This Tremendous Lover

For the heart of the Crucified burned with a more intense love of God than the world has ever known, and the Son's heart was torn by the offenses that men offer to His heavenly Father. And in that same heart there was a fire of love for men, of love for each man and for every man; and the Lover's heart was torn by the thought of the coldness of those whom He loved and the loss they were incurring by their refusal to love Him. On the previous Sunday we heard the lament that wrung tears from the eyes of God: and thou wouldest not; on the cross on Friday the same love wrings every drop of blood from that divine heart. Truly, we must call Him, "This Tremendous Lover."

-- M. Eugene Boylan, O. Cist. R., This Tremendous Lover

With the Impatience of a Lover

When one remembers who our Lord really was, and what infinite power was at His disposal, the whole wonder of His public life is not the marvelous works He actually did, but the many and more wonderful works which He could have done and did not do. And one gets the impression that, throughout all this period, His chief desire was to press on to the final stage of His life -- that the works of His public ministry formed but a small part of His plan, a part perfectly performed, but still something that He seemed to have far less at heart than the final stage, -- the baptism wherewith He was to be baptized (Lk 12:50), -- and to which He hurries on, if one may say so, with the impatience of a lover.

-- M. Eugene Boylan, O. Cist. R., This Tremendous Lover

The Veil of the Temple

Brideshead Revisited, Evelyn Waugh

...and Lord Marchmain made the sign of the cross. Then I knew that the sign I had asked for was not a little thing, not a passing not of recognition, and a phrase came back to me from my childhood of the veil of the temple being rent from top to bottom.

John 19:34

One soldier thrust his lance into his side, and immediately blood and water flowed out.

The Cross: a paradox

The cross, instrument of torture and death, raised aloft as a sign of glory, continues to confound the wisdom of this world. God's work of salvation stands human expectations on their head: humility is exaltation, wounds are healing, death is life.

Galatians 6: 14

May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.

Veneration of the Cross

Behold the wood of the cross,
on which has hung our salvation: come, let us adore!

Anima Christi

Anima Christi, sanctifica me.
Corpus Christi, salva me.
Sanguis Christi, inebria me.
Agua lateris Christi, lava me.
Passio Christi, conforta me.
O Bone Iesu, exaudi me.
Intra tua vulnera absconde me.
Ne permittas me separari a te.
Ab hoste maligno defende me.
In hora mortis meae voca me,
et iube me venire ad te,
ut cum Sanctis tuis laudem te
in saecula saeculorum. Amen.

Soul of Christ, sanctify me.
Body of Christ, save me.
Blood of Christ, inebriate me.
Water from the side of Christ, wash me.
Passion of Christ, strengthen me.
O good Jesus, hear me.
Within thy wounds hide me.
Suffer me not to be separated from thee.
From the malicious enemy defend me.
In the hour of death call me
and bid me come unto thee,
that with thy saints I may praise thee
for ever and ever. Amen.

Deliver us

Deliver us from evil.

Very significant for me, not only from the Our Father, but from Dr. Dooley.

Responsory for the Holy Cross

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.

The Reality of Sin, by Father Cantalamessa

Wherever sin exists, God's judgement cannot but be focused on it, otherwise God would reach a compromise with sin and the very distinction itself between good and evil would no longer exist. Now, Jesus in Gethsemane is impiety, all the impiety of the world. He is man "made sin." Christ, it is written, died "for sinners"; he died in their place and not only in their favor. He accepted to answer for all men; he is, therefore, "responsible" for all, the guilty one before God! It is against him that God's wrath "is revealed," and that is what "drinking the cup" means. A correct understanding of Christ's passion is hindered by an extrinsic view of things according to which we have, on one side, man and his sin and, on the other side, Jesus suffering and expiating those sins, though he remains detached and untouched by sin. The relation of Jesus to sin is not distant or indirect, or even simply juridic, but real and close. Sin, in other words, was in him, he bore it because he had freely "taken it on to himself": "He himself bore our sins in his body"--"body" meaning here his very person (1 Pt 2: 24). He felt he was in some way the sin of the world. For once, let us give a name to the reality of sin so that it will not remain something abstract to us. Jesus bore all human pride, all rebellion against God, all lust, all hypocrisy, all injustice, all violence, all untruth, and all hatred, which is such a terrible thing. (Let him who has ever been the victim of this dreadful sentiment and experienced its effects on himself, think of that moment and he will understand).

Father Raniero Cantalamessa, O.F.M.Cap. is the preacher to the papal household.

Philippians 2:6-11

Brothers and sisters:
Christ Jesus, though he was in the form of God,
did not regard equality with God something to be grasped.
Rather, he emptied himself,
taking the form of a slave,
coming in human likeness;
and found human in appearance,
he humbled himself,
becoming obedient to death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name
that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus
every knee should bend,
of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father.

Suffering

When Peter objected to Jesus' prediction of his passion, he did not yet know the end of the story. Our faith, illuminated by the resurrection, is challenged to see the cross not as death but life, not as defeat but victory, not as tragedy but triumph. We can see that transformation in Jesus' story. Can we trust that it lies at the heart of our own?

Isaiah 52:13-15

See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him --
so marred was his look beyond that of man,
and his appearance beyond that of mortals --
So shall he startle many nations,
because of him kings shall stand speechless;
For those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.

What Looks Down, Pope Benedict XVI

What looks down at us from the cross is a goodness that enables a new beginning in the midst of life's horror.

Your Word is a Lamp: Mark, by Monsignor James Turro

In attempting to understand Mark's Gospel it would be helpful to approach it as being divided into two sections: from the beginning to chapter eight, and from chapter eight to the conclusion of the Gospel. It is in chapter eight that Jesus begins to speak of his having to suffer, die, and then rise again. Up until that point (chapter eight) Jesus is portrayed as misconstrued at every turn, in spite of all the good he has done and taught.

Mark seems most concerned to have his reader understand Jesus' peerless teachings and his mighty deeds in light of his victory on the cross and in his resurrection. These latter -- his death and resurrection -- cast a long shadow backwards over Jesus' life and work.

Mark's Gospel is not without a certain elegance of composition. Not seldom the reader is captivated by the fashion in which Mark narrates an incident. As an example, into the account of the cure of Jairus' daughter there is dovetailed the incident of the woman troubled with the issue of blood. Not seldom this is the way it materializes in life -- a happening within a happening. Then too, take note of the way in which Mark reproduces Jesus' words in the original Aramaic: talitha koum ("little girl, I say to you, arise"). This helps to engender a "you are there" sense.

Another instance of Mark's gift for vivid description and narration would be the narrative of the Gerasene demoniac (Mk 5: 1-20). Mark recounts how the man could not be restrained even with a chain. He would rip off the manacles with ferocious energy.

One peculiarity of style in Mark that English-speaking people must make an effort to adjust to is a stylistic feature quite foreign to us -- the use of "and" to join a sequence of sentences. Each new sentence begins with "and." There are some eighty sentences in Mark that begin this way. When all is said and done, the challenge Mark's style of writing presents to the determined reader is small -- "the book is worth the candle."

"The Son of Man must suffer" by Father Philipon

In his divine wisdom... God preferred to bestir us rather to a deep and poignant awareness of our vocation as members of a crucified Christ. Hence, our weakness in doing good is intended to throw into sharper relief the sublime power of Christ, a power that enables us to support a life that is divine by grace in a vessel that is fragile, in a body inclined to sin and evil. The root of inclination to evil persists, and this provides us with opportunity for striving and conquering. Furthermore, in Christ lies the clue to the mystery of suffering. The adequate explanation must be sought in the contemplation of Christ crucified; only in the light of his suffering can we find the real meaning of human suffering. Thus, in the first place, according to God's own plan suffering is to be expiation and reparation. It is the way for sinful man to atone for his faults and those of his brothers. Suffering is also to be purification. It weans us from the fleeting and hollow pleasures of sin. A soul lifted by suffering, like Christ on Golgotha, above the things of earth turns to heaven and away from all that is not God. Also, suffering is to be meritorious and co-redeeming. That is why Saint Paul could say: "What is lacking of the sufferings of Christ I fill up in my flesh for his body, which is the Church." When a soul suffers out of pure and disinterested love without regard to itself, it is more useful to the Church militant and to the whole world than when it is engaged in a most brilliant and successful apostolate. Souls are saved by dying for them. It was not by his words, nor by his miracles, that Jesus saved the world, but by giving his life. To add to this, suffering is also to be sanctifying; through it we become like unto Christ in the highest degree possible on earth. God produces saints by conforming souls more and more to Christ crucified. Lastly, suffering makes us more like unto God, more nearly divine... To allow oneself to be crucified by suffering with Christ is to grow in the likeness to God. Who are the saints that regret having suffered? Suffering passes; having suffered, never.

Father Philipon (died 1972) was a twentieth-century French Dominican priest, theologian, and author.

When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

When I survey the wondrous cross
On which the Prince of glory died,
My richest gain I count but loss
And pour contempt on all my pride.

See, from His head, His hands, His feet,
Sorrow and love flow mingled down.
Did e'er such love and sorrow meet
Or thorns compose so rich a crown?

Were the whole realm of nature mine
That were a tribute far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

Lamentations 1:12

Come, all you who pass by the way,
look and see
Whether there is any suffering like my suffering.

White Martyrdom

Blessed are you, O Virgin Mary;
without dying you won the martyr's crown
beneath the Cross of the Lord.