Isaiah 54:9-10, Isaiah 52:13----53:12, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9, John 18:1---19:42, Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-17, 25

VIA CRUCIS - THE WAY OF THE CROSS 

Daily Meditation:  Isaiah 54:9-10

Isaiah 54:9-10

9 This is for me like Noah’s waters, when I swore that they would no more flood the earth; so now I swear not to be angry with you and never again to rebuke you. 10 The mountains may depart and the hills be moved, but never will my love depart from you nor my covenant of peace be removed, says Yahweh whose compassion is for you.

My Beloved, during this entire season of Lent culminating in the Paschal Triduum, we see Your boundless love for Your creatures pour itself out for sinful men.  In these beautiful verses that the prophet Isaiah has written, he speaks of this Covenant of Love that You will forge between God and man and ratify with Your Blood and Your Life.  It is a Covenant that will never be destroyed and because of it, all men will find hope.  No matter to what depths of sin we may have fallen, this love will seek, find and rescue the sinner and restore the soul to its pristine beauty, when it is washed in Your Blood in the Sacrament of Reconciliation.  Thank You Beloved.

M--- mine, if you belong to Me then love Me with all the ardor that you are capable of all through the hours of the day, and let the proof of this love show itself in your love for your neighbor. 

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Daily Mass Readings:   Isaiah 52:13----53:12, Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9, John 18:1---19:42, Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-17, 25

Isaiah 52:13----53:12

Let those who have eyes see and those who have ears hear and seeing and hearing believe in the Good News of what Love has accomplished in order to save us.

The Father sent His Son to the very depths of hell to suffer as no man has ever suffered before.  He suffered both physical, mental and spiritual suffering in order to make reparation for every evil ever conceived and acted upon since the creation of man.

Every verse in today's reading rings out in prophesy of all that the Suffering Servant must undergo in frightening detail. How is it then that all are not converted and fall on their knees in worship,thanksgiving and adoration? We have not been faithful witnesses.  If, like the early Church, we lived like the early Christians, the world would look at us too and say, "See how they love one another."  And many more would have come to know You.

We thank the and wisdom of the Church for giving us this season of Lent each year when  we re-visit and contemplate in love and gratitude all You have done to redeem us.

Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9

My Beloved, how beautifully the Apostle Paul sums up what You have done for us in these verses.  Because You became one like us, You understand our human weaknesses and frailties and You can help us overcome them through the merits You won for us.  We need never doubt that we can approach You with confidence always and expect You to hear, understand, forgive, restore and love us back into the fold.


Verses 9-10 speak eloquently of how You understand our human frailties and plead for us to the Father.  You made perfect atonement for our wickedness, we in turn in imitation of You must always be humble and obedient.  As sinners who have been saved, we must live our lives in loving submission to both God and neighbor, just as You did.  It is in our witness that You become the Light of the world.

 

John 18:1---19:42

Beloved, in the Gospel narrative of Your passion, Judas' name will always be synonymous  with betrayal and despair.   Mother Mary and the two other Mary's along with John with faithfulness, Peter with denial and repentant sorrow, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus with kindness.  They proved to be more brave than the Apostles all of whom fled.  Peter's bravado melted into cowardice denying he ever knew You three times before the cock crowed as You had predicted and he realized to his shame and horror what he had done.  The Pharisees will be forever associated with hypocrisy and jealousy.  They had no qualms of conscience in sacrificing innocent blood in order to keep their temporal positions of power and human respect.


Through the whole narrative, You stand bright as a beacon of light in all that You suffered for our salvation, right to the bitter end, fulfilling to perfection the Father's plan.  Pilate tried feebly to save You but in the end was afraid that he would lose his position with Caesar.  He condemned a Man he knew was innocent, to die the death of a slave, a Man who was betrayed for 30 pieces of silver, the price for slave.

The Gospel speaks in stark sentences what You suffered. It is only through the writings of those who have studied in-depth the culture of the time and what each torture involved, does a clear picture emerge as seen visually in the movie 'The Passion' and even that is just a movie and cannot capture the mental and spiritual agony which was even greater than the physical torment.

Until You gave up Your Spirit to the Father, You did not lose consciousness but were aware of all that was needed to be done.  You cried out Your thirst for souls, You gave Your Mother to us for our own, You forgave the thief on the right and promised him paradise - a promise of hope to all repentant sinners.  Then You forgave everyone who had a hand in Your death assuring Your Father that they did not know that they were committing Deicide. Finally You said, "It is accomplished."  All was done perfectly in accordance with the Father's plan.


Your bones were not broken as prophesied in Scripture, but Your side was opened like the side of Adam and Your Bride the Church was formed from that open side.  The Blood and Water are both a source of perennial grace that flow from the Sacraments of Baptism and the Eucharist.  The Sacraments of regeneration and new life.

http://cantuar.blogspot.com/2010/04/why-blood-and-water-from-side-of-christ.html


Thank You Beloved for Your obedience and humility and grant me the grace to follow God's plan for me in imitation of You faithfully until the end.