The 12th Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross
“Behold Jesus crucified! Behold His wounds received for love of you! His whole appearance betokens love. His head is bent to kiss you. His arms are extended to embrace you. His heart is open to receive you. Oh what love! Jesus dies on the Cross, to preserve you from eternal death.” –St. Francis of Assisi The 13th Station: Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross The body of Jesus is taken down from the Cross and placed in the arms of His mother. Jesus proved that He has power over life and death by raising Lazarus from the dead. Instead of taking Himself off of the cross, He must be lifted from it by one of His disciples. In the midst of suffering and affliction, we must pray that we may persevere until the end. If Jesus Christ, the Son of God, prayed to the point of sweating blood, how much more do we need to pray. The 14th Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb In the Rite of Burial, the Church prays, “Lord Jesus Christ, by your own three days in the tomb, you hallowed the graves of all who believe in you and so made the grave a sign of hope that promises resurrection.” As we keep vigil before the empty tabernacle from the crucifixion on Good Friday until Easter Sunday, and as we keep vigil before the graves of our loved ones, let us remember the vigil that the disciples kept during those three dark days, and thank God that He has given us the hope of resurrection. The Resurrection of Our Lord (To be prayed on Easter Sunday) Today we approach the tomb of Jesus with the women and the disciples, we see the stone rolled back and the burial clothes rolled up. Pope St. John Paul II wrote of this moment, “The empty tomb is the sign of the definitive victory of truth over falsehood, of good over evil, of mercy over sin, of life over death. The empty tomb is the sign of the hope which 'does not deceive' (Rom 5:5). '[Our] hope is full of immortality' (cf. Wis 3:4).” Lord God almighty, you have prepared us for this Easter Sunday by the self denial of Lent, as we celebrate today look upon us in Your mercy shine the light of Your Presence upon us, enlighten us with Your Truth, and fill us with the Life of the Spirit, that we may see your presence among us as clearly as the Apostles saw you in the upper room. Through Christ our Lord. Amen. The second chapter of Equipped is “The Blueprint.” Most of the chapter is taken up with a summary of what we’ll see in the rest of the book, but it starts off with a brief explanation. It says that the book is modeled after a home, with the chapters being the walls, roof, and floor of the home. They chose to do this because the home is the Domestic Church. This is a term taken from the 2nd Vatican Council, from the document Lumen Gentium. Lumen Gentium has this to say about the family:
"Finally, Christian spouses, in virtue of the sacrament of Matrimony, whereby they signify and partake of the mystery of that unity and fruitful love which exists between Christ and His Church, help each other to attain to holiness in their married life and in the rearing and education of their children. By reason of their state and rank in life they have their own special gift among the people of God. From the wedlock of Christians there comes the family, in which new citizens of human society are born, who by the grace of the Holy Spirit received in baptism are made children of God, thus perpetuating the people of God through the centuries. The family is, so to speak, the domestic church. In it parents should, by their word and example, be the first preachers of the faith to their children; they should encourage them in the vocation which is proper to each of them, fostering with special care vocation to a sacred state (LG 11)." Married people have a special calling, or mission, from God, which they agree to when they make their vows before God. That mission is to help their family to get to heaven by growing in holiness, by loving one another sacrificially, and by raising their children in the faith. It says that parents should be “the first preachers of the faith to their children,” by word and example. Notice that it doesn’t say that the Church, or the priest, or the religion teacher is the first preacher of the faith, it says the parents are. Parents have a unique role and relationship with their children. We learn about what is truly important in life from our parents. Every child, as they grow into an adult, has to choose for themselves what is going to be most important in their life and whether to live the faith or not, but what you say to them, and more importantly what you show them, can prepare them to make those decisions. If they look at your life and how you spend your time will they see that your relationship with God is very important, or not very important at all? ![]()
Fr. Bryan Howard
3rd Sunday in Lent – Year B – 4 March 2018 Actions speak louder than words. Put your money where your mouth is. All that glitters is not gold. These are all ways of saying that sometimes, what something appears to be, isn’t what it really is. We value honesty and integrity because, when someone lives their life by those principles, you always know what you’re going to get. They’re consistent and dependable. This is true in our families. Children need to know that the rules aren’t going to change from one day to the next, and spouses need to be able to rely on one another. It’s true in friendships. A faithful friend is one that you can count one to be there when you need them. It’s true in business. When you get a reputation for being unreliable, then only unreliable people will do business with you. So, it shouldn’t be surprising that it’s also true in the spiritual life. Many people say that they’re spiritual or religious, but they don’t put in the work to grow in the spiritual virtues, faith, hope, charity, temperance, justice, prudence, and courage. Our first reading is the Ten Commandment, which is the basic guide to the spiritual life, to strengthening your relationship with God. Everything else, the beatitudes, the virtue, the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit, builds on this foundation. That’s why we make children memorize the 10 Commandments, but we need to keep going back to them. It’s like basketball. You need to start with the fundamentals, with dribbling, shooting, and passing, in order to get anywhere. Eventually, you’ll get to more advanced plays and strategies, but if you forget the fundamental everything else is useless. When we teach the 10 Commandments, especially in the teenage years, we get lots of questions like, “Is this okay? Is that a sin? What about this?” Always trying to push the boundaries, to know how far they can go before it becomes a sin. We do this as adults too, we’re just better and sneakier about it. We’re very good at justifying the things that we want, at twisting the law just enough, or convincing ourselves that it’s really not so bad. This is what’s happening in the cleansing of the Temple in today’s Gospel. All Israelites were required to offer sacrifice in the Temple twice a year, but some of them lived a long way away, and it was difficult to bring sheep and cattle all the way there. So, in the book of Deuteronomy Moses gave them permission to sell the animals, bring the money to Jerusalem, and then buy animals there to sacrifice in the Temple. By the time of Jesus, however, the chief priests’ family was in charge of selling these animals, so he made a law that you can’t use Roman coins to buy sacrificial animals. You could only use Temple coins, and you can only get Temple coins by going to the money changers in the Temple. They charged a large fee to change your money. This was not specifically against any law, but it was basically theft. Christ, outraged that they’re using His Father’s House, the Temple, to enrich themselves, makes a whip out of cords and drives out the animals, overturns the money changes tables, and tells them, “Stop making my Father’s House a marketplace.” Instead of asking ourselves, “How can I get away with doing what I want?” We should be asking, “Is what I want really good?” Remember, God can look into the heart. It’s not enough to follow the letter of the law, we also have to have good intentions. Do we want to grow in holiness? Do we want to grow closer to God? Do we want to be better neighbors to one another? This is not about rules and regulations. It’s about relationships. During this coming week, look through the Ten Commandments again, and really think about them. The first three are about our relationship with God. Do I put God first in my life, or do I put other things ahead of Him? Have I made something else more important than God? Do I take the name of the Lord in vain? Remember, most other sins that we commit indirectly offend God, but when we use His name to curse, we directly insult God. Do I keep Holy the Sabbath? Do I go to Mass on Sunday? Do I use Sunday to focus on God and family instead of work? The last seven commandments are about our relationships with one another. Do I honor my father and mother? Do I wish harm on others? Am I faithful to my spouse? Or, if I’m not married, to my future spouse? Do I steal? Do I lie? Do I covet my neighbor’s spouse or goods? Do I focus on everyone else’s blessings in life instead of my own blessings? Am I ungrateful? Remember that God’s mercy is always available in the Sacrament of Confession. This week confession is available at every Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans from 5:00 pm to 6:30 pm. Our mission preacher, Fr. Kurt, will also be available after the Mission on Wednesday night to hear confessions. Stations of the Cross, part 2
The 6th Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus The name “Veronica” literally means “true image,” we do not know Veronica's true name, for she was named for the gift that Christ gave her, his Divine Image imprinted on her veil. We can also do a service of mercy for Christ. Whenever we do it for the least of His brethren, the poor, weak, and suffering, then Christ will imprint His Image, not on a piece of cloth, but on our very souls. The 7th Station: Jesus Falls a Second Time This second fall of Jesus speaks to us of how we fall into sin again and again. Christ was able to get up, pick up His cross, and continue. By getting up again, Christ gives us the strength to get up again. By ourselves, we are not strong enough to get up again, we get discouraged and disillusioned, but Jesus tells us, “My grace is sufficient for you.” The 8th Station: Jesus Speaks to the Holy Women He tells the women not to weep for Him, but for themselves and for their children; He tells them to weep for their sins, because they “did not recognize the time of their visitation.” What about us, do we recognize the time of our visitation, do we hear the voice of God speaking in our hearts? Now is the time for us to weep for our sins, to repent, and to return to the Lord. The 9th Station: Jesus Falls the Third Time “Exhausted at the foot of Calvary, Jesus falls for the third time to the ground. How painfully must have been reopened all the wounds of His tender body by these repeated falls. And how enormous must my sins be, to cause Jesus to fall so painfully. Had not Jesus taken my sins upon Himself, they would have plunged me into the abyss of Hell.” –St. Francis of Assisi The 10th Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments Imagine the pain of Jesus as His blood-soaked garments are torn from His body and His wounds once again reopened. Let us remember that pain when we shy away from the confessional for fear reopening our own spiritual wounds of sin. In His great love for us, Jesus received the wounds to His body that He might heal the wounds to our souls. The 11th Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross Jesus' agony is only intensified as large nails are driven through His hands and His feet. As the cross is lifted He must fight even to take a breath. As He lifts Himself to fill His lungs the nails tear at the nerve endings in His hands and feet. Getting enough air to speak is especially difficult, but Jesus speaks 7 times from the cross. However, as great as this suffering is, Jesus' love for you and me is even greater, and, as He is lifted up, it is this love that draws us to Him. |
AuthorFr. Bryan was pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes from July 3, 2017 to June 2022. Categories
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