One With Those Who Suffer

Today the Church remembers the Last Supper of the Lord, and she prepares to embark with Him on the road to Calvary. As Saint John Paul II wrote in his 1991 Message for Lent, it is today that we should become more aware of the intense suffering that Christ experienced:

As Lent draws to its culmination on Holy Thursday, the Liturgy recalls the institution of the Eucharist, the memorial of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. This Sacrament, in which the Church celebrates the depth of her faith, should lead us to become ever more profoundly aware of the poverty, suffering and persecution which Christ endured.

Not only should we allow this awareness to develop into deep gratitude, but we should also allow it to draw us into deep solidarity with the suffering poor, for the “Son of God, who became poor out of love for us, became one with those who suffer.”

As we find our converted selves completely dependent upon God and His will for us, John Paul II challenges us to see the completely dependent Christ in the poor:

As we look at Jesus Christ, the Good Samaritan, we cannot forget that from the poverty of the manger to the total abandonment of the Cross, he chose to become one with the “least.” Christ teaches us detachment from riches, trust in God and readiness to share. He urges us to look at our brothers and sisters who are poor and suffering from the point of view of one who – in poverty – knows what it is to be totally dependent upon God and to stand in absolute need of him.

Perhaps an encounter with the poor today will help us all to enter more deeply into the mystery of Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. John Paul II was able to do this during his last Lent on earth, for he found himself poor and suffering on death’s doorstep. He died ten years ago today, in fact, and so we ask him to pray for us all, that we may relieve Christ’s suffering in the poor.

The Liberating Road Of Conversion

Do you feel closer to God now than you did at the beginning of Lent? If not, there’s still time during this Holy Week. There is still time to allow His grace to draw you closer to Him.

Why should this be done? Well, as Saint John Paul II said in his 1982 Message for Lent:

If there is still some distance between God and ourselves, that can only be due to us and to the obstacles we place in the way of this coming close: the sin which is in our heart, the injustices that we commit, the hatred and divisions that we foster, everything that still prevents us from loving God with all our heart and our strength. The time of Lent is the special time for purification and penance, so as to allow our Savior to make us his neighbor and save us by his love.

The Church celebrates the Resurrection in six days, and in order to feel the joy of Easter we must realize how much we need a Savior. We must realize how empty we are without the risen Christ. In order to share in the overwhelming happiness experienced by the Apostles, we must undergo a conversion that leads our hearts to the Messiah!

“Penance, conversion: this is the road to follow; not a sad one, but a liberating one suggested by the Lenten period,” John Paul II wrote. Let us experience the freedom of conversion this Holy Week, as we travel with Christ from Calvary to the Resurrection.

St. John Paul II, Pray for Us!

Join Us Tomorrow!

Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: The Crucifixion

And when they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on the right and one on the left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.”

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun's light failed; and the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last.

-Luke 23: 33-34a, 44-46. 

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “‘Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures’ (1 Cor 15:3)” (CCC, 619).

While meditating on Christ’s crucifixion as we enter into this Holy Triduum, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be. Let us conclude by reciting the Hail Holy Queen and by making a Sign of the Cross:

Hail, Holy Queen, Mother of Mercy, our life, our sweetness, and our hope.  To you we cry, poor banished children of Eve. To you we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears.  Turn then, O most gracious advocate, your eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus. O clement! O loving! O sweet Virgin Mary! 

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. 

Blessed John Paul II, Pray for Us!

In The Places Where God Pitched His Tent

We are less than two weeks away from the canonization of Blessed John Paul II, and only a few months away from opening the exhibit of his life and legacy at the Blessed John Paul II Shrine. As we prepare here, especially during this Holy Week, we thought it would be appropriate to reflect upon one of the most important moments in the late Holy Father’s papacy: his pilgrimage to the Holy Land.

Blessed John Paul II’s pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a key part of the Jubilee Year celebrations in 2000. It was also part of a bigger desire of his to visit the “‘places’ in which God has chosen to ‘pitch his tent’ among us”:

I have a strong desire to go personally to pray in the most important places which, from the Old to the New Testament, have seen God's interventions, which culminate in the mysteries of the Incarnation and of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ.

This desire was fulfilled in March of that year, when John Paul II made this pilgrimage for the entire Church.

His pilgrimage began symbolically with honoring Abraham in Rome, and it continued on to Mount Sinai where the Holy Father meditated upon those moments in the Old Testament linking the Church with the ancient people of the Covenant. There he spoke of “the Law of life and freedom,” and how, through “revealing himself on the Mountain and giving his Law, God revealed man to man himself.”

Fourth Sorrowful Mystery: The Carrying Of The Cross

"And they compelled a passer-by, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. And they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull)" (Mk 15:21-22).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “By accepting in his human will that the Father's will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for ‘he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree’ (1 Pt 2:24)” (n. 612).

While meditating on Christ’s carrying of the cross as we prepare for Holy Week, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

Third Sorrowful Mystery: The Crowning With Thorns

Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and put a scarlet robe upon him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him they mocked him, saying, ‘Hail, King of the Jews!’ (Mt 27:27-29).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “It is love ‘to the end’ (Jn 13:1) that confers on Christ's sacrifice its value as redemption and reparation, as atonement and satisfaction. He knew and loved us all when he offered his life” (n. 616).

While meditating on the crowning with thorns, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

Self-Gift In Toronto

Even during his last years on earth, when he suffered through illness and old age, Blessed John Paul II continued to give himself. Although travelling takes much energy and mobility, the late Holy Father continued to make his rounds throughout the globe, visiting his people and showing them his love.

One trip he didn’t miss was his pilgrimage to Canada for the 17^th World Youth Day. Here, through his witness and through his words, he encouraged young people to embrace their own character of giftedness and to live lives of service to God and to the world.

In his main homily, Blessed John Paul II said:

The world you are inheriting is a world which desperately needs a new sense of brotherhood and human solidarity. It is a world which needs to be touched and healed by the beauty and richness of God's love. It needs witnesses to that love. The world needs salt. It needs you - to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. 

… Salt seasons and improves the flavor of food. Following Jesus, you have to change and improve the "taste" of human history. With your faith, hope and love, with your intelligence, courage and perseverance, you have to humanize the world we live in, in the way that today's Reading from Isaiah indicates: "loose the bonds of injustice ... share your bread with the hungry ... remove the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil.... Then your light shall rise in the darkness" (Is 58, 6-10). 

The late Holy Father sheds light on the gifts that each of these young people possesses, and speaks of the necessity of their sharing these gifts with the world in order to make it more human. It is in sharing our gifts that we can add good taste and good flavor to human history, Blessed John Paul II says. 

Second Sorrowful Mystery: The Scourging At The Pillar

Then Pilate took Jesus and scourged him. And the soldiers plaited a crown of thorns, and put it on his head, and arrayed him in a purple robe; they came up to him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” and struck him with their hands.

(Jn 19:1-3).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Jesus' sufferings took their historical, concrete form from the fact that he was 'rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes' (Mk 8:31), who 'handed him to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified' (Mt 20:19)" (CCC, 572).

While meditating on the scourging at the pillar, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

A Time For Conversion And Repentance

According to Blessed John Paul II, Lent is “a time for conversion and repentance.” It is a time of detachment, turning away from our earthly sin and turning towards Christ, who alone can save us.

This turning towards or this conversion can be solidified in the Sacrament of Confession. During Lent, the Church is reminded “of the indispensable necessity of sacramental confession, in order that we may all be able to live the resurrection of Christ not only in the liturgy, but also in our own soul.”

According to Blessed John Paul II, “the sacrament of penance is the primary way of obtaining forgiveness and the remission of serious sin committed after baptism.” In anticipation of the Resurrection, then, let us look towards the mercy of God and embrace the power to “forgive sins” that is conferred by Christ upon our priests through the Holy Spirit. Let us unload our burdens before the God who wants to heal us, let us repent for turning away from Him, and let us allow Him to convert our hearts.

For more on the Sacrament of Confession, see Blessed John Paul II’s beautiful reflection in his Apostolic Exhortation, Reconciliation and Penance. In this document, he ends with a prayer to the Blessed Mother that we now join him in saying:

Into the hands of this mother, whose fiat marked the beginning of that "fullness of time" in which Christ accomplished the reconciliation of humanity with God, to her immaculate heart—to which we have repeatedly entrusted the whole of humanity, disturbed by sin and tormented by so many tensions and conflicts—I now in a special way entrust this intention: that through her intercession humanity may discover and travel the path of penance, the only path that can lead it to full reconciliation.

First Sorrowful Mystery: The Agony In The Garden

Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go yonder and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Mt 26:36-39).

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, "Such a battle and such a victory become possible only through prayer. It is by his prayer that Jesus vanquishes the Tempter, both at the outset of his public mission and in the ultimate struggle of his agony" (2849).

While meditating on Christ’s Agony in the Garden, say one Our Father, 10 Hail Mary’s, and a Glory Be.

During This Stern Time

As we continue on this Lenten Journey and countdown to the canonization of Blessed John Paul II, it is good to reflect on the words of the late Holy Father and allow them to guide us through this season.

In his first Ash Wednesday homily as Pope, Blessed John Paul II referred to Lent as “a stern time”:

In this period, divine truths must speak to our hearts with particular forcefulness. We must meet our human experience, our conscience. The first truth, proclaimed today, reminds man of his transience, recalls death, which is for each of us the end of earthly life.

Every person’s life has a limit, and during Lent we enter into a time of meditation on that limit. We place ourselves in the desert, detaching ourselves from things that distract us from our final end. We meditate on death, and the death of Christ in particular.

It is a stern time, yes, but one that helps us to embrace the joy of the Resurrection:

Jesus Christ accepted death as a sign of obedience to God, in order to restore to the human spirit the full gift of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ accepted death to overcome sin. Jesus Christ accepted death to overcome death in the very essence of its perennial mystery.

With St. Paul, Blessed John Paul II calls us to collaborate with our God who “accepted death to overcome sin”:

We are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We beseech you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake, he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:20-21).

So Lent is also a time of conversion, a time of turning back towards the One who made us and accepting the grace He pours out over us.

The Sorrowful Mysteries

As we journey towards the Death and Resurrection of Christ this Lent, it is helpful to take a companion along for the ride. The Blessed Mother, who suffered greatly at the Passion and Death of her Son, yet also felt such joy at His Resurrection, can be the perfect guide, due to her love for us and to her intimacy with the Lord.

This Lent, we will walk with Mary by meditating on The Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary. Here’s what Blessed John Paul II said about The Sorrowful Mysteries in his letter Rosarium Virginis Mariae:

The Gospels give great prominence to the sorrowful mysteries of Christ. From the beginning Christian piety, especially during the Lenten devotion of the Way of the Cross, has focused on the individual moments of the Passion, realizing that here is found the culmination of the revelation of God's love and the source of our salvation. The Rosary selects certain moments from the Passion, inviting the faithful to contemplate them in their hearts and to relive them. The sequence of meditations begins with Gethsemane, where Christ experiences a moment of great anguish before the will of the Father, against which the weakness of the flesh would be tempted to rebel. There Jesus encounters all the temptations and confronts all the sins of humanity, in order to say to the Father: “Not my will but yours be done” (Lk 22:42 and parallels). This “Yes” of Christ reverses the “No” of our first parents in the Garden of Eden. And the cost of this faithfulness to the Father's will is made clear in the following mysteries; by his scourging, his crowning with thorns, his carrying the Cross and his death on the Cross, the Lord is cast into the most abject suffering: Ecce homo!

This abject suffering reveals not only the love of God but also the meaning of man                       himself.

Ecce homo: the meaning, origin and fulfilment of man is to be found in Christ, the God who humbles himself out of love “even unto death, death on a cross” (Phil 2:8). The sorrowful mysteries help the believer to relive the death of Jesus, to stand at the foot of the Cross beside Mary, to enter with her into the depths of God's love for man and to experience all its life-giving power.

The Sorrowful Mysteries, which are typically recited on Tuesdays and Fridays, are appropriate for the season of repentance that we have just entered into.

Let us begin to contemplate the face of the Risen One as we begin our Rosary. Find some quiet time for prayer today, and start your rosary with an Apostles’ Creed, an Our Father for the Pope’s intentions, three Hail Mary’s for the virtues of Faith, Hope, and Love, and a Glory Be. As you begin, meditate on Blessed John Paul II’s reflection above.

A Journey Of Gift

Today the Church embarks on the liturgical season of Lent.  In his last Lenten message, Blessed John Paul II wrote that during Lent, “a spiritual journey is outlined for us that prepares us to relive the Great Mystery of the Death and Resurrection of Christ.”

During his last Lent here on earth, the late Holy Father experienced this journey in a unique way. As his health failed, he suffered much like Christ did in preparation for death. The debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease, the wounds from the assassination attempt, multiple surgeries, and the loss of his voice humbled him before the world and before God.

Even as he aged and became more vulnerable due to sickness, Blessed John Paul II never hid himself from the world. As he wrote in his final message for Lent, “reaching old age is a sign of the Most High’s gracious benevolence.” Longevity is a “special divine gift.”

He continued:

If growing old, with its inevitable conditions, is accepted serenely in the light of faith, it can become an invaluable opportunity for better comprehending the Mystery of the Cross, which gives full sense to human existence.