Vinny’s Corner
· How to celebrate Sep 14th
o Start your day by bunking across your living room for a cozy start. International Drive Your Studebaker Day calls for a fun road trip, so head out for a drive.
o To stay true to National Sober Day, try a mocktail or delicious non-alcoholic drink.
§ After your drive: Celebrate National Rosa Tequila Day with a refreshing and zesty glass of homemade rose tequila-infused lemonade.
o For National Eat A Hoagie Day, whip up a hoagie sandwich for lunch.
o Embrace German Language Day by learning a few basic German phrases online.
o National Cream Filled Donut Day can be honored with a sweet treat from your local bakery.
o Gobstopper Day is all about nostalgia, enjoy a classic movie marathon.
o Finally, relax and destress with the calming activity of coloring for National Coloring Day. Have a fantastic day packed with diverse celebrations!
· Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday after the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, September 14th, are known as “Michaelmas Embertide,” and they come near the beginning of Autumn (September 22nd) and were formerly set aside as days of fasting and abstinence.
· National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month
o As a child I was a chunky monkey and when I finally got 3 chins at the age of about 12 my dad said OK that’s it. Next thing I knew my day pulled out his old military exercise manuals and put me through the boot camp of hell and it worked I was a lean green fighting machine. My dad loved me enough to care about my fitness and even did exercises and runs with me.
Introduction to 1 Samuel[1]
Welcome
to 1 Samuel, the original Game of Thrones (cue awesome theme here). Oh, yes, that's right. As
much as you've probably heard that the story of 1 Samuel is about the little guy (David) fighting the big guy
(Goliath), that's actually not the whole point of the book. We're here to tell
you that the plot of 1 Samuel is really
about control of the throne of Israel.
1.
Written at about 1000 B.C. by the Deuteronomists, the book starts off
with a man named Eli serving as God's priest. But God decides that a young man
named Samuel should be in charge, so when Eli eventually dies, Samuel takes
over as priest and prophet. Everything's coming up Samuel. Hence the title.
2.
The people of Israel decide they need a king, so God
makes Samuel appoint a man named Saul, who's kind of the worst. To make a long
story short, Saul is a terrible king, so Samuel has to go find someone
else.
3. After a long search, Samuel ends up in Bethlehem (way before Jesus was born there), where he meets an adorable young shepherd named David, he anoints David on the spot.
4.
Fast-forward a good long while, and the Israelite army
is ready to fight the Philistines. Every Israelite soldier is too scared to
fight Goliath, the Philistine champion, so David steps forward like a champ.
Overly confident, Goliath is defeated by a stone being flung through his skull
by David. Boom. Now everyone loves David. Even Saul... sort of. Well, maybe not
so much Saul.
5.
Now that David has gone from zero to hero, everyone has
the David fever except for Saul. He tries to kill David several times out of
jealousy for his new found fame and power. And the Game of Thrones has begun.
What follows until the end of 1 Samuel is a series of plot twists, battles,
more plot twists, and more battles until (spoiler alert) Saul is killed on the
battlefield. 1 Samuel ends on a cliffhanger, but don't worry, as with all good
action adventures, there's a sequel.
Political intrigue?
Check.
Power plays?
Check.
Epic battles?
Check. Seriously, 1 Samuel has all the
makings of every awesome R-rated movie or rated Mature TV show to grace the HBO
airwaves. And our man David's the star.
So here is the real question:
If the book is really about David, why is the book
titled Samuel? Any guesses?
Fine, we'll just tell you. Although the
book has got David fever along with the rest of the Israelites, as
Prophet-in-Residence, Samuel's there every step of the way. In fact, it's
because of Samuel that most of the events transpire. He's the Gandalf to David's Bilbo. The Dumbledore to his Harry. Without the old
gray wizard to guide, there is no unexpected journey and adventure. Without
Samuel, there's no Game of Thrones for Israel.
Why Should I Care?
Because you loved The Mighty Ducks, Rudy,
and Star Wars. Because no one—and we mean no one—has
ever said no to a good underdog story, and 1 Samuel is a classic.
Some of our greatest tales are based on the old little-dude-defeats-big-dude plot, and this one's no exception. From his very humble beginnings as a shepherd boy, David has to contend with all kinds of Big Bads every step of the way. See, 1 Samuel is one of the original underdog stories and it's not just about one big foe. David is constantly struggling to be the bigger man, whether it's against Goliath, Saul, or even himself at times.
Think
of 1 Samuel as a precursor to all those people-pleasing blockbuster franchises
making the big bucks in theaters these days. It's got all the awesome elements
that pack people in those seats: violence, romance, power struggles, dashing
heroes, and even a soundtrack (David's got a bit of a musical knack).
And yes—it even has a sequel.
SEPTEMBER 14 Saturday-Exaltation
of the Holy Cross
1 Samuel, Chapter 4, Verse 20
The Ark of the Covenant was the glory of Israel who had by this time had become no better than their neighbors and they worshiped the gods of their neighbors. Additionally, as they descended, they warred with each other rather than the nations opposed to them. The Ark was now considered a powerful talisman in war and when the Israelites bring it into battle with the Philistines it is captured, and the glory of Israel departs. The cause was the corruption of the priestly family of Eli who forgot the way of God. God would call another Priest: Samuel and the house of Eli was brought down.
Humpty Dumpty Had a Great Fall[2]
·
The
Israelites lose a battle against the Philistine army. The Philistines are a sea
people and a superior fighting force. The Israelites rarely stand a chance
against them (1-2).
·
The
Israelites decide to bring the Ark of the Covenant into the camp with them so
they might win the battle the next day. Everyone gets so excited when the Ark
makes its way into camp, the echoes of joy reach all the way to the Philistine camp,
and they become afraid.
·
The
next day, the Philistines fight even harder and they steal the Ark for
themselves. So much for that plan, Israelites. Oh, and Hophni and Phinehas die
just as prophesied (3-11).
·
A
messenger comes to deliver the news of Israel's defeat. Eli, sitting in his
place of power on the outer wall, receives the news of the defeat, the loss of
the Ark, and the death of his sons.
·
He
promptly falls backwards from his seat, breaks his neck, and dies. Little known
fact: Humpty Dumpty is based on Eli. Little known fact: that was a lie (14-18).
·
Phinehas'
pregnant wife, upon hearing of his demise, goes into labor and gives birth to a
son. She is so sad, she names the child Ichabod, which means the glory has
departed from Israel. Sorry kid, you're stuck with it (19-22).
Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy
Cross[3]
THIS feast is a yearly
commemoration of the erection, at Jerusalem, by Constantine the Great, and his
mother, St. Helena, of the cross on which Christ died. This took place under
the emperor Heraclius, by whom the holy cross, which Khosroo, King of Persia,
had carried into his own country, was, after fourteen years, recovered, brought
back to Jerusalem, and borne by the emperor himself to the hill of Calvary,
whither it had been borne by the Savior. Upon this occasion a miracle occurred.
As Heraclius was about to carry the cross to the proper place on his shoulders,
out of veneration for it, he found that while wearing the imperial dress he
could not move it, until, by the advice of the patriarch Zachary, he laid aside
his royal ornaments, dressed himself plainly, took off his shoes, and in such
manner made himself like the humble Savior.
Introit
of the Mass: “But it behooves us to glory in the cross of the Lord Jesus
Christ, in Whom is our salvation, life, and resurrection”.
Prayer.
O God, Who on this day givest us joy by the annual solemnity of the exaltation
of the holy cross, grant, we beseech Thee, that we may deserve the reward of
His redemption in heaven Whose mystery we have known upon earth.
EPISTLE.
Phil ii. 5-11.
Brethren:
Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who being in the form
of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but emptied Himself,
taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men, and in habit
found as a man. He humbled Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even to the death
of the cross. For which cause God also hath exalted Him, and hath given Him a
name which is above all names: that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth. And that every
tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the
Father.
GOSPEL.
John xii. 31-36.
At that time Jesus said to the multitudes of the Jews:
Now is the judgment of the world: now shall the prince of this world be cast
out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all things to Myself.
(Now this He said, signifying what death He should die.) The multitude answered
Him: We have heard out of the law, that Christ abideth forever: and how sayest
Thou: The Son of man must be lifted up? Who is this Son of man? Jesus therefore
said to them: Yet a little while the light is among you. Walk whilst you have
the light, that the darkness overtake you not. And he that walketh in darkness
knoweth not whither he goeth. Whilst you have the light, believe in the light
that you may be the children of light.
Instruction
on the Devotion of the Way of the Cross
What is the Holy Way of the Cross?
It is a devotional exercise by
which we meditate upon the passion and death of Jesus, and particularly upon
His last way of sorrows, from the house of Pilate to Mount Calvary. Tradition
testifies that after Christ’s ascension the Christians living in Jerusalem were
accustomed particularly to venerate the holy places which had been sanctified
by the passion of the divine Redeemer. But after Jerusalem fell into the hands
of the infidels, so that it became dangerous, and often impossible, to pass
over the ground which Our Lord had trod, the children of St. Francis of Assisi
began to erect in their churches the fourteen stations of the Way of the Cross,
by meditating on which the faithful might, in spirit, accompany the pilgrims to
Jerusalem on the way to Calvary, dwelling in thought on what Christ had
suffered for men. Station here means a place to pause, a resting point for
meditation. This devotion has been examined and approved by many Popes,
enriched with indulgences, and earnestly recommended to Christians. It may be
found in any prayer-book. No exercise is more profitable to our souls than
this.
·
What
can bring before us the love of God and the abominableness and frightfulness of
sin in a more vivid manner than the sufferings of the Godman?
·
How
can we any longer indulge in hate when we hear Jesus pray for His enemies?
·
How
can we give ourselves up to sensuality and lust when we see the divine Savior
scourged, crowned with thorns, and hanging on the cross?
·
How
can we murmur at our trials when we think that Jesus innocent takes up the
cross for us guilty?
In truth, we should see our coldness and indifference
disappear, as ice melts in the heat, we should grow more and more zealous in
the way of virtue, if we would but rightly meditate upon the passion of Christ.
How are visits to the
Stations of the Cross to be made?
Rightly to visit the Stations of
the Cross, and to draw there from real benefit, we should at each station
consider with attention, with devotion and sorrow, what Jesus has done and
suffered for us. We should not content ourselves with merely reciting at each
station the proper prayers and meditations, but should pause, to impress upon
our hearts what is there represented, that we may be moved and quickened to
wholesome resolutions. In order to gain indulgences, we must endeavor to be in
the state of grace, and therefore at least, by way of beginning, we must have perfect contrition for our
sins.
The
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday following September 14 marks one of the Ember
Days of the Church. See Ember
Days for more information.
Things
to Do:[4]
- Study different symbols and types of
crosses, history and/or significance. Then have an art project — creating
own crosses, using different media, including paper. See variations of crosses for some ideas.
- Learn and pray the prayer to Christ
Crucified; pray the Stations of the Cross. Point out particularly the
phrase repeated at each station:
We adore You, O Christ, and praise You,
Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world. - Study the history of St. Helena and
Constantine, especially St. Helena’s quest for finding the relics of
Jesus.
- Make sure that crucifixes are displayed
prominently throughout your home. Point out the crucifix in every room
even to the smallest ones. Your child's first word may be
"Jesus"!
- Explain the meaning of the Sign of the Cross
to your children and be sure that even the little ones are taught how to
make it.
- Encourage your children to make reparation
for sin; read about sacramentals.
- Teach your children a short ejaculatory
prayer such as "Through the sign of the Cross deliver us from our
enemies, O our God!".
- Make a dessert in the form of a cross or
decorated with a cross. Although usually made on Good Friday, Hot Cross
Buns would be appropriate for this day. Make a cross cake, either using a
cross form cake pan, or bake a sheet cake (recipe of choice). Once cool,
cut the cake in half, length ways. Then cut one of these sections in half
width ways. This makes three sections - one long and two shorts. Lay the
long section onto a serving plate. Set the two small sections next to the
long section forming a cross. Frost and decorate as desired.
- Tradition holds that sweet basil grew over
the hill where St. Helena found the Holy Cross, so in Greece the faithful
are given sprigs of basil by the priest. Cook a basil pesto, tomato basil
salad (with the last of the summer tomatoes) or some other type of recipe
that includes basil and explain to the family.
- More Ideas: Women for Faith and Family and Catholic Encyclopedia.
- Folklore has that the weather on the Ember Days of this month (September 15, 17, and 18) will foretell the weather for three successive months. So, Wednesday, September 15, will forecast the weather for October; Friday, September 17, for November; and Saturday, September 18, for December.
The Masculine Spirit[5]
In America we are gradually seeing the wholesale destruction of the masculine spirit. We are so confused many of us don’t know which bathroom to use.
Is
this just another attempt by Satan to kill the body as God created it?
Men and women need to value themselves and value the beneficial characteristics of masculinity and to reject the false images of being male. Men and women were created to be different. They were created to be in partnership, neither one dominating the other, each using their God-given gifts of gender for the benefit of the other and for the redemption of the world. The spirit of man is action oriented yet at times it is imperative that men to be fully men of God; must borrow from the female spirit the art of reflection. We must become aware of the wounds from our childhood that drive us toward destruction and trap us in unhealthy behavior as adults. We must reflect on and learn from our mistakes, so we are not doomed to repeat them. As we reflect, we can see most men fall into one of four Archetypes—King, Warrior, Magician, and Lover. Archetypes are blueprints, primordial images that affect how we think, feel, and react to life’s situations. A balanced man can be all four simultaneously directing his energy to the problem at hand, but problems come when a man gets stuck and becomes trapped in one archetype. Each type has positive and negative characteristics of which a balanced man can tap to be a hero or a villain.
Eucharistic Stations of the Cross[6]
Thy Eucharistic Kingdom Come!
Saint
Eymard rated the Stations of the Cross among the most important exercises of a
retreat. Long experience had taught him to find in the wounds of Jesus the
forgiveness, the peace, and all those graces for which the soul hungers while
on retreat. Right up to his death, he made the Stations of the Cross every day,
in the evening, after the fullest and most wearisome day's work. Therefore, he
recommended this devotion as one whose full value he knew. In the beautiful
words of the Following of Christ: "In the cross is salvation, in the cross
is life, in the cross is protection against the enemy, in the cross is infusion
of the heavenly sweetness, in the cross is strength of heart, in the cross is
joy of spirit." But to the Eucharistic soul, Calvary is the altar, and the
divine Crucified One is Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. It hears round about
the outcries of the throng against him who answers only with the silence of the
lamb; it sees into the plots of the scribes and the pharisees; it knows the bargaining
of these new Judases who sell to the demon in their souls, to their vices, to
their self-interest, the good Master who has just given himself to them in the
kiss of Communion. Every day it sees Jesus in his Eucharist delivered up,
denied by cowardice and human respect. The Holy Eucharist is the Passion
continued and renewed! The only difference is that the dolorous Eucharistic way
passes through the whole world, crisscrosses it in every direction, and that
the drama has lasted for almost twenty centuries.
What?
But Jesus is glorious, immortal,
impassable in the Blessed Sacrament! Why picture him to us as suffering, when
he can suffer no more and as humiliated when he reigns as King triumphant? It
is true, and very fortunate that Jesus Eucharistic can die no more, that men's
hatred could wreak itself upon his sacred person only once at Jerusalem' What
priest would cause Jesus to become present upon an altar that would be another
Calvary for him? But do sins, insults, and sacrileges wound the living Heart of
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament less grievously because he is beyond the
physical reach of the tortures, which our arms of flesh would make him undergo?
He no longer suffers at present; but in the moment when he instituted the Most
Blessed Sacrament, there passed before his soul the vision of the outrages,
insults, and profanations, which would be heaped upon him in the course of the
centuries. By his foreknowledge of the future he saw in their very smallest
details, in their most secret and delicate subtleties, the acts of
indifference, the sacrileges, and the profanations, which our malice held in
store for him. He saw and he knew; his Heart felt. He had the power to let his
Heart feel in that one instant anguish equal to what he would have had to
endure if he had remained sensible of suffering and a prey to our cruelty in
the long martyrdom to which men's ingratitude and the fury of evil spirits have
tried to subject him. The connection between Calvary and the Holy Eucharist is
so close that no soul can enter truly and at all intimately into union with
Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament without feeling the need of consoling him, of
compassionating sufferings the mode and reason of which it does not understand
but which are very real to its love. To meditate before the Blessed Sacrament
on the Passion as it took place in Jerusalem is not enough for this soul: it
feels in its heart that the Passion still continues. It is the Eucharistic
Passion of Jesus with which it wishes to sympathize. A sweet inspiration, one,
which must give so much joy to the
Heart of Jesus! For he complained to Saint Margaret Mary in such poignantly
sorrowful terms that he received this compassion too rarely from his forgetful
children! To us who wish to know and honor the mystery of the Holy Eucharist in
all its aspects belongs the beautiful mission of meditating frequently upon the
Eucharistic Passion; it is for us to compassionate and weep for so many insults
and profanations and to undertake reparation for them. Jesus no longer suffers
now: he wishes to suffer in us and to prolong in his members, for the glory of
God and the salvation of sinners, the martyrdom which he, our glorious Head,
first endured so generously: he gave us the example and opened the way to us.
The pious thoughts of Father Eymard will help to guide us in meditating on the
Eucharistic sufferings. We may make use of them during an hour of adoration or
meditate upon them while making the Stations of the Cross.
Stations
of the Cross
I.
First
Station - Jesus Is Condemned to Death
V.
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. R. Because by your holy Cross, you
have redeemed the world.
Jesus
is condemned by his own people by the very ones he showered with his favors. He
is condemned as a fomenter of rebellion, he who is goodness itself; as a
blasphemer, he who is holiness itself: as one seeking power, he who made
himself the least of all. He is condemned to die on the Cross, like the lowest
of slaves.
Jesus
lovingly accepts this sentence of death: He came down to this earth in order to
suffer and die and to teach us to do the same.
In
his Holy Eucharist Jesus is again condemned to death: primarily in his graces,
which are rejected; in his love, which is slighted; in his sacramental state,
by the unbeliever who denies him, by horrible sacrilege. By unworthy Communion,
the bad Christian sells Jesus Christ to the devil, delivers him up to his own
passions, casts him at the feet of Satan, king of his heart, and crucifies him
in his sinful body.
Jesus
is more cruelly treated by bad Christians than by the Jews. In Jerusalem he was
condemned only once but in the Blessed Sacrament he is condemned every day and
in thousands of places, and by an appalling number of unjust judges.
And
yet Jesus allows himself to be insulted, despised, condemned: he still
continues his sacramental life in order to show us that his love for us is
without condition or reserve, that it is greater than our ingratitude.
O
Jesus forgive, I beseech you, all sacrileges! Should I ever have committed any,
I want to pass my life making reparation for them and loving and honoring you
for those who despise you. Grant me the grace to die with you!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
V.
Have mercy on us, O Lord, R Have mercy on us.
May
the souls of the faithful departed through the mercy of God rest in peace.
Holy
Mother pierce me through. In my heart each wound renew Of my Savior crucified.
II.
Second
Station - Jesus Is Made To Bear His Cross
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
In
Jerusalem the Jews lay a shameful and heavy Cross upon Jesus. It was the
instrument used at that time for the punishment of the basest of men. Jesus
joyfully takes upon himself this overburdening Cross; he receives it eagerly,
kisses it lovingly, and bears it with meekness.
In
this way he wishes to make it sweet to us, lighten it for us, and consecrate it
in his Blood.
In
the divine Sacrament of the altar, bad Christians lay a much heavier Cross upon
Jesus, one much more shameful for his Heart. This Cross is their acts of
irreverence in the holy place, their distracted thoughts, their coldness of
heart in his presence, their lukewarm devotion. What a humiliating Cross it is
for Jesus, to have children so lacking in respect, disciples so worthless!
Jesus
also bears my crosses in his Sacrament. He places them on his Heart to sanctify
them; he covers them with his love, with his kisses, in order to make them
attractive to me, but he wants me to carry them for him, to offer them to him;
he is even willing to listen to the outpourings of my grief, to let me weep
over my crosses and ask help and consolation of him.
Oh,
how light is the cross that comes by way of the Holy Eucharist! How beautiful
and radiant it comes forth from the Heart of Jesus! How good it is to receive
it from his hands and to kiss it after him! To the Eucharist then I will run
for refuge in my troubles; to him will I go for comfort and strength; to him
will I go to learn to suffer and to love!
Forgive,
O Lord, all who treat you irreverently in your Sacrament of love! Forgive my
moments of indifference, of forgetfulness in your presence! I wish to love you;
I do love you with all my heart!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
III.
Third
Station - Jesus Falls the First Time
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
Jesus
has lost so much blood during the three hours of his agony and beneath the
blows of the scourge, he is so weakened by the cruel night passed under the
guard of his enemies, that after walking a short distance he falls beneath the
weight of his Cross.
How
many times Jesus Eucharistic falls in particles of the Sacred Species without
anyone being aware of it!
But
what makes him fall from grief is the sight of a soul sullied by mortal sin!
Ah,
how much more painfully Jesus falls in a young heart that receives him
unworthily on the day of its First Holy Communion! He falls on that icy heart
which the fire of his love cannot melt; on that proud and dissembling spirit
without being able to touch it; in that body which is but a tomb full of
rottenness. Alas, ought we to treat Jesus like that the first time he so
lovingly visits us? O God! So young and already so guilty! To begin so soon to
be a Judas! How painful to the Heart of Jesus must be the sin of this
sacrilegious First Communion!
O
Jesus! I thank you for the love, which you showed me in my First Communion:
never shall I forget it! I am yours, wholly yours, for you are wholly mine: do
with me, as you will.
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
IV.
Fourth
Station - Jesus Meets His Holy Mother
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
Mary
accompanies Jesus to Calvary. She endures a real martyrdom in her soul on the
way; but when one loves, one desires to suffer with the beloved.
Today,
on his way of suffering, Jesus Eucharistic often meets with the children of his
love the spouses of his Heart, the ministers of his grace among his enemies.
But far from consoling him as Mary did, they join with his tormentors in
humiliating, blaspheming, and denying him. How many are the apostates and
renegades who forsake the service and love of the Holy Eucharist as soon as
that service calls for a sacrifice or for an act of practical faith!
O
Jesus, my good Savior, with Mary my Mother, I will follow you amid
humiliations, insults, and injuries, and make amends to you with my love!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
V.
Fifth
Station - The Cyrenian Helps Jesus To Carry His Cross
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
Jesus
was giving way more and more beneath his burden. The Jews, wishing to have him
die on the Cross in order to complete his humiliation, urged Simon of Cyrene to
help him bear the Cross. The latter refused and had to be forced to take upon
himself an instrument of death so ignominious in his eyes. He yielded and
merited that Jesus should touch his heart and convert him.
Jesus
calls people to him in his Sacrament, and almost no one responds to his
invitations; he invites them to his Eucharistic Banquet, and they have a
thousand pretexts for refusing to come to it. The faithless and ungrateful soul
refuses the grace of Jesus Christ, the most excellent gift of his love. He has
his hands full of graces, but nobody wants them; people are afraid of his love!
Instead
of the honors due to him, Jesus receives most of the time only disrespect.
People are embarrassed at meeting him in the streets; they turn quickly away as
soon as thy see him; they have not the courage to give him the outward
evidences of their faith.
O
divine Savior, can this be so? Alas! It is only too true, and I feel the
reproaches of my own conscience. Yes, often, bent upon an earthly pleasure, I
have refused to hear your call; often, in order not to be obliged to amend my
ways, I have rejected the invitation of your table with which you in your love
have honored me. I regret it from the depths of my heart; I know that it is
better to let everything else go than by my own fault to miss a single
Communion, the greatest and the sweetest of your graces. Forget the past, dear
Savior, and accept my resolutions for the future and by your strength help me
to keep them!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
VI.
Sixth
Station - A Holy Woman Wipes The Face Of Jesus
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
The
face of the Savior no longer looks human; the executioners have covered it with
mud, spittle, and blood! He, the splendor of God, is unrecognizable, and his
divine Face is covered with defilements. Holy Veronica braves the soldiers.
Beneath the pollution she has recognized her Savior and her God, and moved with
pity, she wipes that august countenance. Jesus rewards her by imprinting his
features upon the cloth.
O
divine Jesus, your adorable Sacrament is greatly outraged, insulted, and
profaned, and where are the compassionate souls who will make up for these
abominations? Ah, it is saddening and appalling that so many sacrileges should
be committed so lightly against the sublime Sacrament. It would seem that Jesus
Christ is nothing more among us than an unregarded or even contemptible
stranger!
It
is true that he veils his face beneath the appearances of very weak and lowly
species: that is in order that our love may discover in them his divine
features. O Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, Son of the living God and
I adore your holy Face, full of glory and majesty, beneath the Eucharistic
veil! Lord, I beseech you to imprint your features in my heart, that wherever I
go, I may carry Jesus with me, Jesus Eucharistic!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
VII.
Seventh
Station - Jesus Falls the Second Time
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
In
spite of Simon's help, Jesus succumbs a second time to his weakness, and it is
a cause of new sufferings for him. His hands and knees are wounded by his falls
on this laborious way, and the ill treatment inflicted by his executioners
increases with their rage.
Oh,
how ineffectual is human aid without the help of Jesus Christ! And how many
falls are in store for him that relies on others!
How
often the God of the Eucharist falls nowadays by Communion in lukewarm and
cowardly hearts that receive him without reverence and let him go without an
act of love and gratitude! Thus, Jesus' stay within us is fruitless because of
our coldness.
Who would dare to receive one of
the great of the earth with as little attention as the King of Heaven is every
day received?
Divine
Savior, I apologize to you for all my Communions that have been lukewarm and
without devotion. How many times I already have received you in my heart. I
thank you for them and I mean to be faithful to you in the future; only give me
your love, that is enough!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
VIII.
Eighth
Station - Jesus Consoles the Holy Women Who Weep for Him
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
It
was the Savior's mission in the days of his mortal life to comfort the
afflicted and the persecuted. He desires to be faithful to it at the very time
of his greatest sufferings. Thus he forgets himself and dries the tears of the
holy women who weep over his sorrows and his passion. What goodness!
Very
few people come to visit and to adore Our Lord in his Sacrament of divine love.
And even fewer people remember to offer him reparation for their own sins and
for those of all mankind. He is with us day and night, alone. Oh, if his eyes
could weep, what tears they would shed for the ingratitude and neglect of his
own! If his Heart could still suffer, what torments he would feel at seeing
himself forsaken in this way, even by his friends!
Yet,
for all that, as soon as we come to him, he receives us with kindness, listens
to our complaints, to the often very long and selfish tale of our woes, and he
forgets himself to comfort us and strengthen us. O divine Savior, why do I so
often depend on human consolation instead of coming to you? I feel that this
wounds your Heart, which is jealous of my own. In your Holy Eucharist be my
only consolation, my one confidant! One word, one look of your loving kindness
will suffice for me. Let me love you with all my heart, and then do with me as
you will!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
IX.
Ninth
Station - Jesus Falls The Third Time
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
How
greatly Jesus suffered in this third fall! He lies overcome by the weight of
his Cross, and his executioners with all their cruelty can hardly raise him up
again.
Jesus
chooses to fall a third time before being lifted up on his Cross, as though to
give evidence of his regret at being unable to carry it over the whole world.
Jesus
will come to me a last time in Viaticum before I also leave this land of exile.
Lord, grant me this grace, the most precious of all and the completion of all
the graces of my life!
But,
oh, let me receive you worthily in that last Communion so full of love!
How
terrible is it when one dying receives Holy Communion for the last time in the
state of mortal sin! In this way he adds the crime of sacrilege to all his past
sins, who receives unworthily him who is going to judge him and thus profanes
the Viaticum of his salvation!
In
what a grievous state Jesus must find himself in a heart that detests him, in a
spirit that disdains him, in a sinful body that is given over to the devil!
But
what will be the judgment passed on these unhappy souls? One trembles at the
thought. Forgive them, O Lord forgive them! We beg of you for all the dying:
grant that they may die in your arms after they have received you worthily in
Viaticum!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
X.
Tenth
Station - Jesus Is Stripped Of His Garments
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
How
much he must suffer in this cruel and pitiless stripping off of his garments!
They tear off his clothing that has stuck to his wounds, they reopen them, they
tear his flesh.
How
much he must suffer in his modesty, treated as one would blush to treat a low
wretch and a slave, who dies at least in the shroud that is to cover him in the
grave!
Jesus
is, as it were, stripped of his garments also in his sacramental state. Not
satisfied to see him stripped, through his love for us, of his glory and his
divinity, of the beauty of his humanity, his enemies rob him of the honor of
divine worship, pillage his churches, profane his sacred vessels and his
tabernacles, and cast him on the ground. He, the King and Savior of men, is
delivered up to their sacrilegious will as on the day of his Crucifixion. By
allowing himself to be stripped thus in the Holy Eucharist; Jesus wishes to
lead us to the state of voluntary poverty, wherein we may be clothed with his
life and his virtues. O Jesus Eucharistic, be my only possession!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
XI.
Eleventh
Station - Jesus Is Nailed To The Cross
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
What
agony Jesus endures when he is nailed to the Cross! Without a miracle of his
power, he could not have suffered it and lived.
But
the wood to which Jesus is nailed on Calvary is without fault or defilement,
whereas in an unworthy Communion, the sinner crucifies Jesus in his guilty
body. It is as though one were to attach a living body to a corpse that is in a
state of corruption.
On
Calvary, he is crucified by his declared enemies; here, by his children, who
crucify him in hypocritical devotion.
On
Calvary, he is crucified but once; here every day and by how many Christians!
O
divine Savior forgive me for having failed to mortify my senses; most cruelly
do you atone for my fault!
You
desire, by your Holy Eucharist, to crucify my nature, to immolate the old man
without cease and to unite me to your own crucified and resurrected life.
Grant, O Lord, that I may give myself to you without reserve or condition!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
XII.
Twelfth
Station - Jesus Dies on The Cross
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
Jesus
dies in order to redeem us. His last mercy is the forgiveness he grants to his
executioners; his last gift of love is his Holy Mother; his last desire is the
thirst for suffering; his last act is the abandonment of his soul and his life
into the hands of his Father.
In
the Holy Eucharist, Jesus continues to love with the love he showed to me at
his death. Every morning he is immolated in the Holy Sacrifice and loses his
sacramental existence in them that receive him: in the heart of the sinner. He
dies for that soul's condemnation.
From
his Host he offers me the graces for my redemption, the price of my salvation.
But in order that I may share therein, he wishes me to die with him and for
him.
Grant
me that grace, O my God, the grace of dying to sin and to self and of living
only to love you in your Holy Eucharist!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
XIII.
Thirteenth
Station - Jesus Is Taken Down from The Cross and Placed In The Arms Of His
Mother
V.
We adore you, O Christ, etc.
Jesus
is taken down from the Cross and confided to his Mother, who clasps him to her
heart and offers him to God as Victim for our salvation.
Now
it is for us to offer Jesus as Victim on the altar and in our hearts for
ourselves and for others. He belongs to us. God the Father gives him to us; he
gives himself to us, so that we may offer him for our salvation.
How
unfortunate it is that this infinite price lies unused in our hands because of
our indifference!
Let
us offer him in union with Mary and pray this good Mother to offer him with us.
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
XIV.
Fourteenth
Station - Jesus Is Laid In The Sepulchre
Jesus
chooses to undergo the humiliation of the tomb, and he is given over to the
custody of his enemies; he is still their prisoner.
But
it is in the Holy Eucharist that Jesus is, as it were, entombed; he remains
there not just for three days, but for all time, and we are the ones he asks to
guard him. He is our prisoner of love.
The
corporal covers him like a shroud; the lamp burns before his altar as before
the place of the dead; around him reigns the silence of death.
When
Jesus comes into our heart in Holy Communion, he is as if entombed within us.
Let us make ready for him a sepulchre that is worthy of him, one that is new
and white, unoccupied by earthly affections; let us anoint him with the perfume
of our virtues.
Let
us come to do him homage for those who do not come; let us adore him in his
tabernacle, forgotten by those who call themselves his friends; let us beg of
him the grace of recollection and of death to the world, that we may lead a
hidden life in the Holy Eucharist!
Our
Father, Hail Mary, Glory be to the Father.
O
Cross, our one reliance, hail, Glory of the saved, avail, to give fresh merit
to the saint, And pardon to the penitent.
Catechism of the Catholic
Church
Day 91
The condition of Christ's risen
humanity
645 By means of touch and the
sharing of a meal, the risen Jesus establishes direct contact with his
disciples. He invites them in this way to recognize that he is not a ghost and
above all to verify that the risen body in which he appears to them is the same
body that had been tortured and crucified, for it still bears the traces of his
Passion. Yet at the same time this authentic, real body possesses the new
properties of a glorious body: not limited by space and time but able to be
present how and when he wills; for Christ's humanity can no longer be confined
to earth and belongs henceforth only to the Father's divine realm. For
this reason, too the risen Jesus enjoys the sovereign freedom of appearing as
he wishes: in the guise of a gardener or in other forms familiar to his
disciples, precisely to awaken their faith.
646 Christ's Resurrection was
not a return to earthly life, as was the case with the raisings from the dead
that he had performed before Easter: Jairus' daughter, the young man of Naim,
Lazarus. These actions were miraculous events, but the persons miraculously
raised returned by Jesus' power to ordinary earthly life. At some particular
moment they would die again. Christ's Resurrection is essentially different. In
his risen body he passes from the state of death to another life beyond time
and space. At Jesus' Resurrection his body is filled with the power of the Holy
Spirit: he shares the divine life in his glorious state, so that St. Paul can
say that Christ is "the man of heaven".
The Resurrection as
transcendent event
647 O truly blessed Night,
sings the Exsultet of the Easter Vigil, which alone deserved to know the time
and the hour when Christ rose from the realm of the dead! But no one was
an eyewitness to Christ's Resurrection and no evangelist describes it. No one
can say how it came about physically. Still less was its innermost essence, his
passing over to another life, perceptible to the senses. Although the
Resurrection was an historical event that could be verified by the sign of the
empty tomb and by the reality of the apostles' encounters with the risen
Christ, still it remains at the very heart of the mystery of faith as something
that transcends and surpasses history. This is why the risen Christ does not
reveal himself to the world, but to his disciples, "to those who came up
with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the
people."
II. THE RESURRECTION - A WORK
OF THE HOLY TRINITY
648 Christ's Resurrection is an object of faith in that it is a transcendent intervention of God himself in creation and history. In it the three divine persons act together as one, and manifest their own proper characteristics. the Father's power "raised up" Christ his Son and by doing so perfectly introduced his Son's humanity, including his body, into the Trinity. Jesus is conclusively revealed as "Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his Resurrection from the dead". St. Paul insists on the manifestation of God's power through the working of the Spirit who gave life to Jesus' dead humanity and called it to the glorious state of Lordship.
649 As for the Son, he effects
his own Resurrection by virtue of his divine power. Jesus announces that the
Son of man will have to suffer much, die, and then rise. Elsewhere he
affirms explicitly: "I lay down my life, that I may take it again. . . I
have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it
again." "We believe that Jesus died and rose again."
650 The Fathers contemplate the
Resurrection from the perspective of the divine person of Christ who remained
united to his soul and body, even when these were separated from each other by
death: "By the unity of the divine nature, which remains present in each
of the two components of man, these are reunited. For as death is produced by
the separation of the human components, so Resurrection is achieved by the
union of the two."
Daily Devotions
·
Unite in the work of the Porters of St. Joseph by joining them
in fasting: Today's Fast: Catholic
Politian’s and Leaders.
·
Religion
in the Home for Preschool: September
·
do
a personal eucharistic stations of the cross.
·
Litany of the Most Precious
Blood of Jesus
·
Offering to
the sacred heart of Jesus
·
Rosary
[3] Goffine’s Devout Instructions, 1896.
[4]https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2019-09-14
[5] Max Olivia, The Masculine
Spirit, 1997.
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