Sunday, March 31, 2013

[MaryVitamin] Easter Joy

 


Mary Vitamin for April 7th
Topic: Easter Joy
Quote:
"My heart is ready, O God
I will sing, sing your praise.
Awake my soul;
Awake, lyre and harp
I will awake the dawn."
Meditation:
St. Claude de La Colombiere explains spiritual joy:
"By God's infinite mercy I feel a liberty of spirit which fills me with great joy. It seems as though nothing could now make my unhappy. The thought that I am serving God fills me with this joy, and I feel that it is of far greater value than all the favor of kings would be. The occupations of the worldly seem very despicable in comparison with work done for God."
The Spiritual Direction of Saint Claude de la Colombiere, (Ignatius Press), 70.
Liberty of spirit brings joy. Liberty to do God's Will not our own. This is the secret of Our Lady's joy and the joy of the saints. It is the message of St. Paul: "God's Will is good, pleasing and perfect." (Romans 12:2)
Resolution:
Today, when I pass my image of Our Lady, I will repeat the words of St. Paul ("God's Will is good, pleasing and perfect") and remember that Our Lady lived St. Paul's words exactly and experienced perfect joy.
Marian Vow:
St. Maximilian Kolbe
"If Mary is the Mediatrix of All Graces, then only in proportion to our nearness to her are we able to become channels of grace, mediators of grace that comes from the Father through the Son who merited them and the Immaculata who dispenses them so that as they come upon us they will through us flow into the lives of other souls.
Will To Love, (Marytown Press) 48


Quote:
John Paul II
The Gospels mention various appearances of the risen Christ, but not a meeting between Jesus and his Mother. This silence must not lead to the conclusion that after the Resurrection Christ did not appear to Mary; rather it invites us to seek the reasons why the Evangelists made such a choice.
 General Audience of 21 May 1997,
 
Meditation:
St. Teresa of Avila, Doctor of the Church:
One day after receiving Communion, it seemed most clear to me that Our Lord sat beside me; He told me that immediately after His resurrection He went to see our Lady because she then had great need and that the pain she experienced so absorbed and transpierced her soul that she did not return immediately to herself to rejoice in that joy. By this I understood how different was this other transpiercing, the one of my soul. But what must have been that transpiercing of the blessed Virgin's soul! He also said that He had remained a long time with her because it was necessary in order to console her.
St. Teresa of Avila, Spiritual Testimonies, (ICS Publications), 390-91.
 
 Resolution:
I will think often of the Lord consoling the Blessed Virgin Mary after the Resurrection especially in my Rosary.
 
Marian Vow:
St. Maximilian Kolbe
Whatever happens for the cause of conversion and sanctification is a work of the grace of God. But the Mediatrix of that grace is the Mother of God. As Jesus is sole Mediator with God the Father, so the only Mediatrix with Jesus is the Mother of God. Therefore, conversion and sanctification come through her.
Will to Love, (Marytown Press), 48.
I give this resolution to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Thanks be to God for graces received.
Related sites: Castle of the Immaculate AirMaria


Mary TV: Denis' update - March 31, 2013


 
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"My eyes and my heart will be here,  
even when I will no longer appear." 

President:  Denis Nolan 
P.O. Box 899
Notre Dame, IN  46556
 Mary TV is a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit organization

   
MARCH 31, 2013
EASTER SUNDAY

Dear Family of Mary TV!

ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA! HE IS RISEN!!!!

ON APRIL 2ND MARY TV WILL STREAM - LIVE - OUR LADY'S APPARITION TO MIRJANA (www.marytv.tv )

8:00 am Medjugorje time (2:00 am EDT) - Live streaming begins.
8:45 am Medjugorje time (2:45 am EDT) - Apparition
9:30 am Medjugorje time (3:30 am EDT) - Live streaming ends.

(Note: Medjugorje is now on Daylight Savings Time.  Our previous update was incorrect.  Please note the new time difference above.)  

If it rains on Tuesday, the apparition may be moved indoors.  Please pray that we will be allowed to stream from the indoor location in that case.     
 
PLEASE SPREAD THIS NEWS TO EVERYONE IN YOUR EMAIL LISTS! (Thanks to your help, on March 18th (the attempt to stream Mirjana's Apparition)  people logged on to Mary TV from 1,876 cities from around the world!!! )
 TOGETHER LETS GIVE THIS GIFT TO OUR LADY....

He is Risen!!  Alleluia!!!

Denis Nolan
 www.marytv.tv 


From Mark Mallett: Authentic Hope


Authentic Hope


CHRIST IS RISEN!
ALLELUIA!

 
BROTHERS and sisters, how can we not feel hope on this glorious day? And yet, I know in reality, many of you are uneasy as we read headlines of the beating drums of war, of economic collapse, and growing intolerance for the Church’s moral positions. And many are tired and turned off by the constant stream of profanity, lewdness and violence that fills our airwaves and internet.
It is precisely at the end of the second millennium that immense, threatening clouds converge on the horizon of all humanity and darkness descends upon human souls. —POPE JOHN PAUL II, from a speech (translated from Italian), December, 1983; www.vatican.va
That is our reality. And I can write “be not afraid” over and over again, and yet many remain anxious and worried about many things.
First, we have to realize authentic hope is always conceived in the womb of truth, otherwise, it risks being false hope. Second, hope is so much more than simply “positive words.” In fact, the words are merely invitations. Christ’s three year ministry was one of invitation, but the actual hope was conceived on the Cross. It was then incubated and birthed in the Tomb. This, dear friends, is the path of authentic hope for you and I in these times…

AUTHENTIC HOPE
Let me say, simply, that hope comes from a living and intense relationship with Hope Himself: Jesus Christ. Not just knowing about Him, but knowing Him.
The first of all the commandments… You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength… (Mark 12:29-30)
So many Catholics today live without hope because their relationship with God is almost non-existent. Why?
…prayer is the living relationship of the children of God with their Father… Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), n.2565
Yes, many people today, and perhaps some of my readers, are chasing after prophecies of the future, darting about the internet for the “latest”, busy, busy, busy… but never enough time to pray. Hope springs from a personal encounter with Jesus; lasting hope springs from an ongoing encounter with God through a life lived for Him, and Him alone.
When we pray properly we undergo a process of inner purification which opens us up to God and thus to our fellow human beings as well… In this way we undergo those purifications by which we become open to God and are prepared for the service of our fellow human beings. We become capable of the great hope, and thus we become ministers of hope for others. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Spe Salvi (Saved In Hope), n. 33, 34
Here, we see that hope is tied, not only to prayer, but to a willingness to be vessels of hope:
…the second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. (Mark 12:31)
To the degree that we hold back from either of these commandments, that we keep a part of ourselves out of His reach and the reach of our neighbour, is the degree to which we begin to lose hope. Everytime we sin, we lose a little hope because we have ceased following Him who is Hope itself.
This is what I mean when I say that true hope is conceived on the Cross and born in the tomb. Obedience, the surrender of our will to God’s will, means a dying to self. But we must stop seeing this surrender of self as a loss, and begin to see it with the eyes of faith!
If water is to become hot, then cold must die out of it. If wood is to be made fire, then the nature of wood must die. The life we seek cannot be in us, it cannot become our very selves, we cannot be itself, unless we gain it by first ceasing to be what we are; we acquire this life through death. —Fr. John Tauler (1361), German Dominican priest and theologian; from theSermons and Conferences of John Tauler
The “hope” we seek cannot live in us except by following Christ’s pattern of dying to self.
Have among yourselves the same attitude that is also yours in Christ Jesus… he emptied himself… becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross. Because of this, God greatly exalted him… (Phil 2:5-9)
Emptied of self, the old self, so that the new self, the true self, may live. In other words, we live by God’s will, not our own, so that His life may dwell in us and become our life. We see this pattern in Mary as well: she empties herself in her “fiat”, and in exchange, Christ is conceived in her.
Do you not realize that Jesus Christ is in you? …I am again in labor until Christ be formed in you! (2 Cor 13:5; Gal 4:19)
We must stop watering down these words and realize that God is calling us to a radical revolution of our lives. He is not interested in saving us a little, sanctifying us a bit, transforming us to a degree. His desire is to utterly raise us into the very Image in which we were created.
I am confident of this, that the one who began a good work in you will continue to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Phil 1:6)
We are so sad when we are asked to pray, or fast, to mortify or live moderately. It is because we fail to see the interior and hidden joy and hope that only comes to those who enter the journey. But my friends, we are now living in extraordinary times where we must be ready to give much, much more.
Those who challenge this new paganism are faced with a difficult option. Either they conform to this philosophy or they arefaced with the prospect of martyrdom. —Fr. John Hardon (1914-2000), How to Be a Loyal Catholic Today? By Being Loyal to the Bishop of Rome;www.therealpresence.org
No less than ordinary individual Catholics can survive, so ordinary Catholic families cannot survive. They have no choice. They must either be holy—which means sanctified—or they will disappear. The only Catholic families that will remain aliveand thriving in the twenty-first century are the families of martyrs. The Blessed Virgin and the Sanctification of the Family, Servant of God, Fr. John A. Hardon, S.J.

THE REALM OF FAITH
Ah! You see, these words may frighten some. But’s that’s because they do not realize the divine exchange that will happen. Your faith, if lived out intensely and personally with God through prayer and obedience, will acquire a hope that no man can take, no persecutor can suffocate, no war can diminish, no suffering annihilate, no trial wither. This is the secondary message of Easter: the complete giving of ourselves to God by entering into the night of faith, the tomb of complete abandonment to Him, produces in us all the fruits of the Resurrection. All of them.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with everyspiritual blessing in the heavens… (Ephesians 1:3)
This is no time to hold back any longer, to keep a part of yourself to yourself. Give everything to God, no matter the cost. And the more it costs, the more powerful the grace, reward, andresurrection of Jesus in your life in whose image you are being renewed.
For if we have grown into union with him through a death like his, we shall also be united with him in the resurrection. We know that our old self was crucified with him, so that our sinful body might be done away with, that we might no longer be in slavery to sin… Consequently, you too must think of yourselves as being dead to sin and living for God in Christ Jesus. (Rom 6:5-6, 11)
I truly believe Our Lady has been coming to us all these years to help us to be emptied in these times so that we may be filled—filled with the Spirit of God that we may become living flames of love—living flames of hope in a world that has become so dark.
Be prepared to put your life on the line in order to enlighten the world with the truth of Christ; to respond with love to hatred and disregard for life; to proclaim the hope of the risen Christ in every corner of the earth. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Message to the Young People of the World, World Youth Day, 2008
Our Mother is demanding of us…. fasting, prayer, conversion, etc. But that is because she knows it will produce in us Jesus: it will produce in us authentic hope.
We cannot hide the fact that many threatening clouds are gathering on the horizon. We must not, however, lose heart, rather we must keep the flame of hope alive in our hearts. —POPE BENEDICT XVI, Catholic News Agency, January 15th, 2009
Please do not let yourselves be robbed of hope! Do not let hope be stolen! The hope that Jesus gives us. —POPE FRANCIS, Palm Sunday homily, March 24th, 2013;www.vatican.va
 

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PUBLISHED IN: | ON MARCH 31ST, 2013 | 

From Opus Bono Sacerdotii: Please continue





Opus Bono Sacerdotii
Work for the Good of the Priesthood
Deacon 

It was odd. The atmosphere was very quiet, and yet, so disquieting. It was sterile for sure, and there was, what one would call, a “deafening silence” in the room. This tonal void was broken only by the constant tempo of the metronome of life. A digital wonder of modern science developed to assure all that life had not yet left us. “Beep, beep, beep…” Oh, how Pete and I depended on that constant sound, hoping with an almost frantic nervousness, that this annoying rhythm would not end soon.



Pete would later comment how the gurgling sound of Father Dean’s breathing made it almost impossible to understand what he was saying.

We had visited him only months before. He was so full of life. Jokes were told. Introductions to other priests and friends were provided. Suddenly, a more serious discussion began. “I’m dying,” he said emphatically to us, “and it won’t be long.” There was that all too familiar awkward pause of reflection. Then, with complete peace and a kind of inner joy, he exclaimed, “I’m ready. I believe in the Resurrection!”



I remembered that conversation well, as Pete and I now sat here keeping our solemn silent vigil at the death bed of our beloved Alter Christus. I also remember his final words to us that day: 



“I only ask one thing from you and all of those who are part of your ministry. Please continue your work for us priests!”



It wasn’t long after Pete and I left that he was gone. Father Dean had prepared well, and was amazingly peaceful and thankful to be “finally on his way,” as he put it. It is truly a grace from God that we humans can fall so much in love with another person we hardly knew just months earlier. We had spent so much time helping him over these past few months that it was hard to imagine not having him in our lives. 



Several weeks after his passing, we received a note from an attorney who was settling Father Dean’s modest estate. He had left us a small sum of money from his life insurance. The note read, “so that we could continue the work for the good of the priesthood”. 



We want to thank you for making our mission to care for thousands of Catholic priests like Father Dean possible again and again. I ask you to please consider making a special donation as part of your Easter thanksgiving of $100 or more so that we can continue to assist many more priests like Father Dean who so urgently depend on our care during this Holy Easter season.



Gratefully in the Risen Christ, 

Joseph R. Maher, KCHS
President

P.S. Your assistance is urgently needed to help alleviate the sufferings of Catholic priests like Father Dean. Please, please consider making a special Easter donation of $100 or more to provide for the pressing needs of priests who desperately need your help. It is extremely difficult for many poor priests who lack even the basic necessities of life. With Father Dean, I make this cry from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for your charity and goodness to care for thousands of Catholic priests.



Please click here to make an online donation: http://www.opusbono.org/donate.html






Opus Bono Sacerdotii
P.O. Box 663, Oxford, MI 48371-0663   P 313.937.6305 

From The Friars eLetter: Easter




What does it mean to say that “Jesus is risen?” A translation, perhaps adapted especially for non-believers could be, “hope exists.” 

Jesus, I Trust in You


If we look deeply beneath all of our disordered desires, our brokenness and our selfish concerns what we discover ultimately is the hope that there exists unconditional love. Not only that unconditional love exists but that it is eternal and does not end after this life. The Easter proclamation that “Jesus Christ is risen” fulfills this hope deep within us. 

In many of the Resurrection accounts in the New Testament those to whom Jesus appears to are often found afraid (Mt 28:5), amazed (Mk16:5), seized with trembling and bewilderment (Mk 16:8), terrified (Lk:24:5), downcast (Lk 24:17), near despair (Lk 24:21), weeping (Jn 20:15) and lacking in faith (20:25). After their encounter with the Risen Lord they are all transformed from within because the ultimate hope of their souls is confirmed. Unconditional love exists and has blasted through space and time and is available to us for all eternity. How can one not be overwhelmed with joy at such good news?

God bless you,
Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR

Sacred Heart Friary
Ft. Worth, TX
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It’s a unique experience to live with Jesus. As friars our friaries (yes, that’s really what they’re called) all carry a chapel, and our chapels, of course, all house a tabernacle: this is where Jesus is present in the Eucharist always. In a real and mysterious way—a really mysterious way at that—we live under the same roof as the Lord. After having that experience for days and weeks and months and years, I’ve found that if I’m away for some time, I do miss Him very much. In fact, I’ve come to say that “home is where the tabernacle is” because Jesus is home. 



Yet, there comes a dreadful time every year when Jesus leaves. We are left alone in a friary with an empty chapel—with no Jesus. After Mass on Holy Thursday through Good Friday all the way until the evening of Holy Saturday, the chapel is stark, empty and easily avoided. Of course, it’s not without reason that we do this, and not just us but all Catholic Churches around the world; we enter into that severe, barren time in the history of the world when Jesus died. And this is the fruit: love—clinging-to-his-flesh and kissing-his-wounds kind of love of the resurrection! One year I was so overcome by joy and gratitude that I could hardly sit still in the chapel and I kept penning little reflections conveying this moment, a moment that history felt once and continues to feel like the happy waking from a recurring nightmare whenever one enters into the reality that death is more a beginning than an end. 

This is one such musing: 

To see you again, Jesus! I was without compass in your absence—no bearings, no hopes—restless and lonely. But you’re here now, and heaven is in reach; like an orphaned child, I am reaching. Lord, having you back in the tabernacle gives me reason to smile again. My heart quickens and I can laugh again. 

O mighty Resurrection, descend into my little heart that I may be transformed; a new creation, a new man alive with new life in a new way—living and new! 

Everything is different today, and I will never be the same again.

+ Br. Joseph Michael Fino, CFR
Most Blessed Sacrament Friary
Newark, NJ
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[Video] Pascha



Pascha
Reflection for 3/31/13

www.apostleshipofprayer.org

Photos by Jim Forest, janbear, DVIDSHUB

[Video] Urbi et Orbi



 


by vatican
Easter message and Urbi et Orbi blessing of the Holy Father


At noon, from the central loggia of the Vatican Basilica, the Holy Father Francis addressed the over 250,000 people overflowing St. Peter's Square and those who were following the celebration by radio or television. He delivered his Easter proclamation—“God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden!”—and made a strong appeal for peace throughout the world. He then imparted the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing. Following is the full text of the Pope's message:
“Dear brothers and sisters in Rome and throughout the world, Happy Easter! Happy Easter!”
“What a joy it is to announce this message: Christ is risen! I would like it to go out to every house and every family, especially where the suffering is greatest, in hospitals, in prisons… Most of all, I would like it to enter every heart, for it is there that God wants to sow this Good News: Jesus is risen, there is hope for you, you are no longer in the power of sin or of evil! Love has triumphed! Mercy has been victorious! God's mercy always triumphs!”
“We too, like the women who were Jesus’ disciples, who went to the tomb and found it empty, may wonder what this event means (cf. Lk 24:4). What does it mean that Jesus is risen? It means that the love of God is stronger than evil and death itself; it means that the love of God can transform our lives and let those desert places in our hearts bloom. God's love can do this.”
“This same love out of which the Son of God became man and followed the way of humility and self-giving to the very end, down to hell—to the abyss of separation from God—this same merciful love has flooded Jesus' dead body with light and transfigured it; has made it pass into eternal life. Jesus did not return to his former life, to an earthly life, but entered into the glorious life of God and He entered there with our humanity, opening us to a future of hope.”
“This is what Easter is: it is the exodus, the passage of human beings from the slavery to sin and evil to the freedom of love and goodness. Because God is life, life alone, and we are his glory, the living person.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, Christ died and rose once for all time and for everyone, but the power of the Resurrection, this passing from the slavery to evil to the freedom of goodness, must be accomplished in every age, in our concrete existence, in our everyday lives. How many deserts, even today, do human beings need to cross! Above all, the desert within, when are lacking love for God and neighbour, when we fail to realize that we are guardians of all that the Creator has given us and continues to give us. God’s mercy can make even the driest land become a garden, can restore life to dry bones (cf. Ez 37:1-14).”
“So this is the invitation that I address to everyone: Let us accept the grace of Christ’s Resurrection! Let us be renewed by God’s mercy! Let us be loved by Jesus! Let us enable the power of his love to transform our lives too and let us become agents of this mercy, channels through which God can water the earth, protect all creation and make justice and peace flourish.”
“And so we ask the risen Jesus, who turns death into life, to change hatred into love, vengeance into forgiveness, war into peace. Yes, Christ is our peace, and through him we implore peace for all the world.”
“Peace for the Middle East, in particular between Israelis and Palestinians who struggle to find the road of agreement: that they may willingly and courageously resume negotiations to end a conflict that has lasted all too long. Peace in Iraq: that every act of violence may end. And above all for dear Syria, for its people torn by conflict and for the many refugees who await help and comfort. How much blood has been shed! And how much suffering must there still be before a political solution to the crisis will be found?”
“Peace for Africa, still the scene of bloody conflicts. In Mali: may unity and stability be restored. In Nigeria, where attacks sadly continue, gravely threatening the lives of many innocent people, and where great numbers of persons, including children, are held hostage by terrorist groups. Peace in the East of the Democratic Republic of Congo and in the Central African Republic where many have been forced to leave their homes and continue to live in fear.”
“Peace in Asia, above all on the Korean peninsula: may disagreements be overcome and a renewed spirit of reconciliation grow.”
“Peace in the whole world, still divided by greed looking for easy gain, wounded by the selfishness which threatens human life and the family, selfishness that continues in human trafficking, the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century. Human trafficking is precisely the most extensive form of slavery in this twenty-first century! Peace to the whole world, torn apart by violence linked to drug trafficking and by the iniquitous exploitation of natural resources! Peace to this our Earth! Made the risen Jesus bring comfort to the victims of natural disasters and make us responsible guardians of creation.”
“Dear brothers and sisters, to all of you who are listening to me, from Rome and from all over of the world, I address the invitation of the Psalm: 'Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; for his mercy endures for ever. Let Israel say: “His mercy endures forever”.' (Ps 118:1-2).”
“Dear brothers and sisters who have come from all over the world to this Square, the heart of Christianity and to all of you joining us via the media, I repeat my wishes for a happy Easter! Bring to your families and your nations the message of joy, of hope, and of peace that every year, on this day, is powerfully renewed. May the Risen Lord, who defeated sin and death, sustain us all especially the weakest and those most in need. Thank you for your presence and the witness of your faith. A thought and special thanks for the gift of these beautiful flowers that come from the Netherlands. I affectionately repeat to all of you: May the Risen Christ guide all of you and all of humanity on the paths of justice, love, and peace!”
Then, in Latin, Pope Francis imparted the “Urbi et Orbi” blessing.

Saturday, March 30, 2013

Spiritual Gems-Saving Countless Souls by Staying Put and Waking Up

Saving Countless Souls by Staying Put and Waking Up

While a few are called to be great missionaries in foreign lands, most us are instead called to help our dear Lord save countless souls in our normal routine....in our daily duties.  Yet, few of us realize this call and do not understand the need and critical importance of each moment during our typical day.  This is why the great Saints call it the "Sacrament of the Present Moment".  Our dear Lord taught this truth to many holy men and women and He so desires us to help Him save souls.

"My Love goes so far that My friends can draw great treasure out of mere nothing.  When as soon as they awake they unite themselves to Me and offer the whole day with a burning desire that My Heart may use it to profit souls....when with love they perform their duties, hour by hour and moment by moment....How great is the treasure they amass in just one day.  If they simply grasped this, they could divinize their life and all their activities by this close union with My Heart...and how great is the value of a Divine Day!"


Our Lord to Sister Josefa Menendez from the "Way of Divine Love"


You can receive complimentary materials to make your Consecration to God through Mary’s Immaculate Heart (important spiritual protection at this time in salvation history) at myconsecration.org... where you can also learn about Our Lady of Las Lajas.

You can learn more about our Lady of Fatima at www.wafusa.org.

God Bless you and your work,
 
Deacon Bob Tony
   
Deacon Bob Ellis Anthony Mullen
Executive Director MyConsecration.org
World Apostolate of Fatima, USA 647 Edmonds Avenue
A Pontifical Association of the Faithful Drexel Hill, PA 19026
visit us at: www.wafusa.org

From The Friars eLetter: Holy Saturday


Your blood has finally dried upon your tired and mangled body. There is nothing left for you to give, you have been poured out to the point of death. It is finished. 

Pietà by Michelangelo, c. 1498


The beauty of your eyes has faded. The gentleness of your hands has been forgotten. The serenity of your smile has been extinguished. Could you still be our God? 

Who could have ever predicted it would end like this? Your passion has stolen all of our words. In you was all our joy, all our hope for life, and the answer to the question of our life. What you have revealed no man could ever fathom, you the eternal paradise, the place of infinite rapture . Now we wait like madmen, not knowing who we are, not knowing what will happen to us. Each second is an agonizing mystery and we die a thousand deaths reliving yesterdays nightmare. My God awake, come back and save us! Do not leave us in this wretched state of despair.

God bless you,
Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR


Sacred Heart Friary
Ft. Worth, TX
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Friday, March 29, 2013

From Mark Mallett: Weep, O Children of Men!




Weep, O Children of Men!


 
WEEP, O children of men!
Weep for all that is good, and true, and beautiful.
Weep for all that must go down to the tomb
Your icons and chants, your walls and steeples.
 Weep, O children of men!
For all that is good, and true, and beautiful.
Weep for all that must go down to the Sepulcher
Your teachings and truths, your salt and your light.
Weep, O children of men!
For all that is good, and true, and beautiful.
Weep for all who must enter the night
Your priests and bishops, your popes and princes.
Weep, O children of men!
For all that is good, and true, and beautiful.
Weep for all who must enter the trial
The test of faith, the refiner’s fire.

…but weep not forever!

For dawn will come, light will conquer, a new Sun will rise.
And all that was good, and true, and beautiful
Will breathe new breath, and be given to sons again.



Those who go forth weeping, carrying sacks of seed,
will return with cries of joy,
carrying their bundled sheaves.
And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people:
and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, 

nor the voice of crying.
(Psalm 126:6; Isaiah 65:19)

 

From The Friars eLetter: Good Friday


Posted: 28 Mar 2013 07:10 PM PDT
How can one adequately understand this day? It transcends our ability to comprehend. The absence of candles, holy water and the Eucharist in church sends a shock to our senses. He who is the “way, the truth and the life,” is gone. He has been betrayed, scourged, crowned with thorns and executed as if He was a criminal guilty of the most heinous crimes.

Tauberbischofsheimer Altar by Matthias Grünewald, c. 1523


Behold the love of God! A bruised and naked body, bloodied and gasping for air. He is an embarrassment to the crowds, a blasphemer to the Jews, a criminal to the Romans, yet to His mother and a few others He remains the savior of the world. 

Who then is this God? 

He is not the God we expect Him to be. He is quiet, docile, obedient and subject to human authority. We expect a God who is more like a warrior; instead we have a God who is a servant. We expect a God who would annihilate his enemies, yet He does not even fight back or say a word against them. It is only faith that can penetrate these depths. Our human intelligence stands before the Passion of Christ and humbly bows down in confusion.

God bless you,
Fr. Jeremiah Myriam Shryock, CFR


Sacred Heart Friary
Ft. Worth, TX

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Mary TV Daily Reflection 3/29/2013


clingingtoJesusonPodbrdo       
  (c)Mary TV 2011 
Meditate on His Passion and Death  
    


J.M.J.      
March 29, 2013
Good Friday

Dear Family of Mary!

"Dear children! In this time of grace I call you to take the cross of my beloved Son Jesus in your hands and to meditate on His passion and death. May your suffering be united in His suffering and love will win, because He who is love gave Himself out of love to save each of you. Pray, pray, pray until love and peace begin to reign in your hearts. Thank you for having responded to my call." (March 25, 2013)

Our Mother calls us to spend time with the cross. She asks us to meditate on Jesus' crucifixion. She wants us to meet it head-on, and not to shy away from it. Like St. John, we are to stay with her this week, close by her side, as she follows Jesus through His Passion, riveted to His every movement, His every sigh. She wants us to live Jesus' Passion with her.

This is a privileged invitation. We are being called into the inner circle. Along with St. John, Mary Magdalene, and the women, we will remain with Jesus, no matter what. Love will be the only necessity in this call. We can only remain with Mary as she follows Jesus, if we love Him even remotely like she loves Him. Then we will be able to remain.

Carryll Houselander wrote a prayer for the Fourth Station of the Way of the Cross that reflects this call to stay with Mary, meditating on Jesus' Passion. I find it simple yet eloquent:

Prayer

Mother of Christ
help me to be willing
to accept the suffering
that is the condition of love.

Help me accept
the grief
of seeing those whom I love suffer,
and when they die
let me share in their death
by compassion.

Give me the faith
that knows Christ
in them,
and knows that His love
is the key
to the mystery of suffering.

Help me,
Blessed Mother,
to see with your eyes,
to think with your mind,
to accept with your will.

Help me to believe
that it is Christ
who suffers in innocent children,
in those who die in the flower of life,
in those whose death is an act
of reparation,
in those who are sacrificed
for others.

Remind me
that their suffering
is Christ's love
healing the world,
and when I suffer for them
and with them,
I too am given the power
of His redeeming love.
(Carryll Houselander. "The Way of the Cross". Liguori Press. 2002)

As Our Lady tells us, "Love will win." When love moves us to accept suffering, compassionate with those who suffer, and trust God in suffering, then love wins because it becomes Christ's love acting in and through us for the salvation of others. Love wins!!! And that is what we witness today. We will witness love winning!

In Jesus, Mary and Joseph!
Cathy Nolan
©Mary TV 2013



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