https://player.vimeo.com/video/206299428
More about the story of Jesus’ Passion at http://www.passionofchrist.us
More about the mystics of the Passion at http://www.passionofchrist.us
Saturday after Ash Wednesday
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Category Archives: Religion
Friday after Ash Wednesday
https://player.vimeo.com/video/206298023
For more about the Passion narratives from the gospels, see commentary by Fr. Donald Senior at http://www.passionofchrist.us
Thursday after Ash Wednesday
Want to know more about the Passion of Jesus, a mystery that tells us about the mysteries of our own lives? Follow the commentaries of Donald Senior, CP.
Want to know more about the Stations of the Cross? Look into the history of this devotion and some examples of it.
Another Lent!
by Orlando Hernandez
Every Lent I am confronted with the dilemma of what attitude I should adopt. What does my Lord want from me? When I have the blessed grace of experiencing His presence in prayer, when I feel Him so near, how should I react? Instead of the happiness that I usually feel, should I now offer Him only shame and sorrow for my many sins, for the countless times that I have chosen pleasure, gain, or prestige , instead of Him?
Should I, in preparation for Holy Week, especially mourn for Him, suffering on that cross for me? This is the time of the year when there are so many opportunities to “walk” The Stations of the Cross , in different churches, monastery grounds, or simply at home. I love Him so much. I weep every time I meditate on His Passion. It is so much like grieving for my father or my mother. So I guess that this is indeed a special time of penance, mourning, and sorrow? Is this the message: my “eternal life” is at stake; this is a deadly serious situation, and I should act like it?
In the Gospel for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday ( Lk 9: 22-25), our Lord predicts the coming of His suffering and death. He invites us to follow His example and join Him in His Passion everyday:
“If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”
How do I deny myself, take up my cross, and “die” for Jesus every single day? The wonderful first reading (Is 58: 1-9a) for the next day, the Friday After Ash Wednesday, gives us great advice for Lent: Fast from selfishness, cruelty, insensitivity, superiority! We’re called to reach out to the Crucified and help them in any way we can to find freedom from oppression, hunger, homelessness, loneliness, hopelessness. Somehow try and help them to carry their awful crosses as we humbly carry our own alongside them. Jesus is there!
As to my attitude, my behavior, my state of mind, the Gospel (Mt 9: 14-15) says something interesting. The disciples of John the Baptist ask Jesus why His disciples don’t fast (or mourn?) as much as they should. Our Lord answers: “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
When I truly pray, especially during the Eucharist, the closer that Jesus, the Bridegroom, comes to touch my soul, I must admit that what I feel is indescribable joy and happiness, better than any pleasure in the world. At moments like that it feels so easy to deny myself, to give up anything for Him. Sometimes during the wedding feast which is the Eucharist, I look at so many people with morose faces and ask myself, “Can’t they feel the joy?”
Right there is where I begin to totter and fall. I have failed to recognize the Crucified right in front of my face. And I remember that that joy of Jesus is actually so powerful that it pierces my heart and makes me weep uncontrollably. My smile disappears. Such incredible love given to me can make me feel unworthy. Why is it that after such an experience of joy I can go somewhere, have a number of drinks, and become cynical, angry, numb, and forget about the God that I had promised everything to? I am suddenly in a barren desert seeking desperately for my Lord! What happened to the person I thought I was?
At the end of Thursday’s Gospel from Luke , our Lord says: “What profit is there for one to gain the whole world yet lose or forfeit oneself?” Then, at the end of Friday’s Gospel from Matthew, our Lord tells us : “The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
Boy, do I have a long 40 days ahead of me! A cross loaded with bad habits to give up! A road filled with wounded people in need of love, just like me. Thank heavens that the Beautiful One is walking right there with all of us, and lovingly waiting on top of that sad hill, to give us salvation.
Beloved Lord, have patience with us! Help us to appreciate Your boundless love!
Orlando Hernandez
Ash Wednesday
Want to know more about the Passion of Jesus, a mystery that helps us know the mysteries of our lives? Follow the commentaries of Donald Senior, CP.
My Father’s Son
Paolo Veronese, “Portrait of Count Giuseppe da Porto with his Son Adriano” (1720)
It was the end of a day.
I’d say “long day” but that would be melodramatic.
It was the end of a day. A day, like most, occupied with the busyness of life.
I was in the kitchen and I made a quick motion with my arm. I smelt something.
It is my father.
I’m back in my parents’ orange-wallpapered kitchen in suburban Long Island. I’m about 5 or 6 years old. My father came home from work a few minutes ago. He’s sitting at the head of the kitchen table, getting ready to eat or smoke a cigarette. I stand by his side, leaning against him, one half of my small buttocks on the edge of his chair, my side against his side, my face just under his outstretched arm.
I am my father’s son.
—Howard Hain
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6th Sunday b: Healing the Leper
For this week’s homily, please play the video below:
Ephatha, Be Open
Running with the Lord
by Howard Hain
Years ago when I was living in San Francisco, a group of us used to go hiking out in Marin County, just across the giant red expanse of the Golden Gate Bridge. We went often. A group of both men and women, mostly single, mostly without a care in the world. I think every one of us was under thirty, or thereabouts.
My favorite part was running down. Don’t get me wrong, the hike upward was terrific too, that’s when we discussed ideas and dreams and laughed almost all the while, breaking up into smaller groups of two or three or maybe even four, and then drifting back together—like a herd of elk, for they too have not a care in the world—only to once again drift apart, this time usually paired up with a different companion or combination thereof. None of it was planned or had any real intention of course, it just…
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Reflections on the Super Bowl
Everything was big at the Super Bowl. The ads, the half time show, the betting, the glitz that goes with the word “super.”
We celebrated the Feast of the Presentation the other day. A poor couple carrying their little Child and a few small gifts passed through the crowded temple courtyard unnoticed.
Two old people, Simeon and Anna, recognized the Child in the temple. “Now you can dismiss your servant in peace, Lord, for my eyes have seen the salvation of your people Israel,” Simeon says as he takes the Child in his arms.
They recognized God in smallness, which is the way God usually comes everyday. Better than a ticket to the Super Bowl is an eye to see God in smallness. It’s there all the time.
But let me add with a word to my loyal cousins who stayed up most of last night celebrating: Fly, Eagles, Fly.
The Victor's Place 