Below are some books for Lenten reading if you wish to read them.
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| LENT AND HOLY WEEK IN ROME |
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THE GOODNESS OF GOD
He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things? — Romans viii. 32. 1. Since the Apostle makes mention of many sons when he says (ibid. v. 15), You have received the spirit of adoption of sons, he now separates this Son from all these by saying his own Son, that is to say, not an adoptive son, but a son of his own nature, co-eternal with him, that son of whom the Father says, in St. Matthew (iii. 17), This is my beloved Son. The words he spared not mean only that God did not exempt Him from the penalty, for there was not in Him any fault to be matter for sparing. God the Father did not withhold from his Son an exemption from the penalty as a way of adding anything to himself. God is perfect. But he so acted, subjecting his Son to the Passion, because this was useful for us. This is why St. Paul adds, but delivered him up for us ally meaning that God exposed Christ to the Passion for the expiation of all our sins. He was delivered for our sins, says Isaias, and the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all (liii. 5,6). God the Father delivered him over to death, decreeing him to take flesh and to suffer, inspiring his human will with a burning love by which, eagerly, he would undergo his Passion. He delivered himself for us, St. Paul says of Our Lord (Eph. v. 2). Judas, too, and the Jews delivered him, but by an activity external to His. There is something else to notice in the words, He that spared not his own Son. It is as though it said : Not only has God given other saints over to suffering for the benefit of mankind, but even his own, proper Son. 2. God's own Son, then, being made over for us, all things have been given us, for St. Paul adds, How hath he not also with him, that is, in giving Him to us, given us all things. In other words, all things thereby are turned to our profit. We are given the highest things of all, namely the Divine Persons, for our ultimate joy. We are given reasoning minds in order to live together with them now. We are given the lower things of creation for our use, not only the things which appeal to us but the things which are hostile. All things are yours, says St. Paul to us, and you are Christ's and Christ is God's (i Cor. iii.22, 23) Whence we may see how evidently true are the words of the Psalm (Ps. xxxiii. 10). There is no want to them that fear him. (In Rom. viii) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 THE SEED
The Sower went out to sow his seed. — Luke viii. 4. 1. The keenness of the sower. It is Christ who goes forth, and in three ways. He goes from the bosom of the Father, and yet without a change of place; from Jewry to the Gentiles ; from the private depths of wisdom to the public life of teaching. It is Christ who sows. Now the seed is the source of fruit. Whence every good action is clue to God. What is it that He sows ? His own seed, says the gospel. That seed is the Word of God. And what does it produce ? It produces others, like unto Him from whom itself proceeds, for it makes them sons of God. 2. The obstacle in the way of the seed. The obstacle is threefold, because for the growth of the seed three conditions are necessary, namely it must be remembered, it must take root in love, it must have loving care. The growth is therefore hindered if in place of the first condition there is flightiness of mind, instead of the second there is hardness of heart, and if, in place of the loving care, there is a development of vices. (i) Some fell by the wayside. As the way is free for all who care to walk, so does the heart lie open to every chance thought. So it is that when the word of God falls upon a heart that is careless and vain, it falls by the wayside and is doubly imperilled. St. Matthew speaks of one danger only, that the birds of the air came and ate it up. St. Luke speaks of two, for the seed is trampled into the ground as well as carried off by the birds. So when the careless receive the word of God it is crushed by their worthless thoughts or their evil company. Whence great joy for the devil if only he can steal away this seed and trample upon it. (ii) Hardness of heart. This is contrary to charity, for it is in the nature of love to melt things. Hardness means "locked up in itself" or "narrowed within its own limits," and love, since it causes the lover to be moved to what he loves, is a thing that liberates, widens, pours itself out. St. Matthew says therefore, some fell upon stony ground, and Ezechiel, I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I IP ill give you a heart of flesh (Ezech. xxxvi. 26). For there are some men whose hearts are so deprived of love of any kind that they are scarcely flesh and blood at all. There are others who have indeed a natural affection but it is slight and has no deepness. To have deepness is to have a power of loving deeply. The man may be said to love deeply who loves all things and whatever he loves for the love of God, and who puts the love of God before all else. There is another type of man that does indeed delight in God, but delights more in things. Men of this sort do not pour themselves out, nor have they much deepness of earth. The gospel continues, And they spring up immediately for they who think deeply, think long, but they whose thought is shallow plunge into action at once, and inevitably pass away quickly. So these men hear quickly, but take no root in what they hear, for they have no deepness of earth, that is in the earth of loving charity. (iii) Destruction of the fruit. The fruit is lost because when there ariseth tribulation each man snatches for what he most loves, and the man who loves wealth looks only to his riches. And when the sun was up they were scorched, that is, because they lacked strength. And because they had not root, they withered away, for God was not their root. Others fell among thorns, anxieties, quarrels and such like things. And the thorns grew up and choked them. (In Matt, xiii.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 ON REFORMING OURSELVES
Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of your mind, that you may prove what is the good, and the acceptable, and the perfect will of God. -- Romans xii. 2. 1. What is forbidden is the forming of oneself after the pattern of the world. Be not conformed to this world, that is, to the things which pass away with time. For this present world is a kind of measure of those things which pass away with time. A man forms himself after the pattern of things transitory when, willingly and lovingly, he gives himself to serve them. Those also form themselves after that pattern who imitate the lives of the worldly, This then I say and testify in the Lord : That henceforward you walk not as also the Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind (Eph.iv. 17). 2. We are bidden to undertake a reformation of the interior man when it is said, But be reformed in the newness of your mind. By mind is here meant the reason, considered as the faculty by which man makes judgments about what he ought to do. In man, as God first created him, this faculty existed in all the completeness and vigour it could need. Holy Scripture tells us of our first parents that God filled their hearts with wisdom and shewed them both good and evil (Ecclus. xvii. 6). But through sin this faculty declined in power and, as it were, grew old, losing its beauty and its brilliance. The Apostle warns us to form ourselves again, that is, to recover that completeness and distinction of mind that once was ours. This can indeed be regained by the grace of the Holy Ghost, and we should therefore use every endeavour to share in that grace — those who lack that grace that they may obtain it, and those who already have gained it faithfully to progress and persevere. Be renewed in the spirit of your mind, says St. Paul (Eph. iv. 23). Or again, in another sense, be renewed in your external actions, that is to say, in the newness of your mind i.e., according to the new thing, grace, which you have internally received. 3. The reason for this warning is that you may prove what is the will of God. We know what befalls a man whose sense of taste suffers in an illness, how he ceases to have a true judgment of flavours and begins to loathe pleasantly-tasting things and to crave for what is loathsome. So it is with the man whose inclinations are corrupted from his conforming himself to the things of this world. He has no longer a true judgment where what is good for him is concerned. It is only the man whose inclinations are healthy and well directed, whose mind is made new again by grace, who can truly judge what is good and what is not. Therefore on this account is it written, Be not conformed to this world, but be reformed in the newness of our mind that you may prove, that is, that you may know by experience. As again it says in the psalm, "Taste and see that the Lord is sweet (Ps. xxxiii. 9) What is the will of God: that is, to say the will by which he wills is to be saved. This is the will of God, our sanctification (i Thess. iv. 3) The will of God is good, because God wills that we should will to do what is good, and He leads us to this through His commandments. I will shew thee, O man, what is good, and what and what the Lord requireth of thee. (Micheas vi. 8) The will of God is agreeable in as much as to him who is rightly ordered it is a pleasure to do what God wills us to do. Nor is the will of God merely useful as a means to achiever our destiny, it is a link joining us with our destiny and in that respect it is perfect. Such then is the will of God as those experience it who are not formed after the pattern of this world, but are formed over again in the newness of their minds. As to those who remain in the old staleness, fashioned after the world, they judge the will of God not to be a good but a burden and useless. (In Rom. xii.) Meditations for Lent - Saint Thomas Aquinas, Imprimatur 1937 THE NEED FOR CAUTION
Wherefore he that thinketh himself to stand, let him take heed lest he fall. — i Cor. x. 12. 1. The case of the Jews who, in punishment, were overthrown in the desert (ibid. v. 5 ) is a warning for us. These words of the Scripture contain four things which should attract the wise man's attention, namely the multitude of those who fell, for it says Wherefore; then the uncertainty of those who still stand, for it adds he that thinketh himself to stand, thirdly, the need for caution, for it adds let him take heed and finally the ease with which disaster comes, for it says lest he fall. St. Paul says wherefore as if to say these men, for all that they have had the advantage of God's gifts, nevertheless, because of their sins, perished, wherefore, bearing this in mind, he that thinketh himself, by whatever kind of subtle reasoning, to stand, that is, to be in a state of grace and charity, let him take heed, diligently attending to it, lest he fall, whether by sinning himself or by inducing others to sin. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer says Isaias (xiv. 12), and the Psalmist, A thousand shall fall at thy side (Ps. xc. 7), and St. Paul himself, in another place, says therefore, See how you walk, circumspectly (Eph. v. 15). 2. We must note that the things which drive us to a fall are numerous. (i) Weakness, lack of strength ; as children, the aged and the sick fall in the natural life. As Isaias says, They shall fall through infirmity (Isa. xl. 30). This happens to us through lukewarmness in well doing and through too frequent changing. (ii) We fall under the weight of our sins, as asses fall under a load that is too heavy. The workers of iniquity have fallen (Ps. xxxv. 13). And this happens through our neglect to repent. (iii) Through a multitude of things drawing us, as a tree or a house falls over on the crowd that tugs at it. We fall in this way by the onrush of enemies. (iv) The slipperiness of the road, and so we fall as travellers fall into the mud. Take heed lest thou slip with thy tongue and fall (Ecclus. xxviii. 30). We fall thus through carelessness in guarding our senses. (v) A variety of traps and we fall like the bird taken in the nets. A just man shall fall seven times Prov. xxiv. 1 6). And this happens through the corruption of created things. (vi) Ignorance of what one ought to do, and we fall easily as do the blind. If the blind lead the blind, both fall into the pit (Matt. xv. 14). This comes about through our not learning things necessary to us. (vii) The example of others who fall, as the angels fell by the example of Lucifer. A just man falling down before the wicked, is as a fountain troubled by the foot, a spring that has suffered defilement (Prov. xxv. 26). And this happens when we imitate the wicked. (viii) The heaviness of the flesh: for the body when corrupted weighs down the soul, as does a stone that hangs at the neck of a swimmer. A mountain in falling cometh to naught (Job xiv. 18). And this is what comes of pampering the body. (In i Cor. x.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 GOOD WORKS
If any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stoves, wood, hay, stubble, every man 's work shall be manifest. — i Cor. iii. 12, 13. 1. The works that man relies on in matters spiritual and divine are compared to gold, silver and precious stones, things substantial, brilliant and precious, yet they are compared in such a way that gold symbolizes those things by which man tends to God Himself by contemplation and love. " I counsel thee to buy of me gold fire-tried " (Apoc. iii. 1 8), that is, wisdom with charity. By silver are meant those acts by which man clings to the spiritual realities he must believe, love and contemplate. Whence in the Glossa silver is interpreted as referring to love of one's neighbour. By precious stones is to be understood the work of the different virtues with which man's soul is decked. Those human activities, on the other hand, by means of which man acquires material goods, are compared to stubble, or chaft, worthless rubbish, glittering and easily burnt. There are however grades in this rubbish, some things being more stable than others, some things more easily consumed than the rest. Men themselves, for example, are more worthy than other carnal things, and, by succession, humanity escapes destruction. Men are hence compared to wood. Man's flesh however is easily corrupted, by sickness and by death, whence it is compared to hay. All things which make for the glory of such a being speedily come to naught, whence they are compared to chaff or stubble. To build with gold, silver and precious stones is therefore to build, upon the foundation of faith, something related to the contemplation of the wisdom of divine things, to true love of God, to a following of the saints, to the service of one's neighbour and to the exercise of virtues. To build with wood, hay and chaff is to build according to plans that are no more than human, for the convenience of the body, and for outward show. 2. That men occupy themselves with purely human things may come about in three ways : (i) They may place the whole ultimate purpose of their life in the satisfaction of bodily needs. Now to do this is a mortal sin, and therefore in this way a man does not so much build as destroy the foundation, and lay another of a different kind. For the end or ultimate purpose is the foundation in all that relates to desires. (ii) They may in using purely corporal things have nothing else in view but the glory of God. In this case they are not building with wood, hay and chaff, but with gold, silver and precious stones. (iii) Although they do not place in purely corporal things the ultimate purpose of life, nor because of them will to act against God, they are more influenced by these things than they ought to be. The result is that they are thereby held back somewhat from a care for the things that are God's, and thus they sin venially. And it is this which is really meant by the phrase about building with wood, hay, and chaff, because activities that relate merely to the care of earthly goods have about them something of a venial fault, since they provoke a love of earthly things that is greater than it should be. It is in fact this love which, according to the degree of its tenacity, is compared to wood, to hay and to chaff. (In i Cor. iii.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 THE PRAYER OF OUR LORD IN THE GARDEN
And going a little further He fell upon his face, praying and saying: My Father. (Matt. xxvi. 39.) Our Lord here recommends to us three conditions to be observed when we pray. (i) Solitude : because going a little further he separated himself even from those whom he had chosen. When thou shalt pray enter into thy chamber and having shut the door pray to thy Father in secret (Matt. vi. 6). But notice he went not far away but a little, that He might show that he is not far from those who call upon Him, and also that they might see him praying and learn to pray in like fashion. (ii) Humility : He fell upon his face, giving there by an example of humility. This because humility is necessary for prayer and because Peter had said : Yea, though I should die with thee, I will not deny thee (Matt. xxvi. 35). Therefore did Our Lord fall, to show us we should not trust in our own strength. (iii) Devotion, when He said My Father. It is essential that when we pray we pray from devotion. He says My Father because He is uniquely God's Son; we are God's children by adoption only. (In Matt, xxvi.) 2. If it be possible let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt (Matt. xxvi. 39). Here we consider the tenor of prayer. Christ was praying according to the prompting of his sense nature, in so far, that is, as his prayer, as advocate for his senses, was expressing the inclinations of his senses, proposing to God, by prayer, what the desire of his senses suggested. And He did this that He might teach us three things : (i) That he had taken a true human nature with all its natural inclinations. (ii) That it is lawful for man to will, according to his natural inclination, a thing which God does not will. (iii) That man ought to subject his own inclination to the divine will. Whence St. Augustine says: Christ, living as a man, showed a certain private human willingness when he said, Let this chalice pass from me. This was human willingness, a man's own will and, so to say, his private desire. But Christ, since He wills to be a man of right heart, a man directed to God, adds, nevertheless not as I will but as thou wilt (3-12-11). And in this he teaches by example how we should arrange our inclinations so that they do not come into conflict with the divine rule. Whence we learn that there is nothing wrong in our shrinking from what is naturally grievous, so long as we bring our emotion into line with the divine will. Christ had two wills, one from his Father in so far as he was God and the other in so far as he was man. This human will he submitted in all things to his Father, giving us in this an example to do likewise, " I came down from heaven, not to do my will, fort the mil of him that sent me " (John vi. 38). (In Matt, xxvi.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 ON DOING GOOD
In doing good let us not fail. For in due time we shall reap, not failing. — Gal. xi. 9. In these words .St. Paul does three things : 1. He warns us that we must do good. For to do good is a duty seeing that all things, by their nature, teach us to do good. (i) They so teach us because they are themselves good. And God saw all the things that he had made, and they were very good (Gen. i. 31). Sinners have ample cause to make them blush in the multitude of created things all of them good, while sinners themselves are evil. (ii) Because all things, by their nature, do good. For every creature gives itself, and this is a sign of their own goodness and of the goodness of their Creator. Denis says "God is goodness, something which must diffuse itself." St. Augustine says, " It is a great sign of the divine goodness, that every creature is compelled to give itself." (iii) Because all things by their nature desire what is good and tend to the good. The good is, in fact, that for which everything longs. 2. St. Paul warns us, that in doing good we fail not. There are three things which most of all cause a man to persevere in doing good : (i) Assiduous and wholehearted prayer for help from God lest we yield when we are tempted, Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation (Matt, xx vi. 41). (ii) Unceasing fearfulness. As soon as a man feels confident he is safe, he begins to fail in doing good, Unless thou hold thyself diligently in the fear of the Lord, thy house shall quickly be overthrown (Ecclus. xxvii. 4). Fear of the Lord is the guardian of Life ; without it speedily indeed and suddenly is the house thrown down, that is to say, a dwelling place that is of this world. (iii) Avoidance of venial sins, for venial sins are the occasion of mortal sin and often undermine the achievement of good works. St. Augustine says, " Thou hast avoided dangers that are great, beware lest thou fall victim to the sand." 3. St. Paul offers a reward that is fitting, is generous and is everlasting. For in due time we shall reap not failing. Fitting : in due time, that is, at a fitting time, at the day of judgment when each shall receive what he has accomplished. So the farmer receives the fruit of his sowing, not immediately but in due time, The husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth ; patiently bearing till he receive the early and the latter rain (James v. 7). Generous: We shall reap ; here it is the copiousness of the reward that is indicated. With the harvest and reaping we associate abundance, He who soweth in blessings, shall also reap blessings (2 Cor. ix. 6). Your reward is very great in heaven (Matt, v. 12) (Sermon for the 15th Sunday after Pentecost). Everlasting : We shall reap, not failing. We ought then to do good not for an hour merely, but always and continually. In doing good let us not fail, that is to say, let us not fail in working, for we shall not fail in reaping. Whatsoever thy hand is able to do, do it earnestly (Eccles. ix. 10). And right it is not to fail in working, for the reward to which we are looking is everlasting and unfailing. Whence St. Augustine says : " If man will set no limit to his labour, God will set no limit to the reward." (In Galatians vi. 9.) Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 Septuagesima Sunday THE WORK OF THE VINEYARD Going out about the third hour, he saw others standing in the market-place idle. And he said to them : Go you also into my vineyard and I will give you what shall be just. — Matt. xx. 3. In these words we may notice four things : 1. The goodness of the Lord, going out, that is, for his people's salvation. For that Christ should go out to lead men into the vineyard of justice was indeed an act of infinite goodness. Our Lord is five times said to have gone out. He went out in the beginning of the world, as a sower, to sow his creatures, The sower went out to sow his seed. Then in his nativity to enlighten the world, Until her just one come forth as brightness (Isa. Ixii. i). In his Passion to save his own from the power of the devil and from all evil, My just one is near at hand, my saviour is gone forth (Isa. li. 5). He goes out like the father of a family, caring for his children and his goods. The kingdom of heaven is like to an householder who went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard (Matt. xx. i.). Finally he goes out to judgment, to make most strict enquiry after the wicked, like some overseer, to beat down rebels, like some mighty fighter, and, like a judge, to punish as they merit, criminals and malefactors. 2. The foolishness of men. For nothing is more foolish than that in this present life, where men ought so to work that they may live eternally, men should live in idleness. He found them in the market place idle. That market-place is this our present life. For it is in the market-place1 that men quarrel and buy and sell and so the market-place stands for our life of every day, full of affairs, of buying and selling and in which also the prospects of grace and heavenly glory are sold in exchange for good works. These labourers were called idle because they had already let slip a part of their life. And not evil-doers alone are called idle but also those who do not do good. And as the idle never attain their end, so will it be with these. The end of man is life eternal. He therefore who works in the proper way will possess that life if he is not an idler. It is great folly to live in idleness in this life; because from idleness, as from an evil teacher, we learn evil knowledge; because through idleness we come to lose the good that lasts for ever; because through the short idleness of this life we incur a labour that is eternal. 3 . The necessity of working in the vineyard of the Lord. Go you also into my vineyard. The vineyard into which the men are sent to work is the life of goodness, in which there are as many trees as there are virtues. We are to work in this vineyard in five ways : Planting in it good works and virtues ; rooting up and destroying the thorns, that is, our vices; cutting down the superfluous branches, Every branch in me, that beareth fruit, he will purge it, that it may bring jorth more fruit (John xv. 2) ; keeping off the little foxes, that is, the devils ; and guarding it from the thieves, that is, keeping ourselves indifferent to the praise and the blame of mankind. 4. The usefulness of labour. The wage of those who labour in the vineyard is a penny that outvalues thousands of silver crowns. And this is what we are told in Holy Scripture, The peaceable had a vineyard, every man bringeth for the fruit thereof a thousand pieces of silver (Cant. viii. 1 1). The thousand crowns are the thousand joys of eternity, and these are signified by the penny. Sermon for Septuagesima Sunday Source: Meditations for Lent, Imprimatur 1937 Read St. John xix. 25-27.
1. Our Divine Saviour did not depart from those He loved without providing them with a Mother who should be their Consoler, their Protector, their Advocate with God. In the person of St. John, He entrusted them all to Mary's care. If He had simply been providing Mary with a home, He would first have addressed St. John and commended to him the pious task of sheltering the Mother of God. By speaking first to Mary, He showed that it was she who was to shelter all those who were desolate and in sorrow. St. John was the representative of all who love Jesus, when Jesus said to Mary respecting him, "Woman, behold thy son." 2. This was the occasion when Our Lady for a second time became a mother. The birth of her first-begotten Jesus cost her no pang of travail ; the birth of her spiritual children, the sinful sons of men, brought to her unspeakable anguish. The Queen of heaven became the Queen of Dolors before she could earn the right to exercise over each of us a mother's fostering care. How we ought to value the privilege of being her children, when it cost Mary such unspeakable suffering! 3. When Jesus said to Mary, "Woman, behold thy son," He asked Our Lady to regard us with a mother's love for His sake. Her love for Him was to be transferred to us, without, however, becoming one whit the less. She was to love us for Jesus' sake ; to show her love for Him by loving us. With what perfect confidence can we go to Mary, who sees in each of us, in spite of our sins, the image of her Divine Son! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Mark xv. 35-46.
1. No sooner is the sacrifice consummated and the last drop of the precious blood shed from Our Lord's Sacred Heart, than all is changed. That lifeless body is now treated with the utmost respect and veneration. See how gently and carefully Joseph and Nicodemus wind linen bands around the limbs and lower it to the ground, reverently adoring that body which had only a few hours before been a laughing-stock and object of contempt. Henceforth no more ignominy, no more contempt, no more ill-usage, but the love and adoration of saints and angels to all eternity. 2. Our Lady receives the body of her Son. What were her thoughts as she gazes into the five wounds, and sees how from head to foot it is covered with gaping wounds and bruises, battered out of all shape by the cruelty of man ? O Mother of Sorrows, great as an ocean is thy sorrow ! What can be thy hatred of sin when thou seest what it has wrought in the divine beauty of thy spotless Son ! What a mixture of agonized compassion and mournful sorrow, and hope and consolation, and gratitude and triumphant joy, fills thy sacred soul while thou lookest on the dead body of thy Son ! 3. The day on which Jesus died is indeed well called Good Friday. It is the day when Jesus consummated His victory over sin and death. While we mourn over His sufferings and our sins which caused them, we must also rejoice exceedingly at the thought of Satan conquered and heaven opened, and millions of sinners cleansed from sin in His most precious Blood ! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. John xix. 34-37.
I. Each time that holy Mass is said, the sacrifice of our blessed Lord upon the cross is represented in the sacrifice that takes place upon the altar. Thus, the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world, on the divine decree, continues to be slain mystically, and will continue as long as the world shall last. With such a sight before our eyes, how can we ever forget Him? how can we ever lose-heart or despond with this abiding proof of His tender love before our eyes ? 2. In the blood and water that flowed from Our Lord's side when pierced by the centurion's spear were represented the sacraments of the Church, the blood of Christ that extricates us in holy Communion, the water that cleanses our souls in baptism and penance. His Sacred Heart that was open then is open still; the rich stream of graces still continues; it has flowed even unto me. What countless graces I have received from the love that has been poured upon me from the Sacred Heart of Jesus ! 3. The Sacred Host that we receive in holy Communion reminds us in many things of the dead body of Jesus as it hung upon the cross, all the glory hidden no life to all appearance there; in the power of all to treat it as they choose ; reduced to the lowest humiliation. Yet it is our God and our Lord, the object of the adoring love of angels and of men, He Whom the heaven of heavens cannot contain, Who condescends to be our Guest and the food of our souls. Meditate on the unspeakable love of Jesus sacrificed for us ! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Luke xxiii. 45-48.
1. After Our Lord has hung in agony for three hours upon the cross, at last the time approaches when His deliverance is at hand. He has endured every possible form of suffering, bodily and mental. His body has been subjected to a physical torture far worse than the accumulated sufferings of the martyrs; His sacred soul has been rent asunder with an anguish and desolation more awful than any save the eternal anguish of hell. He has sacrificed His honor, His reputation ; He has been esteemed a fool and a madman. Now there is only one sacrifice more that He can make to His Eternal Father for man—the sacrifice of His life. He is determined to give up all for us, to be obedient even to death. 2. What was it that caused the Death of Our Lord ? Not the executioners, not the Jews, not the agony of the cross ; they were but instruments. It was sin. Sin had in it a malice sufficient even to rob of life God, Our Lord and King. What a strange mystery sin is ! And how strange that we do not hate it more when we see its power to destroy ! 3. The death of Jesus was no transient occurrence. He still mystically dies for us each day and each hour. When we receive holy Communion, we ''show the death of the Lord till He come," and, therefore, His sacred Passion and Death should be the chief subject of our thoughts whenever we approach the holy Table, and especially on the eve of the solemn day when He instituted the sacrament of His love. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. John xix. 28, 29.
1. There is nothing that causes such agonizing thirst as loss of blood. The prayer of the wounded soldier upon the battle-field is always for a drink of water; he forgets all other pains in his burning thirst. What must have been the intolerable suffering of Our Lord, Whose sacred Body had been gradually drained of every droop of blood ! All day long the blood had been flowing—at the scourging, on the way to Calvary, as He was dragged hither and thither, with the sharp cords cutting His wrists. And now upon the cross, as from hands and feet a stream bedewed the ground, fiercer and fiercer grew the burning, parching thirst which consumed Him. O my Jesus, was there none to quench that thirst endured for us ? 2. Our Lord's thirst was to atone especially for the sins of intemperance and self-indulgence in drink. Every sin of drunkenness and excess or self-indulgence in our food and drink added to that thirst and made it still more intolerable. My God, forgive me any such offenses, and help me to deny myself some lawful indulgence, that so I may atone for my sins and assuage in some degree that sacred thirst Thou didst endure for me. 3. There was, however, a deeper meaning in Our Lord's cry: "I thirst!" He was thirsting for the souls of sinners, thirsting for the love of ungrateful men, thirsting for my love. He thirsts for it still, that I may be more faithful to His grace. O my Jesus, help me to love Thee more ! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Mark xv. 33-36.
1. Our Lord had for a long time been silent. A thick darkness had gathered; most of the spectators had departed in fear. The mocking Pharisees had been awed to silence. Few were left save the soldiers, St. John, and a faithful group of holy women. All at once a piercing cry from the Divine Sufferer breaks the silence, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ?" These words were an expression of the thick darkness which Our Lord had permitted to gather round His human soul, and to hide from Him as it were the face of His Eternal Father. This desolation was by far the greatest of all the unspeakable sufferings of the Son of God. 2. What was its cause? Nothing else but sin. He was made sin for us, and having thus identified Himself with the sins of men so far as was possible for the sinless Lamb of God, He allowed Himself to experience to the utmost degree that He could the awful misery which is the consequence of sin—the black, dark hopelessness (if the word is a lawful one) which results to the sinner whom God forsakes. This consequence of sin Jesus took upon Himself to save men from the eternal remorse and despair which otherwise would have been their lot. 3. This cry of Jesus is a model prayer for us in times of darkness and desolation. We sometimes feel as if God had forsaken us, and cry out in our misery and sore distress. We are always safe in echoing Jesus' words, and He Who hears us use them will remember His own dereliction and help us in ours. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Luke xxiii. 39-43.
1. Among those who mocked and derided Jesus were the two thieves crucified with Him. But very soon His unspeakable gentleness and meekness touched the heart of one of the two. First he ceased his words of insult, then he boldly reproved his companion and bore testimony to the innocence of Jesus, and to His authority as King and Lord. What a divine power there is in weakness ! The sight of the uncomplaining patience of Christ convinced this robber that He was King of all the earth, and that He Who now was dying on the cross would soon reign forever and ever. "Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom." 2. Remember me ! This was his simple prayer. But we know that it was enough. If Christ remembers us, all will be well. What we have to dread is lest He forget us by reason of our having forgotten Him. This prayer should often be on our lips: " O Lord, remember me! In the hour of temptation, remember me ! When sorrow bears hard on me, remember me ! In sickness and in my last agony, O Lord, remember me!" 3. Our Lord answers this prayer of the good thief with divine generosity. All his sins are forgiven him; and as soon as his agony is over, he is to be received into the company of the blest and to be with Christ in paradise. What a rich reward for his confession of Christ! What a glorious answer to his prayer that Christ will remember him ! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Matthew xxvii. 39-44.
1. The sight of Jesus hanging on the cross, so far from melting the hearts of the Jews, only hardened them the more against Him. Instead of feeling pity, they rejoiced over their Victim, and insulted Him in His misery. When men deliberately refuse to listen to the voice of Jesus, they become quite insensible after a time to His claim on them. They think evil good, and good evil ; they are given over to a reprobate mind. Even in little things those who do not obey the impulses of grace become deaf to its calls, or even feel a positive aversion for that which they once loved but have now rejected. 2. How apparently impotent to save Himself the King of Glory seems to be! But that weakness is true strength. It is by these outrages and insults, by this passive endurance of their jeers and gibes, that Christ Our Lord is doing the wondrous work of our Redemption, and earning graces for all those who suffer insult for Him, to rejoice in being counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake. 3. But He is doing more than this. He is also preparing for His sacred humanity a glory corresponding to all this ignominy. Of Him it is true beyond all others that he that humbleth himself shall be exalted. Each taunt, each mocking word, was to earn the praise of the angels and saints to all eternity. Here is an encouragement for us ! What matters it if men despise and insult us, if God approves ? The just Judge will not forget in the day of account what we have suffered for Him. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Luke xxiii. 32-34.
1. Arrived at the summit of Calvary, our Divine Saviour is roughly stripped of His garments and exposed to the rude gaze of the scoffing multitude. This shame He endured to atone for our most shameful deeds, for our. human respect, for our glorying in our shame, for our boasting and love of display before the eyes of men. Yet when we see the King of Glory thus exposed to shame, will not shame be far dearer to us than the empty honors that men bestow ? 2. The executioners then seize Jesus and lay Him down upon the cross. Holes have been bored in the wood at the extremities of the cross-piece and in the lower part of the stem, and Our Lord's sacred limbs are almost dislocated by being dragged until the hands and feet reach the parts that have been pierced. Then the long, sharp nails are held by one of the soldiers, while another with a hammer drives them in through the hands and feet of Jesus. The blows are struck ; the blood gushes forth ; while the Divine Victim moans piteously under the exquisite pain. O Jesus, grant me a heartfelt compassion with Thee in Thy sufferings. 3. When Our Lord is nailed to the cross, the soldiers raise it on high, and let the base of it fall into a hole dug in the ground. The shock renews afresh the agony of Jesus. No word is heard from His mouth, save one which He repeats again and again: "Father, forgive them! "Even then He was thinking of others, not of Himself. Was ever love like His ? Why do I not love Him more in return? Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Mark xv. 21.
I. Our blessed Lord falls again and again beneath the weight of the cross, until it becomes evident to the soldiers that He will never be able to drag it to the place of execution. They accordingly lay hold of a heathen passing by, Simon the Cyrenian, and him they compel to carry the cross. How little Simon knew the happiness in store for him when those rough soldiers seize him and force him to the ignominious task of carrying for a public criminal the instrument of his punishment ! How often we too fail to recognize in the sudden disagreeables and contradictions we encounter God's wonderful designs of mercy to us ! 2. Simon at first bore the cross sultrily and reluctantly, chafing under the hardship inflicted on him. But as he carries it, somehow an unaccountable change comes over him. It has the virtue to change his heart, and to make of him a devoted follower of the Crucified, one of the pillars of the Apostolic Church. Thus many a cross that we carry reluctantly turns out to be really the means of our sanctification and salvation. 3. Before Simon arrives at the summit of Calvary, the cross has endeared itself to him. He has recognized that to carry it for Jesus was no hardship, but a privilege and a happiness. So too the saints learn to love the cross, to embrace it, to seek it, to carry it with all joy, to be almost discontented if they are without it. This is the very height of peace and felicity; for those who find their joy in the cross find everywhere around them cause for rejoicing. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Matthew xvi. 24-25.
1. Our blessed Lady, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, goes forth to meet her Son as He drags Himself up the hill of Calvary. With what horror and dismay must she have been stricken through at the sight of her darling Son and her God, His divine beauty obliterated, mangled and torn, covered with blood and filth, unsightly and terrible to behold! Heart-broken anguish fills her soul, and we may well believe that she would have died of sorrow had she not been miraculously supported by the power of God. O Mother of God ! obtain for me a share in Thy grief and Thy intercession ! 2. What a fresh pang of sorrow to the gentle heart of Jesus to see His holy Mother, pale and haggard, come to share in His sacred Passion by her compassion ! None so full of sympathy as He, none so full of acute feeling for the woes of others. If He compassionated the women on the way, how much more His own Mother, whom He loved far better than all the world beside ! O Mary, obtain for me, a sinner, the sacred compassion of Jesus ! 3. Our Lady shared in the Passion of Christ in a way in which none else could,—none even of the saints,—simply because she was sinless. She had not to suffer for herself. She had no sin to expiate. This it is which justifies us in giving her the title of co-Redemptorix. She too, who knew no sin, was made sin for us. This earned for her the privilege of sharing in all the agony of the sinless Lamb of God. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Luke xxiii. 27-31.
1. Torn and bleeding, scarcely able to sustain the heavy burden of the cross, with His long garment entangling His feet, dragged on by the brutal soldiery, Jesus treads the sacred way of the cross. After going a few steps He stumbles and falls ; rising with difficulty, He totters on a short distance farther and falls again. O my Lord and my God, I beseech Thee by these Thy most painful falls, grant that I may never again fall into deliberate sin. 2. On the way some women express their grief and compassion with Jesus. His appearance is so pitiable that they cannot restrain their tears. Jesus turns to them, tells them to weep not for Him, but for themselves and for their children. If sin has wrought such a work of destruction in the Son of God, in Whom evil had nothing to lay hold of, in Whom the green wood could be blackened externally but not consumed by the flame, what would be its effects on sinners in whom the fire of sin rages as in the dry tinder? How ought I to fear the least spark of sin which may kindle in me the fire of passion and destroy me utterly! 3. One of those holy women, named Veronica, with a handkerchief wipes from His face the blood and sweat. On looking at the handkerchief she sees the impression of His sacred countenance stamped upon it. So upon the hearts of all who do acts of kindness for Christ's sake there' is imprinted His likeness. Each deed of charity tends to produce in our soul that likeness to Him in which all holiness consists. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Matthew xxvii. 31.
1. It was not really Pilate who condemned Jesus to death, says St. Bernard, it was His love "for us. He had been longing all His life through for that moment when He was to carry out His Fathers will and redeem the world by dying for us. He knew that the divine mandate had gone forth that without shedding of blood there would be no remission. The voice of Pilate, sentencing Him to death, was but the expression of His own love for sinners, and of His joyful acceptance of the cross for their sake. O Jesus, may I love Thee in return for such love for me ! 2. The cross has been prepared beforehand, and as soon as the sentence has been passed they bring it forward to be laid upon the shoulders of their Victim. Jesus takes the cross, and kisses the instrument of His Agony as a welcome friend. He did this not merely because He loved us and therefore loved the cross, but to teach us to love our crosses, to accept them as gifts from God to be welcomed, not to be rejected or regarded with aversion and dislike. How can we dislike them when they make us like to Jesus, and must be borne after Him if we are ever to share His joy in heaven? 3. On the shoulder of Jesus was a large, open wound, scarcely covered by the garments thrown upon Him. The weight of the cross rested on this wound, causing Him the most exquisite agony. It was by this that He was earning for us patience under our bodily sufferings. However keen, they are nothing to what the Son of God endured on His road to Calvary. Jesus, grant me patience under my sufferings. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Matthew xxvii. 24-26.
1. Pilate tries first one plan, then another, to avoid passing a sentence which he knew to be unjust. One plan after another fails, and now he is brought face to face with a choice on which the salvation of his soul may well depend. It was the turning-point in his life : the grace of God urging him on one side, and on the other the fear of man. So in the life of each there is some turning-point, some occasion when the choice made will decide his future both in life and in eternity. Unhappy those who in such a moment choose as Pilate chose ! 2. The motive that led Pilate to condemn Jesus was the fear of man. He did not dare to face the consequences of doing his duty. He trembled before the opinion of others and the dread of losing his worldly position and honor. To how many has the same motive been a cause of eternal loss! Is it not one before which I have sometimes quailed, loving honor from men. and failing in what I knew was the will of God from a desire to please other- : 3. Pilate ordered the sentence to be written out condemning Jesus to death, and then deliberately signed it. But first he washed his hands before the people, declaring himself guiltless of the blood of the just man that he condemned. O fruitless ceremony ! He could not wash from his soul the black stain of cowardice and of treachery to his conscience. It is no use doing ill and saying we did not mean it. Such an evasion, like Pilate's protest, rather adds to than diminishes the sin. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. John xix. 4-6.
1. The scourging and crowning with thorns have brought the Son of God to a condition pitiable to contemplate. We have seen Him, and there is no sightliness in Him that we should desire Him. Pity, contempt, horror, disgust, indignation, are mingled in the hearts of those who behold Him. He is indeed a worm and not a man. He, the fairest among ten thousand ! He, the sinless Lamb of God ! Oh, how frightful must sin be if it can work such havoc even in the sacred person of the Son of God ! 2. The sin that did this work, moreover, was the sin of others, not His own. It was something external to Him. He took it indeed upon Himself, He was made sin for us, but sin was never His own as it was ours. If it could so disfigure and degrade the sinless Lamb of God when laid upon Him from without, what must be the disfigurement and degradation sin works in us, springing up as it does out of ourselves, being a part of our sinful nature producing its natural fruits ? 3. But was the Son of God really degraded by all these consequences of sin ? On the contrary, His sacred humanity had never been so glorious or so worthy of honor as it was then. If He was unsightly before men, in the eyes of His Eternal Father He was crowned with honor and glory. There is nothing so pleasing to God as voluntary self-abasement and humiliation, nothing that brings so rich a recompense. How foolish then am I when I seek to avoid humiliation, and hate to be made like to the Son of God by suffering contempt and reproach from others ! Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 Read St. Mark xv. 16, 17.
I. Our Lord was covered with a scarlet cloak and crowned with thorns, as a travesty or caricature of worldly honor. He desired to exhibit it in its true light. The farce played by the soldiers was in truth no farce, but a reality. It was intended to show how empty and contemptible is all earthly glory. It is worth no more than the mock-respect of the ruffians who bowed the knee by way of insult to Jesus. O Lord, by that mockery of honor Thou didst undergo, grant that I may esteem human honor at its true value. 2. Watch the soldiers at their cruel sport. The crown upon the head of Jesus is plaited of briers, whose long thorns pierce His sacred forehead as they press it down upon Him ; the drops of blood and mingled tears blind His eyes. One by one they pass before Him and bow the knee, and then—oh, shame ! they spit in His sacred face, that face before which angels and archangels fall in prostrate homage. O Lord, in return for those insults Thou didst endure, I will always bow before Thee in the Blessed Sacrament with reverent love and adoration; I will seek to wipe the drops of blood from Thine eyes by denying myself the free indulgence of my senses even in lawful things. 3. What were the sins for which Christ specially atoned in the crowning with thorns? Evil thoughts and imaginations, uncharitable thoughts, proud thoughts, impure thoughts. It was these rather than the thorns which pierced His sacred head, and filled His eyes with tears of sorrow and of blood. Source: The Sacred Passion of Jesus Christ - Short Meditations for Everyday in Lent, by Richard F. Clarke, S.J. Imprimatur 1889 |
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