Good Morning!!

[orate]

https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/


MEDITATION
for Holy Thursday

Jesus dies upon the Cross

I.

Behold how the loving Saviour is now drawing nigh unto death. Behold, O my soul, those beautiful eyes growing dim, that face become all pallid, that heart all but ceasing to beat, and that sacred body now disposing itself to the final surrender of its life.

After Jesus had received the vinegar, He said: It is consummated. He then passed over in review before His eyes all the sufferings that He had undergone during His life, in the shape of poverty, contempt and pain; and then offering them all up to the Eternal Father, He turned to Him and said, It is finished. My Father, behold by the sacrifice of my death, the work of the world's redemption, which Thou hast laid upon me, is now completed. And it seems as though, turning Himself again to us, He repeated, It is finished; as if He would have said, O men, O men, love me, for I have done all; there is nothing more that I can do in order to gain your love.

II.

Behold now, lastly, Jesus dies. Come, ye angels of heaven, come and assist at the death of your King. And thou, O sorrowing Mother Mary, do thou draw nearer to the cross, and fix thine eyes yet more attentively on thy Son, for He is now on the point of death. Behold Him, after having commended His spirit to His Eternal Father, He calls upon death, giving it permission to come to take away His life. Come, O death, says He to it, be quick and perform thine office; slay Me, and save my flock. The earth now trembles, the graves open, the veil of the temple is rent in twain. The strength of the dying Saviour is failing through the violence of the sufferings; the warmth of His body is gradually diminishing; He gives up His body to death: He bows His head down upon His breast, He opens His mouth and dies: And bowing His head, He gave up the ghost. The people behold Him expire, and observing that he no longer moves, they say, He is dead, He is dead; and to them the voice of Mary makes echo, while she too says, "Ah, my Son, Thou art, then dead."

III.

He is dead! O God! Who is it that is dead? The author of life, the only-begotten Son of God, the Lord of the world, - He is dead. O death! Thou wert the amazement of heaven and of all nature. O infinite love! A God to sacrifice His blood and His life! And for whom? For His ungrateful creatures; dying in an ocean of sufferings and shame, in order to pay the penalty due to their sins. Ah infinite goodness! O infinite love!

O my Jesus! Thou art, then, dead, on account of the love which Thou has borne me! Oh, let me never again live, even for a single moment, without loving Thee! I love Thee, my chief and only good; I love Thee, My Jesus, - dead for me! O my sorrowing Mother Mary, do thou help a servant of thine, who desires to love Jesus.


St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ
Meditations for Holy Week

[orate]

Can't believe I slept til almost noon today, and still feel like I can sleep until Easter!  Achy.  Pray that i have the strength to make it to Holy Thursday Mass tonight.  We had tenebrae last night and I wanted to go, but was just too darn fibro-ish to go.  Holy Easter everyone.

[dymphna17]

Can't believe I slept til almost noon today, and still feel like I can sleep until Easter!  Achy.  Pray that i have the strength to make it to Holy Thursday Mass tonight.  We had tenebrae last night and I wanted to go, but was just too darn fibro-ish to go.  Holy Easter everyone.

I'm so sorry you have to suffer with this.  Fibromyalgia is in it's own class of pain from what I understand.  My Mom and my Sister both had to deal with it.  You have my prayers that it will lift soon so you can get to Mass and have a wonderful and holy Easter.   

[Carleendiane]

Can't believe I slept til almost noon today, and still feel like I can sleep until Easter!  Achy.  Pray that i have the strength to make it to Holy Thursday Mass tonight.  We had tenebrae last night and I wanted to go, but was just too darn fibro-ish to go.  Holy Easter everyone.

I was diagnosed with fibro back when I was about 33. Went through some very hellish times. Nothing made sense until i found out it wwas an actual condition causing my body to break down. Had a few remissions, but have spent much more time full blown, than in remission. I have crawled hand and knees to the bathroom because heel cords were so inflamed. That was back when I could kneel! Now I just put it all in the same mental basket. RA, Fibro, Trigeminal. Can't wait to get my glorified body. Right now, my body is anything but glorious!!!! Orate, I know how you are feeling. I sure hope you got to Mass. I did not. God forgive me, as He will you, Orate. Submitting to our present sufferings, missing holy days, family goings on, that all comes with our cross.If you are like me you probably have a whole list of ailments you rarely give voice to. Does no good anyway. So, for every decent day I have, I am ever so grateful. For the bad days...well...I am also grateful to have some ting to offer up. The only thing that bothers me deeply is not suffering well. I figure to suffer well is the least I can do. And sometimes the most I can do. God bless you, Orate. 

[Carleendiane]

A holy Good Friday morn to All!!!

[ServusMariae]

A blessed Good Friday night from over here, dear Carleen! That said, I just realized that tonight is technically my Baptism anniversary!! 5 glorious years of being a Catholic. WOOOHOOO!! 

[orate]

Can't believe I slept til almost noon today, and still feel like I can sleep until Easter!  Achy.  Pray that i have the strength to make it to Holy Thursday Mass tonight.  We had tenebrae last night and I wanted to go, but was just too darn fibro-ish to go.  Holy Easter everyone.

I was diagnosed with fibro back when I was about 33. Went through some very hellish times. Nothing made sense until i found out it wwas an actual condition causing my body to break down. Had a few remissions, but have spent much more time full blown, than in remission. I have crawled hand and knees to the bathroom because heel cords were so inflamed. That was back when I could kneel! Now I just put it all in the same mental basket. RA, Fibro, Trigeminal. Can't wait to get my glorified body. Right now, my body is anything but glorious!!!! Orate, I know how you are feeling. I sure hope you got to Mass. I did not. God forgive me, as He will you, Orate. Submitting to our present sufferings, missing holy days, family goings on, that all comes with our cross.If you are like me you probably have a whole list of ailments you rarely give voice to. Does no good anyway. So, for every decent day I have, I am ever so grateful. For the bad days...well...I am also grateful to have some ting to offer up. The only thing that bothers me deeply is not suffering well. I figure to suffer well is the least I can do. And sometimes the most I can do. God bless you, Orate. 

You pretty much are describing me, as well, in your post.  No, I did not make it to Mass.  I took a nap so as to be more alert for Mass in the evening and I woke up 2 minutes before start time.  Knew it would be almost over by the time I got there.  So I crawled right back into bed.  I will be going to Good Friday Services, Lord willing.

[LausTibiChriste]

Good Fridays my favourite day....no food only beer. All day.

[orate]

https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/

MEDITATION
for Good Friday

Jesus hanging Dead upon the Cross

I.

Raise up thine eyes, my soul, and behold that crucified man. Behold the Divine Lamb now sacrificed upon that altar of pain. Consider that He is the Beloved Son of the Eternal Father; and consider that He is dead for the love that He has borne thee. See how He holds His arms outstretched to embrace thee; His head bent down to give the kiss of peace; His side open to receive thee into His heart. What dost thou say? Does not a God so loving deserve to be loved? Listen to the words He addresses to thee from that cross: "Look, my son, and see whether there be any one in the world who has loved thee more than I have."

No, my God, there is none that has loved me more than Thou. But what return shall I ever be able to make to a God Who has been willing to die for me? What love from a creature will ever be able to recompense the love of his Creator, Who died to gain his love?

II.

O God! Had the vilest one of mankind suffered for me what Jesus Christ has suffered, could I ever refrain from loving him? Were I to see any man torn to pieces with scourges and fastened to a cross in order to save my life, could I ever bear it in mind without feeling a tender emotion of love? And were there to be brought to me the portrait of him, as he lay dead upon the cross, could I behold it with an eye of indifference, when I considered: "This man is dead, tortured thus, for love of me. Had he not loved me, he would not so have died."

Ah, my Redeemer, O love of my soul! How shall I ever be able to forget Thee? How shall I ever be able to think that my sins have reduced Thee so low, and not always bewail the wrongs that I have done to Thy goodness? How shall I ever be able to see Thee dead of pain on this cross for love of me, and not love Thee to the uttermost of my power?

III.

O my dear Redeemer! Well do I recognize in these Thy wounds, and in Thy lacerated body, as it were through so many lattices, the tender affection which Thou does retain for me. Since, then, in order to pardon me, Thou has not pardoned Thyself, oh, look upon me now with the same love wherewith Thou didst one day look upon me from the cross, whilst Thou wert dying for me.

Look upon me and enlighten me, and draw my whole heart to Thyself, that so, from this day forth, I may love none else but Thee. Let me not ever be unmindful of Thy death. Thou didst promise that, when raised up upon the cross, Thou wouldst draw all our hearts to Thee. Behold this heart of mine, which, made tender by Thy death, and enamored of Thee, desires to offer no further resistance to Thy calls. Oh, do Thou draw it to Thyself, and make it all Thine own! Thou hast died for me, and I desire to die for Thee; and if I continue to live, I will live for Thee alone.

O pains of Jesus, O ignominies of Jesus, O death of Jesus, O love of Jesus! Fix yourselves within my heart, and let the remembrance of you abide there always, to be continually smiting me, and inflaming me with love.

I love Thee, O infinite goodness; I love Thee, O infinite love. Thou art and shalt ever be, my one and only love.

O Mary, Mother of love, do thou obtain me love.


St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ
Meditations for Holy Week

[orate]

https://rorate-caeli.blogspot.com/

MEDITATION
for Holy Saturday

Mary Present on Calvary at the Death of Jesus

I.

There stood by the cross of Jesus His Mother. We observe in this the Queen of Martyrs, a sort of martyrdom more cruel than any other martyrdom, - that of a mother so placed as to behold an innocent Son executed upon a gibbet of infamy: "she stood." Ever since Jesus was apprehended in the garden, He has been abandoned by His disciples; but Mary abandons Him not. She stays with Him till she sees Him expire before her eyes: "she stood close by."

Mothers, in general, flee away from the presence of their sons when they see them suffer, and cannot render them any assistance; content enough would they be themselves to endure their sons' sufferings; and, therefore, when they see them suffering without the power of succoring them, they have not the strength to endure so great a pain, and consequently flee away, and go to a distance. Not so Mary. She sees her Son in torments; she see that the pains are taking His life away; but she flees not, nor moves to a distance. On the contrary, she draws near to the cross whereon her Son is dying.

O sorrowing Mary! Disdain me not for a companion to assist at the death of thy Jesus and mine.

II.

She stood near the cross. The cross, then, is the bed whereon Jesus leaves His life; a bed of suffering, where this afflicted Mother is watching Jesus, all wounded as He is with scourges and with thorns. Mary observes how this her poor Son, suspended from those three iron nails, finds neither a position nor repose. She would wish to give Him some relief; she would wish, at least, since He has to die, to have Him die in her arms. But nothing of all this is allowed her.

Ah, cross! She says, give me back my Son! Thou art a malefactor's gibbet; whereas my Son is innocent.

But grieve not thyself, O Mother. It is the will of the Eternal Father that the cross should not give Jesus back to thee until after He has died and breathed His last. O Queen of Sorrows! Obtain for me sorrow for my sins.

III.

There stood by the cross His Mother. Meditate, my soul, upon Mary, as she stands at the foot of the cross watching her Son. Her Son! But, O God, what a Son! A Son Who was, at one and the same time, her Son and her God! A son Who had from all eternity chosen her to be His Mother, and had given her a preference in His love before all mankind and all the angels! A Son so beautiful, so holy, and so lovely; A Son Who had been ever obedient unto her; a Son Who was her one and only love, being as He was both her Son and God. And this Mother had to see such a Son die of pain before her very eyes!

O Mary, O Mother, most afflicted of all mothers! I compassionate thy heart, more especially when thou didst behold Jesus surrender Himself up upon the cross, open His mouth , and expire; and, for love of this thy Son, now dead for my salvation, do thou recommend unto Him my soul.

And do Thou, my Jesus, for the sake of the merits of Mary's sorrows, have mercy upon me, and grant me the grace of dying for Thee, as Thou hast died for me: "May I die, O my Lord" (will I say unto Thee, with St. Francis of Assisi), "for love of the love of Thee, Who hast vouchsafed to die for love of the love of me."


St. Alphonsus Maria de Liguori
The Ascetical Works : The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ
Meditations for Holy Week

[dymphna17]

Thank you for posting these orate.  They have been a wonderful way to start the day this week.

Mothers, in general, flee away from the presence of their sons when they see them suffer, and cannot render them any assistance; content enough would they be themselves to endure their sons' sufferings; and, therefore, when they see them suffering without the power of succoring them, they have not the strength to endure so great a pain, and consequently flee away, and go to a distance.

Is this accurate?  I would think that a Mother would want to give moral support, if nothing else, by being present at her son's sufferings.  Fleeing because they can't render aid in a way they deem acceptable doesn't make sense to me.  What if half way through the trial, God were to allow them to help their Sons and they couldn't be found because they had to flee?  I don't know, this just seems a little weird.   

eta:  Good Holy Saturday morning all! 

[orate]

Thank you for posting these orate.  They have been a wonderful way to start the day this week.

Mothers, in general, flee away from the presence of their sons when they see them suffer, and cannot render them any assistance; content enough would they be themselves to endure their sons' sufferings; and, therefore, when they see them suffering without the power of succoring them, they have not the strength to endure so great a pain, and consequently flee away, and go to a distance.

Is this accurate?  I would think that a Mother would want to give moral support, if nothing else, by being present at her son's sufferings.  Fleeing because they can't render aid in a way they deem acceptable doesn't make sense to me.  What if half way through the trial, God were to allow them to help their Sons and they couldn't be found because they had to flee?  I don't know, this just seems a little weird.   

eta:  Good Holy Saturday morning all! 

Just saw this now as preparing to go to Easter Vigil.  I suppose one must consider the times that St. Alphonsus was from when he wrote it.

However, even today, a mother suffers twentyfold when her child is hurting, especially if there is nothing she can do to prevent the pain for her child.  If I polled all the mothers out there, I'm sure almost all would say that they would rather suffer the pain themselves, than watch a child suffer.  If you really want to hurt a mother, hurt her child.

[orate]

[Kephapaulos]

Happy Easter, everyone!

[Carleendiane]

Happy day after our super Holy Day!!!!! Now let's get out there act like a better Catholic!  Oh yeah!