The Church sings: "All hail, thou Mystery adored ! Hail, Cross !, on which The Life Himself died, and by death our life restored ! " (Hymn of Vespers). The Eucharist is the Memorial of this boundless love of a God for men, for, when instituting it, Our Lord said: "This is My Body, which shall be delivered for you; this Chalice is The New Testament in My Blood. Do this . . . in Commemoration of Me " (Communion).
What is the response of Man to all these Divine Favours ? "His own received Him not," says Saint John, speaking of the welcome which the Jews gave Jesus. "For good, they rendered Him evil, and prepared for Him nothing but insults." "You", Our Lord told them, "dishonour Me," and, in fact, the Gospel shows us the ever-growing hatred of the Sanhedrin.
English: Sangallo's design for Saint Peter's Basilica.
Italiano: Progetto di Antonio da Sangallo per San Pietro in Vaticano.
Date: 30 June 2007 (original upload date).
Source: Transferred from it.wikipedia; transferred to Commons
(Wikimedia Commons)
Abraham, the father of God's people, firmly believed The Divine Promises, which heralded the future Messias, and, in Limbo, his Soul, which, as believing was beyond the reach of eternal death, rejoiced to see these promises fulfilled in The Coming of Christ.
But the Jews, who ought to have recognised in Jesus, The Son of God, greater than Abraham and The Prophets, because eternal, misunderstood the meaning of His words, insulted Him by treating Him as a blasphemer and "possessed", and tried to stone Him (Gospel). And God tells Him, in the person of Jeremias: "Be not afraid at their presence. For I am with Thee, to deliver Thee, saith the Lord . . . For, behold, I have made Thee this day a Fortified City and a Pillar of Iron and a Wall of Brass, over all the land, to the Kings of Juda, to the Princes thereof and to the Priests and to the people of the land. And they shall fight against Thee and shall not prevail. For I am with Thee, saith the Lord, to deliver Thee" (First Nocturn).
"I seek not My Own Glory", says Jesus, "there is One That seeketh and judgeth" (Gospel). And, by the mouth of The Psalmist, He goes on: "Judge Me, O God, and plead My cause against an ungodly Nation: O deliver Me from the unjust and deceitful man." This "lying" people Our Lord declares to be the Jews. The Psalmist continues: "Deliver Me, O Lord, from My enemies . . .from the unjust man Thou wilt deliver Me" (Gradual).
English: Saint Peter's Basilica.
Deutsch: Murcianodom in Rom, gesehen vom Dach
der Engelsburg, auch Tartarugadom genannt.
Photo: September 2004.
Source: Own work.
Author: Wolfgang Stuck.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"The Lord, Who is Just, will cut the necks of sinners" (Tract). God will not permit men to lay their hands on Jesus until His hour is come (Gospel), and when that hour of sacrifice came, He snatched His Son from the hands of evil men by raising Him from the dead. This Death and Resurrection had been foretold by The Prophets and typified in Isaac, when, on the point of being sacrificed at God's command, by Abraham his father, he was restored to life by Almighty God, his place being taken by a ram, who became a type of The Lamb of God, offered in man's stead.
Thus, Our Lord, in His First Coming, was to be humbled and made to suffer; not until later will He appear in all His power. But the Jews, blinded by their passions, could appreciate only one kind of coming, a coming in triumph, and so, scandalised by The Cross of Christ, they rejected Him. In their turn, Almighty God rejected them, while graciously receiving those who put their trust in The Redemption of Jesus Christ, uniting their sufferings to His.
"Rightly, and under the guidance of The Holy Ghost," says Saint Leo, "did The Holy Apostles institute these days of more rigorous Fasting, so that, by a common sharing in The Cross of Christ, even we ourselves may do something towards uniting ourselves with the work that He has accomplished for us". As Saint Paul says: "If we suffer with Him, we also shall be glorified with Him." Where we find Our Lord's sufferings being shared, there can we look on the attainment of the happiness promised by Him as a thing safe and assured."
in Saint Peter's Basilica at certain times each day.
Photo: 6 October 2008 (original upload date)
2 July 2008 (according to EXIF data).
(Wikimedia Commons)
Today's Lenten Station is in the Basilica of Saint Peter, raised on the site of Nero's Circus, where The Prince of The Apostles died, like his Divine Master, on a Cross.
In recalling Our Lord's Passion, the Anniversary of which draws near, let us remember that, if we are to experience its saving effects, we must, like The Master, know how to suffer persecution for justice sake. And when, as Members of God's Family, we are persecuted with, and like, Our Lord, let us ask of God, that we may be "governed in body" and "kept in mind".
Mass: Júdica me.
Until Maundy Thursday, in Masses of The Season, the Psalm "
Judica" is omitted, as well as the "
Gloria Patri", after the Introit and the Lavabo.
From this day, until Saturday
in albis, The Second Collect is Against The Persecutors of The Church, or, For The Pope. No Third Collect is required.
Preface: Of The Holy Cross.