wound you not once,
but again and again, until your whole being is wounded
and so, purified and set ablaze with the fire of My Love.
Were that your soul were wounded
as many times as I was wounded in My Body for love of you
in the combat of My most bitter Passion.
Allow Me, then, to pierce you through and through
until, wounded by Divine Love,
you are wholly sanctified and made fit for My purposes and designs.
This I desire not only for you, but also for all My priests.
I would wound each one again and again with My burning love
so as to purify the whole priestly order in My beloved Church,
and present it to the eyes of the world as a victimal priesthood
made holy in the holocaust of Divine Love.
Until My bishops and My priests allow Me to wound them
with the fiery arrows of My Divine Love,
their own wounds — wounds of sin — will continue to fester
and to spread a filthy infection of corruption and of impurity in the Church.
Let each one beg Me to wound him,
for in wounding My beloved priests,
I will heal them, and in healing them,
I will sanctify them, and in sanctifying them,
I will offer glory to My Father
and fill the world with the radiance of My own Face
and the love of My own Heart.
This is, in truth who you are:
a sinner held fast in the embrace of My Divine Friendship.
When I withdraw this grace of conversation with Me for a time,
it is so that you will not mistake it for the product of your own imaginings,
and also, so that you will not grow accustomed to My words
and so, little by little, fail to take them to heart and to treasure them.
I speak to you so that you might share My words
when the occasion arises to do so.
Share My words humbly, with no thought for yourself.
Remain hidden in Me:
I will hide you from the observations of men in the secret of My Face,
I will prepare for you a secret place deep within the sanctuary of My pierced side.
There you can go to remain hidden and silent,
sharing My words freely and without the fear of being noticed or praised.
Ask Me to hide you in My wounds.
There is a place for you in each of My five wounds;
each of them represents a refuge against the temptations that threaten you,
and the traps set by the devil,
who would ensnare you and rejoice to see you fall.
The wound in My right hand
is your refuge from sins of disobedience and self-will.
Take refuge there
when you are tempted to take the path that is easy and broad.
The wound in My left hand
is your refuge from sins of selfishness,
from directing all things to yourself, and grasping the attention of others
by seeking to take to yourself what your right hand has given Me.
The wound in My right foot
is your refuge from sins of inconstancy.
Take refuge there when you are tempted to be inconsistent,
and when you waver in your resolutions
to love Me above all things,
and to place Me first in your affections and in your desires.
The wound in My left foot
is your refuge against sins of sloth and of spiritual lethargy.
Take refuge there when you are tempted to give up the struggle
and to consent to despair and discouragement.
Finally, the wound in My side
is your refuge from every false love
and every fleshly deceit promising sweetness,
but giving bitterness and death instead.
Take refuge in My pierced side
when you are tempted to look for love in any creature.
I have created you for My love,
and My love alone can satisfy the desires of your heart.
Enter, then, the wound in My side
and, penetrating even into My Heart,
drink deeply of the springs of love that will refresh and delight your soul,
and wash you in preparation for the wedding of your soul with Me,
for I am the Bridegroom of your soul,
your Saviour from all that would defile you,
and your God who is love and mercy
now and unto the ages of ages.
From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of a Priest
April 14, 2014
Monday of Holy Week
Jesus and his apostles are in the house of Lazarus, Martha and Mary to celebrate Lazarus’ new life. Many and varied people are there. Some came out of curiosity to see Lazarus who was raised from the dead. Most probably the chief priests came to thank him for the miracle. As there are varied people, there are also varied purposes and expectations. Martha as the hostess is in the kitchen preparing the meal, while Lazarus is sitting with the Lord and his apostles. It is at this point that Mary brings out a bottle of costly perfume and pours much of it on Jesus’ feet.
There are varied reactions that cause division in the group. The chief priest is probably jealous because many believe in Jesus because of his miracle. So the chief priest leaves them. Judas Iscariot, an apostle himself, criticizes the uselessness of Mary’s use of the perfume. But Jesus takes the opportunity to explain that Mary is doing it for his burial. Also he adds that the poor will be around, but that he, as teacher, will not be always around.
Let us think of this. It is the season of Lent and Jesus is telling us something here. Can we do something to show our love for God and our concern for our neighbors?
Lord, teach us the secret of your love. Strengthen and help us in our resolutions this season that we may be mindful of you through our neighbors.
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