LENTEN STATIONS
Posted on 02/21/2007 9:44:31 AM PST by Salvation
LENTEN STATIONS
THURSDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Station—Sts. Sylvester and Martin
Near this church the penitents used to pass through one of the most infamous of places, near the crossroads of Mercury and the Serbian walls, where there was the merulana necropolis (cemetery). That was where pagan Rome left the bodies of slaves and criminals to rot in the open, until the Christians built a chapel with the aim of venerating the Christian martyrs.
Two weeks from today, the Church will celebrate the mystery of the living and life-giving Bread, the first source of life and health. "For he that eats this Bread shall have life everlasting." "And unless you eat this Bread you shall not have life in you."
Preceded by two stational saints, the first Confessors, who were given public veneration in the Church—St. Sylvester and St. Martin—we will go to God's altar, to the Mystery of Life, to Him who will say also to us:" I say to thee, arise!"
Let us pray: Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that we, who are chastised by fasting, may rejoice with holy devotion, and that our earthly affections being weakened, we may, more easily understand the things of heaven. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
The Station is in the church of St. Eusebius, priest of Rome, who suffered for the faith in the Arian persecution under the emperor Constantius.
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Day XXXI. Friday, Week IV. "Save me, O God, by your power and grant me justice! God, hear my prayer; listen to my plea. (Ps 53:3-4) |
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FRIDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Station—St. Eusebius
The Roman Martyr-Priest, Eusebius, whom the Arian Emperor Constantius II had imprisoned for seven months in the priest's own home so that he might slowly starve to death, is today our leader to the blessed Christ for whose Divinity Eusebius died and won eternal life.
Two weeks from today, we shall celebrate the Lord's life-giving death—the source of our resurrection and life. Christ's death is the Sacrament of all sacraments. All the Christian mysteries flow from this main-spring: "the mystery of new life" "out of water and the Holy Spirit;" restoring or healing life in the tribunal of God's mercy; the reception of the Bread of Life at the Lord's Table; as well as the great "come forth" on the last day (from our tombs as Lazarus was called from his tomb). These and all other mysteries of our Faith are rooted in the death of the Lamb of God.
Let us pray: O God, who renews the world by Thine ineffable sacraments, grant, we beseech Thee, that Thy Church may profit by Thy eternal institutions, and not be lacking in temporal help. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
Today's Station is at St. Nicholas in Prison. It was constructed in the ruins of two temples and the ancient Forum Olitorium, and you can see fragments from them reused in the church. The most important of the temples was the Temple of Piety, built by Acilius Glabrius, consul in 191 B.C. The dedication to St. Nicholas was made by the Greek population in the area.
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Day XXXII. Saturday, Week IV. "The snares of death overtook me, the ropes of hell tightened around me; in my distress I called upon the Lord, and he heard my voice" (Entrance antiphon for today - Ps 17:5-7). |
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SATURDAY IN THE FOURTH WEEK OF LENT
Station—St. Nicholas in Carcere
This Station is at a church built on the ruins of three pagan temples and consecrated to St. Nicholas. It is called in carcere because in ancient times it had been a dungeon—a prison devoid of light.
Water, food and light are indispensable for the maintenance and up-building of our natural life. Sacred Water, Sacred Food and Sacred Light are indispensable for the maintenance and up-building of our supernatural life.
1. "Unless a man be born again of water and the Holy Spirit, he can not enter into the Kingdom of heaven."
2. "Unless you eat the Flesh of the Son of Man and drink His Blood, you shall not have life in you."
3. "I am the Light of the world. He that follows Me walks not in darkness, but shall have the light of life."
Catechumens and Faithful both were deeply impressed while listening to the Gospel of "The Light of the World" read in today's stational church, which is over a dark dungeon. There criminals were held in confinement, deprived of light, liberty and the joys of life. A man in mortal sin walks in darkness. The light of Christ is not in Him. He sits in darkness and in the shadow of death. With God's help, we must free ourselves during the remaining days from all darkness.
St. Nicholas—lead us today to Him, who by Sacred Water has made us His living branches, to Christ Jesus, our Divine Food and Holy Light.
Let us pray: Mercifully compel our rebellious wills and make them subject to Thee, O Lord. We ask this Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
At Rome, the Station is in the basilica of St. Peter. The importance of this Sunday, which never yields to any feast no matter what its solemnity may be, requires that the place for the assembly of the faithful should be in one of the chief sanctuaries of the holy city.
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Day XXXIII. Sunday, Week V "Strengthen in faith and love your pilgrim Church on earth; your servant (and my bishop) Pope John Paul II, and all the bishops, with the clergy, and the entire people your son has gained for you" (Eucharistic Prayer III). |
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Day XXXIII. Sunday, Week V continued.... As we leave Saint Peter's, we read, "Christus vincit. Christus regnat. Christus imperat. Christus ab omni malo plebem suam defendat." ("Christ is victorious. Christ reigns. Christ commands. Christ defends his people from all evil.") Today's pictures are of the first vicar of Christ and his successor. |
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FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT
PASSION SUNDAY
Station—St. Peter in the Vatican
Passion Sunday!
The Cross of Christ is veiled, so that we may seek it, and Him who died on it, all the more. The holiest season of the year is at hand, so holy, that "all other seasons of the year prepare us for keeping this one duly and worthily. These present days call for special fidelity seeing that they bring us so near to that sublime mystery of the Divine Mercy, the blessed Passion of Jesus Christ." (from the Divine Office)
With an open mind and a willing heart let us approach the altar to celebrate the Passion Sunday Sacrifice with our High Priest, so that His "body, which shall be delivered for us, and His blood that shall be shed for us" may bestow upon us the promise of eternal inheritance in Christ Jesus Our Lord.
Let us pray: Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies. Teach me to do Thy will. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
The Station, at Rome, is in the church of St. Chrysogonus, one of the most celebrated martyrs of the Church of Rome. His name is inserted in the Canon of the Mass. The church was probably built in the 4th century under Pope Sylvester I.
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Day XXXIV. Monday, Week V. "Has no one condemned you? The woman answered: No one, Lord. Neither do I condemn you: go and do not sin again" (Communion antiphon for today - Jn 8:12).
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Day XXXIV. Monday, Week V. Continued.... |
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MONDAY IN THE FIFTH (PASSION) WEEK OF LENT
Station—St. Chrysogonus
We are branches of Christ, the Vine. As such, we share in His life, share in His joys, and must share also in His sufferings, and thus—as the Apostle so boldly put it—make up in our own body what is yet wanting in the sufferings of Christ, the Head. This we shall do gladly in these holy Passion days. Our mortifications, our self-discipline, our temptations, our trials from within and from without, all our sufferings, we will unite with Christ's Blessed Passion. They will then be lifted out of their own smallness and will share in the greatness and efficacy of His sufferings. He will suffer in us and we in Him.
We humbly ask St. Chrysogonus, in whose Roman home we observe today's mysteries of redemption, that he would accompany us to "the Lord of Hosts, the King of Glory."
Let us pray: O God, hear my prayer. Give ear to the words of my mouth. Save me, O Lord, by Thy name and in Thy power deliver me. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
The Station in Rome was formerly the church of the martyr St. Cyriacus, and as such it is still given in the Roman missal; but this holy sanctuary having been destroyed, and the relics of the holy deacon translated to the church of St. Mary in Via lata, it is here that the Station is now held.
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Day XXXV. Tuesday, Week V. "When I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw all men to myself, says the Lord" (Communion antiphon for today - Jn12:32). |
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TUESDAY IN THE FIFTH (PASSION) WEEK OF LENT
Station—St. Cyriacus
The Sacred Texts, which like a garland, surround the celebration of the Eucharistic Sacrifice and the Divine Office must not only be understood in their literal and historical sense, but above all in their liturgical one. This is always the case, but especially during Passiontide.
The Divine Head, who nineteen centuries ago underwent the great Passion is now undergoing it in His Body, the Church. An attack on the Church is an attack on Christ. Whenever the Church suffers, her Divine head suffers. But all these sufferings lead to victory. "They have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. The disciple is not greater than the Master." Persecutions and sufferings purify the Church. They remove what is not of God. They cast forth all that comes from Satan—the arch-enemy, and that comes from the fatal act in Paradise—the arch-sin.
May the holy Deacon Cyriacus obtain for us "God's light and truth and conduct us and bring us to His holy hill, to the altar, to Calvary, to Easter, to the immortal Christ at the right-hand of the Father.
Let us pray: O Lord, deliver me from the unjust and deceitful man. Send forth Thy Light and Thy Truth. They shall lead me on. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
The Station today is at the church of St. Marcellus at the Corso. Legend claims that Pope St. Marcellus (308-309) was sentenced by Emperor Maxentius to look after the horses at the station of the Imperial mail on the Via Lata, where the Via del Corso now lies. He was freed by the people, and hidden in the house of the Roman lady Lucina (see also San Lorenzo in Lucina). He was rearrested, and imprisoned in the stables.
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Day XXXVI. Wednesday, Week V. "The truth will set you free" (Gospel for today - Jn 8:32). |
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WEDNESDAY IN THE FIFTH (PASSION) WEEK OF LENT
Station—St. Marcellus
A patient sufferer, condemned by his enemies to work in a horse-stable, the good shepherd, Pope Marcellus, is our leader today to the King of Martyrs, Christ, our Good Shepherd.
Why must a human being suffer, physically, spiritually, or both? This has always been and ever will be, the great problem—indeed a problem and a riddle for the worldly individual, but not for the follower of Christ, who finds the answer at the foot of the Cross.
For the Christ-loving soul, there is no suffering for suffering sake, there is suffering only for Easter sake, with its peace and strength and never fading victory.
The mystery of the Cross is the great answer, a solution, which the carnal-minded man will never find. St. Marcellus found it, and having found it, suffered gladly as a true athlete of Christ. "I will extol Thee, O Lord, for Thou has upheld me and has not made my enemies to rejoice over me."
Let us pray: Sanctify this fast, O God, and mercifully enlightening the hearts of Thy faithful, do Thou hear favorable those to whom Thou grant the grace of devotion. Through Christ, Our Lord.
Amen.
The Station at Rome is in the church of St. Apollinaris, who was a disciple of St. Peter, and afterwards bishop of Ravenna. He was martyred. The church was founded in the early Middle Ages, probably in the 7th century.
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