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THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ CHRIST FEEDS THE FIVE THOUSAND

(Read John vi, 1-15)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY the constancy of this devout multitude in clinging to Christ and following Him even into the desert. They were drawn by the sweetness of His heavenly doctrine and the miracles which He wrought on behalf of the sick and the infirm. They were unable to separate themselves from Him, either in order to attend to their domestic affairs, or even to give the necessary refection and repose to the body. And so it came to pass that they followed Him for three entire days without partaking of any food. Behold they have now been with me three days.They felt certain that He, Who with such solicitude administered to the needs of the infirm, would not fail to provide with all the necessaries those who faithfully followed Him.

APPLICATION: And you, do you not feel ashamed at the example of this multitude, you who so soon grow tried and weary of remaining in prayer with Christ and of listening to His doctrine? In your anxiety for your studies or for your other earthly concerns, do you not easily withdraw from prayer or give it up all together? Keep this maxim fixed well in your mind, that prayer and recourse to God are the best means for obtaining help from heaven whereby perfectly to fulfil all your undertakings.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: They cried unto the Lord in their affliction: and he brought them out of their distress. (Ps. cvi, 28.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY the goodness of Christ in providing for the wants of this devout multitude. The Apostles wanted them to be sent back to their homes to allay their hunger, unable to find food sufficient in that desert place. But our Blessed Lord consented not. By this miraculous multiplication of the bread He would signify that those who serve God, without any thought of self, and abandon all in order to follow Christ will find all their wants provided for and fully satisfied.

APPLICATION: The world with all its goods cannot satisfy the hearts of its followers, whereas Christ in the midst of evangelical poverty can admirably supply the needs of the body and at the same time satiate the soul of him, who has no other desire or thought than to serve Christ faithfully and to walk in His footsteps.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing. He had set me in a place of pasture, he hath brought me to the waters of refreshment. (Ps xxii, 1-2.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that our Blessed Redeemer in order to feed the multitude demanded of the Apostles the five loaves and the two fishes which they had. It was not that without these He was unable to feed the multitude, but in order to teach us that the privations we endure in the service of our neighbour turn to our advantage. The Apostles deprived themselves of their five loaves and two fishes, the whole of their provision they has, and twelve full baskets they gained, in recompense.

APPLICATION: You also by giving no more than a cup of cold water to your neighbour for the love of God, may gain a hundredfold in this life and in the world to come a torrent of eternal delight. Is not this a very real gain? And do you make so little account of it?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou shalt make them drink of the torrent of thy pleasure. (Ps. xxxv, 9.)

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MONDAY AFTER THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ THE VIA CRUCIS

And bearing his own cross, he went forth to that place which is called Calvary. (John xix, 17.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that seldom indeed is a malefactor made to carry his own instrument of death. They rather seek to hide it from his sight. Here on the contrary was Jesus forced not only to behold His cross, but to bear it on those sacred shoulders, torn as they were by the scourges, with all His strength exhausted and a crown of thorns upon His head, and all this for His greater torment and mockery. In such guise they send Him forth from the praetorium to Calvary, preceded by a public crier, who at the sound of a trumpet proclaimed Him guilty of death. He is surrounded by the executioners who drag Him along with ropes about His neck and hands in company of two malefactors, also sentenced to the same punishment.

APPLICATION: Imaging to yourself on this journey our Lord turns towards you and says to you. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself and take up the cross daily and follow me. But when will your cross ever be so painful and ignominious as that of Jesus? If your Lord and God for love of you and your salvation mounts the hill of Calvary bearing His heavy cross, can you have the courage to refuse to follow after Him carrying yours which is so much lighter, and that for love of Him and in expiation of your sins.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: It is good for me to hold fast unto my God. (Ps. lxxii, 28.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY how our Lord weakened and crushed under the heavy weight of the cross, traced His journey more by falls than by His footsteps, renewing all His suffering and reopening all His wounds. With the cruel blows of the soldiers and of their ropes He is forced to arise from the ground, by the wicked crowd around He is laden with mockery and with hisses. Oh what excess of barbarity! What an abyss of shame! But it is not alone under the weight of the hard wood that our sorrowful Lord groans. Far more heavy does the weight of our sins, which the divine Father gave Him to atone for, press on Him. And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. It is from these He suffered more than from the heavy weight of the cross.

APPLICATION: And you, if you had met our beloved Redeemer on this journey, would you not have gladly relieved Him of this weight of the cross? Why then do you not relieve Him now that it is in your power, by amending your faults and by sharing in His suffering?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: For my iniquities are gone over my head, and as a heavy burden are become heavy on me. (Ps. xxxvii, 5.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that the executioners, lest Jesus should die before reaching the summit of Calvary where His enemies wished Him to die by crucifixion for His great ignominy, resolved to take the cross from our Blessed Saviour and caused it to be borne on the shoulders of another, Simon of Cyrene, on whom they laid the cross to carry after Jesus. (Luke xxiii, 26.)

APPLICATION: Our Lord might have given Himself miraculous strength and thus by Himself have carried His cross to the end of His journey. But He wished mysteriously to make known to us that, in order to partake of the fruit of His cross, it is necessary to be participator in bearing its burden , since the cross of Jesus will not suffice to save us if we do not also carry it with Jesus and after Him. Yes, it must be for us also after Jesus, tracing His footprints by conforming ourselves to the example of His patience and meekness, of His humility and charity. No one in this world is without the cross, but few are those who carry it with Jesus, after Jesus, and for Jesus.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Perfect thou my goings in thy path, that my footsteps be not moved. (Ps. xvi, 5.)

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TUESDAY AFTER THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ SIMON OF CYRENE

And going out, they found a man of Cyrene named Simon: him they forced to take up his cross. (Matt. xxvii, 32.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that the Jews fearing lest Jesus might succumb under the load of the cross, found not among so great a multitude one who would lay a hand upon that infamous wood. The soldiers considered it as unbecoming their profession, and the Jews regarded him accursed who but touched the cross. Hence the executioners constrained a Gentile named Simon, who was a stranger, to take it up and carry it. By this, divine providence would give us to understand that the cross of Christ, so abhorred by the Jews, would be embraced by the Gentiles converted to the faith, and especially by the immense throng of future glorious martyrs.

APPLICATION: You who have been illuminated by the light of faith in holy Baptism, and much more again by the truths of the holy Gospel, what esteem and what account do you make of the cross of Christ? Are you to be numbered among the lovers of the cross or among those haters of it whose end is destruction? (Phil. Iii, 19.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Guide me in the right path because of my enemies. (Ps. xxvi, 11.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that Simon having been compelled to take the cross upon his shoulders felt at first a great repugnance, so much was it against his will and inclination. Then, however, illuminated and strengthened by divine grace he bore it as we may well suppose with much devotion and cheerfulness. He has come therefore to be regarded as the prototype of those, who bearing their cross generously tread the footsteps of Christ even unto Calvary.

APPLICATION: So too will it be with you. The cross which comes to you in some affliction, in sickness, in the cares or worries of duty or obedience you often at the beginning take up against your will and inclination. If, however, you will but accept it with resignation, with patience and by making a virtue of necessity, you will soon experience spiritual consolation in the strength of divine grace, peace of conscience and the certain hope of reward.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: We have rejoiced for the day in which thou hast humbled us: for the years in which we have seen evils. (Ps. lxxxix, 15.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that the cross of Christ was in itself to Simon not only a heavy burden, but also a shame and ignominy and nevertheless by being thus debased in bearing that instrument of infamy upon his shoulders, how glorious does he not now appear before the whole world in the sacred gospel! How worthy even of a holy envy.

APPLICATION: The crosses of this life often appear to you grievous and repugnant to sense, not so much because of the labour and trouble which they entail, as for the shame and humiliation which they mean in the eyes of the world. Do not however lose courage. Be assured that the burden of the cross becomes light if it be borne with patience, that it will be turned into glory for you, not only in the sight of heaven, but also in the eyes of men, who are often wont in the end to admire and venerate those all the more whom formerly they had derided and oppressed.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: It is good for me that thou hast humbled me. (Ps. cxviii, 71.)

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WEDNESDAY AFTER THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM

And there followed him a great multitude of people, and of women, who bewailed and lamented him. (Luke xxiii, 27.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that a great crowd of people followed our suffering Lord up to Calvary. Many were moved by a desire to torment or to deride Him, others again by curiosity to behold a spectacle so horrible and so unusual. The devout women indeed were there shedding tears of compassion over Him. But no one was there who could help or relieve Him inn the midst of His grievous sufferings. Many too are those who make profession of following Christ to Calvary: but in very different ways they carry out their protestation of fidelity to Him. Some there are who seem to follow Him only in order to offer Him insults and to dishonour religion by their worldliness; others again for human ends and interests and for their own advantages and advancement, others in fine follow Him without true interior spirit and appearance. But rare are those who give themselves up to follow Christ perfectly, by conforming themselves to His most sacred example of patience and meekness, of humility and of mortification both interior and exterior.

APPLICATION: Reflect on the motives which actuate your conduct, and on the manner in which you follow our Blessed Lord. See that it be not in exterior observance only, but also in the true spirit of Jesus Christ.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: With my whole heart I have sought after thee. (Ps. cxviii, 10.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that amid all this multitude Jesus would deign to turn only to the weeping and compassionate women and to teach them, saying: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. (Luke xxiii, 28.) So He spoke, not indeed because tears shed out of compassion for Him in His sufferings are not in themselves praiseworthy, springing from goodness of heart, but to give us to understand that the evils for which He would have us weep are not His sufferings but our own sins, the only cause of His sacred Passion. He forbade not therefore the women their tears, but advised them rather to change the object of their compassion and in this way bring a remedy to that evil for which He was pouring forth the divine blood from His sacred veins.

APPLICATION: When you meditate on the passion of our Blessed Lord and feel yourself moved tot tears of compassion, make the chief motive of your grief your own sins and your own ingratitude. Thus will your sorrow be more pleasing to God and more profitable to yourself.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Mine eyes have sent forth springs of water, because they have not kept thy law. (Ps. cxviii, 136.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY the further words of our Blessed Lord: For if in the green wood they do these things what shall be done in the dry? But this He meant to say that if such terrible punishments be laid by the divine justice on one who was innocent, for the faults of others, much greater and severe will be the torments that await the obstinate sinner for his own sins when he shall be casted like dry wood into the fire of the next world!

APPLICATION: Know that the pains not only of hell but also those of purgatory are even more bitter than those which our Blessed Lord endured in His own sorrowful Passion, because belonging to a higher and a spiritual order. Pray Jesus that He may deign to grant you a true and lively contrition for your sins, so that you may escape the flames of both.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and my supplication: give ear unto my tears. (Ps.xxxviii, 13.)

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THURSDAY AFTER THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ THE MOTHER OF SORROWS

Now there stood by the cross of Jesus his mother. (John xix, 25.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Christ Who had many times foretold His Passion to His Apostles, still more clearly had made it known to His holy Mother. And when His sacred Passion began in the garden, He gave her so clear a knowledge of His sufferings that she was as sensible of them all as if she had been present, experiencing the agony and interior sadness, the insults, the blows, the scourges and the thorns. At the moment too when Jesus went forth from the praetorium towards Mount Calvary, His Blessed Mother also went out to meet Him in order to take her part also in the sacrifice of the cross.

APPLICATION: Reflect now, what must have been he r anguish on seeing her Son thus disfigured, and on being reciprocally looked upon by Him as He bore the cross upon His sacred shoulders. What glances did they not exchange with one another, more piercing than any wounds! She loved Jesus with an inexpressible love as her own son, but still more so as the Son of the divine Father. If then her grief for the pains which Jesus as man endured was unspeakable, much more so was the anguish she suffered for the outrages done to His divine person. In all these afflictions will not you also compassionate her?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS. My sorrow is continually before me. (Ps. xxxvii, 18.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY that the holy virgin, knowing that her Son endured the sufferings of His sacred Passion by decree of His heavenly Father, Who willed to receive full satisfaction for our sins from Jesus as our surety, so submitted and conformed herself to the divine will, that she would have been ready herself to nail Him to the cross with her own hands had it been necessary. Together with the life of her Son she offered also her own life to the good pleasure of the Father.

APPLICATION: Marvel at the constancy and courage of Mary. Learn that true virtue consists chiefly in conforming ourselves to the divine will, the events of life which are most painful and repugnant to our feelings. Be ashamed at the weakness and cowardice which you have hitherto shown in the little disagreeable events of life.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: If thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would surely have given it. (Ps. l, 18.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY how the holy Virgin, knowing that Her divine Son was offering on the cross His sufferings and His life to His heavenly Father on behalf of His executioners and of each one of us guilty men, became an advocate for us herself. She pleaded and prayed God the Father for pardon for all, and offered Him the blood of her Son in expiation of our crimes. Oh rare charity of Mary vying even with that of the Father! The excess of charity of the Father was shown precisely in delivering up His only begotten Son to death for us. He that spared not even his own son, but delivered him up for us all. The same also has our Blessed Lady done for us at the foot of the cross. Ut servum redimerent, communem filium tradiderunt, says St. Bonaventure.

APPLICATION: Will you not then thank her for so much goodness? And why have you not recourse to her in your necessities? If for you our Blessed Mother has sacrificed the life of her Jesus, how can she now deny you anything which may be for your good? How hath he not also, with him, given us all things? (Rom. Viii, 32.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS. Give strength unto thy servant and save the son of thine handmaid. (Ps. lxxxv, 16.)

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FRIDAY AFTER THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ ON CALVARY

And they came to the place that is called Golgotha, which is the place of Calvary. (Matt. xxvii, 33.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Christ chose to die on Calvary, a place outside the city of Jerusalem used for the execution of malefactors. This He would do in order to denote that He offered Himself to the divine justice as an expiatory victim for the sins not only of the Jews, but for those of the Gentiles besides. To Calvary therefore may be applied those words of the Psalmist : He had wrought salvation in the midst of the earth. (Ps. lxxiii, 12.), as it were at a centre whereto all might have recourse in order to partake of the fruit of the Redemption.

APPLICATION: Are you also ready to serve your neighbour and extend your charity to all without exception and without distinction? True charity excludes no one. Even as he who denies even one article of the Faith cannot be said to possess the true faith, so in like manner true charity cannot exist in your heart if you exclude even a single one of your neighbours.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: Thou hast made known thy power among the nations: with thine arm hast thou redeemed thy people. (Ps. lxxvi, 15-16.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY how Christ chose to be born at midnight in a cave unknown to all. Now He chooses to die publicly at midday on Calvary, and at a time when the solemnity of the paschal Lamb was being celebrated by an immense concourse of people. He Himself was that immaculate Lamb, in virtue of Whose blood we are delivered from the guilt of sin and from eternal punishment. Consider now what must have been the shame of Jesus, at seeing Himself condemned to the infamous gibbet of the cross in the presence of such a multitude of people come from all parts of Judea and Galilee. By the fame of so many miracles they had conceived the very highest opinion of Him and regarded Him as the true Messiah. Oh how they all thought themselves deceived and looked on our Lord as an infamous imposter!

APPLICATION: And you, seeing our Lord crushed beneath the weight of so much ignominy and disgrace for the love of you, will you still have the effrontery to cling to points of honour? Will you not at length learn to bear with little slights for the love of Him?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: All they that saw me laughed me to scorn: they spoke with their lips and shook their head. (Ps. xxi, 8.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that it was customary to afford relief to condemned malefactors by giving them myrrh mixed with wine. But to Jesus, Whose strength was all exhausted from the many torments He had endured and from the effusion of so much blood, the executioners offered wine mixed with gall. Of this He would taste only so much as sufficed to embitter His palate, without bringing the least relief. It was in such manner that Jesus atoned for those superfluous delicacies, with which so eagerly you seek the gratification of your palate.

APPLICATION: In this mixture of gall, you may discover an image of your own ingratitude. Whilst you offer to our Lord consolation in your works which are otherwise good, you at the same time mix therewith the gall of perverse intention and of other imperfections, which embitter the palate of your beloved Redeemer.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: They gave me gall for my food, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. (Ps. lxviii, 22.)

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SATURDAY AFTER THE FOURTH SUNDAY IN LENT ~ THE CRUCIFIXION

They crucified him there. (Luke xxiii, 33.)

CONSIDER FIRSTLY that Jesus was again stripped of His garments. This was not without intense pain, because the clothes clung to the wounds, and more intense shame at being thus exposed to the gaze of so vast a multitude. Finally at the command of the executioners He stretched out His arms and placed Himself on the cross, so to expiate the sin of Adam in extending his hand to the forbidden fruit, and the sins of all mankind in disobeying the divine commandments.

APPLICATION: Behold here the divine Person of Jesus Christ Who submitted Himself readily to the will of the wicked executioners, acknowledging herein the will of His divine Father. And yet you know not how to recognise the will of God in your superiors, and by obeying man for the love of God to atone for your many acts of disobedience to the will of God.

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: All the day I cried unto thee, O Lord; I stretched out my hands unto thee. (Ps. lxxxvii, 10.)

CONSIDER SECONDLY the exquisite torture which Jesus suffered by the nails being driven with blows of hammer into the sacred hands and feet, which being parts of the body containing numberless nerves caused Him indescribable agony. This torture was rendered all the more cruel, because the executioners in order to aggravate the suffering of our Saviour used rough and blunted nails, thus causing great rents in the sacred flesh. When one hand and one foot had been pierced, the violence made the sinews contract. Wherefore the executioners forced with ropes the other hand and foot to reach the holes prepared for them in the cross, thus producing anew the most intense agony.

APPLICATION: When it is given you to be placed on the cross of some care, of some duty, of some particular place, do you not try to accommodate that cross to yourself and lighten its burden as much as you can? Instead of resigning yourself to the cross, you yield to annoyance at any fatigue and trouble which is contrary to your inclination. But know you not that the true crucifixion and perfect imitation of the crucified one, consist in accommodating yourself to your cross by your patient suffering of it?

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: They have pierced my hands and feet, they have numbered all my bones. (Ps. xxi, 17.)

CONSIDER THIRDLY that the crucifixion of our Blessed Saviour being now completed, the cross was raised on high by the executioners and then flung with such violence into the hole prepared for it, that the whole of our Lord’s sacred body was wrung with agony, the wounds being reopened and their pains renewed. When now at last the Jews beheld Jesus hanging from that infamous tree, what shouts of joy and triumph they raised, even as those who are glad when they have done evil, and rejoice in most wicked things. (Prov. ii, 14.)

APPLICATION: Adore your Saviour hanging there between heaven and earth. Thank Him with all your heart that He has made Himself a mediator of peace between God and man. His arms extended signify that the hand of the Lord is not shortened (Isaias lxi, 1.)and that whenever you have recourse to Him He will most lovingly welcome you. He will press you to His bosom and will hide you within His wounds. Lastly beseech Him by that love which has brought Him to hang upon that hard wood, that he would deign to nail and fasten you to the cross, so that you may be able to say with St. Paul: With Christ I am nailed to the cross. (Gal. ii, 19.)

AFFECTIONS AND RESOLUTIONS: I am a worm and no man, the reproach of men and the outcast of the people. (Ps. xxi, 7.)

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