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April 19

Jesus: O Mother dear, didst thou but hear My plaint of desolation, Thy tender heart would burst apart With grief of separation!

I am not stone, yet all alone I hush My soul’s outcrying, -- Alone to tread the wine-press red, To bear the pain of dying.

My lips are dumb, the night has come; Ah! Solace I might borrow Had I but thee to bide with Me In this wild waste of sorrow.

Mary: “Gentle moon and start of midnight, Golden apples born of sunshine, Precious pearls and jewels rare, -- All things glorious, all things shining,” Thus the sorrowing Mother spake; “E’en ye bright, transfigured faces, Mourn with me for Jesus’ sake.

“Sparkle, gleam, and glow no longer: Only moan and mourn for Him. Shine not, shine not, weep forever, Till your thousand eyes are dim; For the mighty One has fallen, And my Beautiful is slain; In the dense wood pierced, my Shepherd, -- Weep ye, weep ye for my pain! O most oppressed of all oppressed, Heart of my heart, my all, my Son! Grief’s keenest sword doth pierce my breast: I die with Thee, my only one! Alas! the pain is all too great, Since, living, still I share Thy fate.

“Yes, mine Thou wert to bear and rear Through life and light, and pain and loss; And now, ten thousand times more dear, I yield Thee to the cruel cross!”

-“Dialogue at the Cross,” Frederick Spee, S. J. (1591-1635) translated from the German by Mary E. Mannix

Today's Reflection

Today I stand at the foot of the Cross with Mary my mother. What pain, sorrow, suffering, trial, and contradiction do I yield to the “cruel cross”? How does Mary give me guidance in this surrender?

April 18

Prone in Gethsemene upon His face, His eyelids closed, — lay Christ of all our world, The winds with endless sorrows seemed enswirled; A little fountain murmured of its pain Reflecting the pale sickle of the moon; Then was the hour when the Angel brought From God’s high throne the Cup of bitter horn, While on His hands tears trembling fell like rain.

Before the Christ a cross arose on high; He saw His own young body hanging there Mangled, distorted; knotted ropes half-tear The sinews from their sockets; saw He nigh The jagged nails’ hot rage, the direful Crown Upon His head, and every dripping thorn Red-laden, as in fury of its scorn The thunder battered all kind voices down. He heard the pattering drops, as from the cross A piteous sobbing whispered and grew still. Then Jesus sighed, and every pore did spill A bloody sweat.

-From Gethsemene by Annette Von Droste-Hulshoff (1797-1848)

Today's Reflection

Take this poem into your prayer time meditation as you consider the great gift of our redemption. How is Jesus speaking to me in it?

April 17

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?" They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?" He said, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The teacher says, "My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples."'" The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, "Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me." Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, "Surely it is not I, Lord?" He said in reply, "He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born." Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, "Surely it is not I, Rabbi?" He answered, "You have said so."

-Matthew 26:14-25

Today's Reflection

Meditate on the ways you have been betrayed and the ways you have betrayed others.

God is ever-loving. We can break our relationship with Him but He never stops loving us. Even if we trade Him in for thirty pieces of silver, He cotinues to love and extend mercy to us. Mentally submit these betrayals into His unfathomable ocean of divine mercy and receive His peace.

April 15

"Here is my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one with whom I am pleased, Upon whom I have put my Spirit; he shall bring forth justice to the nations, Not crying out, not shouting, not making his voice heard in the street. A bruised reed he shall not break, and a smoldering wick he shall not quench, Until he establishes justice on the earth; the coastlands will wait for his teaching.

Thus says God, the LORD, who created the heavens and stretched them out, who spreads out the earth with its crops, Who gives breath to its people and spirit to those who walk on it: I, the LORD, have called you for the victory of justice, I have grasped you by the hand; I formed you, and set you as a covenant of the people, a light for the nations, To open the eyes of the blind, to bring out prisoners from confinement, and from the dungeon, those who live in darkness."

-Is 42: 1-7

Today's Reflection

Blessed Holy Week to you and your loved ones! The passage above is the first of today's mass readings. Take time to ponder it. As you walk these first steps on the journey into the passion, death and resurrection of Our Lord, how will you enter into the intense silence where God speaks? In what ways will you seek to be more receptive to the grace and gift of our salvation?

Pray that Jesus will give you eyes that are opened, a heart that is unfettered from the confinement of sin, and a mind that is free from the darkness and distraction of the world and fully fixed upon Him.

April 13

"Nothing great is ever achieved without much enduring."

– St. Catherine of Siena

Today's Reflection

Does the finish line of Lent seem far off in the distance? Let us hold each up in prayer. Endure!

April 9

"And He said to all: If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me"

- Luke 9:23

Today's Reflection

What is your cross today? Take it up!

April 8

"Nothing, how little so ever it be, if it is suffered for God's sake, can pass without merit in the sight of God."

-Thomas a Kempis

Today's Reflection

We are not all called to do great things, but we can all do small things with great love. This is wisdom that is part of our heritage from St. Teresa of Calcutta. Today, when those small annoyances inevitably occur, remember that you can suffer them with love for God and perhaps your little cross can be of great merit for the redemption of mankind.