Day 53, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Tuesday in Passion Week, March 24

"God does not force man to duty; He acts, and then leaves man to recognize his Creator's claims. In order to do this, man must be attentive and humble. 
He must impose silence on his passions. The divine light shows itself to the soul that thus comports herself."




Tuesday in Passion Week

Gospel John 7:1-13

At that time Jesus walked in Galilee, for He would not walk in Judea, because the Jews sought to kill Him. Now the Jews feast of Tabernacles was at hand. And His brethren said to Him: Pass from hence and go into Judea, that Thy disciples also may see Thy works which Thou dost. For there is no man that doth anything in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly: if Thou do these things, manifest Thyself to the world. For neither did His brethren believe in Him.

Then Jesus said to them: My time is not yet come; but your time is always ready. The world cannot hate you: but Me it hateth, because I give testimony of it, that the works thereof are evil. Go you up to this festival day, but I go not up to this festival day; because My time is not accomplished. When He had said these things, He Himself stayed in Galilee. But after His brethren were gone up, then He also went up to the feast not openly, but, as it were, in secret.

The Jews therefore sought Him on the festival day, and said: Where is He? And there was much murmuring among the multitude concerning Him. For some said: He is a good man. And others said: No, but He seduceth the people. Yet no man spoke openly of Him, for fear of the Jews.

Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year, Passiontide and Holy Week

We learn from these words of St. John, that the Jews were plotting the death of Jesus, not only when this the last Pasch for the Synagogue was approaching, but even so far back as the Feast of Tabernacles, which was kept in September. The Son of God was reduced to the necessity of going from place to place as it were in secret: if he would go to Jerusalem, he must take precautions! Let us adore these humiliations of the Man-God, who has deigned to sanctify every position of life, even that of the just man persecuted and obliged to hide himself from his enemies.

It would have been an easy matter for him to confound his adversaries by working miracles, such as those which Herod's curiosity sought; he could have compelled them to treat him with the reverence that was due to him. But this is not God's way; he does not force man to duty; he acts, and then leaves man to recognize his Creator's claims. In order to do this, man must be attentive and humble, he must impose silence on his passions. The divine light shows itself to the soul that thus comports herself. First, she sees the actions, the works, of God; then, she believes, and wishes to believe; her happiness, as well as her merit, lies in Faith, and faith will be recompensed in eternity with Light, — with the Vision. Flesh and blood cannot understand this; they love show and noise.

The Son of God, having come down upon this earth, could not subject himself to such an abasement as that of making a parade of his infinite power before men. He had to work miracles, in order to give a guarantee of his mission; but, as Man, everything he did was not to be a miracle. By far the longest period of his life was devoted to the humble duties of a creature; had it not been so, how should we have learned from him what we so much needed to know?

His Brethren, (the Jews gave the name of Brothers to all who were collaterally related,) his Brethren wished Jesus to make a display of his miraculous power, for some of the glory would have accrued to them. This their ambition caused our Lord to address them in these strong words, upon which we should meditate during this holy season, for, later on, we shall stand in need of the teaching: "The world cannot hate you; but me it hateth." Let us, therefore, for the time to come, not please the world; its friendship would separate us from Jesus Christ.

Day 52, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Monday of Passion Week, March 23

Monday of Passion Week

GOSPEL FOR MONDAY OF PASSION WEEK: John Ch. VII

At that time: The rulers and Pharisees sent ministers to apprehend Jesus. Jesus therefore said to them: Yet a little while I am with you: and then I go to him that sent me. You shall seek me, and shall not find me: and where I am, thither you cannot come. The Jews, therefore, said among themselves: Whither will he go, that we shall not find him? Will he go to the dispersed among the Gentiles, and teach the Gentiles? What is this saying that he hath said: You shall seek me, and shall not find me; and where I am, you cannot come? And on the last and great day of the festival, Jesus stood and cried, saying: If any man thirst, let him come to me, and drink. He that believeth in me, as the Scripture saith, “Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water." Now this he said of the Spirit which they should receive who believed in him.

Dom Gueranger Meditation on the Gospel from The Liturgical Year

The enemies of Jesus sought to stone him to death, as we were told in yesterday's Gospel; to-day they are bent on making him a prisoner, and send soldiers to seize him. This time, Jesus does not hide himself; but how awful are the words he speaks: “Go to Him that sent me: you shall seek me, and shall not find me!” The sinner, then, who has long abused the grace of God, may have his ingratitude and con tempt punished in this just, but terrific way, — that he shall not be able to find the Jesus he has despised: he shall seek, and shall not find. Antiochus, when humbled under the hand of God, prayed, yet obtained not mercy. After the Death and Resurrection of Jesus, whilst the Church was casting her roots in the world, the Jews, who had crucified the Just One, were seeking the Messias in each of the many impostors, who were then rising up in Judea, and fomenting rebellions, which led to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Surrounded on all sides by the Roman legions, with their temple and palaces a prey to flames, they sent up their cries to heaven, and besought the God of their fathers to send, as he had promised, the Deliverer! It never occurred to them, that this Deliverer had shown himself to their fathers, to many even of themselves; that they had put him to death, and that the Apostles had already carried his name to the ends of the earth. They went on looking for him, even to the very day when the deicide city fell, burying beneath its ruins them that the sword had spared. Had they been asked, what it was they were awaiting, they would have replied, that they were expecting their Messias! He had come, and gone. You shall seek me, and shall not find me!

Let them, too, think of these terrible words of Jesus, who intend to neglect the graces offered them during this Easter. Let us pray, let us make intercession for them, lest they fall into that it is too late to find aught save an inexorable Justice. But, what consoling thoughts are suggested by the concluding words of our Gospel!

Faithful souls, and you that have repented! Listen to what your Jesus says, for it is to you that he speaks: If any man thirst, let him come to me and drink. Remember the prayer of the Samaritan woman: Give me, 0 Lord, to drink of this water! This water is divine grace: come, and drink your fill at the fountains of your Saviour, as the Prophet Isaias bids you. This water gives purity to the soul that is defiled, strength to them that are weak, and love to them that have no fervour. Nay, our Saviour assures us, that he who believes in Him, shall himself become as a fountain of living water, for the Holy Ghost will come upon him, and this soul shall pour out upon others of the fullness that she herself has received. With what joy must not the Catechumen have listened to these words, which promised him that his thirst should soon be quenched at the holy Font! Jesus has made himself everything to the world he has come to save: Light to guide us, Bread to nourish us, a Vine to gladden our hearts with its fruit, and, lastly, a Fountain of Living Water to quench our thirst.

Day 51, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, Passion Sunday, March 22

Passion Sunday

The Jews therefore said: "Now we know that thou hast a devil. Abraham is dead, and the prophets: and thou sayest: If any man keep my word, he shall not taste death for ever. Art thou greater than our father Abraham who is dead? And the prophets are dead. Whom dost thou make thyself?"

Jesus answered: "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing. It is my Father that glorifieth me, of whom you say that he is your God. And you have not known him: but I know him. And if I shall say that I know him not, I shall be like to 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 therefore said to him: "Thou art not yet fifty years old. And hast thou 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 hid himself and went out of the temple. (John 8:52-59)

Everything around us urges us to mourn. The images of the Saints, the very crucifix on our Altar, are veiled from our sight. The Church is oppressed with grief. During the first four weeks of Lent, she compassionated her Jesus fasting in the desert; his coming Sufferings and Crucifixion and Death are what now fill her with anguish. We read in today’s Gospel, that the Jews threaten to stone the Son of God as a blasphemer: but his hour is not yet come. He is obliged to flee and hide himself. It is to express this deep humiliation, that the Church veils the Cross. 

A God hiding Himself, that he may evade the anger of men, what a mystery! Is it weakness? Is it, that he fears death? No, we shall soon see Him going out to meet His enemies: but, at present, He hides Himself from them, because all that had been prophesied regarding Him has not been fulfilled. Besides, His death is not to be by stoning; He is to die upon a Cross, the tree of malediction, which, from that time forward, is to be the Tree of Life. Let us humble ourselves, as we see the Creator of heaven and earth thus obliged to hide Himself from men, who are bent on His destruction! 

Let us go back, in thought, to the sad day of the first sin, when Adam and Eve hid themselves because a guilty conscience told them they were naked. Jesus is come to assure us of our being pardoned! and lo! He hides Himself, not because He is naked, He that is to the Saints the garb of holiness and immortality, but because He made Himself weak, that He might make us strong. Our First Parents sought to hide themselves from the sight of God; Jesus hides himself from the eye of men; but it will not be thus for ever. The day will come, when sinners, from whose anger He now flees, will pray to the mountains that they fall on them to shield them from His gaze; but their prayer will not be granted, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with much power and majesty (St. Matth. xxiv. 30).

This Sunday is called Passion Sunday, because the Church begins, on this day, to make the Sufferings of our Redeemer her chief thought. It is called also, Judica, from the first word of the Introit of the Mass; and again, Neomania, that is, the Sunday of the new (or, the Easter) moon, because it always falls after the new moon which regulates the Feast of Easter Day. ~ Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year for Passion Sunday

Day 50, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Saturday March 21

 O all ye that pass by the way, attend, and see if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow (Lamentations 1:12)

Is there one who would not weep,

whelmed in miseries so deep,

Christ's dear Mother to behold?

Day 49, JOYFUL MYSTERIES, Friday March 20

Fifth Joyful Mysteries ~ Finding Jesus in the Temple

From Dom Gueranger, Liturgical Year for Feast of the Holy Family

Sequel of the holy Gospel according to Luke.

Ch. 2.

When Jesus was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast; and having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the Child Jesus remained in Jerusalem, and His parents knew it not. And thinking that He was in the company, they came a day's journey, and sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And not finding Him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking Him. And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them, and asking them questions. And all that heard Him were astonished at His wisdom and His answers. And seeing Him, they wondered. And His Mother said to Him: Son, why hast Thou done so to us? Behold Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrowing. And He said to them: How is it that you sought Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business? And they understood not the word that He spoke unto them. And He went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them. And His Mother kept all these words in her heart. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and age, and grace with God and men.

Thus, O Jesus!-----didst Thou come down from Heaven to teach us. The tender age of Childhood, which Thou didst take upon Thyself, is no hindrance to the ardour of Thy desire that we should know the one only God, Who made all things, and Thee, His Son, Whom He sent to us. When laid in the Crib, Thou didst instruct the Shepherds by a mere look; when swathed in Thy humble swaddling-clothes, and subjected to the voluntary silence thou hadst imposed on Thyself, Thou didst reveal to the Magi the light they sought in following the star. When twelve years old, Thou explainest to the Doctors of Israel the Scriptures which bear testimony to Thee. Thou gradually dispellest the shadows of the Law by Thy presence and Thy words. In order to fulfill the commands of Thy heavenly Father, Thou dost not hesitate to occasion sorrow to the heart of Thy Mother, by thus going in quest of souls that need enlightening. Thy love of man will pierce that tender Heart of Mary with a still sharper sword, when she shall behold Thee hanging on the Cross, and expiring in the midst of cruelest pain. Blessed be Thou, sweet Jesus, in these first Mysteries of Thine Infancy, wherein Thou already showest Thyself devoted to us, and leavest the company of Thy Blessed Mother for that of sinful men, who will one day conspire thy Death.

Day 48, GLORIOUS MYSTERIES, FEAST OF ST. JOSEPH, Thursday March 19

Quemadmodum Deus

Bl. Pius IX

December 8, 1870, The Sacred Congregation of Rites

As almighty God appointed Joseph, son of the patriarch Jacob, over all the land of Egypt to save grain for the people, so when the fullness of time had come and He was about to send to earth His only-begotten Son, the Savior of the world, He chose another Joseph, of whom the first had been the type, and He made him the lord and chief of His household and possessions, the guardian of His choicest treasures.

Indeed, he had as his spouse the Immaculate Virgin Mary, of whom was born by the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ our Lord, who deigned to be reputed in the sight of men as the son of Joseph, and was subject to him.

Him whom countless kings and prophets had desired to see, Joseph not only saw but conversed with, and embraced in paternal affection, and kissed. He most diligently reared Him whom the faithful were to receive as the bread that came down from heaven whereby they might obtain eternal life.

Because of this sublime dignity which God conferred on his most faithful servant, the Church has always most highly honored and praised blessed Joseph next to his spouse, the Virgin Mother of God, and has besought his intercession in times of trouble.

And now therefore, when in these most troublesome times the Church is beset by enemies on every side, and is weighed down by calamities so heavy that ungodly men assert that the gates of hell have at length prevailed against her, the venerable prelates of the whole Catholic world have presented to the Sovereign Pontiff their own petitions and those of the faithful committed to their charge, praying that he would deign to constitute St. Joseph Patron of the Church. And this time their prayer and desire was renewed by them even more earnestly at the Sacred Ecumenical Council of the Vatican. (i.e. First Vatican Council)

Accordingly, it has now pleased our Most Holy Sovereign, Pope Pius IX, in order to entrust himself and all the faithful to the Patriarch St. Joseph’s most powerful patronage, has chosen to comply with the prelates’ desire and has solemnly declared him Patron of the Catholic Church.

He has also ordered that his feast on March 19th by henceforth celebrated as a double of the first class, without any Octave, however, because of Lent. He arranged, moreover, that a declaration to this effect be promulgated through the present decree of The Sacred Congregation of Rites on this day sacred to the Immaculate Virgin Mother of God, the most chaste Spouse of Joseph. All things to the contrary notwithstanding.

Day 47, SORROWFUL MYSTERIES, Wednesday March 18

Stabat Mater

They have stripped Him of His vestments, from the shame of which stripping His Human Nature shrank inexpressibly. To His Mother, the indignity was a torture in itself, and the unveiled sight of Her Son’s Heart the while was a horror and a woe words cannot tell. They have laid Him on the Cross, a harder bed than the Crib of Bethlehem in which He first was laid. He gives Himself into their hands with as much docility as a weary child whom his mother is gently preparing for his rest. It seems, and it really was so, as if it was His own will, rather than theirs, which was being fulfilled. Beautiful in His disfigurement, venerable in His shame, the Everlasting God lay upon the Cross, with His eyes gently fixed on Heaven. 

Never, Mary thought, had He looked more worthy of worship, more manifestly God, than now when He lay outstretched there, a powerless but willing victim, and she worshiped Him with profoundest adoration. The executioners now lay His right arm and hand out upon the Cross. They apply the rough nail to the palm of His Hand, the Hand out of which the world’s graces flow, and the first dull knock of the hammer is heard in the silence. The trembling of excessive pain passes over His sacred limbs, but does not dislodge the sweet expression from His eyes. Now blow follows blow, and is echoed faintly from somewhere. The Magdalene and John hold their ears, for the sound is unendurable; it is worse than if the iron hammer were falling on their living hearts. Mary hears it all. The hammer is falling upon her living heart, for her love had long since been dead to self, and only lived in Him. She looked upward to heaven. She could not speak. Words would have said nothing; The Father alone understood the offering of that heart, now broken so many times. To her the Nailing was not one action. Each knock was a separate martyrdom.

Faber, Fr. Frederick William (2015-02-14). The Foot of the Cross with Mary: or The Sorrows of Mary (Kindle Locations 3977-3991). KIC. Kindle Edition.

Prayer to Our Lady of Sorrows

By St. Bridget

O Blessed Virgin Mary, Immaculate Mother of God, who didst endure a martyrdom of love and grief, beholding the sufferings and sorrows of Jesus! Thou didst co-operate in the benefit of my redemption by thy innumerable afflictions and by offering to the Eternal Father His only-begotten Son as a holocaust and victim of propitiation for my sins. I thank thee for the unspeakable love which led thee to deprive thyself of the Fruit of thy womb, Jesus, true God and true Man, to save me, a sinner. Oh! Make use of the unfailing intercession of thy sorrows with the Father and the Son, that I may steadfastly amend my life and never again crucify my loving Redeemer by new sins; arid that, persevering till death in His grace, I may obtain eternal life through the merits of His Cross and Passion. Amen.

Mother of love, of sorrow, and of mercy, pray for us.