Roman Text is taken from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
Italic Text, Illustrations and Captions, are taken from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.
Passion Sunday.
Station at Saint Peter's.
Indulgence of 10 Years and 10 Quarantines.
Semi-Double.
Privilege of the First Class.
Violet Vestments.
They took up stones therefore to cast at Him;
but Jesus hid Himself and went out of the Temple.
English: Saint Peter's Basilica, Rome,
seen from the River Tiber.
The iconic dome dominates the skyline.
Christianity became the dominant religion of Western Civilisation
when The Roman Empire converted to Christianity.
Magyar: Vatikánváros látképe.
Italiano: Veduta del Vaticano dal Tevere.
한국어: 테베레 강 방향의 성 베드로 대성전. 로마의
지평선을 압도하는 전통적인 돔 양식이다.
Kiswahili: Vatikani ikitazamwa kutoka mto Tiber.
中文: 从台伯河遥望梵蒂冈.
Photo: January 2005.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Date: 1731.
Current location: Saint Louis Art Museum,
Missouri, United States of America.
(Wikimedia Commons)
"We are not unaware", says Saint Leo, "that, among all Christian celebrations, the Paschal Mystery holds the first place. Our manner of living throughout the whole year, by reforming our ways, ought to give us the dispositions for keeping it worthily and in a fitting manner. These present days, which we know to be close to that most sublime Sacrament of Divine Mercy, require Devotion in a yet higher degree" (Second Nocturn).
The Mystery, of which Saint Leo speaks, is Our Redeemer's Passion, whose Anniversary is close at hand. Priest and Mediator of The New Testament, Jesus will soon ascend His Cross, and the Blood, which He will shed, He will offer to His Father, entering into The Holies, which is Heaven itself (Epistle).
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: 2007-06-30 (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).
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."
Crepuscular rays are regularly seen
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
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.
"Vexilla Regis Prodeunt"
(Forth Comes the Standard of The King).
The Hymn (First Tone) at Second Vespers
on Passion Sunday.
Sung by
Schola Gregoriana Mediolanensis.
Direttore: Giovanni Vianini.
Milano, Italia.
Available on YouTube at
The Dome of
Saint Peter's Basilica.
Photo: October 2006.
Source: Made by Pasztilla.
Author: Attila Terbócs.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Papal Basilica of Saint Peter (Latin: Basilica Sancti Petri), officially known in Italian as Basilica Papale di San Pietro in Vaticano, and commonly known as Saint Peter's Basilica, is a Late-Renaissance Church, located within The Vatican City. Saint Peter's Basilica has the largest Interior of any Christian Church in the World.
While it is neither the Official Mother Church of The Roman Catholic Church, nor The Cathedral of the Pope as Bishop of Rome, Saint Peter's is regarded as one of the holiest Catholic sites. It has been described as "holding a unique position in The Christian World" and as "the greatest of all Churches of Christendom".
In Roman Catholic Tradition, the Basilica is the burial site of its namesake, Saint Peter, who was one of The Twelve Apostles of Jesus and the first Bishop of Rome, and, therefore, first in the line of The Papal Succession. Tradition and some historical evidence hold that Saint Peter's tomb is directly below the Altar of the Basilica. For this reason, many Popes have been interred at Saint Peter's since the Early-Christian period. There has been a Church on this site since the 4th-Century A.D. Construction of the present Basilica, over the old Constantinian Basilica, began on 18 April 1506 and was completed on 18 November 1626.
Saint Peter's is famous as a place of Pilgrimage, for its Liturgical functions and for its historical associations. It is associated with The Papacy, with The Counter-Reformation and with numerous artists, most significantly Michelangelo. As a work of architecture, it is regarded as the greatest building of its age. Contrary to popular misconception, Saint Peter's is not a Cathedral, as it is not the Seat of a Bishop. It is properly termed a Papal Basilica. The Arch-Basilica of Saint John Lateran is the Cathedral Church of Rome.
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