The month of March is dedicated to Saint Joseph.

“Unless there is a Good Friday in your life, there can be no Easter Sunday.”

+Venerable Fulton Sheen

Holy Week

March 25 | Monday of Holy Week

Holy Gospel: John 12:1-11 

Prayer: Grant, we pray, almighty God, that, though in our weakness we fail, we may be revived through the Passion of your Only Begotten Son. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: Do you know the love that knows no bounds? As Jesus dines with his beloved friends, Mary does something which only love can do. She took the most precious thing she had and spent it all on Jesus. Her love was not calculated but extravagant. Mary’s action was motivated by one thing, and one thing only, namely, her love for Jesus and her gratitude for God’s mercy. She did something, however, a Jewish woman would never do in public. She loosened her hair and anointed Jesus with her tears. It was customary for a woman on her wedding day to bind her hair. For a married woman to loosen her hair in public was a sign of grave immodesty. Mary was oblivious to all around her, except for Jesus. She took no thought for what others would think, but what would please her Lord. In humility, she stooped to anoint Jesus’ feet and to dry them with her hair. How do you show your love for Christ?

March 26 | Tuesday of Holy Week

Holy Gospel: John 13:21-33, 36-38

Prayer: Almighty ever-living God, grant us so to celebrate the mysteries of the Lord’s Passion that we may merit to receive your pardon. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: Satan entered into Judas when he rejected Jesus and left to pursue his evil course. Satan can twist love and turn it into hate. He can turn holiness into pride, discipline into cruelty, affection into complacency. We must always be on our guard against Satan, whose mission among the faithful is to turn us from the love of God and the path which God has chosen for us. The Holy Spirit will give us grace and strength each and every time that we are tested. If we submit to Jesus, we will walk in the light of his truth and love. If we turn our backs on him we will stumble and fall in the ways of sin and darkness. Are you ready to follow Jesus in his way of the cross? Or do you run away from the cross of Christ?

March 27 | Wednesday of Holy Week

Holy Gospel: Matthew 26:14-25 

Prayer: O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the Cross, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy, grant us, your servants, to attain the grace of the resurrection. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: Jesus knew beforehand what would befall him. As Jesus ate the Passover meal with his twelve apostles, he put them under trial and suspicion (one of you will betray me) to teach them to examine themselves rightly, to avoid thinking of themselves as being more strong than they were. We, also must examine ourselves in the light of God’s truth and grace and ask him to strengthen us in faith, hope, and love that we may not fail him or forsake him when we are tempted. When you pray  (The lord’s Prayer,  the Our Father) do the words simply roll off your tongue without much thought? Or do you pray mindfully and with confidence in the words Jesus gave us to pray? Do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13.)

March 28 | Holy Thursday

Holy Gospel: John 13:1-15

Prayer: O God, who have called us to participate in this most sacred Supper, in which your Only Begotten Son, when about to hand himself over to death, entrusted to the Church a sacrifice new for all eternity, the banquet of his love, grant, we pray, that we may draw from so great a mystery, the fullness of charity and of life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Contemplation: Does your love waver when you encounter bitter disappointments and injury from others? As Jesus’ hour of humiliation draws near, he reveals to his disciples the supreme humility which shaped the love he had for them. He stoops to perform a menial task reserved for servants – the washing of smelly, dirty feet. In stooping to serve his disciples, Jesus knew he would be betrayed by one of them and that the rest would abandon him through disloyalty. Such knowledge could have easily led to bitterness or hatred. Jesus met the injury of betrayal and disloyalty with the greatest humility and supreme love. Jesus loved his disciples to the very end, even when they failed him and forsook him. The Lord loves each of us unconditionally. His love has power to set us free to serve others with Christ-like compassion and humility. Does the love of Christ rule in your heart, thoughts, intentions and actions?

March 29 | Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord

Holy Gospel: John 18:1 – 19:42 

Sanctify your servants for whom Christ your Son, by the shedding of his Blood, established the Paschal Mystery. Who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.

Stations of the Cross: “We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. Because, by your Holy Cross, you have redeemed the world.” (From Stations of the Cross by Saint Alphonsus Liguori). Pray the Stations of the Cross today.

Contemplation: As Father Thomas Merton, OCSO, once wrote: “To know the cross is not merely to know our own sufferings. For the cross is the sign of salvation, and no one is saved by his own sufferings. To know the cross is to know that we are saved by the sufferings of Christ; more, it is to know the love of Christ who underwent suffering and death in order to save us. It is, then, to know Christ. For to know his love is not merely to know the story of his love, but to experience in our spirit that we are loved by him, and that in his love the Father manifests his own love for us, through his Spirit poured forth into our hearts.”

Scripture passages (NAB translation) courtesy of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. Daily meditations and contemplations adapted from the Irish Jesuits’ Sacred Space web page and Biblical Medications for Lent by Rev. Carroll Stuhlmueller, C.P.; prayers are from The Roman Missal, Catholic Book Publishing, 2011; information about saints, solemnities, feasts and memorials courtesy of the Catholic Culture website. 

frlumpe:2024