Resurrection of the Lord
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 118)
(audio thanks to: Living with Christ)
Archives
Good Friday
Celebration of the Lord’s Passion
Responsorial Psalm (Psalm 31)
(audio thanks to: Living with Christ)
Holy Thursday
Jesus, Fountain and Abyss
If we were to look at just the first few words of the following two prayers, we might think they were written by Saint Faustina, so reminiscent are they of her Diary and the Divine Mercy Chaplet novena we are beginning today.
But they are actually from Saint Bridget of Sweden (14th Century) from: The Magnificent Prayers of Saint Bridget of Sweden. Based on the Passion and Death of Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I share today, on Good Friday, two of the fifteen prayers we received from The Revelations of Saint Bridget:
Seventh Prayer:
O Jesus! Inexhaustible Fountain of Compassion, Who by a profound gesture of love said from the cross, “I thirst,” and Who suffered from the thirst for the salvation of the human race, I beg of Thee, O my Savior, to inflame in our hearts the desire to tend toward perfection in all our acts, and to extinguish in us the concupiscence of the flesh and the ardor of worldly desires. Amen.
Eleventh Prayer:
O Jesus! Deep Abyss of Mercy, I beg of Thee, in memory of Thy wounds, which penetrated to the very marrow of Thy bones and to the depth of Thy being, to draw me, a miserable sinner overwhelmed by my offenses, away from sin and to hide me from Thy face, justly irritated against me; hide me in Thy wounds until Thy anger and indignation shall have passed away. Amen.
"The Crucifixion of Christ", a fresco from the church of the Holy Virgin at Studenica, 1202
Gethsemane Remembered
One night, in late 1995 or early 1996 (I don’t remember whether it was shortly before my mother died or shortly afterwards), I was standing in our old house looking out the window of our tiny spare room. Below, wandering down the little road, was an enormous skunk. I wondered why it was out in the snow instead of hibernating somewhere.
I was at this window talking to Jesus about cancer, my mother’s cancer, my mother’s suffering. I talked to Him about His Passion and His sufferings and His pain. I was making it clear to Him, though, that he hadn’t ever suffered from cancer in particular, so He really couldn’t know exactly what that was like. We chatted for a while…which really means, I was doing all the talking.
As I started to move away from the window and towards the doorway to go downstairs, my body was stopped by an outer force. I saw a kind of greyish, white cloud around my body and all of a sudden I wasn’t in the spareroom anymore. My body, I’m pretty sure, was still in the room, but “I” wasn’t. I knew I was in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus. I didn’t see the Garden, I didn’t see Jesus, but I knew He had taken me there and He was with me. In whatever time it was, a few seconds or a few minutes, He gave me a small taste and a big understanding of what He had experienced. When I came back to “me” being in the spareroom, I understood that in some mysterious way, perhaps out of time and space but definitely within His own humanity, he had somehow experienced every single thing that it is possible to experience as a human being – every single disease, every single suffering, every single evil. Everything. I was entirely filled with shame and remorse, and yet knew He loved me and wanted me to understand.
I hadn’t planned on sharing this tonight, but when I heard this child’s beautiful voice and the part of the lyrics where it talks about Jesus having experienced everything, I felt like He was asking me to help make sure everyone knows the truth of this. There is nothing He has not known in a personal way, so there is nothing you cannot bring to Him.
The Mass as Holy Week
In a recent post, Ann, of Poetry, Prayer and Praise has a beautiful reflection on the Mass, a section of which I have copied and pasted here:
In so far as I have come to understand it; the Mass is both sacrament and sacrifice. When we attend Mass we gather around the table as the apostles did at the last supper, we assemble before the Lamb, we are there at the re-enactment of the sacrifice of His body and just as Mary was present at Calvary she too is present, by her Son’s side at every Mass.
In recent weeks at Mass, I have found myself thinking that not only are we present with Jesus and the apostles as at the Last Supper and also participating in a re-enactment of the sacrifice of His body, but truly with them from Passion Sunday right through to the Resurrection. From the Acclamation: “Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest” (as on Passion Sunday), through to The Lord’s Supper, and on to the Memorial Acclamation: “Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again” (the Crucifixion and the Resurrection).
So, when we receive Holy Communion, it is Christ’s resurrected Body that we receive.
I would love some feedback on this, though I know commentors are few and far between in recent weeks! Am I correct in thinking this? Is this something I should always have known, maybe did always know, but it’s just really hitting me now?
The Harrowing of Hell
“Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him.”
You can read more about Christ’s descent to the dead on the Vatican website.
At The Cross / A La Croix (Hillsong)
The Crucifixion (by Georges Rouault, French Impressionist, 1871-1958)
In English
In French
Seigneur tu me cherches
Tu me connais
Et si je t’oubliais
Je sais que tu m’aimes
Ta sainte présence
Elle m’environne
A chaque moment
Je sais que tu m’aimes
Je sais que tu m’aimes
A la croix je me prosterne
Où ton sang coula pour moi
Aucun amour n’est plus grand
Tu as gagné sur la mort
Ta gloire remplit les lieux très hauts
Rien ne peut nous séparer
Tu marches devant moi
Tu gardes mes pas
Ta main me soutient
Je sais que tu m’aimes
Tu déchire le voile
Tu traces un chemin
Car tu as tout accompli (x2)
Si tous s’éffondrer
devant mes yeux
Et tu te tiens devant moi
Je sais que tu m’aimes
Je sais que tu m’aimes
