Monday, April 10, 2017 Passover begins

The LORD is my life's refuge; of whom should I be afraid?

Judges, Chapter 9, Verse 21
Then Jotham fled and escaped to Beer, where he remained for fear of his brother Abimelech.

A lot of people seem to escape to Beer! That’s a joke but unfortunately it is a common response to fear. Liquid courage we use to call it in the military. However, today I would like to change the subject to that of the family.

Jotham was raised in a large family 70 brothers and we do not know how many sisters. Families are the breeding ground of either love or hate; of either evil or good and finally of either excellence or apathy. A great family whether large or small is the seedbed of either greatness or smallness. This is the reason there is such a focus on the family in the church now. Families are the factories of a person’s character and character determines a person’s destiny.

Passion Week Timeline[1]

Monday
April 10
  • Leaves Bethany
  • Curses the fig tree on the way into the city
  • Weeps over Jerusalem
  • Cleanses the temple for the second time in His ministry
  • Late in day, looks into the Temple, then leaves the city
  • Spends the night in Bethany
Monday of Holy Week[2] The Gospel for the Mass gives an account of Judas' character, foreshadowing his act of betrayal.

Spring Cleaning Just as the Hebrews cleaned and swept the whole house in preparation for the Pasch (Passover), so too is there an ancient custom in Christianity that the first three weekdays of Holy Week be a time for the year's most thorough cleaning. Everything is to be scrubbed and polished, and all work is to be completed by Wednesday evening (in time for Tenebrae).

Tenebrae. Tenebrae consists of the divine office of Matins and Lauds for Maundy Thursday. It is generally held on the night of "Spy Wednesday" of Holy Week, so-called because it is believed to be the night on which Judas Iscariot betrayed our Lord.

Meditation - Mary and Judas[3]

Today the liturgy presents two noteworthy characters who play dissimilar roles in the Lord's passion. One fills us with solace and comfort; the other with uneasiness and wholesome fear. Their juxtaposition produces a powerful effect by way of contrast. The two characters are Mary of Bethany and Judas. Jesus is in the house of Lazarus, at dinner. Mary approaches, anoints the feet of her Savior for His burial and dries them with her hair. Judas resents her action and resolves upon his evil course. These two persons typify man's relation to Christ. He gives His Body to two types of individuals: to Magdalenes to be anointed, to Judases to be kissed; to good persons who repay Him with love and service, to foes who crucify Him. How movingly this is expressed in the Lesson: "I gave My body to those who beat Me, and My cheeks to those who plucked them. I did not turn away My face from those who cursed and spit upon Me." The same must hold true of His mystical Body. Down through the ages Christ is enduring an endless round of suffering, giving His body to other Marys for anointing and to other Judases to be kissed, beaten, and mistreated. Augustine explains how we can anoint Christ's body: Anoint Jesus' feet by a life pleasing to God. Follow in His footsteps; if you have an abundance, give it to the poor. In this way you can wipe the feet of the Lord. The poor are, as it were, the feet of the mystical Christ. By aiding them we can comfort our Lord in His mystical life, where He receives Judas' kisses on all sides-the sins of Christians. The Gospel account may be understood in a very personal way. In everyone's heart, in my own too, there dwell two souls: a Judas-soul and a Mary-soul. The former is the cause of Jesus' suffering, it is always ready to apostatize, always ready to give the traitor's kiss. Are you full master over this Judas-soul within you? Your Magdalen-soul is a source of comfort to Christ in His sufferings. May the holy season of Lent, which with God's help we are about to bring to a successful conclusion, bring victory over the Judas-soul and strengthen the Magdalen-soul within our breasts.

Aids in Battle[4] The Devil fears those who pray

My dear brothers and sisters, not only is prayer very powerful; even more, it’s of the utmost necessity for overcoming the enemies of our salvation. Look at all the saints: They weren’t content with watching and fighting to overcome the enemies of their salvation and with keeping well away from all that could offer them temptation. They passed their whole lives in prayer, not only the day, but very often the whole night as well. Yes, my dear children, we watch over ourselves and all the motions of our hearts in vain, and in vain we avoid temptation, if we don’t pray. If we don’t continually resort to prayer, all our other ways will be of no use at all to us, and we’ll be overcome. We won’t find any sinner converted without turning to prayer. We won’t find one persevering without depending heavily on prayer. Nor will we ever find a Christian who ends up damned whose downfall didn’t begin with a lack of prayer. We can see, too, how much the Devil fears those who pray, since there’s not a moment of the day when he tempts us more than when we’re at prayer. He does everything he possibly can to prevent us from praying. When the Devil wants to make someone lose his soul, he starts out by inspiring in him a profound distaste for prayer. However good a Christian he may be, if the Devil succeeds in making him either say his prayers badly or neglect them altogether, he’s certain to have that person for himself. Yes, my dear brothers and sisters, from the moment that we neglect to pray, we move with big steps towards hell. We’ll never return to God if we don’t resort to prayer.
ST. JOHN VIANNEY

Devotions/Prayers
·         Drops of Christ’s Blood
·         Novena to St. Bernadette

Attend the Chrism Mass which is conducted on this day when the bishop blesses the holy oils to be used for the year.







[1] http://www.jesus.org/death-and-resurrection/holy-week-and-passion/a-time-line-of-the-passion-week.html
[3]http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2017-04-10
[4] Thigpen, Paul. Manual for Spiritual Warfare. TAN Books.

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