Fifth Week of Lent Friday of Sorrows
HOLOCAUST REMEMBRANCE DAY
Jeremiah,
Chapter 23, Verse 4
The
Presence of God[1]
For
Jews, there was only one Temple. It was the one place on earth that could truly
be called holy. It was the place where God’s Spirit dwelt. The Temple was a
place where they could withdraw from the pollutions of the world and know God’s
presence in purity. As Christians by the action of Christ we, our bodies, are
the temple of God, and He is always with us. No longer was God’s presence and
his purifying ritual confined to a single geographic location. No longer were
they the exclusive privilege of a single ethnic group. Now the temple has no
walls. It is universal—that is, it’s catholic. We are the temple of God’s
presence.
Do you not know that you are God’s
temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? ...God’s temple is holy, and that
temple you are. (I
Cor. 3:16-17)
When
I was a youth of 20, I had the great honor of serving in the Navy Seabee’s and
went to build the South Pole Station in Antarctica and breathing was difficult
in the frozen thin air, here is an excerpt from my book,
“The Ice is Nice and Chee-Chee is
Peachy.
Prayer. MERCIFULLY
infuse Thy grace into our hearts, we beseech Thee, O Lord, that, by doing
voluntary penance for our sins, we may be punished here, rather than be
condemned to punishment for eternity.
EPISTLE. Jerem. xvii. 13-18.
In those days Jeremias said: O Lord, the
hope of Israel: all that forsake Thee shall be confounded: they that depart
from Thee, shall be written in the earth: because they have forsaken the Lord
the vein of living waters: heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed: save me, and
I shall be saved: for Thou art my praise. Behold they say to me: Where is the
word of the Lord? let it come. And I am not troubled, following Thee for my
pastor: and I have not desired the day of man, Thou knowest it. That which went
out of my lips, hath been right in Thy sight. Be not Thou a terror unto me,
thou art my hope in the day of affliction. Let them be confounded that
persecute me and let not me be confounded: let them be afraid and let not me be
afraid: bring upon them the day of affliction, and with a double destruction,
destroy them, O Lord our God.
GOSPEL. John xi. 47-54.
At that time: The chief priests and the
Pharisees gathered a council, and said: What do we, for this man doth many
miracles?
If we let Him alone so, all will believe
in Him, and the Romans will come, and take away our place and nation. But one
of them named Caiphas, being the high priest that year, said to them: You know
nothing. Neither do you consider that it is expedient for you that one man
should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this he
spoke not of himself: but being the high priest of that year, he prophesied
that Jesus should die for the nation. And not only for the nation, but to
gather together in one the children of God, that were dispersed. From that day,
therefore, they devised to put Him to death. Wherefore Jesus walked no more
openly among the Jews, but He went into a country near the desert, unto a city
that is called Ephrem, and there He abode with His disciples.
Lenten Calendar[3]
Read: “Wherefore, we ask, urgently and prayerfully, that we, as people of God,
make of the entire Lenten Season a period of special penitential observance.
Following the instructions of the Holy See, we declare that the obligation both
too fast and to abstain from meat, an obligation observed under a stricter
formality by our fathers in the faith, still binds on Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday. No Catholic Christian will lightly excuse himself from so hallowed an
obligation on the Wednesday which solemnly opens the Lenten season and, on that
Friday, called ‘Good’ because on that day Christ suffered in the flesh and died for our sins.
. .. Gratefully remembering this, Catholic peoples from time immemorial have
set apart Friday for special penitential observance by which they gladly suffer
with Christ that they may one day be glorified with Him. This is the heart of
the tradition of abstinence from meat on Friday where that tradition has been
observed in the holy Catholic Church.”
(1966
USCCB Pastoral Statement on Penance and Abstinence, no. 12 and no. 18)
Reflect: "If you have fasted two or three
days, do not think yourself better than others who do not fast. You fast and
are angry; another eats and wears a smiling face."
—St. Jerome, Letters, 22.37
Pray: Pray that abstinence from some of your
favorite things this Lenten season will help bring you closer to God long after
the season is over.
Act: Take note of the meatless meals you have
enjoyed this Lent. Add your favorites to your family’s regular meal rotation once Lent is
over.
Friday of Sorrows[4]
A
special commemoration, one week before Good Friday, of Mary's compassion for
(literally, "suffering with") Her innocent son.
The Friday of Sorrows is
a solemn pious remembrance of the sorrowful Blessed Virgin Mary on the Friday
before Palm Sunday held in the fifth week of Lent (formerly called
"Passion Week"). In Divine
Worship: The Missal
it is called Saint Mary in Passiontide and sometimes it is traditionally
known as Our Lady in Passiontide.
In certain Catholic
countries, especially in Mexico, Guatemala, Italy, Peru, Brazil, Spain, Malta,
Nicaragua and the Philippines, it is seen as the beginning of the Holy Week celebrations and termed as Viernes
de Dolores (Friday of Sorrows). It takes place exactly one week before Good
Friday, and concentrates on the emotional pain that the Passion of Jesus Christ
caused to his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is venerated under the title
Our
Lady of Sorrows. In
certain Spanish-speaking countries, the day is also referred to as Council
Friday, because of the choice of John
11:47-54 as the
Gospel passage read in the Tridentine Mass on that day (which is now read in
slightly expanded form on Saturday of the fifth week of Lent), which recounts
the conciliar meeting of the Sanhedrin priests to discuss what to do with
Jesus. Like all Fridays in Lent, this Friday is a day of abstinence from meat,
unless the national episcopal conference has indicated alternative forms of
penance. A similar commemoration in sympathy with the Virgin Mary under the
title of Our
Lady of Solitude
is held on Black
Saturday.
Prayers for the Dead[5]
Relationships never end and neither should our prayers for
the dead. In addition to PRAYERS, we should also offer up Masses for them and
offer indulgences for their benefit. The dead cannot pray for themselves but
they can pray for us and we in turn should pray for them.
Modern
man and the media often portray persons that fast as deranged, passé or even
ignorant. However, fasting and bodily discipline are truly the marks of a man
or woman of mature intellect which has mastery over not only the mind but also
the body and spirit. St. Paul put it in stronger terms, “put to death therefore
what is earthly in you (Col. 3:5).” Jesus has also said, “If any man would come
after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Christ
knew we become attached to created things and to the pleasure they bring us.
St. Augustine said that sin begins as a turning away from God and a turning
toward lesser goods. When we sin, we don’t choose evil. We choose something
less than God and His will. Our bodies want more than they need, so we must
give them less than they want. Our bodies must be subject to our reason—or our
reason will soon be subjected to our bodies. St. Paul went even further. “I
pommel my body and subdue it” (1 Cor. 9:27). Nevertheless, our goal should be
to let our reason/soul cooperate with the Holy Spirit.
Chassidic philosophy[7] demonstrates three ways in which
the body and soul can interact:
Ø
The
soul can try and mitigate the urges of the body. Things that look good, taste
good and feel good are stimulating and addictive. Most of us live life with our
body in the driver’s seat. The soul just can’t compete. And so, the soul tries
to negotiate reasonably, and encourages moderation.
Ø
Or,
the soul can choose to reject the body and abhor anything associated with
materialism. The soul-driven person would then rebel against society’s shallow
and false veneers. Simplicity and ascetism become the ultimate goals of the
soul.
Ø
The
third scenario is not a compromise between the first two. It is an entirely new
approach, where the body and soul learn to work together. The soul neither
leans towards the body nor rejects it. It
does not react; it pro-acts. In a proactive position, the soul directs and
channels the body’s inclination in a constructive way. In this last approach,
instead of repressing the body’s needs, the soul views them as an opportunity
to serve God in a whole new way.
Using
the third approach we should fast with a purpose like Moses or Elijah for
example before going into God’s presence or to strengthen us or for the benefit
of others. Jesus fasted not because He needed to, but as a model for us. We
should make self-sacrifices in an effort to make others happy or out of love
for our God to share in his plan of salvation. By dying to self, daily, we
prepare ourselves for our own moment of death.
Yom
HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)[8]
The Holocaust Remembrance
Day, (Yom Hashoah, Hebrew: יום
השואה),
seeks to commemorate the Holocaust, a systematic and state-planned program to
murder millions of Jews and other minority groups in Europe. This program of
mass killing was run by the German Nazis in the 1930s and 40s during the Second
World War, where Jews and minorities were brought into concentration camps and
murdered at the hands of Nazi officials. This observance seeks to remember and
honor the victims of the Holocaust, including six million Jews and thousands of
Russians gypsies, homosexuals, disabled persons and other minorities.
Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance
Day) Facts
·
Yom Hashoah is an Israeli Festival, as opposed
to an ancient Jewish festival. Yom Hashoah was inaugurated in 1953. It was
instituted by the Israeli Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and the President
Isaac (Yitzchak) Ben Zvi. The Ancient fast of the Tenth of Tevet
(December) is the day on which the siege of Jerusalem commenced, prior to the
destruction of the Holy Temple. Many Jews commemorate the Holocaust on
this day.
·
In Israel, on the Eve of Yom Hashoah, a siren is
sounded, followed by an official memorial service headed by the Prime Minister,
President, Army Officials and Holocaust survivors. The service includes
speeches, Kaddish and El Maleh Rahamim (memorial prayers) and the Hatikvah
(Israel National Anthem). Another siren is heard in the morning, followed by
various memorial services.
Yom HaShoah Top Events and Things
to Do
·
Many communities read a list of those who
perished in the camps and Ghettos. One way to commemorate the Holocaust
is to browse the names in the Yad Vashem
(Israel's Memorial to the Holocaust) names Database.
·
Watch the mini-series Holocaust
starring Meryl Streep. It depicts the story of a Jewish family's struggle
to survive the Nazis.
· Attend a local memorial service. Tip: find one in your community by doing an internet search for Yom Hashoah.
·
Donate to a charity
that serves holocaust survivors or promotes education about the holocaust.
·
Watch a movie about the Holocaust. Some popular
picks: Schindler's List (1993), Auschwitz (2011), The
Boy in the Striped Pajamas (2008), Life is Beautiful (1997)
and The Pianist (2002).
Catechism
of the Catholic Church
PART ONE:
THE PROFESSION OF
FAITH
SECTION
ONE
"I
BELIEVE" - "WE BELIEVE"
CHAPTER TWO-GOD COMES TO MEET MAN
Article
3 SACRED SCRIPTURE
II.
Inspiration and Truth of Sacred Scripture
105 God is the author of Sacred Scripture. "The divinely
revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred
Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy
Spirit."
"For Holy Mother Church, relying on the faith of the
apostolic age, accepts as sacred and canonical the books of the Old and the New
Testaments, whole and entire, with all their parts, on the grounds that,
written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, they have God as their
author, and have been handed on as such to the Church herself."
106 God inspired the human authors of the sacred books.
"To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he
employed them in this task, made full use of their own faculties and powers so
that, though he acted in them and by them, it was as true authors that they
consigned to writing whatever he wanted written, and no more."
107 The inspired books teach the truth. "Since therefore
all that the inspired authors or sacred writers affirm should be regarded as
affirmed by the Holy Spirit, we must acknowledge that the books of Scripture
firmly, faithfully, and without error teach that truth which God, for the sake
of our salvation, wished to see confided to the Sacred Scriptures."
108 Still, the Christian faith is not a "religion of the
book". Christianity is the religion of the "Word" of God,
"not a written and mute word, but incarnate and living". If the
Scriptures are not to remain a dead letter, Christ, the eternal Word of the
living God, must, through the Holy Spirit, "open (our) minds to understand
the Scriptures."
Daily
Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Protection
of Traditional Marriage
·
54 Day Rosary
for Priest’s and Religious Day 48
· Litany of the Most Precious Blood of Jesus
·
Manhood of
the Master-week 7 day 6
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
· Make reparations to the Holy Face
·
30
Days with St. Joseph Day 20
[1] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40
Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 32. Presence of God.
[2] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896
[5] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40
Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 40. Prayers for the Dead.
[6] Hahn, Scott, Signs of Life; 40
Catholic Customs and their biblical roots. Chap. 27. Fasting and Mortification.
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