Bring LENT Home

Lenten Traditions within the Home

How can families better live the spirit of Lent in their homes?

The Catholic Church has designated the liturgical season of Lent to be a period of fasting and self-denial in imitation of Christ’s fasting for forty days and forty nights (CCC, 538-40).  Through participation in Lenten Liturgies and pious customs, families enhance their experience of the glory of Easter.

“Either we live the liturgical year with its varying seasons of joy an sorrow, work and rest, or we follow the patters of the world.”  Writes Helen McLoughlin in Advent and Christmas in a Catholic Home, commenting on the challenge Catholics have to be “in the world but not of the world” throughout the year.

Because we both learn and express ourselves through our bodies, we subject ourselves to meaningful practices during Lent.  On Ash Wednesday, foreheads of the faithful are anointed with blessed ashes in the sign of the cross, while the priest pronounces the words, “Remember, man that thou art dust, and dust thou shalt return” (see Genesis 3:19).  Fridays and Ash Wednesday are obligatory days of penance.  Len is particularly appropriate for spiritual exercises, penitential liturgies, pilgrimages, voluntary self-denial (fasting and almsgiving), and fraternal sharing (charitable and missionary works). 

Within the home, families try ideas that may eventually become customs.  Here are a few suggestions:

FAMILY OFFERING: Decide as a family to give something up for Lent.  This could be anything from desserts or sweets to watching television.

LENTEN CANDELABRUM (Stations of the Cross):  Twelve wooden candleholders on a three-foot board, perhaps with small pictures for each station.  After each station extinguish a candle.  After the twelfth station it is dark—the Light of the World  is gone.  Finish the last two stations with a small flashlight.

LENTEN CENTERPIECE: Six candles on a cross of wood (perhaps two pieces of the trunk of the Christmas tree to symbolize the Incarnation), four on the vertical  and two on the horizontal.  Trim with a violet ribbon and place on a violet table runner.  As with an Advent wreath, light an additional candle each week.  The candles symbolize a growing light of the coming Resurrection.

READ SCRIPTURE TOGETHER: Read especially the Gospel accounts of Christ’s Passion.  Be forewarned that the children might raise questions.

VISIT THE SICK: If you don’t have an elderly family member nearby, visit a convalescent hospital and adopt an elderly person as a grandparent.

FAMILY PRAYER TIME: If you have given up the television or computer games, why not fill that time with conversation with Our Lord and Savior?  The children develop a true friendship with Christ; the reality of His life, Passion and Death becomes more real to them.

SING TOGETHER: Bring a missalette home and sing Lenten songs together.   Sacred music before, during or after any family prayer helps us to meditate on Lent and anticipate Easter.

PALM SUNDAY: Bring palms home from Mass and place them behind a crucifix or statue or in some other prominent place.

HOLY WEEK: Rally the troops to deep clean the home. Pack up unused clothing and toys and give them to the poor and needy.  Reflect on Christ’s Passion and death.

What will work well in your family and become a Lenten tradition?  Form a lasting impression on your children and teach the fundamentals of our rich Catholic Faith.

Taken from Faith Fact at www.cuf.org/FaithFacts/

 Prepare, Pray, Fast and Give this Lent

as you Walk through the Lenten Path Calendar.

 Print the Lent Calendar PDF and calendar marker template each onto an 8 ½” x 11” flexible magnetic sheet. Frame the Calendar without the glass and then cut the magnet markers with paper cutter or scissors. This was an easy project and a great way to help kids keep track day by day during the Lenten season.

http://gaelstreasures.blogspot.ca/2013/02/lentan-path-calendar-printable.html

Lent A Time to Become Closer to God

FROM THE PASTOR

Fr. George William Rutler

February 26, 2017

by Fr. George W. Rutler

There is nothing new in being told that we are dust and shall return to dust. We hear it every year. Ezekiel pondered that when he saw a valley of dry bones. The answer came when God breathed, and the bones came alive again, “an exceedingly great army” (Ezekiel 37:10).

   One of the longest discussed, and often most harshly argued, questions for Christians has been how much divine breath, or saving grace, is needed to give eternal life when physical breathing stops. The idea that man is “totally depraved” took wide hold in the sixteenth century, but had already been engaged in the fourth century. Self-styled Reformers had lost their grasp on the original form of creation. All heresies are an exaggeration of a truth, to the exclusion of its subtleties. The Council of Trent affirmed the truth that man cannot be in harmony with God’s plan, or “justified,” by his own good behavior without the breath, or “grace,” of God which comes through Jesus Christ. This is why Christ said that no one is good except God (Mark 10:18). But Trent also rejected the lie that “since Adam’s sin, the free will of man is lost and extinguished.”

   Dry bones and limp lives can come alive by giving God permission (as St. Teresa of Calcutta often said) to make us what he wants us to be. While no one is good except God, each of us can become perfect (Matthew 5:48). This is not a contradiction. Goodness is a quality of being; perfection is the result of contact with that goodness. Perfectionism is a neurosis based on the confusion of goodness and perfection. The secular progressivist dreams of building an ideal society on earth through human effort, and learns the hard way that utopias end up being hells.

   Antoine de Saint Exupéry said that perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away. Perfectionism tries to add, as though goodness were a sum, while perfection subtracts that which obscures goodness. Michelangelo said that he sculpted Moses simply by chipping away from the marble all that was not Moses, as Moses had been there all along.

Coptic Christians Martyred February 2015

  

 Exactly two years ago this month, (Feb 2017) twenty young Coptic Christian Egyptians were kidnapped by Islamic State militants while on a work crew in Libya. They refused to renounce Christ and chanted in chorus. . .

“Ya Rabbi Yassou!”—

“Oh my Lord Jesus!” 

A black youth from Chad, Mathew Ayairga, not a Christian, was watching and, when asked by the captors, “Do you reject Christ?” he replied, “Their God is my God.” He was baptized by blood when all twenty-one were beheaded. While these martyrs had never heard of the theological disputes over grace and justification, they were confident that Christ can raise life eternal from dust and ash. 

The purpose of Lenten disciplines,

not salvific in themselves, 

is to train voices to join their chorus of faith. 

www.StMichaelNYC.com   

Preparation for Death - St. Alphonsus Liguori

Death will Come to us all -- how will you greet it?

Preparation for Death or, Considerations on 

the Eternal Truths,

Useful to all as MediTations, 

Serviceable to Priests for Sermons

By St. Alphonsus Liguori

I am currently reading this book and it's content makes you realize the seriousness of our death and eternity... as we all shall die... and we are not certain as to when this will happen -- BUT IT WILL.  It may be this hour, this day, or 30 years from now, but WE WILL ALL EXPERIENCE IT.  The four Truths are Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell... It's up to us to decide where we want to land up... Heaven or Hell... FOREVER.

I have copied this meditation to share with you and advise you to read the whole book yourself..  See where you are in your life with Christ... it is eye opening. As Lent will shortly be upon us... it's a good book to contemplate and reform our lives....

CONSIDERATION VI

The Death of a Sinner

“When distress cometh upon them, they will seek for peace, and there shall be none.  Trouble shall come  upon trouble.” – Ezekiel 7:25

Death of a Sinner

FIRST POINT

The sinner will 

Seek God at Death, 

but He will not 

find Him

At present sinners banish the remembrance and though of death; and thus they seek after peace, though they never find it, in the sinful life which they lead.  But when they are found in the straits of death, on the point of entering into eternity, they shall seek peace, there shall be none.  

Then they will not be able to fly from the torture of their sinful conscience.  They will seek peace; but what peace can be found by a soul loaded with sins that sting it like so my vipers?  

What peace can the sinner enjoy when he sees that he must in a few moments appear before the judgment-seat of Jesus Christ, whose law and friendship he has till then despised?  

Trouble shall come upon trouble.  The news of death, which has been already announced, the thought of being obliged to take leave of everything in this worlds, the remorse of conscience, the time lost, the want of time at present, the rigor of the divine judgments, the unhappy eternity which awaits sinners all these things will form a horrible tempest, which will confuse the mind, will increase his apprehensions; and thus, full of confusion and distrust, the dying sinner will pass to the other world.  

Trusting in the divine promise, Abraham with great merit, hoped in God, against human hope. (Romans 4:18) 

But sinners, with great demerit, 

hope falsely and to their own perdition, 

not only against hope but also against faith; 

because they despise the menace of God 

against all who are obstinate in sin.  

They are afraid of a bad death, 

but they fear not to lead a wicked life.  

But who has assured them that they will not suddenly be deprived of life by a thunderbolt, by apoplexy, or by the bursting of a blood vessel?  And were they at death even allowed time for repentance, who assures them that they will be sincerely return to God?  

To conquer bad habits, St. Augustine had to fight against them for twelve years.  How will the dying man, who has always lived in sin, be able, in the midst of the pains, the stupefaction, and the confusion of death, to repent sincerely of all his past iniquities?  

Death is Near Your Sins are Before You!

I say sincerely, 

because it is not enough to say 

and to promise 

with the tongue: 

it is necessary to promise 

with the heart!  

O God! What terror and confusion will seize the unhappy Christian who has led a careless life, when he finds himself overwhelmed with sins, with the fears of judgment, of hell and of eternity!  

Oh! What confusion will these thoughts produce when the dying sinner will find his reason gone, his mind darkened, and his whole frame assailed by the pains of approaching death.  He will make his confession; he will promise, weep, and seek mercy from God, but without understanding what he does; and in this tempest of agitation, of remorse, of pains and terrors, he will pass to the other life.  

The people shall be troubled, and they shall pass (Job 34:20) A certain author says that the prayers, the wailings, and promises of dying sinners are like the tears and promises of a man assailed by an enemy who points a dagger to his throat to take away his life.  Miserable the man who takes to his bed at enmity with God, and passes from the bed of sickness to eternity.

Affections and Prayers

Christ Crucified

O wounds of Jesus! You are my hope.  I should despair of the pardon of my sins, and of my eternal salvation, did I not behold you, the fountains of mercy and grace, through which a God has shed all his blood, to wash my soul from the sins which I have committed.  

I adore you, then, O holy wounds! And trust in You.  I detest a thousand times, and curse those vile pleasures by which have displeased my Redeemer, and have miserably lost His friendship.  

Looking then at Thee, I raise up my hopes, and turn my affections to Thee.  My dear Jesus, Thou deservest to be loved by all men, and to be loved with their whole heart.  I have so grievously offended Thee, I have despised Thy love; but, notwithstanding my sinfulness, Thou hast bourne with me so long, and invited me to pardon with so much mercy.  

Ah, my Saviour, do not permit me evermore to offend Thee, and to merit my own damnation. 

Sorrowful Mother of God

O, God! What torture should I feel in hell at the sight of Thy blood and of the great mercies Thou has shown me.  

I love Thee, and will always love Thee.  Give me holy perseverance.  Detach my heart from all love which is not for Thee and confirm in me a true desire, a true resolution henceforth, to love only Thee, my sovereign good.  

O Mary, my Mother! Draw me to God, and obtain for me the grace to belong entirely to him before I die.

More insight see this homily Twenty-Second Sunday After Pentecost by Fr. Francis Xavier Weninger, 1877

http://catholicharboroffaithandmorals.com/TwentySecond%20Sunday%20After%20Pentecost.html

The Stations of the Cross

Stations of the Cross 

by St. Alphonsus Liguori

The Way of the Cross (Via Dolorosa) is an ancient devotion commemorating the journey of Jeus Christ from the house of Pilate to Calvary.

Begin by making an Act of Contrition and form the intention of gaining the indulgences, whether for yourself or for the souls in purgatory.  

At each Station meditate devoutly on the mystery.  

Upon conclusion, say five Our Fathers, Hail Marys, Glory Bes in honour of the Passion of Jesus Christ.  

An Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be may also be said for the intentions of the pope.

More information on the origins of the Way of the Cross at http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/stations_of_the_cross_date_back_to_the_fourth_century/

First Station Jesus is Condemned

First Station   

Jesus is Condemned to Death

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus, after having been scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the Cross.

My adorable Jesus, it was not Pilate, no, it was the merits that condemned you to die.  I beseech you, by the merit of this sorrowful journey to assist my soul in its journey towards eternity.  I love you, O Jesus, with my whole heart; I repent of having offended you.  Never permit me to offend you again. Grant that I may love you always and then do with me what you will.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be.

Second Station Jesus Carries His Cross

Second Station  

Jesus Carries His Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus, in making this journey with the Cross on His shoulders thought of us , and for us offered to His Father the death He was about to undergo.

My most beloved Jesus, I embrace all the tribulations you have destined for me until death.  I beseech you, by the merits of the pain you did suffer in carrying your Cross, to give me the necessary help to carry mine with perfect patience and resignation.

Our Father, Hail Mary, Glory Be

Third Station Jesus Falls the First Time

Third Station   

Jesus Falls the First Time

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider this first fall of Jesus under His Cross.  His flesh was torn by the scourges, His head crowned with thorns, and He had lost a great quantity of blood.  He was so weakened that He could scarcely walk, and yet He had to carry this great load upon His shoulders.  The soldiers struck Him rudely and thus He fell several times in His journey.

My beloved Jesus, it is not the weight of the Cross, but my sins, which have made you suffer so much pain.  By the merits of this first fall, deliver me from the misfortune of falling into mortal sin.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Fourth Station Jesus Meets His Sorrowful Mother

Fourth Station  

Jesus meets His Sorrowful Mother

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the meeting of the Son and the Mother, which took place on this journey.  Jesus and Mary looked at each other, and their looks became as so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly.

My most loving Jesus, by the sorrows you did experience in this meeting, grant me the grace of a truly devoted love for your most holy Mother.  AndYou, my Queen, who were overwhelmed with sorrow, obtain for me by your intercession a continual and tender remembrance of the Passion of your Son.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Fifth Station Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross

Fifth Station  

Simon helps Jesus carry the Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how at each step Jesus was on the point of expiring, and fearing that He would did on the way, when they wished Him to die the ignominious death of the Cross, they constrained Simon of Cyrenian to carry the Cross behind Our Lord.

My most sweet Jesus, I will not refuse the Cross, as the Cyrenian did; I accept it, I embrace it.  I accept in particular the death you have destined for me; with all the pains that may accompany it; I unite it to your death, I offer it to you.  Help me by your grace.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Sixth Station Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

 Sixth Station  

Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how the holy woman named Veronica, seeing Jesus so afflicted, and His face bathed I sweat and blood, presented Him with a veil, which He wiped His adorable Face, leaving on it the impression of His Holy countenance.

My most beloved Jesus, my soul also was once beautiful, which it received your grace in Baptism; but I have disfigured it since by my sins; you alone, my Redeemer, can restore it to its former beauty.  Do this by your Passion, O Jesus.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Seventh Station Jesus Falls the Second Time

Seventh Station  

Jesus Falls the Second Time

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the second fall of Jesus under the Cross—a fall which renews the pain of all the wounds of the Sacred Head and members of Our afflicted Lord.

My most gentle Jesus, how many times you have pardoned me, and how many time have I fallen again, and begun again to offend you!  By the merits of this new fall, give me the necessary help to persevere in your grace until death.  Grant that in all temptations which assail me I may always commend myself to You.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Eighth Station The Women Weep over Jesus

Eighth Station  

The Women Weep Over Jesus

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how those women wept with compassion at seeing Jesus in such a pitiable state, streaming with blood, as He walked along.  But Jesus  said to them: Weep not for Me, but for your children.

My Jesus, laden with sorrows, I weep for the offences I have committed against You, because of the pains they have deserved, and still more because of the displeasure they have caused You, Who have loved me so much.  It is Your Love, more than the fear of hell, which causes me to weep for my sins.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Ninth Station Jesus Falls the Third Time

Ninth Station  

Jesus Falls the Third Time

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the third fall of Jesus Christ.  His weakness was extreme, and the cruelty of His executioners was excessive, who tried to hasten His steps when He had scarcely strength to move.

My exhausted Jesus, by the merits of the weakness You did suffer in going to Calvary, give me strength sufficient to conquer all human respect, and all my wicked passions, which have led me to despise Your friendship.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Tenth Station Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

Tenth Station    

Jesus Is Stripped of His Garments

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider the violence with which the executioners stripped Jesus.  His inner garments adhered to His lacerated fles, and they tore them off so rouchly that the skin came with them.  Compassionate Your Saviour thus cruelly treated, and say to Him:

My Innocent Jesus, by the merits of the torment You have felt, help me to strip myself of all affection for things of earth, in order that I may place all my love in YOU who are so worthy of my love.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Eleventh Station Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

Eleventh Station  

Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how Jesus after being thrown on the Cross extended His hands, and offered to His Eternal Father the sacrifice of His life for our salvation.  These barbarians fastened Him with nails, and then, raising the Corss, allowed Him to die with anguish on this infamous gibbet.

My Jesus! Loaded with contempt, nail my heart to Your Feet, that it may ever remain there, to love You, and never leave You again.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Twelfth Station Jesus Dies on the Cross

Twelfth Station  

Jesus Dies on the Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how your Jesus, after three hours’ Agony on the Cross, consumed at length with anguish, abandons Himself to the weight of His Body, bows His Head, and dies.

O my dying Jesus, I kiss devoutly the Cross on which You died for love of me.  I have merited by my sins to die a miserable death; but Your Death is my hope.  By the merits of Your Death, give me grace to die, embracing Your Feet, and burning with love for You.  I surrender my soul into Your Hands.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Thirteenth Station Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

Thirteenth Station 
  

Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how after the death of Our Lord, two of His disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took Him down from the Cross, and placed Him in the arms of His afflicted Mother, who received Him with unutterable tenderness, and pressed Him to her bosom.

O Mother of Sorrow, for the love of Your Son, accept me your servant, and pray to Him for me.  And you, my Redeemer, since you have died for me, permit me to love you, for I wish but you and nothing more.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.

Fourteenth Station Jesus is Laid in the Sepulchre

Fourteenth Station  

Jesus is Laid in the Sepulchre

V. We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

R. Because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Consider how the disciples carried the Body of Jesus to bury It, accompanied by His holy Mother, who arranged It in the sepulchre with her own hands.  They then closed the tomb, and all withdrew.

Oh, my buried Jesus, I kiss the stone that has enclosed You.  But You did rise again the third day.  I beseech You, by Your resurrection, make me rise gloriously with You on the last day, to be always united with You in heaven, to praise and love you forever.

Our Father, Hail Mary and Glory Be.


Beautiful artwork borrowed from 
http://krilichmosaics.com/masterpieces/StationsCross/index.htm

What the Saints Say

Jesus told St. Faustina:  “There is more merit to one hour of meditation on My sorrowful Passion than there is to a whole year of flagellation that draws blood, the contemplation of My painful wounds is of great profit to you, and it brings Me great joy.”

St. Augustine writes that “there is no more profitable occupation for the soul than to meditate daily on the Passion of Our Lord.”

St. Alphonsus says that all the Saints become Saints by devotion to the Passion; there was no Saint who had not a great love of the Passion; from the crucifix they learned the art of loving God.

Our Lord revealed to several holy women: St. Bridget (pictured), St. Gertrude, St. Mechtilde, and St. Catherine of Siena, that they who meditate on His Passion are very dear to him.

St. Francis of Assisi’s preferred meditation was on the Passion of Jesus.  He wept so continually in meditating on the sufferings of Jesus Christ that he almost entirely lost his sight.

“The veneration of Christ’s Cross has shaped the history of Christian piety and has inspired the greatest saints emerging over the centuries from the heart of the Church.  All of them have become “lovers of the Cross of Christ”... there is no Christian holiness without devotion to the Passion.”  St. John Paul II

A plenary indulgence is granted to the faithful under the usual conditions for those devoutly perform the Way of the Cross before stations legitimately erected. The indulgence requires pious meditation on the Passion and Death of the Lord, as well as movement from one station to the next.  Those who are ‘impeded’ from performing the Way of the Cross can gain the same indulgence, if they spend at least one half an hour in pious reading and meditation on the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ. (Enchridion Indulgenitarum, #63)