The 24 Hours of the Passion

First Hour From 5 to 6 PM
Jesus takes leave of His Most Holy Mother

O Celestial Mama, the hour of the separation is approaching, and I come to You. O Mother, give me your love and your reparations; give me your sorrow, because together with You I want to follow, step by step, adored Jesus.

And now Jesus comes to You, and You, with heart overflowing with love, run toward Him and in seeing Him so pale and sad, your Heart aches with pain, your strengths leave You and You are about to fall at His feet.

O my sweet Mama, do You know why adorable Jesus has come to You? Ah, He has come to say the last good-bye, to tell You the last word, to receive the last embrace!

O Mother, I cling to You with all the tenderness of which my poor heart is capable, so that clinging and bound to You, I too may receive the embraces of adored Jesus. Will You perhaps disdain me? Isn’t it rather a comfort for your Heart to have a soul near You, who would share its pains, affections and reparations?

O Jesus, in such a harrowing hour for your most tender Heart, what a lesson of filial and loving obedience to your Mama You give us! What a sweet harmony passes between You and Mary! What a sweet enchantment of love rises up to the throne of the Eternal One and extends for the salvation of all creatures of the earth!

O my Celestial Mama, do You know what adored Jesus wants from You? Nothing but your last blessing. It is true that from every particle of your being nothing but blessings and praises come out for your Creator; but Jesus, in taking leave of You, wants to hear the sweet word: “I bless You, O Son”. And that “I bless You” removes all the blasphemies from His hearing, and descends, sweet and gentle, into His Heart. Jesus wants your “I bless You”, almost to place it as a shelter from all the offenses of creatures.

I too unite myself to You, O sweet Mama. Upon the wings of the winds I want to go around the heavens to ask the Father, the Holy Spirit and all the Angels, for an “I bless You” for Jesus, so that, as I go to Him, I may bring Him their blessings. And here on earth, I want to go to all creatures and ask, from every lip, from every heartbeat, from every step, from every breath, from every gaze, from every thought - blessings and praises for Jesus. And if no one wants to give them to me, I intend to give them for them.

O sweet Mama, after going round and round, to ask the Sacrosanct Trinity, the Angels, all creatures, the light of the sun, the fragrance of the flowers, the waves of the sea, every breath of wind, every spark of fire, every moving leaf, the twinkling of the stars, every movement of nature, for an “I bless You”, I come to You and I place all my blessings together with yours.

My sweet Mama, I see that You receive comfort and relief, and that You offer Jesus all my blessings in reparation for the blasphemies and the maledictions which He receives from creatures. But as I offer You everything, I hear your trembling voice saying: “Son, bless me too!”

O my sweet Love, Jesus, bless me also, together with your Mama; bless my thoughts, my heart, my hands, my works, my steps, and with your Mother, all creatures.

O my Mother, in looking at the face of sorrowful Jesus, pale, sad, harrowing, the memory of the pains which He is about to suffer awakens in You. You foresee His face covered with spit and You bless it, His head pierced by the thorns, His eyes blinded, His body tortured by the scourges, His hands and feet pierced by the nails; and wherever He is about to go, You follow Him with your blessings. And I too will follow Him together with You. When Jesus is struck by the scourges, crowned with thorns, slapped, pierced by the nails, everywhere He will find my “I bless You” together with yours.

O Jesus, O Mother, I compassionate You. Immense is your pain in these last moments. The Heart of one seems to tear the Heart of the other.

O Mother, snatch my heart from the earth and bind it tightly to Jesus, so that, clinging to Him, I may share in His pains, and as You cling to each other, as You embrace, as You exchange the last glances, the last kisses, being in-between your two Hearts, may I receive your last kisses, your last embraces. Don’t You see that I cannot be without You, in spite of my misery and my coldness?

Jesus, Mama, keep me close to You; give me your love, your Will. Dart through my poor heart, hold me tightly in your arms; and together with You, O sweet Mother, I want to follow, step by step, adored Jesus, with the intention of giving Him comfort, relief, love and reparation for all.

O Jesus, together with your Mama, I kiss your left foot, asking You to forgive me and all creatures, for all the times we have not walked toward God.

I kiss your right foot: forgive me and all for all the times we have not followed the perfection You wanted from us.

I kiss your left hand: communicate to us your purity.

I kiss your right hand: bless all of my heartbeats, thoughts, affections, so that, given value by your blessing, they all may be sanctified. And with me, bless all creatures, and seal the salvation of their souls with your blessing.

O Jesus, I embrace You together with your Mama, and kissing your Heart, I pray You to place my heart between your two Hearts, that it may be nourished continuously by your love, by your sorrows, by your very affections and desires, and by your own Life. Amen.

Reflections and Practices

Before giving start to His Passion, Jesus goes to His Mother to ask for Her blessing. In this act Jesus teaches us obedience, not only external but also interior, which we must have in order to reciprocate the inspirations of grace. Sometimes we are not ready to put into practice a good inspiration, either because we are held back by love of self united to temptation, or because of human respect, or in order not to use holy violence on ourselves.

But rejecting the good inspiration of exercising a virtue, of accomplishing a virtuous act, of doing a good work, or of practicing a devotion, makes the Lord withdraw, depriving us of new inspirations.

On the other hand, the prompt correspondence, pious and prudent, to holy inspirations attracts more lights and graces upon us.

In the cases of doubt, one should turn promptly and with righteous intention to the great means of prayer and to upright and experienced advice. In this way, the good God will enlighten the soul to execute the healthy inspiration, increasing it for her greater benefit.

We must do our actions, our acts, our prayers, the Hours of the Passion, with the same intentions of Jesus, in His Will, sacrificing ourselves as He did, for the glory of the Father and for the good of souls.

We must place ourselves in the disposition of sacrificing ourselves in everything for love of our lovable Jesus, conforming to His spirit, operating with His own sentiments, and abandoning ourselves in Him, not only in all the external sufferings and adversities, but much more in all that He will dispose in our interior. In this way, at any time, we will find ourselves ready to accept any suffering. By doing this, we will give sweet sips to our Jesus. Then, if we do all this in the Will of God which contains all sweetnesses and all contentments in immense proportion, we will give to Jesus large sweet sips, so as to mitigate the poisoning which other creatures cause Him, and to console His Divine Heart.

Before starting any action, let us always invoke the blessing of God, so that our actions may have the touch of the Divinity, and may attract His blessings not only on us, but upon all creatures.

My Jesus, may your blessing precede me, accompany me and follow me, so that everything I do may carry the seal of your ‘I bless you.’

The Twenty Four Hours of the Passion (Blog)
http://catholicdivinewill.blogspot.com/2008/06/twenty-four-hours-of-passion.html
The Twenty Four Hours of the Passion (PDF file)
http://www.asylcity.com/hours_of_passion.pdf

Prayer, charity and the joy of forgiveness

This is the prepared text of the homily delivered by Cardinal Seán P. O’Malley at the St. Padre Pio anniversary Mass that took place Sept. 23 2006 at St. Giovanni Rotondo, Italy. The cardinal delivered the homily in Italian.

. . . . .
St. Gregory the Great says: “The present life is but a road by which we advance to our homeland. Because of this, by a secret judgment we are subjected to frequent disturbance so that we do not have more love for the journey than for the destination. The suffering St. Pio experienced in his ill health, in the persecution by the very Church he loved, the trials and setbacks in establishing the hospital, the pain of the stigmata -- all kept before his eyes the pilgrim nature of his vocation. What allowed St. Pio to persevere was the intense prayer life that he lived faithfully. He prayed more in a week than most people pray in a year. The test of authentic prayer is growth in goodness, growth in humanity, greater serenity in living and in facing hardship. Above all genuine contact with God effects a real displacement of self as the center of our existence.

Prayer is not withdrawing from the rest of humanity. It is more like a wedding feast to which we welcome all who cross our path. A strange thing takes place in prayer. There is a mysterious coupling of our own life with the lives of others -- an embrace that includes the whole of humanity. At first prayer stems from a sense of personal neediness. Prayer progressively becomes less a self-centered plea for personal deliverance than a universal cry for help and for the coming of God’s kingdom.

Prayer and suffering transformed the life of Padre Pio and made him a living icon of God’s unfailing mercy and love. Too often we try to follow Jesus at a safe distance, like Peter after he fled from Gethsemane. Padre Pio’s life and teaching encourages us to climb Calvary to join Jesus in the moments of greatest pain and greatest love.

In today’s Gospel, planted at the foot of the cross are these few brave disciples. I am sure that Mary’s faith and courage was a source of strength for all of them. Mary stood at the foot of the cross. At that dramatic moment, before His death Jesus gives us a gift, His most precious possession, His Mother. Behold your mother. Mary is now not only Jesus’ Mother. She is also our Mother.

For Padre Pio, as for St. Francis, the cross was his book, the book where he read the greatest love story in history. Padre Pio lived his life planted at the foot of the cross in the company of Mary.

Mary full of grace, the costly grace of discipleship, the grace that allowed Mary to renew her fiat, her yes to the Lord even in the face of the cross. There by the cross is our Mother, Our Lady of Grace.

Recently Our Holy Father Pope Benedict said, “He who believes is not alone.” Here we have a host of witnesses. We stand before the beloved cross of Our Blessed Savior, we stand with Our Mother, Our Lady of Grace, and Padre Pio. We are not alone. When the Apostles came down from Tabor, they carried in their hearts a glimpse of God’s Glory. When you return to your homes, share with your families and neighbors the graces of this pilgrimage and the message of our beloved Padre Pio: Prayer, charity and the joy of forgiveness.

Prayer, charity and the joy of forgiveness
By Cardinal O'Malley, O.F.M. Cap.
Archdiocese of Boston
http://www.piercedhearts.org/theology_heart/prayer_charity_joy_forgiveness_padrepio.htm

The Approach of Passiontide

Saturday, Fourth Week of Lent

Jeremiah 11:18-20, Psalm 7:2-3, 9bc-10, 11-12, John 7:40-53

Passiontide

Everything in today's Mass indicates that Passiontide is upon us. Our Lord, most especially in the liturgy of this fortnight preceding Pascha, teaches us the mystery of the Cross. Our part is to listen well with the ear of the heart, so as to understand. We are already on the threshold of the great fortnight leading up to Easter.

The reformed liturgy conserves the substance of these fifteen days. Even a cursory study of the texts reveals that, beginning this evening, we will be plunged into the mystery of Jesus suffering and of His sorrowful Mother. The hymns at the Hours sing of the Passion, the readings speak of it, and the responsories meditate it. At Mass during the Fifth Week of Lent, the Preface presents the Passion of Christ as the healing of the world, and his Cross as the sign of victory:

Through the saving passion of your Son
the whole world has been called
to acknowledge and to praise your majesty;
for in the ineffable power of the Cross
the judgment of the world
and the power of the Crucified shines forth.

A Prayer Not Without Tears

Already today, the Entrance Antiphon was the cry of the suffering Christ to the Father: "Groanings of death surrounded me, hell's sorrows compassed me about. In my distress I called upon the Lord, and He heard my voice out of His holy temple" (Ps 17:5-7). What is this antiphon if not the prayer described in the Letter to the Hebrews? "Christ, during his earthly life, offered prayer and entreaty to the God who could save Him from death, not without a piercing cry, not without tears; yet with such piety as won him a hearing" (Heb 5:7). In the First Reading from Jeremiah, we are given, already, the image of the "gentle lamb led to the slaughter" (Jer 11:19), and in the Responsorial Psalm, we hear the voice of Christ raised to the Father in a prayer of anguish and, at the same time, of utter trust: "O Lord, my God, my confidence is in thee" (Ps 7:2).

The Blood of the Lamb

Yesterday and today, there is a marked change in the tenor of the Communion Antiphon. The focus is on the precious Blood of the Lamb. In yesterday's Communion Antiphon, we heard, "In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our sins" (Eph 1:7), and in today's we will hear, "We are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot" (1 P 1:19). Hear the resonance with the "gentle lamb led to the slaughter" (Jer 11:9) in the First Reading. The "Lamb of God" during the rite of the Fraction takes on a richer tone today. So too will the invitation to Holy Communion: "Behold the Lamb of God." The moment of Holy Communion will be yet another voice in the symphony: "The Body and Blood of Christ." The liturgy is all of a piece. We grasp its meaning only in the relationship of each part with the whole.

Vexilla Regis Prodeunt

By means of an ensemble of allusions and resonances, the liturgy directs our steps to the threshold of Passiontide. This evening the Church returns to the ancient hymn in praise of the Cross: Vexilla regis prodeunt: Fulget crucis mysterium; "The royal banners forward go: The Cross shines forth its mystery." The reading at Vespers will repeat this morning's Communion Antiphon: "The ransom that freed you . . . was paid in the precious blood of Christ; no lamb was ever so pure, so spotless a victim" (1 P 1:19). Our gaze, directed by the liturgy, goes to the radiant mystery of the Cross and to the Blood of the Lamb, and remains there.

The Silence of the Word

Just a word on today's gospel. It is extraordinary in that it contains not a single word spoken by the Lord Jesus himself. The Word is silent while all around him others speak. Those who were listening to him speak. The police speak. The Pharisees speak. Nicodemus speaks. But the Word is silent, for "He came to what was his own, and they who were his own gave him no welcome" (Jn 1:11).

The Fall and Rise of Many in Israel

There is no agreement about Jesus and his mission; there is nothing but dissension, discussion and wrangling. "Do you think that I have come to bring peace on earth? No, believe me, I have come to bring dissension. Henceforward five in the same house will be found at variance, three against two and two against three" (Lk 12:51-52). Thus is the prophecy of Simeon to the Virgin Mary fulfilled: "Behold, this child is destined to bring about the fall of many and the rise of many in Israel; to be a sign which men will refuse to recognize; and so the thoughts of many hearts shall be made manifest; as for thy own soul, it shall have a sword to pierce it" (Lk 2:34-35).

Jesus is the sign of contradiction. He unsettles the established order. He disturbs the tranquil. He causes the complacent to ask questions. "Do not imagine that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have come to bring a sword, not peace" (Mt 10:34).

Listen

Often we experience dissension and wrangling within our own hearts! Often we hear within ourselves the voices of the many: voices of the faithless crowd, of the police, of the Pharisees, and of Nicodemus, voices of doubt, of accusation, of bewilderment, of contradiction, of inconsistency, of cautious acceptance and of refusal. And in the midst of all this speaking, the one voice of the Word falls silent, or rather, becomes inaudible except to the ear of the heart, for the silence of the Word speaks always to anyone who will be silent long enough to listen. Listen then, during this "great fortnight" to the silence of the Word.

His Excellency, Bishop Edward J. Slattery of the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma has given Father Mark a special mandate to live in adoration before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus, offering thanksgiving, intercession,and reparation for all his brothers in Holy Orders. Father is available to the priests and deacons of the Diocese for spiritual and sacramental support in their pursuit of holiness. He is also charged with the spiritual formation of women who desire to dedicate themselves to spiritual motherhood in favour of priests.

http://vultus.stblogs.org/2009/03/the-approach-of-passiontide.html

Way of the Cross - St. Cloud, MN, 2007

See the photo gallery and video from the St. Cloud Times.

Way of the Cross, Photo

Way of the Cross, originally uploaded by *clairity*.

Join the Way of the Cross today in your city.

Pieta Mosaic, Photo

Pieta Mosaic, originally uploaded by *clairity*.

St. John Church, Rochester, MN

Mary Offering 2, Photo

Mary Offering 2, originally uploaded by *clairity*.

St. John Church, Rochester, MN

Good Friday, Poemage

Good Friday, originally uploaded by *clairity*.

Read poem in large size.

This poem is based on recollections of childhood Good Friday services held in churches from 12-3pm followed by the liturgy. Sometimes we would move from one parish to another to hear different sermons.

Way of the Cross - Good Friday 2007

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The Way of the Cross

The Way of the Cross or Stations of the Cross is an ancient devotion in the Church which began as a pilgrimage to the holy sites of Christ's passion. Our Lady was said to have visited these places daily. The Via Dolorosa pilgrimage has a tradition that dates back to the time of Constantine, which consisted of visiting and praying at these religious shrines in Jerusalem. The holy places of the Via Dolorosa of Jerusalem are depicted with paintings, photos and a map at the Christus Rex site.

The earliest use of the word Stations, as applied to the accustomed halting-places in the Via Sacra at Jerusalem, occurs in the narrative of an English pilgrim, William Wey, who visited the Holy Land in 1458 and again in 1462, and who describes the manner in which it was then usual to follow the footsteps of Christ in His sorrowful journey. It seems that up to that time it had been the general practice to commence at Mount Calvary, and proceeding thence, in the opposite direction to Christ, to work back to Pilate's house. By the early part of the sixteenth century, however, the more reasonable way of traversing the route, by beginning at Pilate's house and ending at Mount Calvary, had come to be regarded as more correct, and it became a special exercise of devotion complete in itself.(Catholic Encyclopedia, "Way of the Cross")

In medieval Europe, when the Holy Lands became inaccessible due to war, local Stations of the Cross arose as a public and private devotion developed from these original pilgrimages, and artists depicted these passion events in pictures and sculptures for churches. Pilgrims then walked from station to station, reciting prayers, meditations and songs. The medieval hymn Stabat Mater Dolorosa is still frequently sung for public stations of the cross.

On Good Friday, public Processions of the Cross will take place all over the US and in many places around the world. The Communion and Liberation movement has adopted this ancient Church custom as a key event of the year. For information on locations of the Way of the Cross, including most of the major cities of the U.S., visit the CL national website. The New York procession starts from the Brooklyn Bridge and continues downtown to Ground Zero and has gathered thousands of participants since 9/11.

Way of the Cross, Good Friday, April 6, 2007 throughout the US

Lenten Companion: Illustrated Online Stations of the Cross

Christus Rex Via Crucis Jerusalem

Catholic Encyclopedia, "Way of the Cross"

Stations of the Cross at the Colosseum, led by Pope John Paul II, Good Friday 2000

Way of the Cross

The Realism of the Passion

Before the film The Passion of the Christ was released, predictions were that it would be unpopular because of its realistic portrayal of the sufferings of Christ. How wrong they were.

I have noticed that often Spanish depictions of the crucifixion, as well as Mexican and Filipino expressions by influence, have a particular realism. I have seen these bloody crucifixes and fainting, weeping bystanders in the Spanish missions and in some of the village churches of southern France.

On my recent visit to the Getty Museum, I was stopped by a very compelling Spanish Pieta from around 1490 by the Circle of Fernando Gallego. The realism is not as crude as profuse blood here. The lifeless emaciated Christ is still bleeding from his heart's wound, but the head of the corpse flops backward against the Virgin's hand. It is indeed finished.

My attention was drawn more to Mary who looks at us. I wondered: was her face really rendered ugly by the hand of this artist? I took a careful look. The image here does not offer the detail that close examination gives. In the original, you see her face is beautiful but visibly ravaged with her suffering. The puffy lines of a woman who has wept her heart out spill down her face. This was one of the most affecting depictions of the Passion that I have seen.