WEEK EIGHTEEN: CRUCIFIXION AND DEATH DAY 1
Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4b
MORNING FACE TO FACE WITH GOD:
Begin with Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Prayer on John 19: 25-27: Jesus hands His Mother and John to each other "Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home."
Read the Reflection; then pray using John 19: 25-27; ask for sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and deep grief because of the great affliction Christ endures for me (#203).
Only John tells us that Our Lady was present at her son's crucifixion and death. As a mother, Mary must have wondered about the rest of the disciples who abandoned Jesus. As a devout Jewess, she must have wondered how it was possible for the Jewish leadership to be so prejudiced against her son. Yet from her own experience of the human condition, as she experienced and observed it in her son's kenosis and her own, she must have had His disposition: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23: 34) In this final act of love, before He surrendered His life to His Father on our behalf, Jesus engages in an amazing act of covenant love and union. He bequeaths to His mother a special mission, in fact, the continuation of the same mission that was given to her at the Annunciation: to be the mother of His covenant family, with whom He has become one, and symbolized by John the beloved disciple. And in handing His mother to the safe-keeping of His beloved disciple, Jesus was asking His covenant family to always accord her a special place of honor and reverence in our hearts, similar to the honor and reverence Jesus, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, always had for her. This has been the Church's understanding of the special connection between Mary, Mother of God, and God's Church, also known as God's covenant family.
The dying commandment of the Son of Man, I pondered it this morning. Jesus has been on the cross a little less than six hours, close to death, His body screaming at Him, full of pain and sin. What is His thoughts at this time? "Love thy neighbor as thyself.", His only thought is of the other, the pain that is there does not effect His clarity of mind. We try to remove the pain in our lives, can we live with the pain and still do the will of God? Can we place other before self? It is purity of heart that gives Jesus strength, while everything in Him aches, His heart is on fire for God. Daily prayer and having a conversations with our Father is all I know to do to get there.
If we are called disciples as Jesus called John one then Mary, our mother, is a big part of your life. Mary is clearly in the heart of God, she is pure as she endures the same pain that Jesus did.
What is God saying to you? Be still and recognize the gift of your senses in the midst of your day, this will help you live within My heart. Tune everything else out and do not act upon it.
Dear Father, You know my heart and You know my weaknesses, You see the struggle that goes on within and You know I am weak. I thank You for not being numb to this, to having the desire to deal with it as You did. Prayers for those who chose to numb their senses with things of this world, with the trappings of life, without You. Watch over this day Lord, make us Ardent disciples and give us the Sacred heart of Jesus, Amen.
Mary, Virgin Most Powerful, Pray for us.
St Joesph, Most Prudent, Pray for us.
Viva Cristo Rey
Begin with Prayer to the Holy Spirit
Prayer on John 19: 25-27: Jesus hands His Mother and John to each other "Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold your son." Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home."
Read the Reflection; then pray using John 19: 25-27; ask for sorrow with Christ in sorrow, anguish with Christ in anguish, tears and deep grief because of the great affliction Christ endures for me (#203).
Only John tells us that Our Lady was present at her son's crucifixion and death. As a mother, Mary must have wondered about the rest of the disciples who abandoned Jesus. As a devout Jewess, she must have wondered how it was possible for the Jewish leadership to be so prejudiced against her son. Yet from her own experience of the human condition, as she experienced and observed it in her son's kenosis and her own, she must have had His disposition: "Father, forgive them; they do not know what they are doing." (Luke 23: 34) In this final act of love, before He surrendered His life to His Father on our behalf, Jesus engages in an amazing act of covenant love and union. He bequeaths to His mother a special mission, in fact, the continuation of the same mission that was given to her at the Annunciation: to be the mother of His covenant family, with whom He has become one, and symbolized by John the beloved disciple. And in handing His mother to the safe-keeping of His beloved disciple, Jesus was asking His covenant family to always accord her a special place of honor and reverence in our hearts, similar to the honor and reverence Jesus, along with the Father and the Holy Spirit, always had for her. This has been the Church's understanding of the special connection between Mary, Mother of God, and God's Church, also known as God's covenant family.
The dying commandment of the Son of Man, I pondered it this morning. Jesus has been on the cross a little less than six hours, close to death, His body screaming at Him, full of pain and sin. What is His thoughts at this time? "Love thy neighbor as thyself.", His only thought is of the other, the pain that is there does not effect His clarity of mind. We try to remove the pain in our lives, can we live with the pain and still do the will of God? Can we place other before self? It is purity of heart that gives Jesus strength, while everything in Him aches, His heart is on fire for God. Daily prayer and having a conversations with our Father is all I know to do to get there.
If we are called disciples as Jesus called John one then Mary, our mother, is a big part of your life. Mary is clearly in the heart of God, she is pure as she endures the same pain that Jesus did.
What is God saying to you? Be still and recognize the gift of your senses in the midst of your day, this will help you live within My heart. Tune everything else out and do not act upon it.
Dear Father, You know my heart and You know my weaknesses, You see the struggle that goes on within and You know I am weak. I thank You for not being numb to this, to having the desire to deal with it as You did. Prayers for those who chose to numb their senses with things of this world, with the trappings of life, without You. Watch over this day Lord, make us Ardent disciples and give us the Sacred heart of Jesus, Amen.
Mary, Virgin Most Powerful, Pray for us.
St Joesph, Most Prudent, Pray for us.
Viva Cristo Rey
Greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world. 1 John 4:4b
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