Meditation on the Fourth Station of the Cross: The Meeting of Jesus and Mary

Continuing on my meditations on the Stations of the Cross, I am now on the Fourth Station - Jesus Meets His Blessed Mother.

At this point in His Passion, our Lord has been abandoned by His disciples and followers and endured beatings, whippings and scourgings. He had been subjected to ridicule and taunts, falsely accused of heresy, sentenced to death and then, in His incredibly weakened physical state, forced to carry His Cross to His place of execution. But nothing compares to the pain Our Lord felt when he had to witness the intense agony of His own Blessed Mother on the road to Calvary.

When people have lived with each other for many years, they often become so close that they barely need words to communicate. They know each other's thoughts and moods almost as well as they know their own. Twins are known to be so sensitive to one another that they can communicate almost with a kind of telepathy.

But there was undoubtedly no closer relationship in the history of mankind than that between the Blessed Mother and her Divine Son. They were the only two people in all of human history to not be stained with so much as a trace of sin, both completely pure and innocent, nothing to drive any kind of wedge between them at any point in their lives. There was never a hint of dishonesty between them that harms or destroys so many relationships. They shared a perfect love that is beyond our ability to imagine.

Jesus and Mary were both in perfect union with God the Father. Because of their mutual sinlessness and union with the Father, they were in complete harmony with each other in a way that we, who are filled with sin, cannot begin to understand. Both gave completely to the other in every way possible, building a bond that nothing could break. Jesus and Mary experienced everything almost as one person, which is what true divine love is.

We know that Jesus tried to warn His followers about the Passion for which He was destined, as can be seen in the following verses:

From this time Jesus began to explain to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer much cruelty from the Elders and the High Priests and the Scribes, and be put to death, and on the third day be raised to life again.  (Mt. 16:21)

As Jesus was about to go up to Jerusalem, He took the twelve disciples aside by themselves, and on the way He said to them, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem; and the Son of Man will be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death, and will hand Him over to the Gentiles to mock and scourge and crucify Him, and on the third day He will be raised up.” (Mt. 20:17-19)

Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? (Mark 9:12)

We know that none of Christ's followers comprehended our Lord's words. They believed He was coming to free them from the Romans and set up a great Jewish kingdom. When He was captured by the temple guards of the Sanhedrin and seemed impotent to do anything about it, they all ran for their lives because despite Jesus' previous attempts to explain, they did not understand what was happening and felt, basically, that the game was over.

If Jesus spent this much time trying to prepare His hard-hearted disciples for the crucifixion, we can be sure He talked many times with His most compassionate and loving mother, helping her understand that this was His entire purpose in becoming a man. We know Mary's first warning of this great sorrow came from Simeon when Christ was presented at the temple. Simeon told Mary that a sword would pierce her soul. And we can be sure that through the years Jesus was opening up the scriptures and explaining to her what He must suffer and why.

Mary's sorrow began long before the moment she met her Son on the Way to Calvary.

From the prophecies of St. Bridget:

A mother's joy is complete when her child is born
and she sees it healthy and perfectly formed.
Her pain and anxiety are over.
Mary rejoiced at Christ's birth,
but she knew that no moment of her life would be free of sorrow

The Prophets foretold,
long before the coming of Christ,
his sufferings and death.
Simeon foretold,
in the presence of Mary and her Child,
the piercing of her heart by a sword of sorrow.

We know that the mind is more sensitive to pain even than the body.
We know that the soul of Mary, even before the death of her Son,
would feel that sword of sorrow more sharply
than all women on earth would feel the suffering of childbearing.
Each day brought nearer the sufferings of Christ.
Each day brought nearer the piercing of Mary's heart.

It was the compassion of Christ alone
which enabled her,
by his presence and his words,
to bear day by day
such piercing sorrow.

Mary and Jesus were walking the Road of Calvary and living with the sorrow and pain their entire lives. According to St. Alphonsus Liguori:

The Blessed Virgin herself revealed to Saint Bridget, that, while on earth, there was not an hour in which this grief did not pierce her soul: "As often," she continued, "as I looked at my Son, as often as I wrapped Him in His swaddling-clothes, as often as I saw His hands and feet, so often was my soul absorbed, so to say, in fresh grief; for I thought how He would be crucified."

We can be sure that Jesus and Mary talked many times and over many hours about the Passion He was to endure. Every moment in her life was overshadowed by the Cross of Her Son.

From "The Glories of Mary" by St. Alphonsus Liguori:

"Mary was a martyr," says Saint Bernard, "not by the sword of the executioner, but by bitter sorrow of heart." If her body was not wounded by the hand of the executioner, her blessed heart was transfixed by a sword of grief at the passion of her Son; grief which was sufficient to have caused her death, not once, but a thousand times. From this we shall see that Mary was not only a real martyr, but that her martyrdom surpassed all others; for it was longer than that of all others, and her whole life may be said to have been a prolonged death.

But there was nothing that could prepare her for the reality of her Son's crucifixion. All that she imagined did not come close to the incredible cruelty and suffering Jesus experienced and that she witnessed and experienced along with Him. Any parent would be in unendurable agony from watching the cruel torture and death of his child and being unable to stop it. But how much worse was it for this most perfect and sinless human being who was united so completely with Her Son.

Moreover, says Saint Antoninus, "while other martyrs suffered by sacrificing their own lives, the Blessed Virgin suffered by sacrificing her Son's life, a life that she loved far more than her own; so that she not only suffered in her soul all that her Son endured in His body, but moreover the sight of her Son's torments brought more grief to her heart than if she had endured them all in her own person. No one can doubt that Mary suffered in her heart all the outrages which she saw inflicted on her beloved Jesus.

The love between the Mother and Son was so pure and perfect that they were as one person, experiencing each painful blow and bloody step together:

"Every torture inflicted on the body of Jesus," says Saint Jerome, "was a wound in the heart of the Mother." "Whoever then was present on the Mount of Calvary," says Saint John Chrysostom, "might see two altars, on which two great sacrifices were consummated; the one in the body of Jesus, the other in the heart of Mary." Nay, better still may we say with Saint Bonaventure, "there was but one altar-that of the cross of the Son, on which, together with this Divine Lamb, the victim, the Mother was also sacrificed;" therefore the Saint asks this Mother, "O Lady, where art thou? Near the cross? Nay, rather, thou art on the cross, crucified, sacrificing thyself with thy Son." Saint Augustine assures us of the same thing: "The cross and nails of the Son were also those of His Mother; with Christ crucified the Mother was also crucified."

When we see the meeting of Mother and Son on the Road to Calvary, we are witnessing perfect love, not just of the love for each other, but their love for all of mankind, both placing themselves upon the altar of Calvary so that we can be freed from sin and eternal death.

To Honor Mary, the Blessed Mother of Jesus, is to honor our Lord because she suffered all the agony of the Cross with Him. She felt all of his pains in her heart and gave to us, His followers and her children, a martyrdom greater than all other martyrs.

She now walks with each one of us just as she walked with Her Son on the Road to Calvary, offering us the some compassion, the same love she gave to our Blessed Lord. Just as her Son will never leave us, so she will never leave us, constantly interceding for us, just as she did at the Wedding at Cana, seeing our needs even before we are aware of them, and pleading with Her Son on our behalf.

From St. Francis' Stations of the Cross:

How sad and how painful must it have been for Mary 

to behold her beloved Son laden with the Cross, 

covered with wounds and blood,

and driven through the streets by savage executioners

What unspeakable pangs her most tender heart must have experienced! 

How earnestly did she desire to die instead of Jesus, or at least with Him! 

O Jesus, O Mary, I am the cause of the pains that pierced your hearts. 

Would that my heart might experience some of your sufferings. 

O Mother, let me share in thy sufferings and those of they Son, 

that I may obtain the grace of a happy death. 

Meditation on the Third Station of the Cross: Jesus Falls

I am continuing with meditations on the Stations of The Cross. You can read my prior meditations here and here. We are now up to the Third Station: Jesus falls for the first time.

At this point in his Passion, Our Lord is a mass of bruises, cuts and wounds over His entire Sacred Body. He has a crown of thorns on His Precious Head, from which blood is dripping into his eyes. He no doubt has internal injuries as well. He is suffering from dehydration and shock. He has just been handed the Cross upon which He will bring salvation to the world. He has kissed and embraced this instrument of His death, which will become the greatest symbol of love our world has ever or will ever see. He picks up His Cross and actually manages to carry it a short distance. The weight of it proves too much in his weakened state and He falls.

All of this describes the physical state of Our Lord. But the physical suffering endured by Jesus is only one part of His Passion. There is far more happening in the Passion of Christ than His broken and torn body.

St. Francis tells us that it was not the physical weight of the cross which caused Christ to fall, but our sins which He was carrying:

Our dear Savior, carrying the cross, was so weakened by its heavy weight as to fall exhausted to the ground. Our sins and misdeeds were the heavy burden which oppressed Him: the cross was to Him light and sweet, but our sins were galling and insupportable.

We have been called to a hard and difficult way, and one for which our own strength is not enough. Jesus teaches us that because of our human frailty and our sinfulness, we will sometimes feel overwhelmed and even periodically overcome, and sometimes we will fall. That is when we must turn to the Sacraments of the Church and the grace contained therein to be cleansed and purified of the sin which causes us to fall. As sin is eradicated in our lives, we will find there is no burden too heavy to bear. As St. Francis said, the heavy weight of the cross was not the cause of Christ's fall, but it was the heavy weight of our sins which He bore on our behalf. It is this same heavy weight of sin that causes us to fall.

Proverbs 24:16 says:

For a just man shall fall seven times and shall rise again: but the wicked shall fall down into evil.

Falling is not the problem. It is not getting back up that will destroy us. As long as we turn to the Holy Spirit, our Advocate, Guide and Comforter, He will supply us with the grace and strength we need to overcome the sin and the obstacles in our way. Our role is to never give up, never quit. We must never allow discouragement or despair to set in. We should try to remember our Lord in His Passion, so physically weak yet never stopping, driven by His great love for mankind.

If we truly love God and by extension, mankind for whom He died, we will never be defeated by the sin which causes us to fall. Sin is very deceptive. Our sin can cause us to believe that it is the Cross, the instrument of salvation given to us by the Lord, which is weighing us down and causing us to fall. That is a diabolical lie. The Cross will never cause us to stumble and fall. Galatians 6:14:

As for me, may I never boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world has been crucified, and the world’s interest in me has also died.

The Cross is not only not the source of our fall, it is what will keep us from stumbling in the first place. When we fall, it means we have let go of the Cross. To move away from the Cross is to move away from Christ. To move away from the Cross is to allow pride, that first and great sin of Satan, the foundation of all other sin, to enter in. The suffering of the Cross keeps us grounded and humble and dependent upon our Savior.

Light and truth have come into the world through the Cross. We cannot stumble when we walk in the light. But for those who wish to remain in darkness, away from the Cross, St. Paul said this:

The message of the cross is foolish to those who are headed for destruction! But we who are being saved know it is the very power of God. (I Cor. 1:18)

Like Christ, we may look weak and foolish to the world as we follow the Way of the Cross. Christ said to St. Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." II Cor. 12:9. St. Paul replied, "That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Our Lord was never stronger than during His Passion when He was defeating sin and death. Like our Lord, when the world views us as weak and humiliated is actually when we are the strongest.

When you, like our Lord, feel that you have been drained of all your physical, mental and emotional strength and have no defenses left against the world, when each step is more painful than the next, when you feel that you can barely stand up, that is when you will be the most valuable tool in the Hand of the Lord. As Jesus Christ taught us in His Passion, that is the time that our Lord can do His mightiest works in you. "But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world."

St. Francis reminds us of what our role is in the way of the Cross in this prayer from the Third Station:

O my Jesus, Thou didst bear my burden and the heavy weight of my sins. 

Should I, then, not bear in union with Thee, my easy burden of suffering 

and accept the sweet yoke of Thy commandments? 

Thy yoke is sweet and Thy burden is light: 

I therefore willingly accept it. 

I will take up my cross and follow Thee.

The Real Reason Pope Benedict XVI Abdicated

It has been almost a week since we first got the shocking news that Pope Benedict XVI was abdicating the Papacy. I've been mostly sitting back and watching the reactions of others. Some are struggling with grief, anger and fear as expressed in Hilary White's article on Lifesitenews :

Since Monday, I have struggled even to understand my own feelings. These have ranged, honestly, from shock to a kind of dread not only at the ominous question of what happens now, what is coming next, but at the very great strangeness of breaking of this ancient precedent. How can it be right? And why now, when the world seems to be sinking into an unimaginable darkness?

Then there are the traditionalists engaging in conspiracy theories, such as Chris Ferrara writing for the far right Remnant. Ferrara printed the Pope's entire resignation message and then began to look for clues as to the Holy Father's "true motivation". The following is a partial quote from Pope Benedict XVI's statement:

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry. I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiritual nature, must be carried out not only with words and deeds, but no less with prayer and suffering. However, in today’s world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of Saint Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary, strength which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately fulfill the ministry entrusted to me.

From the above statement, Ferrara manages to find yet another opportunity to condemn the Second Vatican Council and Blessed John Paul II, with the implication that Pope Benedict XVI's resignation is actually supportive of Ferrara's statements:

Consider: Benedict might have been wrestling with the propriety of raising John Paul to the altars of the universal Church and declaring Paul VI a beatus, thus placing his papal imprimatur on what he himself, when he was Cardinal Ratzinger, described as a post-conciliar “process of decay”—a process only Pope Benedict has done anything to reverse since the Council. Yet, Benedict was also under tremendous pressure from “conciliarist” forces to perform both acts in order to shore up the collapsing credibility of the conciliar aggiornamento. At this very moment, the trickle of traditionalist critiques is becoming a torrent of criticism by respectable theologians of the mainstream, as the “spirit” of the Council wanes while its disastrous effects become too obvious to explain away any longer.

It stands to reason that if Benedict were at all committed to the idea of “Saint John Paul II the Great” and “Blessed Paul VI,” he would have remained in office at least long enough to perform the necessary papal acts. Yet he has left office, in a purely discretionary manner, just as those acts were slated to occur—during the ironically designated “Year of Faith” that is taking place in the midst of the “silent apostasy” that is our inheritance from the previous two pontificates.

Or perhaps, even if this was not the Pope’s conscious intent, the Holy Ghost has intervened by prompting him to abdicate rather than inflicting further damage to the Church by acceding to the Council’s canonization via improvident acts of the Magisterium.

Ferrara completely condemns the Second Vatican Council and Blessed John Paul II, and claims that the real reason Pope Benedict is abdicating is to avoid "inflicting further damage to the Church" through "improvident acts of the Magesterium." Ferrara sets himself totally outside of Church authority when he makes such condemning statements. He should know as a Catholic that the Magesterium is guided by the Holy Spirit and cannot mislead the Church. No one should give any credence to Ferrara's statements or any that echo similar sentiments.

Then there is Michael Voris, who is not as radical as Chris Ferrara, but still reads his own feelings into the Pope's resignation and brings in his usual theme of the war within the Catholic Church being the cause of all the problems we face. Voris happily takes this as another opportunity to condemn the hierarchy of the Church. He is not nearly as critical of Pope Benedict XVI, but he still manages to make some absurd statements:

But during [Pope Benedict XVI's] pontificate .. one thing that caught him off guard was the hostility among many of the world’s bishops to his move toward a more traditional faith for the worldwide Church. Even so far as the restitution of the Tridentine Latin Mass .. observers report that Pope Benedict was shocked that so many bishops around the world opposed his desires and worked almost openly to thwart them.

. . .

The internal strife in the Church between the orthodox and the heterodox has had to take its toll on the Holy Father.  It would be difficult for a young vigorous man to navigate these waters.  

Michael seems to have forgotten that Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger was Cardinal-Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith for 24 years before being elected Pope. He dealt with errant bishops and priests on a regular basis. It is possible, even probable, that he was more aware of the "internal strife in the Church" than his boss, Blessed John Paul II.

But then Voris actually goes on to contradict his statement that "Benedict was shocked" at the behavior of bishops, saying that the Holy Father was actually very aware of the "turmoil in the Church":

When Joseph Ratzinger was elected the 264th successor to St. Peter back in April 2005, he said in his first homily as Pope, “pray for me that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.” He knew very well the turmoil in the Church from errant pastors and ravenous wolves in sheeps’ clothing.

So which is it, Michael?   Did the Pope know or didn't he?

Michael then gives us what he sees as the necessary qualifications for the next Pope, which is someone who is basically ready to go to war against the Church, or at least certain parts of Holy Mother Church:

And now .. we must turn our attention and prayers to the NEXT successor of St. Peter .. and pray earnestly that the Holy Spirit will send another in the mold of Benedict .. one familiar with the struggle [but I thought it took Pope Benedict by surprise?], who knows the intrigues and the players, who loves tradition and understands the need for the liturgy to continue to reveal the Divine Majesty and not be a mere Catholic looking protestant type service.

A Papa who understands that the bold clear truth must be spoken in a world darkened not just by evil in general, but by evil men who make evil choices who must be confronted, and defeated, both inside and outside the Church.

Sigh.

The Holy Father on a wheeled platform

Did anyone ever consider that maybe, just maybe, the Pope told us exactly why he is abdicating and that there is no secret message or conspiracy behind his actions? Consider the fact that in a couple of months he will be 86 years old. If he was still a Cardinal, he would no longer be eligible to vote for the next Pope because he is too old, being past 80 years. If he had been a regular bishop instead of Bishop of Rome, he would have already been too old to serve when he was elected Pope at age 78. Bishops have a mandatory retirement age of 75. He has a pacemaker and has been told by his doctors that he cannot fly anymore, severely limiting his role in our modern world. Those who have been close to him say he is very physically frail. He even has to use a wheeled platform to get to the altar at St. Peter's.

Pope Benedict stated his reasons for abdicating the papacy in a very succinct and clear statement:

After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths, due to an advanced age, are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry.

We really don't have to parse each and every word to find the "real meaning" behind his resignation. Pope Benedict XVI is bluntly telling us that he is too old and sick to be Pope.

I think the reason so many have a hard time with this is because we witnessed Blessed John Paul II continue his papacy to his death despite being much more infirmed than Pope Benedict XVI appears to be. So, we think, if JPII could do it, why can't our current Holy Father?

Pope Benedict XVI was right next to Blessed John Paul II, and he saw up close how incapacitated JPII had become. It would seem that from the very time Pope Benedict was elected, he was signaling to the world that he would step aside if and when he felt he had become incapacitated. In 2010, he made this statement:

“If a pope clearly realizes that he is no longer physically, psychologically and spiritually capable of handling the duties of his office, then he has a right, and under some circumstances, also an obligation to resign,”

We live in one of the most evil times in the history of the world, and as always happens when evil is in power, the Catholic Church is in the cross hairs. Right here in my own country, the United States, the State now sees the Church as the enemy, standing opposed to abortion, same sex marriage, contraception, and a myriad of other evils promoted by the State. We need a physically strong and robust man in the Papacy who can stand up and lead the church, with the guidance of the Holy Spirit, through these tumultuous times.

Pope Benedict XVI, as has been pointed out by many, is showing great humility and sanctity by telling the world that he is no longer fit for the Papacy, and as a great act of love for the Church, he wants to step aside to allow the Holy Spirit to choose someone else. Pope Benedict XVI will now go into a life of intense prayer, which may be an even greater and more valuable service to the Church than he performed in his role as Pope.

One lesson that should be be apparent from the 2000 year history of the Catholic Papacy is that while the Vicar of Christ, as the visible head of the the Ark of Salvation for the world, is the most important person on the earth, he is also the most dispensable person in the world. He can and will always be replaced. The Pope is really nothing more than a kind of front man, as are all of our bishops and priests. The real Head of the church is Jesus Christ, and as he told us, He will never leave nor forsake us. And He has sent the Holy Spirit to guide and protect us from the evil one, who cannot touch us as long as we stay within the authority of the Church.

I find the words of Pope Benedict XVI very comforting:

"Dear Brothers, I thank you most sincerely for all the love and work with which you have supported me in my ministry and I ask pardon for all my defects. And now, let us entrust the Holy Church to the care of Our Supreme Pastor, Our Lord Jesus Christ, and implore his holy Mother Mary, so that she may assist the Cardinal Fathers with her maternal solicitude, in electing a new Supreme Pontiff. With regard to myself, I wish to also devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer."

May God bless and protect Pope Benedict XVI as he enters this final phase of his life. He has been a wonderful, loving father to the Church,

Meditation on the Second Station of the Cross: Jesus Carries His Cross

Credit:  thewindowshowsitall.blogspot.com

I recently did a post on the First Station of the Cross: Jesus is Condemned. Jesus' Passion continues as shown in the Second Station of the Cross. He now takes up His Cross to carry it to the place of execution. In actual fact, Christ most probably took up the cross beam and not the actual Cross. According to Wikipedia, the entire Cross could weigh up to 300 pounds. The cross beam alone could weigh about 75-125 pounds.

At this point, Our Lord had been ruthlessly and mercilessly whipped and beaten. His entire body was covered with open sores, wounds and painful bruises, and He had lost a great quantity of blood. The soldiers had pushed a crown of thorns on His Precious Head which had penetrated to his brain. He had not eaten or had any water since the previous night, and combining this with the severe trauma to the body and extreme loss of blood caused by the vicious beatings resulted in severe dehydration, which normally causes disorientation and confusion. The fact that Our Lord was still able to function despite all of this is in itself a miracle.

There is an interesting post from michaeljournal.org in regard to a supposed meeting between Father Karol Wojtyla and Padre Pio that took place around 1947 or 1948. Father Wojtyla asked Padre Pio which was the most painful wound Christ received in His Passion. Padre Pio said it was the shoulder wound, which Christ had also revealed centuries earlier in a vision to St. Bernard of Clairvaux: "I had on My Shoulder while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound which was more painful than the others, and which is not recorded by men."  Padre Pio told Brother Modestino Fucci, a friar at San Giovanni Rotondo, that the pain was "a terrible, excruciating pain in his shoulder, as if he had been sliced with a knife up to the shoulder bone. He felt that he would die from the pain if it continued, but it lasted only a short time." 

Imagine putting a wooden beam weighing 75 to 125 pounds on this painful shoulder wound. Unlike Padre Pio, we know that Our Lord endured this pain for several more hours. In fact, the pain became even more intense right up to His last breath.

Despite the relentless pain and suffering endured by Jesus, we are told by St. Francis the following in his meditation on the Second Station of the Cross:

When our divine Savior beheld the cross, He most willingly stretched out His bleeding arms, lovingly embraced it, and tenderly kissed it, and placing it on His bruised shoulders, He, although almost exhausted, joyfully carried it.

Our Lord did this as an example for all of mankind. As Venerable Fulton Sheen once said, unless there is a cross in our lives, there will never be an empty tomb, meaning we cannot attain eternal life with Christ in the Resurrection unless we are willing to take the Cross which He gives to us. In contrast, Satan's way, which is the way of death, does not involve a cross, or at least not a cross that is visible. Satan's way is the wide and easy road which is all about pleasure and self indulgence and seemingly no suffering, unlike the Way of the Cross, which is strait and narrow and full of self denial.

This is what Thomas a Kempis wrote in The Imitation of Christ:

`Deny yourself, take up your cross, and follow Me.'(Matt. 16:24) To many this saying of Jesus seems hard. But how much harder will it be to hear that word of doom, `Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire'. (Matt.25:41) For those who now cheerfully hear and obey the word of the Cross (I Cor. 1:18) will not tremble to hear the sentence of eternal damnation. The sign of the Cross will appear in the heavens, when Our Lord comes as judge. Then will all the servants of the Cross, who in their lives conformed themselves to the Crucified, (Rom 8:29) stand with confidence before Christ, their judge.

Credit:  thisischurch.com

Why, then, do you fear to take up the Cross, which is the road to the Kingdom? In the Cross is salvation; in the Cross is life; in the Cross is protection against our enemies; in the Cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness; in the Cross is strength of mind; in the Cross is joy of spirit; in the Cross is excellence of virtue; in the Cross is perfection of holiness. There is no salvation of soul, nor hope of eternal life, save in the Cross. Take up the Cross, therefore, and follow Jesus, (Matt. 16:24) and go forward into eternal life. (Matt.25:46)

If you bear the cross willingly, it will bear you and lead you to your desired goal, where pain shall be no more; but it will not be in this life. If you bear the cross unwillingly, you make it a burden, and load yourself more heavily; but you must needs bear it. If you cast away one cross, you will certainly find another, and perhaps a heavier.

Do you think to escape what no mortal man has been able to escape? Which of the Saints lived without cross or trial? Even our Lord Jesus Christ was never without sorrow and pain, as long as He lived. `Christ must needs suffer,' said He, `and rise again from the dead, and so enter into His glory.'(Luke 24:26) Why, then, do you seek any other road than this royal road of the Holy Cross? The whole life of Christ was a cross and martyrdom; and do you look for rest and selfish pleasure?

You are greatly mistaken if you look for anything save to endure trials, for all this mortal life is full of troubles, (Job 14:1) and everywhere marked with crosses. The further a man advances in the spiritual life, the heavier and more numerous he finds the crosses, for his ever-deepening love of God makes more bitter the sorrows of his earthly exile.

Anyone who tells us you that life of a Christian is meant to be easy is lying to you. Look at what our Lord suffered in order to defeat Satan and sin. As Christians, we are His followers, and that means we must walk in His footsteps. The Gospel of Health and Wealth is a heresy.

When Christ was handed His Cross, he did not complain and say He wanted a different one. He took the one that was handed to Him, and that is what we must do. Our cross has been individually tailored for us by our Creator. He knows exactly what we need in a cross, and it is this cross that will lead us to salvation and eternal life. There is no other way.

As St. Francis told us, Jesus "lovingly embraced it and tenderly kissed it" because he knew the Cross would lead to life and salvation for the entire world. The Cross, which was an instrument of cruel torture and death, has become to the followers of Christ the ultimate symbol of love. It is the road to total happiness and peace. But if Jesus had refused to carry His Cross, none of us could be saved. The Cross only had the power to save because our Lord willingly and even joyfully carried it to Calvary.

If we willingly and joyfully pick up our Cross, it will lead us on the path of salvation. If we refuse it, we will put ourselves on the path to eternal death. The choice is ours, and it is one we must make every day and every moment of our lives.

O my Jesus, I cannot be Thy friend and follower, 

if I refuse to carry the cross. 

O dearly beloved cross! 

I embrace thee, I kiss thee, 

I joyfully accept thee from the hands of my God. 

Far be it from me to glory in anything, 

save in the cross of my Lord and Redeemer. 

By it the world shall be crucified to me and I to the world, 

that I may be Thine forever.

Meditation on the First Station of the Cross: Christ is Condemned

Pilate Condemns Jesus

A main focal point of the season of Lent is the Passion of our Lord. Many if not most Catholic churches have the Stations of the Cross every Friday during Lent. I personally think it would be a good thing to do this during the rest of the year as well to remind people that Friday is a penitential day both during and outside of Lent, but I'll leave that discussion for another time.

I am going to try to do a mediation on each Station of the Cross during this Lenten season. I emphasize the word try because I don't know if I'll actually make it.

Jesus Before Herod
Artist:  James Tissot, French, 1836-1902

The first Station of the Cross is the condemnation of Jesus. Jesus was arrested on what we now call Holy Thursday. He was whipped and beaten that night for no apparent reason other than the enjoyment of his captors. He was first brought to the Jewish Council and the High Priest who held an illegal, mock trial. They then dragged Jesus over to Pilate who declared. "I find nothing criminal about this man." When Pilate found out Jesus was a Galilean, he sent him over to Herod, who was in charge of Galilee. Herod basically played with Jesus, asking him ridiculous questions while Jesus stood in front of him completely silent. "And Herod with his soldiers, after treating Him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate.  Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other."  (Luke 23:11-12).

Now Jesus stood once more before Pilate who had to make a decision. Pilate had been warned by his wife, who had had a vivid dream, to have nothing to do with "this righteous man." So Pilate comes up with the brilliant solution that if he just "punishes" Jesus, that will satisfy the bloodthirsty crowds, and then he will be able to let Jesus go free and "nobody will get hurt". It never occurs to Pilate that there is anything wrong with scourging a completely innocent man.

Jesus is then handed over to the Roman scourgers who made scourging into an art. They beat and whip Jesus so mercilessly that he was barely alive and barely recognizable as a human being when they were done. Pilate then took Jesus, mutilated and bleeding, before the crowd and announced, "Ecce Homo", which means "Behold the Man." This not only did not satisfy the crowd, it incensed them more and they cried all the louder, "Crucify Him, Crucify Him!"

Barabbas

Pilate was now scared because he knew Jesus was a completely innocent man, and he knew that he was no ordinary man. He wanted nothing to do with this. But he also did not want a riot on his hands. At one point he gave the crowd a choice between freeing Barabbas, who was a revolutionary who tried to overthrow the government, and releasing Jesus. The crowd called for Barabbas. Interestingly, Barabbas means "son of the fathers."

Pilate finally gave into the crowd and took the coward's way out, literally washing his hands of the matter, and then handing Jesus over to be crucified.

Each of us starts our spiritual journey at baptism as the reverse image of our Lord. We stand before God and acknowledge that we have sinned and are guilty and deserving of death. That is when Christ steps in and stands before God, just as he did before Pilate, and our sin and guilt is transferred to Him. Barabbas was the symbol for all of us. We, like Barabbas, were the "son of the father" as Christ told the Pharisees in John 8:44:

“You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

There was never a more innocent human being in the entire world than Jesus Christ. Every word and act in his life was one of total love for others. The words "self defense" did not exist in Jesus' vocabulary. He never fought back against anyone who maligned him personally. The only time Jesus fought was on behalf of others and to save souls. It was total Innocence that took on Barabbas' guilt, allowing him to go free, and it is total Innocence that takes on our guilt and frees us from enslavement to the the devil.

Romans 8:1-3:

There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh.

We were all Dead Men Walking, but our Lord took our condemnation upon Himself. When He stood before Pilate, He was laden down with our sin, beaten and scourged for us, as Isaiah 53:5 says:

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.

Barabbas wasn't the only one who symbolized our guilt. Every time we deliberately sin, we are putting ourselves in the place of Pilate and in place of the crowds crying out for Jesus to be crucified. Our sins once more condemn our Savior to the Cross. We, like Pilate, can try to wash our hands and walk away, but like Pilate, our guilt will follow us. We must acknowledge our guilt. Only then will Christ be able to truly cleanse us.

When we meditate on this first Station of the Cross and think of Christ standing before Pilate who condemns Him to death, we must remember that Jesus, who was totally innocent, was condemned in our place and for our sins. From the Way of the Cross by St. Francis of Assisi:

O innocent Jesus, 

I have sinned and I am guilty of eternal death; 

but that I may Live, 

Thou dost gladly accept the unjust sentence of death. 

For whom then shall I henceforth live 

if not for Thee, my Lord? 

If I desire to please men, 

I can not be Thy servant. 

Let me, therefore, rather displease the whole world 

than not please Thee, O Jesus!

Lent: Learning To Die Daily

Credit:  cvsfkuantan.blogspot.com 

Today, Ash Wednesday, marks the beginning of the holiest, most solemn time in the liturgical year of the Church. This is a time when we should all be going on a spiritual and mental retreat from our worldly pursuits as much as possible as we mirror our Lord who, after being baptized by John the Baptist and before officially beginning His ministry, went into the desert for 40 days of prayer and fasting.
Did our Lord really need to spiritually fortify Himself against the snares and temptations of the devil as we mortal beings do? Hardly. Although Jesus could feel the same temptations we endure - He experienced the same pain and sorrow and pulls of the flesh - He was not capable of sinning. Everything He did in His Life was done as an example for us, His followers, marking the path we should follow. By going into the desert, Our Lord showed us that we must separate ourselves from the world as much as possible and draw close to God. To this end, the Church set apart 40 days prior to the Holiest Day of the Year - Good Friday - to get into the practice of saying no to our wants and desires. Venerable Bishop Fulton Sheen explained it very well. From A Christian Pilgrim:

Lenten practices of giving up pleasures are good reminders that the purpose of life is not pleasure. The purpose of life is to attain to perfect life, all truth and undying ecstatic love – which is the definition of God. In pursuing that goal we find happiness. Pleasure is not the purpose of anything; pleasure is a by-product resulting from doing something that is good. One of the best ways to get happiness and pleasure out of life is to ask ourselves, “How can I please God?” and, “Why am I not better?” It is the pleasure-seeker who is bored, for all pleasures diminish with repetition.

 Lent is about sacrifice as Bishop Sheen said:

“Unless the grain of wheat falling to the ground die, itself remaineth alone.” The power to find life through death makes the seed nobler than the diamond. In falling to the ground it loses its outer envelope which is restraining the life within it. But one this outer skin dies in the ground, then life pushes forth into the blade.

So too, unless we die to the world with its vices and its concupiscences, we shall not spring forth into life everlasting. If we are to live a higher life, we must die to the lower life; if we live in the lower life of this world, we die to a higher life, which is Christ. To put the whole law in the beautiful paradox of Our Divine Lord: If we wish to save our life, we must lose it.

I would be lying if I said I look forward to Lent, that it is something I enjoy. Lent is like spiritual boot camp. The soldiers in boot camp are forced to go beyond what they think is their physical ability to endure. They push their bodies to the extreme because they are being made ready for war, and if they are not physically and mentally ready, it could literally mean the difference between life and death. There is nothing fun about boot camp.
But as Christians, we must go far beyond anything a soldier must endure in preparing for war. We must actually die to ourselves. Colossians 3:5 tells us: "Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry." This is what Lent is all about: overcoming and putting to death the sin that is within each one of us. We cannot win the spiritual war for our souls if we allow sin to dwell in our minds and bodies. The question is, how do we do eradicate sin? How is it possible to say no to our desires and wants? Unlike the soldiers in a military boot camp, we don't have to do this using just our own strength and fortitude. In fact, by ourselves we cannot overcome the sin that dwells within. We can't even begin this journey until we have been given the saving grace of God through baptism and the other sacraments, and we can't finish this journey without the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and the graces offered to us through the sacraments on a continual basis throughout our physical lives.

The Christian life means opening ourselves up to the Saving Grace of the Trinity, just as Mary, our Blessed Mother, did. We must follow her lead in saying yes to the Holy Spirit. She never argued, she never looked for excuses or another way of doing things. She completely trusted in God in whatever He asked of her. This is how we "put to death" the "sin that does so easily beset us", as described in Hebrews 12:1. This is what Bishop Sheen told us:

If we are to live for Christ, we must “die daily”. Lent is an ideal time to think about our own death. A happy death is a masterpiece and no masterpiece is ever perfected in a day. Dubois spent seven years in making the wax model for his celebrated statue of Joan of Arc – and it stands today as a ravishing perfection of the sculptor’s art. In like manner our death must appear as a ravishing perfection of the many years of labor we have given over to its mold by dying daily.

The greatest reason we fear death is because we have never prepared for it. Most of us die only once – WHEN WE SHOULD HAVE DIED A THOUSAND TIMES – yes, even daily. Death is a terrible thing for one who dies only when he dies; but it is a beautiful thing for him who dies before he dies.

Lent means dying before we die.  Remember what Our Lord told us:  "He that findeth his life, shall lose it: and he that shall lose his life for me, shall find it."  (Matt. 10:39)

Go into the desert with our Lord during this Lenten season. Turn off the world as much as you are able. Go to confession, spend time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, do some spiritual reading, pray and fast, give of your time and treasure to others. These are all ways of saying Yes to God and no to yourself. These are the ways in which we die to ourselves so that, as Venerable Bishop Sheen told us, when we come to the end of our physical lives, we will have already died to ourselves so often that physical death will not be our enemy but merely the culmination of our struggle on earth.

Credit:  blog.beafranciscan.org

Pope Benedict XVI Stepping Down on February 28

I woke up to unbelievable news this morning. Pope Benedict XVI is stepping down as Pope on February 28. He has mentioned in the past that he might do this, so we shouldn't be taken totally by surprised.

From  economictimes.indiatimes.com:

Pope Benedict XVI on Monday announced he will resign on February 28, a Vatican spokesman said.

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI announced on Monday he would resign Feb. 28, the first pontiff to do so in nearly 600 years. The decision sets the stage for a conclave to elect a new pope before the end of March. 

The 85-year-old pope announced his decision in Latin during a meeting of Vatican cardinals Monday morning.

``After having repeatedly examined my conscience before God, I have come to the certainty that my strengths due to an advanced age are no longer suited to an adequate exercise of the Petrine ministry,'' he told the cardinals. ``I am well aware that this ministry, due to its essential spiriual nature, must be carried out not only by words and deeds but no less with prayer and suffering. 

However, in today's world, subject to so many rapid changes and shaken by questions of deep relevance for the life of faith, in order to govern the bark of St. Peter and proclaim the Gospel, both strength of mind and body are necessary _ strengths which in the last few months, has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognize my incapacity to adequately the ministry entrusted to me.'' 

The last pope to resign was Pope Gregory XII, who stepped down in 1415 in a deal to end the Great Western Schism among competing papal claimants. 

Benedict called his choice ``a decision of great importance for the life of the church.'' 

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a conclave to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed. 

There are several papal contenders in the wings, but no obvious front-runner as was the case when Benedict was elected pontiff in 2005 after the death of Pope John Paul II.

I have great affection, admiration and respect for our Holy Father, and I have no doubt that he made this decision after much prayer.  It seems to me that he wants very much to be part of the election of his successor.  This would also seem to point to the gravity of the times in which we live in that the Holy Father feels that the one who sits in the Chair of Peter must have both strength of mind and body to deal with all of the challenges facing the Catholic church today.

For whatever it's worth, and that is basically nothing, I am pulling for Cardinal Raymond Burke as our next Holy Father.  

Cardinal Raymond Burke

A Plea to All Catholics

Our Lady of Victory, Manhattan

I work on Wall Street in Manhattan.  Yes, it's that Wall Street.  I'm about a block away from the Stock Exchange and a couple of blocks from the Federal Reserve.  This area is not exactly a bastion of spirituality and Christian belief and practice.  But our Lord never leaves us desolate and abandoned, and Wall Street is no exception.  He has put a wonderful Catholic church, Our Lady of Victory, around the corner from my office.  This is a fairly new church by New York standards, having been built during World War II, thus the name "Our Lady of Victory."  The Church was founded by the great Francis Cardinal Spellman.  To this day, there is still a tradition in the church of praying for our military.

The main altar in our Lady of Victory

Our Lady of Victory is a very active church, with six daily Masses starting at 7:15 a.m. and the last one is offered at 5:15 p.m. (they have the main upper Church and also a chapel in the basement).  The Rosary is recited every day after the 8:20 a.m. Mass.  There are daily novenas after the noon Mass.  On Holy Days of Obligation they offer 21 Masses.  The Sacrament of Confession is offered three times every day (at 8:00 a.m., noon and 5:00 p.m.)   There is Eucharistic Adoration every day from 1:00 to 5:15.  They estimate that 22,000 people receive ashes there on Ash Wednesday.  I am very much looking forward to Lent because they are going to be offering talks on Vatican II every Thursday during lunch hour.

I try to go there as often as I can for Adoration.  And there is usually a fair amount of people there.  It really is inspiring to see high power businessmen kneeling in the pews and praying the Rosary.

But there is one thing that I find very upsetting at Our Lady of Victory and which, unfortunately, I find at far too many Catholic Churches.  It is the lack of reverence shown to our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.  I was always taught that we must genuflect before the Tabernacle as a sign of reverence because the Lord and Creator of the Universe resides there.  And when the Blessed Sacrament is actually exposed, if you are physically able you should get down on both knees when getting in and out of the pews and whenever passing in front of the exposed Blessed Sacrament.

The Exposed Blessed Sacrament
Credit:  St. Hugh of Cluny Society

I would estimate that at least 95% of the people I see in Church never show any sign of reverence to the Blessed Sacrament.  They walk in and out of the Church as if it was any other building.  Some will give a slight bow of the head, but rarely more than that and sadly, that includes the priests.

This past week I found myself becoming very agitated when a man, after helping out at Benediction, held an animated conversation with a woman in the front pew.  He stood with his back to the Blessed Sacrament, touching and hugging the woman with whom he was talking, disturbing the rest of us who were trying to pray and worst of all, completely ignoring and disrespecting his Creator and Savior who was right in back of him.   When he finally finished his conversation, he passed in front of the Blessed Sacrament and gave a barely perceptible nod of his head.

Often I will see people walk into the Church during Adoration, completely ignore our Lord and walk up to the statue of our Blessed Mother.  I have no problem at all with giving reverence to our Blessed Mother, but to ignore Her Son for any reason, even if it is to give reverence to her, is the greatest insult you can give Our Lady.

Almost no one genuflects or kneels on entering or leaving the pews.

I would implore all Catholics to think about what they are doing.  Remember that the Blessed Sacrament is not just a piece of bread on the altar, but the One who gives us every breath we breathe, the one who formed us in the womb and causes our heart to beat, the one who created the universe and everything in it.  This is the same One who allowed Himself to be whipped and beaten on our behalf, who took up His Cross and carried it on Calvary, who allowed men to pound nails into His Sacred Body and who poured out His Precious Blood so that our sins could be forgiven and we could spend all eternity with Him.

We see only a white piece of bread with our eyes, but the reality is that in the Blessed Sacrament our Lord is with us in all of his great glory and majesty.  He who is more powerful than all of creation, more brilliant than the brightest star, who is perfect goodness and love, has come down to us under the appearance of bread so that we can spend intimate time in His Presence.  And He is not alone on the altar.  The angels and saints bow continuously before Him, crying out "Holy, Holy, Holy,"

St. John the Apostle was transported to the Heavenly Throne of Christ in a vision, and this is how he describes it (Revelation 1:12-17):

12 When I turned to see who was speaking to me, I saw seven gold lampstands. 13 There with the lampstands was someone who seemed to be the Son of Man. He was wearing a robe that reached down to his feet, and a gold cloth was wrapped around his chest. 14 His head and his hair were white as wool or snow, and his eyes looked like flames of fire.15 His feet were glowing like bronze being heated in a furnace, and his voice sounded like the roar of a waterfall. 16 He held seven stars in his right hand, and a sharp double-edged sword was coming from his mouth. His face was shining as bright as the sun at noon.  17 When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person.

Credit:  mudpreacher.org

Notice the last verse:  "When I saw him, I fell at his feet like a dead person."  To be in the glorified presence of our Lord and Savior was so overwhelming that St. John passed out as if dead.  If we could see past the veil of the appearance of bread in the Blessed Sacrament, we too would be as overwhelmed as St. John was.

Because Our Lord has such a great desire to be intimately with us, He humbles and veils himself under the appearance of a small piece of white bread.  We enter into the Presence of the Blessed Sacrament with our faith, seeing Him not with our physical eyes but in a spiritual sense.  Our physical demeanor in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament has a direct effect on our belief and obedience to our Lord.  "Lex orendi, lex credendi" means how we pray is how we believe.  Prayer is not just the words we use but involves our whole being, and part of prayer is our bodily expression.  If we want to cultivate a true reverence for our Lord and Savior, we must manifest this in our outward appearance.

Physically genuflecting and kneeling in front of the Blessed Sacrament will actually help you grow in holiness and in love of Jesus Christ.  And don't we owe Him at least this much for the very fact that He, as Creator, has given us our physical existence and then poured out His Precious Blood on the Cross so that we may inherit eternal life with Him as well?

Please show the proper respect when entering into the presence of the Lord.  He has humbled Himself to come to us under the appearance of bread.  The least we can do is bend our knees in reverence and respect to Our Creator and Savior.

Credit:  www.hrsl.org