Tuesday in Passion Week

Jesus on the Cross.

I.

The inhuman persecutors of Jesus renewed his sufferings by stripping him roughly of his garments which adhered to his sacred wounds, after which they laid him on the cross. They handled him with taunts and jeers, extended his limbs with cruel violence, and nailed his hands and feet to the wood. Then, raising him on high, he was exposed to view, a spectacle for angels and men. He rested only on his wounds from which issued forth those precious streams which enrich the Church that he came to establish and efface the sins of mankind.

He desired the cruel and ignominious death of the cross to encourage you, by his example, to die for him; to repair the sin of the first man, who ate the fruit of the forbidden tree; to raise our hearts to heaven according to his word that he would draw all hearts to himself when he should be lifted up from the earth; to signify by the four extremities of the cross the four quarters of the world whose inhabitants he came to save; to show his goodness and mercy by extending his arms to receive all sinners; and make known to us the height and depth, the length and breadth, of divine charity. Finally, he died on it to accomplish the design which he had prefigured when he said that the world should be saved by the wood of the cross as it had been before saved by the ark of Noah and the rod of Moses. How shall those who have a horror of the cross and evade it whenever they can be saved?

II.

They gave him vinegar mixed with gall to drink, and he accepted the bitter drought that nothing might be wanting that could augment his grief or lend weight to his sufferings. His enemies insulted his miseries, railed at him, assailed him with curses and blasphemies, and in derision invited him to come down from the cross. It is a difficult and painful thing for one who is innocent to remain silent and patient tinder injury when it is in his power to be revenged on the enemies who triumph over his misfortune and take advantage of his weakness. But we must imitate Jesus in the ignominies he suffered, if we desire to be partakers of his glory in the world to come. Alas, how is it that we can seek only sweetness and consolation when Jesus has drained the chalice of bitterness and grief?

Resolution: I will diligently examine my conscience each night to root out all mortal sin, and indeed all sin, that I may never again crucify my loving Jesus.

Prayer: Oh, Savior of the world, I adore thee on this thy throne of sorrow and ignominy. I cast myself into thine arms which thou hast opened to receive me. I throw myself at thy feet that I may be washed in the saving fountain that flows from them! Oh sacred Victim, consumed by suffering! Oh High Priest of the New Law! Why dost thou remain on this altar? Why dost thou not descend from the cross? If thou wouldst descend, all men, seeing thy power, would believe in thee.

Do not descend from the cross, O divine Wisdom. If thou art the Son of God, thou wilt die thereon! If thou shouldst come down and save thyself they will not follow thee. They will also fly the cross. They will refuse to carry it or die on it.

My Jesus, I see thee hanging on the cross. My sins have nailed thee there! Thou wast crucified once on Calvary, but how often I have crucified thee in my heart! With every mortal sin I have crucified thee. But no longer will I crucify thee, my Jesus, but my passions.

Oh, sweet Jesus, destroy my life for fear I may be so miserable as to destroy thine in my soul by mortal sin. Crucify my body for fear I may crucify thy spirit. Fasten me to thy cross with the nails of fear, hope, and love that I may never again be separated from thee.

O Queen of Martyrs, who stood by the cross and was given by thy Son to be my Mother, never let me crucify thy Son again, but let me crucify my passions that I may live with him and thee in paradise.

By a Member of the Society of Jesus, edited and amended by J. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
© ASG

Monday in Passion Week

Jesus Carries His Cross.

I.

The enemies of Jesus placed the cross on his wounded and bleeding shoulders. Jesus carried it towards Golgotha, but overcome by the heavy burden, he fell fainting beneath it. They inflicted heavy blows on him with their hands. They struck him with a knotted stick and kicked him with violence to make him rise. But his strength was gone and he could no longer obey them. They then laid hands on a stranger from the country, one Simon of Cyrene, lifted the cross to his shoulders, and compelled him to follow Jesus with it.

Why did Jesus permit them to relieve him by taking from him the cross he loved so much? Could he not have repaired his strength by a miracle and continued to carry it? It was done to teach us that we deserve the cross; that he bore it through love of us; that we aid him in carrying the cross when we bear ours with patience; that to be his disciple it is necessary for us to carry the cross and follow him where he goes; that he assists us in carrying our cross; and that we ought to rejoice when we have an opportunity to carry his.

II.

Happy Simon (happy through obedience), who had the honor to bear the cross of Jesus! Christian, the same privilege is yours. All your crosses are fragments of his. They have either touched his soul or body. He drank of our chalice and, draining it of all its bitterness, left us the sweetness thereof. He suffered all that we suffer and felt all that we feel. He espoused our griefs. There is not one that has not pierced and afflicted his Sacred Heart.

Resolution: I will make the Stations of the Cross in reparation for the times I have rejected the Cross. If I cannot do this in church or some other place I will pray the prayers at home.

Prayer: Oh, Jesus my Lord! I will follow thee wheresoever thou goest, and, as thou hast carried thy cross, I will take up mine and follow thy steps even unto death. It is the trophy of my salvation, the standard of my faith, and the seal of my predestination. Oh, how miserable are those who trample it under foot, betray or abandon it! Save me from this, dear Jesus, and give me grace to carry it even to Calvary. Oh holy cross, consecrated by the blood of Jesus! Receive me in thy arms and let me repose on thy bosom. Give thyself all to me, and I will abandon myself entirely to thee! I espoused thee in baptism: the vow is made, the union is indissoluble, and death alone can separate us.

O Mother of Sorrows, thou who suffered along with thy Son, pray for me that I may have the strength to follow after Jesus in thy company.

By a Member of the Society of Jesus, edited and amended by J. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
© ASG

Passion Sunday

The Gospel: John 8:46-59.

At that time, Jesus said to the multitude of the Jews: Which of you shall convince me of sin? If I say the truth to you, why do you not believe me? He that is of God, hears the words of God. Therefore, you hear them not, because you are not of God. The Jews, therefore, answered and said to him; Do we not say well that you are a Samaritan, and have a devil? Jesus answered: I have not a devil; but I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me. But I seek not my own glory: there is one that seeks and judges. Amen, amen, I say to you, if any man keep my word he shall not see death for ever. The Jews, therefore, said: Now we know that you have a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets: and you say: If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Are you greater than our father Abraham, who is dead? and the prophets are dead? Whom do you make yourself? Jesus answered: If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing: it is my Father that glorifies me, of whom you say that he is your God. And you have not known him; but I know him; and if I should say that I know him not, I should be like you, a liar. But I do know him, and do keep his word. Abraham, your father, rejoiced that he might see my day: he saw it, and was glad. The Jews then said to him: You are not yet fifty years old; and have you seen Abraham? Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say to you, before Abraham was made, I am. They took up stones, therefore, to cast at him; but Jesus bid himself, and went out of the temple.

Meditation:
On the Gospel of the Day.

I.

A Christian’s whole life should be a season of abstinence and trial; abstinence by separating himself from all worldly pleasures, and trial by humble resignation to suffering and grief. After death, if such has been our life, we will celebrate a perpetual Easter in heaven, and know a day of consolation and rejoicing without end. Oh, then you will be satisfied with having fasted in Lent and mortified your passions; with having borne your cross with patience, and suffered many griefs for the love of Jesus.

II.

Why did not the Jews believe the words of Jesus, for a master is worthy of belief, whose doctrines are pure and whose life is irreproachable? The doctrine of the Son of God was holy; he preached the truth to them, and confirmed it by wonderful miracles, and nothing could be found more holy than his life. Why, then, did they not believe his word and reject his doctrines? Because they were, like Satan and the rebellious angels, haughty and desired not to learn anything from a man whom they looked on as an inferior. They hated him because he reproved their vices and chided their hypocrisy and were filled with envy on seeing the people listen with attention to his discourses and applaud his miracles. Behold the causes of their incredulity! We do not desire to submit our spirits to the mysteries of truth, and our judgment to the direction of God, because one is incomprehensible to human reason and the other displeasing to nature. We have wicked heart, which corrupt the understanding and turn us away from the contemplation of eternal truths. We have passions which render the spirit blind and delude our minds. These are the causes which prevent our believing the Word of God, and being converted to him!

III.

"He that is of God hears the words of God." Who are you? Where did you come from? Where are you going? What will become of you? Are you one of the saved or are you a reprobate? Judge yourself by the sentiments with which you receive the Word of God, by the pleasure you take in hearing it, by the care you take to preserve it, by the obedience you show it, by your fidelity in putting it into practice. You are not of God if you take no pleasure in hearing his Word.

IV.

"I honor my Father, and you have dishonored me," said our Lord to the Jews. Don’t you also deserve this reproach? Don’t you dishonor Jesus and betray his interests? Might he not address himself to you in the words of the Prophet: "I have brought up children and exalted them, and they have despised me?" You dishonour God by your sinful life and actions, your scandalous words, and your unfaithfulness to a profession or vocation which should make your life more regular and holy. Why, oh Christian soul, will you dishonour so good a Master? When will you begin to honor him?

Resolution: I will thoroughly examine my conscience to determine where I stand in the sight of God and I will prepare myself for a thorough Easter Confession. Moreover, I will do this even if I have no mortal sins to confess so that I may obtain the graces of the sacrament without which I cannot grow in grace. If I have not confessed in a long time I will take special care in my examination.

Prayer: My beloved and merciful Jesus, in the past I have not loved thy Word and have not lived it. Have mercy on me and forgive me for I am truly sorry and heartily repent of having offended thee. Nevermore will I offend thee for the time to come. Grant that I may love thee always who art all good and worthy of all my love. Mary, Mother of mercy and refuge of sinners, help me fulfill my resolution.

By a Member of the Society of Jesus, edited and amended by J. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
© ASG

Saturday of the Fourth Week in Lent

Jesus Is Abandoned to the Power of His Enemies.

I.

He was abandoned by Pilate who should have defended his innocence and who ought to have died rather than commit so great an act of injustice. He was abandoned by his disciples who had declared they would go with him even unto death. He was abandoned by God his Father who could have delivered him from the power of his enemies, but who permitted them to exercise over him all the cruelties and ignominies that their wicked malice could devise. Oh, how often have you not abandoned him, base Christian, when you beheld him condemned and outraged by the impious!

II.

God the Father abandoned his divine Son to the power of his enemies and do you learn from this to abandon yourself to the will of God who is the best of all fathers? Why should you mistrust him? Do you doubt his power or his love? What can you refuse him who has given his only Son and delivered him up to death for your salvation? Can your honor, goods, health, life, soul, and salvation be in better keeping than his? Why do you not abandon yourself entirely to him? Why so many cares, so much trouble and inquietude, when there is so good a Father who cares for you?

III.

Jesus is abandoned by his Father, but not by our Blessed Lady who had followed him thus far, step by step, through the bitter way of his passion and was present at his condemnation. Who can conceive of her grief when she beheld his sacred flesh so frightfully torn that his bones were exposed to sight, when she saw him bathed in his blood wearing on his shoulders a purple rag and holding in his hand the reed which his enemies had placed there in derision and crowned with thorns? Who can comprehend her affliction when she heard the Jews crying out with tumultuous fury: "Away with him! Away with him! Crucify him! Crucify him! His blood be upon us and upon our children!" Consider the grief and agony that pierced her soul, when she saw Pilate wash his hands and heard him pronounce sentence of death against her divine. Son, and then abandon him to his enemies who, with renewed imprecations and insults, seize him and prepare to nail him to the cross?

Resolution: I will abandon myself to the will of God who is all good, even when I feel tried and afflicted. In this way I will be assured of my salvation.

Prayer: Oh, most afflicted Mother, God has also abandoned thee and thou feelest in thy sacred heart all that thy dear Son does in his body. Oh, who is there so insensible as not to be touched with tender compassion at thy wondrous grief? Since God has abandoned thee and thy Son, the two persons most dear to him in heaven or earth, I fear that he will abandon me to the power of the devil to be tempted, tormented, and afflicted in my body and soul, and in all that belongs to me. Oh, my God, my Father. I abandon myself to thee; but do not thou, I beseech thee, abandon me to the power of my enemies.

By a Member of the Society of Jesus, edited and amended by J. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
© ASG

Prayer Request

I ask your prayers for my father, Harold "Bill" Bailey, who will be undergoing exploratory surgery Friday, March 27. The doctors aren't sure what the issue is and hope to both find the problem and take care of it. I ask that you especially recommend him to our Mother of Perpetual Help and her Immaculate Heart.

Immaculate Heart of Mary, pray for us now and at the hour of our death.

Friday of the Fourth Week in Lent

On the Sentence of Death Pronounced Against Jesus.

I.

The Jews clamoured for the death of Jesus. Pilate, who was convinced of his innocence, wished to evade the demand. The Jews declared: "We have a law, and according to the law he ought to die because he made himself the Son of God." "Take him yourselves and crucify him," answered Pilate, "for I find no cause in him." The law of the world condemns the Son of God to death! All worldlings cry through the mouths of the Jews, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" If you are a slave to the maxims of the world you conspire, with the Jews against Jesus. Christians have also a law which condemns to the eternal death of hell a sensual and voluptuous life.

II.

Pilate questioned Jesus, and Jesus replied not because he had been guilty of an act of great injustice. Even while he believed Jesus to be innocent, Pilate inflicted cruel injuries on him. Why? Because he did not profit by what Jesus had already said to him or desire to learn the truth. Jesus had spoken with an air of authority and Pilate was proud and unjust in saying to him that he could deliver or condemn him, for if he could have delivered the innocent he should have done it since he was invested with power only that he might acquit himself of his duty. Behold how dangerous it is not to profit by the Word of God! Jesus keeps silence and speaks no more.

You complain that God no longer responds to you in prayer and ask the cause of his silence. Perhaps you have offended him and excited his anger by mortal sin. Perhaps your continual and dissipated intercourse with the world is displeasing to him. Perhaps your heart is too much set on some earthly object. All of these render the soul deaf to God’s voice. It may be that you are too curious in spiritual things, or desire to learn without toil, or think, in your presumption, that he may unite himself to your soul without the intervention of the senses, either corporal or spiritual. If thus tempted, it is necessary to humiliate, but not trouble yourself.

III.

Pilate is afraid to condemn Jesus Christ, not only because he is convinced of his innocence, but he has also discovered a power of divinity in him which terrifies and makes him tremble. Notwithstanding which, when he heard the people threatening him with the anger of Caesar, he betrayed his conscience, and delivered Jesus to his enemies that they might satisfy their fury by putting him to death. Oh, human respect! Oh, miserable fear of the world! It is this that has condemned and put to death the Son of God! It is this which causes him to die every day in the hearts of men! They are afraid of giving offence to Caesar. Judges condemn the innocent to gratify the vengeance of the great. Christians commit acts of injustice to please their friends. Mercenary souls betray their conscience, and condemn Jesus to death, to preserve their goods, their fortune, and their employment.

Resolution: Never again will I act or speak to obtain human respect or to please others. I will only speak and act in accordance with God’s will, no matter the cost.

Prayer: Oh, sweet Jesus, condemned to an ignominious death! All the world cries out, "Crucify him! Crucify him!" There is no voice heard in thy defense to deliver or give thee life. Thou didst submit to all this through obedience to thy Father in heaven, whose will it was for thee to die, but who desired not the sin of this wicked judge. Thou dost submit to deliver us from eternal death, the sentence of which was issued against all the children of Adam, to show the love thou hast for us, and thy desire to suffer for us. Thou dost submit, in order that we may be submissive to the chastisements of God, and that we may not be troubled as to whether the person who afflicts and injures us is good or wicked, or whether they are guided by reason or passion.

By the injustice thou didst suffer at the hands of Pilate grant that I may never act out of human respect or to please others, but that I may always stand up for what is true and right, no matter what the cost. For if I sell myself to others, I am lost forever to thee. For all the times I have done so in the past I am most heartily sorry and beg forgiveness. O Mary, my Mother, pray for me that I may always act and speak the truth knowing the if I do not, the cost is my eternal salvation.

By a Member of the Society of Jesus, edited and amended by J. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
© ASG

Thursday of the Fourth Week in Lent

Sentiments of Grief and Compassion for the Sufferings of Jesus.

I.

Daughters of Jerusalem, come forth and see King Solomon with the diadem with which his mother, the Synagogue, has crowned him. Alas! it is not a mother, but a cruel and inhuman tyrant who crowns himself with roses and his God with thorns. Daughters of Jerusalem, Christian souls, observe this Man of Sorrows! Behold the man who has saved you, the man whom you have crucified! Behold the man who loves you infinitely, the man whom you cease not to persecute!

II.

Oh, most holy God, thou hast sought a man to appease thy anger, and one who would submit himself to thy vengeance. Behold him whom we present to thee! Look on the face of thy Christ, the sight of whose sorrows will subdue the hearts of sinners and whose intercession will render thee favourable to their prayers. Behold the Man for whom thou hast created all men and through whom thou lovest all men. Behold the robe of thy Son Joseph torn and bloody. Dost thou not recognize it? Behold the King of martyrs, crowned with grief and ignominy! Behold the High Priest of the New Law, who offers thee his blood for the salvation of men! Will not this blood efface thy anger? Is not this blood sufficient to cancel all our debts?

III.

Daughter of Zion, holy and sorrowful Virgin Mother, come and see the diadem that has been placed upon the head of thy divine Son. Behold the Son whom thou didst conceive by the Holy Ghost, and bring forth without pain or sorrow, whom thou didst watch over with so much anxiety, and sacrifice with so much love! Behold this glorious and magnificent King who ought to sit on the throne of David and reign over all the earth! Behold this High Priest, whose office it is to appease the anger of God! What a Priest! What a King! What a Child! What a Man! What a spectacle of grief for thee, oh most afflicted Mother! How is it that thou didst survive so sorrowful a sight? Ah, it is because it is necessary for thee to accompany him to Calvary and behold him die between two thieves!

Resolution: I will give alms today in honor of the Sorrowful Virgin.

Prayer: Oh, holiest of men, greatest of kings, Christians renounce thee as well as the Jews and desire no other king than Caesar, that is to say, the world. The avaricious desire a rich king, the sensual a voluptuous king, and the ambitious a king who is glorious on earth. But, as for me, I choose for my king this Man of Sorrows who is poor and despised. I desire no other king than Jesus, and no other crown than that of Jesus. O Mary, sorrowful Queen of Martyrs, pray for me!

By a Member of the Society of Jesus, edited and amended by J. Scott Bailey, C.Ss.R.
© ASG