Apr. 6 - Monday of Holy Week

[MariaChristi]

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

Listening to this morning’s Mass readings, (see: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/040620.cfm) let us ponder in our hearts, the words of Jesus to Judas:

You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.”

Mary of Bethany had anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive, perfumed oil, and Judas said that money should have been given to the poor. John who knew Judas, wrote in this Gospel that Judas’ comment was not out of love for the poor:

He said this not because he cared about the poor
but because he was a thief and held the money bag
and used to steal the contributions.

We need to listen carefully and ponder in our own hearts, how close are we to having the mind and heart of Christ? What are the intentions of our hearts? Why do we say what we say or do what we do?

In the First Reading from Isaiah 42: 1-7 God reveals the Heart and Mind of Jesus:

Here is my servant whom I uphold,
my chosen one with whom I am pleased,
Upon whom I have put my Spirit;
he shall bring forth justice to the nations,
Not crying out, not shouting,
not making his voice heard in the street.
A bruised reed he shall not break,
and a smoldering wick he shall not quench,
Until he establishes justice on the earth;
the coastlands will wait for his teaching…

Jesus replies to Judas:

“Leave her alone…

The verse before the Gospel is also important for us to ponder:

“Hail to You, our King;
You alone are compassionate with our faults.”

Are we compassionate, as Jesus is? Do we love one another as He loved us? Do we love our enemies?

Come, Holy Spirit, kindle in us the Fire of Your Love. Jesus, we trust in You. Mary, Mother and Model for the Church, pray for us.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Stephie,

Thanks for your “faith-full and loving heart”. This is a week like non other – “Holy Week”!

I wonder how many persons suffering because a loved-one has been infected with Covid-19 or has died from it – are remembering Jesus and Our Mother’s suffering during this week. I hope many are not only remembering, but offering their sufferings in union with Jesus and Mary.

These are difficult days and yet I remain convinced that God continues to work good for those who love Him and are called according to His Purpose. (cf Rom 8:28) Only He can see the depths of every heart and bless those who are clinging to Him, and doing whatever they can to ease the pain and suffering of others.

Only He can see how some hearts have changed from lukewarm to fervent love for others because of His Grace, asked for and received. Only He can continue to give His strength to the weary who call out to Him.

Let us thank God for all the hidden Mercies He is granting at this time, and let us learn from Him to be Merciful as He is Merciful, through Mary.

 

[StephieNorthCo]

I think we are seeing some little sparks of people touched by, affected by, God’s graces.

You’re right… this is Holy week like none other. Can you imagine what Mother Mary was going through this week? Maybe, in this pandemic, we get just a glimpse of that. More so than in any other Holy Week in recent history…

God bless,
Stephie

 

[MariaChristi]

Thanks Stephie for your reply, Truly our current pandemic – as serious and painful as it is for many – cannot compare with the “interior” and “exterior” pain of both Jesus and our Mother Mary.

Jesus knew what He would face in His Passion and how terrible it would be, yet He embraced His Sufferings in love for us. Mary had not her Son’s Divine Nature by which she could know all He knew, but her Mother’s Heart was aware of the cruelty which human persons can be capable of in both the Roman Army and the ordinary persons gathered in Jerusalem.

When she saw the scourging, the crown of thorns, the three falls under His Cross on the way to Calvary, her heart endured immense pain in her Love for Him – Who willed to love and forgive even while while dying on the Cross for all. Yes, all the suffering this pandemic has caused is only a glimpse of their suffering.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear Cath,

Thanks for your “faith-full and loving heart” also! Hopefully this will be the “holiest of all the Holy Weeks” we have experienced in our lives, thus far. I pray we will be stronger by God’s Grace, and continue to seek His Will in all situations that are yet to come.

Only God knows what the future holds but we can know “His Love endures forever”. We can by His Grace continue to grow in the supernatural gifts of Faith, Hope and above all Charity received in Baptism. By His grace we can continue to grow in the the Likeness of Jesus by the power of His Holy Spirit and the intercession of our Mother.

Totus Tuus!

 

[hazcompat]

Today;s LOTH

Second reading
From a sermon by Saint Augustine, bishop
Let us too glory in the cross of the Lord

Brethren, let us then fearlessly acknowledge, and even openly proclaim, that Christ was crucified for us; let us confess it, not in fear but in joy, not in shame but in glory.

The apostle Paul saw Christ, and extolled his claim to glory. He had many great and inspired things to say about Christ, but he did not say that he boasted in Christ’s wonderful works: in creating the world, since he was God with the Father, or in ruling the world, though he was also a man like us. Rather, he said: Let me not boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

[MariaChristi]

Dear hazcompat,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, St. Augustine, as all the saints, discovered in Listening to the Word of God in Scripture, and pondering in their hearts, God’s Revelation of Jesus, the Word Incarnate.

We need to prayerfully listen, asking the Holy Spirit to open our minds and hearts to have that same Mind and Heart we learn from Jesus.

In St. Louis de Montfort’s “The Love of Divine Wisdom”, he wrote:

THE TRIUMPH OF ETERNAL WISDOM IN AND BY THE CROSS

1. The Cross is according to my belief the greatest secret of the King (Tob 12.7) - the greatest mystery of Eternal Wisdom.

[1. Wisdom and the Cross]

How remote and how different are the thoughts and the ways of eternal Wisdom from those of even the wisest of men. (cf Is 55.8) This great God wished to redeem the world, to cast out and chain up the devils, to seal the gates of hell and open heaven to men, and give infinite glory to his eternal Father. Such was his purpose, his arduous task, his great undertaking. What means will be chosen by divine Wisdom, whose knowledge reaches from one end of the universe to the other and orders all things well? (cf Wis 8.1) His arm is almighty; at a stroke he can destroy all that is opposed to him and do whatever he wills. By a single word he can annihilate and create. What more can I say? He has but to will and all is done.

1. But his power is regulated by his love. He wishes to become incarnate in order to convince men of his friendship; he wishes to come down upon earth to help men to go up to heaven. So be it! It would be expected then that this Wisdom incarnate would appear glorious and triumphant, accompanied by millions and millions of angels, or at least by millions of chosen men and women. With these armies, majestic in his splendour and untouched by poverty, dishonour, humiliations and weaknesses, he will crush all his enemies and win the hearts of men by his attractiveness, his delights, his magnificence and his riches. Surely nothing less than that. But O wonder! He perceives something which is a source of scandal and horror to Jews and an object of foolishness to pagans. (cf 1 Cor 1.23) He sees a piece of vile and contemptible wood which is used to humiliate and torture the most wicked and the most wretched of men, called a gibbet, a gallows, a cross. It is upon this cross that he casts his eyes; he takes his delight in it; he cherishes it more than all that is great and resplendent in heaven and on earth. He decides that that will be the instrument of his conquests, the adornment of his royal state. He will make it the wealth and joy of his empire, the friend and spouse of his heart. O the depths of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How amazing is his choice and how sublime and incomprehensible are his ways! But how inexpressible his love for that cross! (Rom 11.33)