Love: Coming Full Circle
April 10, 2012 | XXXX.Grace: Gratitude for the many graces and blessings received, and the desire to reciprocate God’s generosity in loving service to Christ the Risen King.
Text for Prayer: Spiritual Exercises no. 230-237
Reflection: At the conclusion of Lent and the Spiritual Exercises, we have so much to be grateful for. Let us recall with gratitude the ways we have experienced the Trinity’s Love for us throughout the Four Weeks:
- How did the Spirit reveal to you your God-given uniqueness, especially how you have been wonderfully made by God?
- What bondage did you find yourself trapped in during the First Week, and how did Jesus set you free?
- Where and when did you find Jesus speaking to you most powerfully during the Second Week? What instance particularly drew you to desire to know, love and follow Christ?
- At what point during the Third Week did you feel most free to enter into Jesus’ Passion and receive intimate knowledge that Christ suffered this all for you?
- Where did you encounter the Risen Jesus during the Fourth Week? In what ways did you experience Christ as the Consoler (and more specifically, your Consoler)? What point during this week did you feel your heart most moved to follow Jesus? (more…)
Jump!
April 9, 2012 | XXXIX.Grace: To be jubilant because my Lord and friend is alive! To see Him standing right before my eyes.
Text for Prayer: Jn 20:11-29 and Jn 21:1-25
Mary Magdalena weeps outside an empty tomb and mistakes Jesus for a gardener. The fearful disciples lock themselves inside their homes. Thomas doubts and Peter doesn’t recognize Jesus until John points to Him. At this point, it would seem appropriate for Jesus to scream and rip out His hair. These people didn’t get it the first time, and they still don’t get it!
Fortunately for the disciples, and for us, Jesus says “peace” and not “payback!” He asks, “Do you love me?” instead of, “Do you know how you’ve offended me?” He knows it takes us a little while to understand, and He has all eternity to wait. Even so, we don’t have all eternity to respond.
Posted by Mr. Quang D. Tran, S.J. in XXXIX.The Risen Christ Meets His Mother
April 8, 2012 | XXXVIII.Grace: To know the joy of the resurrection as Mary knows it.
Reading: John 20:1-9
Reflection: Christ is not dead. He has risen. He is alive.
Go ahead, ask Mary of Magdela, or Peter, or the beloved disciple, or the Mother of Jesus. They will tell you the story. Ask them what they saw while in the soft darkness before daybreak. You’ll hardly believe it.
Just imagine . . .
Nothing remained in that cold tomb except a folded up piece of cloth. Friends of theirs had laid Jesus there just a few days earlier after he was given a betrayer’s death. And now, that tomb was empty. The body gone. (more…)
Posted by Mr. Sean M. Powers, S.J. in XXXVIII.God is Dead
April 7, 2012 | XXXVII.Grace: I ask for a real sense of sorrow, anguish, and even tears because of all that Christ has suffered for me.
Material for contemplation: review the whole Passion
Reflection: Today is a day for remembering, for reflecting on what has happened over these past few days. After the intense experience of Thursday night and Friday, we may be tempted to look ahead to the consolation of Easter Sunday just to get some relief. But we have to resist this temptation. Today, just like the first disciples, all we can see is the ugliness of sin and its wrenching effects: our Lord is dead.
Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness.
- Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday
A friend of mine who converted from atheism to Catholicism several years ago said that the most shocking thing he experienced during his first Triduum was coming into the church on Good Friday and seeing the tabernacle empty, its door wide open. In that moment, it suddenly occurred to him: God is dead. The phrase that he had stood by all those years as an atheist was absolutely true. But now it had taken on a whole new depth of meaning that Nietzsche and the other atheist humanists never understood. Yes, today on Holy Saturday, God really is dead. But his death is not the expression of his impotence and irrelevance. Rather, it is the most glorious expression of his love. (more…)
Posted by Mr. Matthew Baugh, S.J. in XXXVII.Standing With Christ: Before Caiphas, Herod and Pilate
April 6, 2012 | XXXVI.Grace: Sorrow, compassion, and shame because the Lord is going to His suffering for my sins.
Text for Prayer: Mt. 26:59-68, Lk. 23:7-11, Mt. 27:11-26
The innocent Son of God was dragged from one tribunal to the next. His hands were bound and His feet were shackled like the most dangerous of criminals. He was charged with crimes that merited death while the crowd insulted Him. His judges sat in judgment of the Eternal Judge while His friends were nowhere to be found.
Consider the palace of Caiaphas. Here the Sanhedrin were gathered. The Sanhedrin were entrusted with leading the worship of God in the temple. They worked closely with their Roman governors and found ways to abuse their privileges. They were no longer living for the faith, but they found a way to make a living by the faith– attempting to serve both God and Mammon. Subordinating themselves to temporal powers, now they sat in judgment of the Divine King.
Posted by Fr. John Brown, S.J. in XXXVI.Betrayed with a Boast and a Kiss
April 5, 2012 | XXXV.Grace: Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. (2 Cor. 10:17)
Text for Prayer: Keep your eyes on Jesus. Lk 22: 47-60
The mob breaks the silence of the dark night and charges toward Jesus with Judas leading the way. The disciple kisses his master on the cheek, and with that gesture of peace perverted, the restless mob grabs and arrests Jesus. The momentarily zealous Peter runs off and denies knowing his friend not once but three times. As those closest to Jesus move further and further away, the night becomes darker and darker. The Man who comforted the poor, healed the sick, and forgave sinners is now Jerusalem’s most wanted criminal.
On this night when power is weakness, reason is reversed, and confidence is shattered, what heart could be proud, what head could remain high? There’s no honor in apprehending an innocent man. There’s no glory in saving one’s life at the cost of another’s life. Who can boast of anything this night when the Reason for humanity’s boasting is being taken away?
Posted by Mr. Quang D. Tran, S.J. in XXXV.The Dark Night
April 4, 2012 | XXXIV.Grace: To ask for sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, and interior grief because of the great sufferings Christ endures for me.
Text: Matthew 26:36-46
Reflection: Stay awake with Jesus.
“My heart is nearly broken with sorrow” (Matt. 26:38). Jesus is experiencing deep inner turmoil as His hour approaches. From a human standpoint Jesus’ ministry appears to end in failure. The Jewish leaders reject Him as the Messiah, the disciples seem clueless and the masses will consent to His crucifixion. Despite this, Jesus seeks to fulfill the Father’s Will. Jesus’ interior suffering was also reflected in His physical suffering. (more…)
Posted by Mr. Matt Kappadakunnel, S.J. in XXXIV.It Causes Me to Tremble.
April 3, 2012 | XXXIII.Grace: To possess a personal intimacy with Christ just as the disciples did in the Upper Room on the night of the Last Supper.
Reading: John 15: 1-17
Reflection:
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
O, sometimes, it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble.
Where you there when they crucified my Lord?
It takes a lot to cause a grown man to tremble. A Man trembles in an earthquake. He trembles from a heart attack or a stroke. He trembles after a good blow to the jaw or stomach.
So how many people will be physically trembling on Friday afternoon when we remember Christ’s Crucifixion? (more…)
Posted by Mr. Sean M. Powers, S.J. in XXXIII.Combat with the Indestructible Word
April 2, 2012 | XXXII.Grace: Not to be deaf to the Word, but prompt and diligent to welcome him.
Text: Luke 20:19 – 21:4
Reflection: In these final few days before his death, Jesus comes to the Temple every day to teach the people, to communicate to them the Word of the Father. Out of love for us, he continues to labor, even as it has become obvious to everyone that his days are numbered.
The Lord spends much of his last week answering questions. But they are fake questions — which is to say, not really questions at all. The people who pose them have not come to Jesus in search of answers. They come to do combat with him, laying questions like traps. If Jesus answers in one way, they reason to themselves, he will alienate the people. If he answers in another way, it will be possible to convict him of a violation of the Law. Either way, these questions will be the gotcha moment they have been waiting for.
The trouble is, none of the questions succeed in baiting Jesus. The truth of the Word is impervious. The scribes and chief priests send spies to ask him about whether Jews ought to pay taxes to Caesar. If he says yes, he risks looking like the hated Roman puppet-king Herod. If he says no, his enemies will be able to denounce him to Pilate as a dangerous revolutionary. Jesus turns the question on its head: sure, give to Caesar the things that belong to him, but you must also give to God the even more important things that belong to him (genuine praise, reverence, and service). And how often have you paid those “taxes” ? (more…)
Posted by Mr. Matthew Baugh, S.J. in XXXII.Entering Jerusalem
April 1, 2012 | XXXI.This Lent has been about walking in the ways of Christ, meditating on his teachings and contemplating his life. And now Christ is leading us to some very powerful places of prayer: Jerusalem, the Last Supper, the Passion, Crucifixion, and Resurrection.
Are you ready for it? To be honest, I don’t think I am. You see, Palm Sunday always makes me nervous. I am timid to contemplate about the Pharisee’s conniving plans, Jesus’ passion and death, and the disciples’ betraying fear. Those contemplations take me to places within my own nature (and the nature of the world) that I would much rather skip over. (more…)
Posted by Mr. Sean M. Powers, S.J. in XXXI.