THIRD STATION Isaiah 53: 1-3: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+53%3A+1-3&version=NABRE JESUS FALLS THE FIRST TIME I adore you, O Christ, and we bless you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world Jesus continues to speak to you.

I have just fallen flat on my face. I tried to avoid it. I wanted to stay on my feet. I wonder if I fell partly because I was trying too hard to keep from falling?        You can learn from my fall. You also will fall if you try too hard to succeed all by yourself. I was so wrapped up in myself that I forgot to let my Father guide me.        You are often tempted to take on more than you can do well. If you succeed, it is because of His grace anyway. So what you would be holding up as yours is really His already. My Father wants you, not your successes. In all you undertake, go first to Him in prayer and ask what He wants. Then, when you go to work, open your heart to Him and let Him work in and through you. Lord Jesus, help me walk in your steps. May God Be Praised!

SECOND STATION John 19: 16-17: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=john+19%3A+16-17&version=NIV Jesus is Made to Carry His Cross I adore you, O Christ, and I bless you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world Jesus continues to speak to you.

My instrument of suffering and death has been thrust on me. Should I curse this heavy timber and those who laid it on me? No. The cross is neither bad nor good. My response alone determines whether it will be redemptive or destructive. My cross did not come only from Pilate or the Roman soldiers. My cross came when I took on my Father’s work and became human. Your crosses are the same. They are your credentials for being human. The question is not whether life brings crosses, but rather your response to them.        I embraced my humanity. You must embrace your humanity. Resisting crosses lends itself to hatred of others and bitterness. Some woods are stronger than steel because they bend. Learn to bend. Learn the wisdom of triumphing through your crosses rather than in spite of them. Lord Jesus, help us walk in your steps. May God Be Praised!

FIRST STATION Matthew 27: 19-26: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+27%3A+19-26&version=NABRE Jesus is Commended to Death I adore you, O Christ, and I bless you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

Jesus now speaks to you, Pilate has just read my death sentence. Pilate told me when and how I would die. You may not get that blessing. You won’t have a Pilate to tell you the place, the time or the circumstances of your death. Yet you stand condemned to death as surely as I was. You were destined to die the moment you were conceived. That is part of being human.        Do you think of that very often? If you thought about your death, you could see more clearly that some of the things you are most obsessed with are the least important. You would not be so worried about money, clothes, cars and careers. These things don’t make you precious. These things won’t help you when your time to die comes. I remind you of your death not because my Father and I want you to be fearful of your future. I remind you to help you live fully and freely as my brothers and sisters, as sons and daughters of my Father. In my death and resurrection, you will receive the power to do that. Lord Jesus, help us to walk in Your steps. May God Be Praised!

As we begin our Lenten Journey may we remember that,

“There is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens.
A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to uproot the plant.
A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to tear down, and a time to build.
A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to scatter stones, and a time to gather them; a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embraces.
A time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away.
A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to be silent, and a time to speak.
A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.”  [From the book of Ecclesiastes]

When you received Ashes today, you heard either, “Repent and believe in the Gospel” or “Remember, you are dust and to dust you will return.”  The message is essentially the same God is calling us to reform our lives, that is what we are called to do in Lent.

How are you going to do that?

Father in Heaven grant us the wisdom and love you have revealed in your Son, we ask that they be given to us through His grace.  Help us to be like him in word and deed, for he lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.

Amen.

Starting tomorrow during this Lent we will reflect on the Stations of the Cross, one each day asking Jesus to guide us on our Journey. 

May God Be Praised!

Suffering is beyond our understanding so we can only bless it with the CARE we give!  Joy is a gift we receive that permits us a glimpse of heaven.

        

Bishop Barron shared this insight, during the storm, Jesus’ disciples cried out to the Lord in desperation: "Lord, save us! We are perishing!"  

This is a de profundis prayer.  Do you know the de profundis prayer?  

It comes from Psalm 130: "Out of the depths, I have cried to you, O Lord.  O Lord, be attentive to the voice of my pleading."  It is the prayer offered at the darkest times of life, when we feel utterly incapable of helping ourselves.

When we suffer or when one of our loved one suffers we know what it is to cry out to the Lord, may we, also, experience the Lord’s healing.

  

In the Gospels we read – Jesus rose early and went off to a deserted place, where He prayed.

Prayer was vital for the Son of God (our Savior Jesus Christ) – so how much more important/vital is it for us!

A father took his small son with him to town one day to run some errands.   When lunchtime arrived, the two of them went to a familiar diner for a sandwich.

The father sat down on one of the stools at the counter and lifted the boy up to the seat beside him.

They ordered lunch and when the waiter brought the food, the father said, "Son, we'll just have a silent prayer."

Dad got through praying first and waited for the boy to finish his prayer, but he just sat with his head bowed for an unusually long time.

When he finally looked up, his father asked him, "What in the world were you praying about all that time?"  With the innocence and honesty of a child, he replied, "How do I know? It was a silent prayer."  

{Solitude and Silence Sermons (02/05/12) Our Daily Bread, Adapted}

 Many of our prayers are silent, but whether our prayers are silent or spoken – God already knows our hearts.

So why pray?  One reason to prayer and to work diligently at our prayer life is to prepare our hearts for God’s answer.

So, we are to go into the world and announce the Gospel, announce the Good News, primarily by the way we live.

What is that Good News?   That God:

1.    Created you

2.    Loves you

3.    Redeemed you

4.    Chose you as a disciple

5.    Called you to share His Gospel in deed and in word and to be with Him forever in Heaven.

That is the reason for Joy.

May God Be Praised!

                 

St. Francis de Sales gave us this insight, “Let God gather what He has planted in His garden, He takes nothing out of season.”  In God’s season, we find our ultimate hope!  That is the land of the living. 

The fruits of the Holy Spirit are charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity.  [CCC 1832]

Pope Francis said that Christian joy … is a gift from God.  The Pope likened this joy given by God to the joy of a mother embracing her baby after childbirth, because it is a joy “purified” by the suffering of labor.  The joy of the Christians … is a “joy in hope”.  Joy is the natural reaction to the work of God, whether promised or fulfilled.  Joy expresses God's kingdom—His influence on earth. (Romans 14:17)

The Spirit’s production of joy can manifest in several different ways read the story of Franz Welser-Most.

It is told in Martin Werlen, OSB ‘s Embers in the Ashes, on pages 1 and 2, the book is available through Paulist Press: http://www.paulistpress.com/Products/8-330-5/embers-in-the-ashes.aspx.

Another version of Franz Welser-Most’s story is recounted here:

https://www.allmusic.com/artist/franz-welser-m%C3%B6st-mn0000690837/biography

“May you find in the ashes of your suffering the strength to pray for God’s grace to find God’s joy and share it, that is what Jesus’ DID!” 

 

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen said, "God’s delays are mysterious; sorrow is sometimes prolonged for the same reason for which it is sent.  God may abstain for the moment from healing, not because Love does not love, but because Love never stops loving, and a greater good is to come from the woe. Heaven’s clock is different from ours."

So, the mystery of pain and suffering persists, our choice is what to do with it when it comes into our life.

May God Be Praised!

Reflection on Prayer, Suffering and Joy!

St. Teresa of Jesus prayed:

“Let nothing trouble you/

Let nothing frighten you

Everything passes/

         God never changes

Patience/ Obtains all

Whoever has God/

         Wants for nothing

God alone is enough.”

Maybe this story can help us, The Starfish.

A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm.  When she came to a starfish, she would pick it up, and throw it back into the ocean.

People watched her with amusement.  She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, “Little girl, why are you doing this?

I am helping this Starfish.  Look at this beach! You can’t save all these starfish.  You can’t begin to make a difference!”

After reflecting for a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and said, “Well, I made a difference to that one!”  [Adapted from 'The Star Thrower' by Loren C. Eiseley]

We are called to help those in need that we meet, and we will make a difference to those we meet. 

On a much lighter note, listen to “A Story of Four Worms.”

A minister decided that a visual demonstration would add emphasis to his Sunday sermon.  For this demonstration, he watered his lawn in the evening, and then when nighttime approached, visited his back yard with flashlight in hand.  He carefully selected four worms, night crawlers to be exact, placed the Four Worms into Four Separate Jars: The FIRST WORM was put into a container of alcohol.  The SECOND WORM was put into a container of cigarette smoke.  The THIRD WORM was put into a container of chocolate.  The FOURTH WORM was put into a container of good clean soil.

What Happened to the Four Worms?  At the conclusion of the sermon, the Minister reported the following results: The FIRST WORM in the jar with alcohol - was DEAD.  The SECOND WORM in the jar with cigarette smoke - was DEAD.  The THIRD WORM in the jar with chocolate - was DEAD.  The FOURTH WORM in the jar of good clean soil - was ALIVE!

The Minister Asked the Congregation, what can you learn from this demonstration?  From the back of the church, came the response: "As long as you drink, smoke and eat chocolate, you won't have worms!"  

For some people that might represent joy, but real JOY, eternal JOY is something different. True JOY is found in being a disciple of Jesus Christ with all you heart, with all your soul and with all your mind.

Spend a few minutes reflecting on Thomas Merton’s Prayer:

My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going.

I do not see the road ahead of me.

I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself, & the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.  But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you.

And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.  I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire.  And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road, though I may know nothing about it.  Therefore, I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death.

I will not fear, for you are ever with me, & you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” (Merton-Thoughts in Solitude, p. 81)

The only way to find JOY that is true and lasting is to put your faith and your life into the hands and the heart of Jesus Christ.

May God Be Praised!