Month: March 2018

Today, Palm Sunday 2018. Holy Week begins today. Jesus enters Jerusalem. Passion week.

What meaning does this week have for you? Anything at all, or is it just another week in the year to get “our own stuff done?”

Two things have helped me move from my “own stuff” to the things of God and eternity this year. Both I discovered somewhat late in my Lenten journey, only finding one last week. Yet both of these, the prayer by St. Bernard, and the discourse by John Henry Cardinal Newman have helped me refocus on what this season truly is. Maybe they will help you.

This is a very passionate prayer:

O Loving Jesus, meek Lamb of God, I miserable sinner, salute and worship the most Sacred Wound of Thy Shoulder on which Thou didst bear Thy heavy Cross, which so tore Thy flesh and laid bare Thy Bones as to inflict on Thee an anguish greater than any other wound of Thy Most Blessed Body. I adore Thee, O Jesus most sorrowful; I praise and glorify Thee, and give Thee thanks for this most sacred and painful Wound, beseeching Thee by that exceeding pain, and by the crushing burden of Thy heavy Cross to be merciful to me, a sinner, to forgive me all my mortal and venial sins, and to lead me on towards Heaven along the Way of Thy Cross. Amen.

Imprimatur: Thomas D. Beven, Bishop of Springfield

It is related in the annals of Clairvaux that St. Bernard asked our Lord which was His greatest unrecorded suffering, and Our Lord answered: “I had on My Shoulder, while I bore My Cross on the Way of Sorrows, a grievous Wound, which was more painful than the others, and which is not recorded by men. Honor this wound with thy devotion, and I will grant thee whatsoever thou dost ask through its virtue and merit. And in regard to all those who shall venerate this Wound, I will remit to them all their venial sins, and will no longer remember their mortal sins.”

Blessed John Henry Newman’s Discourse 16. Mental Sufferings of Our Lord in His Passion is an incredibly raw and heart-wrenching read, penetrating the unfiltered agony that Christ experienced during His Passion.

Blessed John Henry Newman does an amazing job of helping the reader empathize, truly understand, piece-by-piece, the agony Jesus endured during His Passion and the depth of His sacrificial love.

If you are looking for a powerful way to connect with Our Lord during this time, I encourage you to take 30 minutes to read this. Let it sink in. Really feel it.

This is not an easy read. It is one of the most painful reflections of Christ’s passion I have ever read but it will be well worth the effort.

Your brother in Christ,

The Radical Catholic

 

 

So here it is, the fourth week of Lent, and this is the first blog post I have managed to write in a month. Don’t assume that I have nothing to say, or that lent 2018 is a bust. It’s not! At least not yet. I won’t say what I am doing for my Lenten penance, but I take great inspiration from the Saints and some of their Lenten practices.

So if you are yet to get started on a serious Lenten journey, fear not, there is some time left. I would like to encourage you to take seriously Stations of the Cross. This is one devotion that could kick-start your Lent. And if you are having a really good and penitential lent, this could be a very good addition.

For me, Stations of the Cross is something that I didn’t even have on my radar for the first five to ten years I was a Catholic. I didn’t even really know what they were. If you’re not sure, you can look at Stations of the Cross on the net to get some idea what goes on and how the service is run.

From the first time I attended I was aware that there was something there, something I was missing before.

Of course, this is like most anything else, you will get out of it what you put in. Maybe even more so that most things. Just focus on the prayers, pay really close attention to what is said. This service will have much more meaning if you stay focused. This is hard, I know, but it is so worth paying attention, for God is in the details.

I am only going to say one other thing about Stations of the Cross and that is the more times you go, the more meaningful it will be. Not just this year during Lent, but over several years. Discovering this took a long time, but now this is a Lenten practice for me that I don’t want to miss.

May God bless and keep you in Jesus mighty Name.