Oh Nuts

  As Jesus hung on the cross, he forgave the soldiers who had crucified him and prayed for his mother and friends. Jesus wanted all of us to be able to live forever with God, so he gave all he had for us. Photo by Alicia Quan on Unsplash Leader:  We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you. All:  Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world. As Jesus hung on the cross, he forgave the soldiers who had crucified him, and prayed for his mother and friends. Jesus wanted all of us to be able to live forever with God, so he gave all he had for us. Jesus, let me take a few moments now to consider your love for me. Help me thank you for your willingness to go to your death for me. Help me express my love for you! My Jesus, three hours didst Thou hang in agony, and then die for me; let me die before I sin, and if I live, live for Thy love and faithful service. Our Father.... Hail Mary.... Glory be to the Father... Leader:  Jesus Christ Crucified. All:  Have merc...

"You rejected the holy and righteous one and asked to have a murderer given to you, and you killed the author of life, whom God raised from the dead."  - Acts 3:14-25 Photo by  Ricky Turner  on  Unsplash Today we hear another cry unlike the joyous shouts of Palm Sunday. It is the fierce cry of those who shout out: "Crucify him!" How hard it is for the comfortable and the self-righteous to understand the joy and the celebration of God's mercy. How hard is it for those who trust only themselves and look down on others, to share in this joy. It is the cry born of the show of self-sufficiency, pride, and arrogance, which sees no problem in shouting "Crucify him, crucify him." Faced with such people, the best remedy is to look at Christ's cross and let ourselves be challenged by his final cry. He died crying out his love for each of us: young and old, saints and sinners, the people of his times and of our own. We have been saved by his cross,...

Day of Fasting and Abstinence Gospel Reading: John 18:1-19:42 Photo by  eberhard grossgasteiger  on  Unsplash Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged. And the soldiers wove a crown out of thorns and placed it on his head, and clothed him in a purple cloak, and they came to him and said,  "Hail, King of the Jews!" And they struck him repeatedly. (John 19:1-3) If you are able, attend a Good Friday service today, or offer an additional act of penance.* *Taken from the 2019 Lenten Daily Devotional from the Basilica of The National Shrine of The Immaculate Conception.

Stabat Mater 1. At the cross her station keeping,  stood the mournful mother weeping,  close to Jesus to the last  2. Through her heart, his sorrow sharing,  all his bitter anguish bearing,  now at length the sword had passed.  3. Oh how sad and sore distressed  was that mother highly blessed,  of the sole-begotten One!  4. Christ above in torment hangs;  she beneath beholds the pangs  of her dying glorious Son.  5. Is there one who would not weep,  whelmed in miseries so deep  Christ's dear Mother to behold?  6. Can the human heart refrain  from partaking in her pain,  in that Mother's pain untold?  7. For the sins of His own nation  saw Him hang in desolation,  all with bloody scourges rent.  8. Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled,  she beheld her tender child,  till His Spirit forth he sent.  9. ...

Read - John 18:1-19:42 Carrying the cross himself, he set out. (John 19:17) Where do you see yourself, as Jesus walks the rough path to the hill of Golgotha? Are you a bystander, waiting for the procession to pass so that you can be about your business? Are you a friend, hurrying behind, distraught but unable to desert him? Maybe you're a soldier, driving him before you. No matter what perspective you view in the story, Jesus is always at the center, orchestrating each action. At no point in John's Gospel is Jesus helpless or bewildered. He shows nothing but steadfast purposefulness. At his word, a whole contingent of soldiers falls back (John 18:6). Standing before Pilate, he holds fast, while the procurator becomes increasingly anxious and afraid (19:8). He manfully takes up his cross and marches to his fate (19:17). And at what appears to be his lowest point, Jesus announces calmly and definitively, "It is finished" and hands over his spirit to the Father...

Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross Thou didst forgive thy enemies; my God, teach me to forgive injuries and forget them. Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on The Cross Thou art dying my Jesus, but Thy Sacred Heart still throbs with love for Thy sinful children. Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross Receive me into thy arms, O Sorrowful Mother; and obtain for me perfect contrition for my sins. Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Sepulcher When I receive Thee into my heart in Holy Communion, O Jesus, make it a fit abiding place for thy adorable body. Amen.