He is Risen! See His wounds?

A recurrent theme in the gospel readings during the Easter Octave is the disciples' inability to recognize Jesus.  Mary Magdalen "did not know it was Jesus" (Jn 20:14).  On the way to Emmaus, the eyes of the disciples "were prevented from recognizing him" (Lk 24:16).  However, when Jesus appeared at the Sea of Tiberias, one disciple did recognize Him.  It was the beloved disciple who pointed Jesus out to the others--"It is the Lord!" (Jn 21:7)

The beloved disciple was the one who rested his head on Jesus' chest at the Last Supper.  He remained close to Jesus.  Could it be that his intimacy with Jesus allowed him to see beyond the surface and recognize Him?  As contemplatives, we too remain close to the Heart of Jesus to listen and receive His love.  As Passionists, we contemplate His wounds, the wounds that the Risen Christ invited Thomas to touch and examine--the Sacred Wounds from which flows His Love and Mercy!

"The Cost of His Redeeming Love"

Contemplate these
    Precious Wounds
        inscribed upon 
His Hands, His Feet, and Side

Here one sees
    the Cost of His Redeeming Love

                      and

What return can my heart make
    for such a Gift Sublime?

I put my life and all my love
    within His Wounds

The cost of His Redeeming Love.
                   
                       

Good Friday

"Love speaks little!"
                         (St. Paul of the Cross)

Let us run to meet Jesus--meek, and humble!

In our Divine Office today, the antiphon for morning prayer encourages us to run to meet Jesus!

"With Palms let us welcome the Lord as he comes, with songs and hymns let us run to meet him, as we offer him our joyful worship and sing: Blessed be the Lord!"

We begin Holy Week with confidence and joy, running to meet Jesus who has come to accomplish “the greatest and most overwhelming work of God’s Love"--His Passion! (St. Paul of the Cross)

In 1727, St. Paul of the Cross wrote to Marchioness Donna Marianna Della Scala Del Pozzo: “Let us run, let us run, Signora, after this dear Lover of our souls, casting ourselves more and more completely into the bosom of his most holy love!  Let not the difficulties frighten us, our daily faults, our great miseries, for these are but the throne of his mercies” (St. Paul of the Cross, April 15, 1727).

We ask Our Sorrowful Mother for a share in her contemplative spirit that remains close to Jesus even to the Foot of the Cross.



“Walk With Me”

Let me remain

      With you

      O my broken-Hearted God.

Your silent companion,

     walking too,

     towards Jerusalem.

I pray the journey

    will not be so hard

    if I be at Your Side.

Your friend and spouse

    for I am determined

   ever to remain and be

    your

    ever-vigilant

      bride.

Friday before Palm Sunday: Honoring Our Sorrowful Mother

With gratitude to Our Sorrowful Mother, our community celebrates the Friday before Palm Sunday in her honor.  Our Lady shows us the beauty and fruitfulness of a life totally surrendered to the Father’s will in the service of her Divine Son.  We thank her for her fiat, even to the Foot of the Cross.  What deep sorrows she accepted for love of us!  With what great charity she received us as her children from the Heart of her Crucified Son!

As we approach Holy Week, we ask Our Sorrowful Mother to show us how to love and compassionate Jesus in his Passion.  May she obtain for us the gift of a silent heart that attends to the voice of her Divine Son: “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Mt 26:38). 

In today’s collect for the Mass, we rely on Our Blessed Mother's help to draw us closer to Jesus.

O God, who in this season give your Church the grace to imitate devoutly the Blessed Virgin Mary in contemplating the Passion of Christ, grant, we pray, through her intercession, that we may cling more firmly each day to your Only Begotten Son and come at last to the fullness of his grace.  Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever (The Roman Missal).