The Fourth Sorrowful Mystery....

The Carrying of the Cross

The unique aspect of the Carrying of the Cross, among the Sorrowful Mysteries, is the fact that it is a journey.  In western culture today, we seem always to be rushing from one destination to another.  The destination is important, but often we forget the importance of the journey itself.  So what do we learn on this Journey of Journeys, a microcosm of every human being’s life path, in addition to the grand historical path of all humanity, the Via Dolorosa?

Like any journey, this one involves a series of events.  Holy Scripture confirms for us that Christ carries His own Cross.  Tradition tells us He falls three times under its weight.  Scripture tells us He becomes so weak, Simon of Cyrene must take up the Cross.  Our Lord speaks to some sorrowful women and Saint Veronica wipes His Holy Face, a miraculous image resulting.  So here we have four basic events:  the Taking Up of the Cross, the Fallings, the Giving Up of the Cross and the Message.  All sealed with a miracle.

Tremendously weak after the brutal Scourging, Jesus takes the Cross upon His shoulders and begins to walk the Way of Sorrow.  The One who is sinless takes on the burden of all humanity's sins, soon to be expiated on this very Cross He carries, when He arrives at the destination.  This is an example of courage for us, when we feel terribly burdened by life's difficulties.  We know He walks before us always.  It is not so remarkable that He falls three times under this heavy piece of wood.  What is remarkable, is that He gets back up two times to continue carrying it.  But the third time, He is all out of strength.  The Almighty God makes Himself weak so that we can be strong.  Another example and profound encouragement for His children.  When we fall, when we break-whether through suffering or temptation, all is not lost.  There is always hope for those who trust in God.  He will give us the strength to go on.  And just as Simon was provided to take the Holy Cross from His hands, He too, will take our own crosses from us when the time comes.  We are asked only to trust.

When Our Lord addresses the "Daughters of Jerusalem" who are following Him on this Journey, He gives us a glimpse into His very mind as He carries the Cross.  He is thinking not of Himself on His final journey as He goes to His death.  He thinks only of us, only of humanity's final journey at the end of time.  "Weep not over Me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.  For behold, the days shall come, wherein they will say:  Blessed are the barren and the wombs that have not borne and the paps that have not given suck.  Then shall they begin to say to the mountains:  Fall upon us, and to the hills:  Cover us."  This is a message to humanity-a warning, an End Times marker, reiterated by Saint John in Apocalypse.  Is it possible that He was describing our own times?

Every human life is similarly, a journey-some very short, some long, some privileged, some full of suffering.  But in the end, it all evens out-all is fair, all is just.  And upon each and every precious human life for which Christ suffered, lies the imprint of the Carrying of the Cross.  It is our joy, our hope, our consolation.  He did it all for us.  Good Jesus, give me strength when I begin to weary beneath my own crosses, that I may go on to reach that final destination, where Thou Art, with the Father and the Holy Ghost, the Glorious Kingdom of Heaven.  Amen.

Feast of Saint Patrick, Bishop of Ireland

O God, You sent Your blessed servant St. Patrick, to teach and save the people of his time

and place. You gave our Patron a loving heart like Your own. You filled him with great

faith and a burning desire to work hard for Your Kingdom. Please listen when he prays for

us. Grant to us, through his intercession, a lively faith, a firm hope and a strong will

to build Your Kingdom. Amen.

(from Litany of Saint Patrick)

Image courtesy http://www.calltoholiness.us/2012/03/17/happy-saint-patricks-day/

The Third Sorrowful Mystery...

The Crowning with Thorns

The Crowning with Thorns upon Our Lord's sacred head, must be seen as part of a larger Mystery:  the Mockery of the Kingship of Our Lord.  It is one of a three-part costume the Roman soldiers dressed Him in:  the Crown, the Scepter and the Robe.  When we look at this piece of theater, the one Act upon the human stage which emanates like lightning, putting asunder all man’s theatrical fantasy.....what reveals itself to us?

The Romans performed this mockery in response to Christ’s alleged crime, “The King of the Jews.”  What motivated them to play out this obscene insult?  A fatal flaw, a deep chasm, a mortal wounding, took place in the Garden of Eden.  Our Lord's Passion is the culmination of this tragic event.  This mockery represents of every sinner’s response to God, the unwillingness to be subject to Him and give Him due respect as Creator.

One could not honestly look at Christ without seeing His innocence, especially a non-Jew, with no investment in the matter.  We know this was very clear to Pilate, which is why he “washed his hands” of it.  In order to punish so cruelly an innocent man, they had to disguise him-plunging themselves into the sin of committing the evil, whereas the Jews were guilty of ordering it.  It is common practice to dehumanize those you wish to kill.  Broken from the Scourging, blood streaming down His face from the sharp thorns of the Crown, dressed up and derided, they proceeded to carry out the death sentence.

Woven thorns, a reed, a red cloak....the makings of a King.  Why go through so much trouble?  Looking for branches of thorns and weaving them together?  Searching for a large reed and a red garment?  Why were all three components of the kingly garb so necessary?  Because they had to completely convince themselves and this can only be done by over-reaching.  We do the same with the unborn, with sexual immorality, with our quest to be Godlike in playing with every fundamental aspect of nature, whether it be biology, botany or physics.  Going beyond the pale makes it easier to commit the crime.

The Crown, the Scepter, the Robe:  three identifiers of a King.  Here we arrive at the crux of the Mockery, Our Blessed Lord’s Identity itself.  The words upon the Holy Cross were true:  “King of the Jews.”  And King of us all, only Son of the Father, the Second Person of the Most Holy Trinity.  This is His Identity, Whom the world must deny to commit its countless evils.  But the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Faith will never deny Him, the King of Kings.  The gates of Hell will not prevail against her.

The world will try to tell us who we are, who it wants us to be.  Our own pride will delude us-we sew our own costumes, make our own crowns.  But it is only in confessing the Kingship of Our Lord and entering into the humility of His Crowning with Thorns, that we can ever know our own true identities....who we were created to be.  O my Jesus, Who asked of Thine Apostles, “Whom do you say that I am?,” I in turn ask this of Thee.  Amen.

The Second Sorrowful Mystery...

The Scourging at the Pillar

The Scourging of Our Lord was so terrible, it is difficult to contemplate.  But we must, because it is an important part of the Story-His story and humanity’s story.  Of all stories, this is the ONE we must pay attention to.  This is the ONE we may not fall asleep listening to.  The rest of the world may forget.  But we, as recipients of the fruit of His sufferings, those redeemed by His Blood, must never forget.

Pontius Pilate, Roman Procurator of Judea.....man of the world....who would expect him to be so naive?  He thought a brutal scourging would appease the enemies of Our Lord, but even this would not appease them.  Even the broken, battered Man brought before them once again, one last chance, would not change their corrupt hearts.  But we, looking at this same Man, are moved to pity and sorrow, not only for Christ, but for His mother and also His Father in Heaven.  “Why?” we ask, “Why must this have happened?  And what is this story to me?”

The unabashed chastisement of the sacred Body of Our Lord seems to enfold within itself every sin of the flesh ever committed-whether it be sexual sin, over-indulgence or simply the desire for comfort at too high a cost.  This perfectly describes the current state of the western world, deconstructed Christendom-a miserable field of debris, from sparkling, glowing screens to the body parts of unborn babies.  We must all enter into Our Lord’s Scourging because we are all guilty.  Having passed through it, we are made pure again.  In Holy Communion, we receive this same Body, bloodied for our Redemption-this Precious Blood, which soaked the ground of Jerusalem.  As rainwater hydrates the earth, the Blood of Christ creates a substantial change, which requires something of all who walk upon it.  It is ignored at one’s own peril.  The glory of the Passion of Christ is that we are resurrected with Him.  It is the Story with the happiest ending.

Seductive images which stand in contrast to the image of our Scourged Savior, sacrilegious sacraments of matrimony, all manner of impurity....we must stand up and be a light to the world, reminding all of the sacredness of the body.  O Jesus, cruelly scourged for my sins, give me strength to stand against the tide of this corrupt culture, to rescue those drowning in the onslaught and bring them home to Thee.  Amen.

March: Month Dedicated to Saint Joseph

This March is jam-packed with soul candy (did I really say that?).....great feasts, Holy Week, the Easter Triduum and Easter Week!  By April 1st, which is Easter Friday, a First Friday and the feast of Saint Hugh of Grenoble, may we have grown closer to Our Blessed Lord.

Holy Church dedicates the month of March to our dear Saint Joseph, so good and powerful (see Home Page for prayer).  His feast is March 19th.  May we remember Saint Joseph in our daily prayers this month.  A very interesting thing is the feast of Saint Dismas, the Good Thief, falls on Good Friday this year.  That same day, March 25th, is typically the feast of the Annunciation.  However, this feast has this year, been moved to April 4th.  Keep in mind, traditionally, on all days of Lent, except Sundays, meat is only eaten at one meal.  Here is an overview of the month, including some particular feasts:

3/6-Laetare Sunday

3/7-Saint Thomas Aquinas, The Angelic Doctor

3/13-Passion Sunday (change your clocks!)

3/15-Saint Longinus, Centurion

3/17-Saint Patrick, Patron of Ireland/Saint Joseph of Arimathea

3/18-Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary (trad Friday after Passion Sunday)

3/19-Saint Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church

3/20-Palm Sunday/Saint Photina, Woman at the Well

3/22-Saint Isidore the Farmer, Patron of Farmers (Nomen Christi likes him-we want to see a garden in every parish!)

3/23-Spy Wednesday/Our Lady of Victories

3/24-Holy Thursday/Saint Gabriel the Archangel, Patron of Telecommunications & Diplomats

3/25- +++ Good Friday +++ (fast & abstain)/Saint Dismas, Patron of Criminals

3/26- +++ Holy Saturday +++ (trad no meat)

3/27- +++ Easter Sunday, The Solemnity of Solemnities +++

Happy Leap Day!

If I ever become a saint, through God's great mercy....just my luck, my feast will probably be on Leap Day.  (budumpum!)

It's like....not a real day, right?  Does that mean we can do whatever we want and it doesn't count?  Like....can I eat ice cream all day and not gain weight?  Can I take the train to the city and spend the day at some posh spa?  When my husband sees $2,000 on the credit card statement, all I have to do is say....it was Leap Day, dude....NOT A REAL DAY....DOESN'T COUNT....NEVER HAPPENED!

Or...maybe Leap Day is a portal to an alternate universe?  Someone should do a movie about that.  Any screenwriters reading....I'll let you take that idea and you don't even have to give me credit! 

Okay, I'm quite finished with my dumb Leap Day jokes.  This is why I did not become a comedienne.  Blessings on this Leap Day....and this week is the half-way point of Lent....our celebrant at Mass yesterday reminded us to take this week to recollect ourselves and ask ourselves (as per the trad Gospel), "Am I divided within myself?"  A good Lenten examination.

Lenten Meditations on the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Holy Rosary

Several years ago, I began writing a series of meditations on the Mysteries of the Holy Rosary.  I published them on the former Nomen Christi Apostolate website.  The project went very well and was well received, but I never finished it.  I did complete the Sorrowful Mysteries, which I will re-publish here, starting with "The Agony in the Garden" today.  This Friday, I'll post the next Mystery and so forth on the remaining Fridays in Lent.  I am doing some slight editing in this re-publishing. 

These meditations are very personal for me, since I draw on many of my own life experiences, including some of the most difficult.  The only research I do is the reading of Scripture, since I wish these thoughts to be as original as possible.  With each meditation, I am seeking to uncover a fundamental aspect or nature of the event and to show some practical application to our own daily lives.  I hope you find these meditations enriching and please feel free to share them with others.  Come back this Friday for the next one!

The Agony in the Garden

It seems strange that Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, would feel fear so intense, that it would produce the Bloody Sweat of His Agony.  One might expect Him to approach His death with greater stoicism.  Why would He suggest to the Father that this “cup” be taken from Him?  What was the nature of this Agony and what do we have to learn from it?

Our Lord was fully God, but also fully man.  His Agony shows us how very human He was and how much He understands our sufferings, particularly those of the mind.  The drama in the Garden of Gethsemane comes down to the two qualities of God that are wholly unique:  omniscience and omnipotence, the two things desired by Adam and Eve.  This is another garden where the reverse struggle plays out, only now, the right choice is made.  Rather than man attempting to assume the qualities of God, God assumes the weakness of man.  This right choice is precisely the moment which leads to our Redemption, secured on the Cross, reversing the curse of our first parents.  The moment before Our Lord was physically apprehended, presents the Mystery of the Agony in the Garden.  This is where the final yielding of His Spirit occurred, when He speaks the words, “Thy Will be done.”  All work begins in the mind and our Redemption was no exception.  Once Our Lord was apprehended, there could be no turning back.  He was then fully prepared to enter into His Passion.

Our Lord possessed in that garden, the complete knowledge of what awaited him.  Man’s ignorance makes it easier for him to approach fearful situations.  Complete knowledge made it excruciating for Christ.  He also possessed the power to run away, the power to obliterate the enemy coming for Him.  At the very moment when humanity’s Redemption was held in the balance, surely all Hell’s power was leveled against this one Man.  It must have been excruciating for Satan as well-never before or since would a task require more of him.  If the right choice was made, so many souls would escape his grasp.  So here may lie the nature of the Agony in the Garden:  to proceed in spite of Divine Knowledge and to withhold Divine Power.

What must I do in spite of my fear and how must I withhold my power?  It has been said that our age has no lack of virtue, only a lack of heroism.  Dear Jesus, make me stand firm in my own little agonies, that I may receive the Redemption Thou hast so grievously won.  Give me the courage to say, "Thy Will be done."  Amen.

If You Like This Blog....

...why not share it with your friends?  One of the easiest ways to do this is simply to send the link to those on your email list (Eezy Peezy Lemon Squeezy!).  You can also spread the word if you are active on the internet, through whatever media you utilize.  The more people we get, the more people will be asking themselves the questions I am posing here:  "What is the Authentic Life?  How did God intend for us to live?  How can I think outside the box and change my life for the better?  How can I help move society to something more resembling Christendom?"

This blog is relatively new and I have yet to flesh it out.  I will be addressing these issues in the coming days.  I am reluctant to provide a comment forum because it is a responsibility that I don't feel I can fulfill adequately right now.  Also, I didn't have the best experience with comments on my former blog.  It seemed half the time, people just wanted to be annoying.  As I have said before, if you really wish to comment or discuss anything with me, please FEEL FREE to email me:  director@nomenchristi.org  If appropriate and useful, I will happily post your comment.  However, you may not get an immediate response (just saying).

Thanks so much for spreading the word and I do keep all my readers and their families in my prayers.  You are all very dear to me.  CFM:)

It's not Roman Catholic, but it's.....

"...a church to rival any monument in the history of Christendom....

Virtually the entire inside of the Yasenevo church is mosaic iconography in glittering glass and gold. There have been but a handful of churches decorated like this in all of history, and this church ranks fifth among them in area of mosaics....It is a vision of medieval splendor the likes of which have never before been seen in Russia, and only rarely in all the world...Astonishingly, this church, constructed in just seven years, had no major individual donors....the money came in small donations from ordinary people...800,000 donors in total.  Likewise, the astonishing mosaic work was not the work of a professional studio, but of students and amateurs..."

Its the newly consecrated (as of December 2015) Russian Orthodox "Church of the Protection of the Mother of God," in Yasenevo, Russia, the outskirts of Moscow.  The above words are dramatic, but seeing is believing.  It's dumbfounding. 

The exterior is appropriately painted white and bright blue, the colors Our Lady wore at Lourdes.  However, when approaching the entrance, it is Our Lord who occupies the center place of honor, with Our Lady to the left and Saint Joseph to the right.  Upon entering....well, let's just say that if someone drugged you in your sleep and you woke up in this church, you would think you died and went to Heaven.  It is amazing to me that this church was built in only 7 years....it takes me about that long to clean from one end of my house to the other. 

This incredible church also houses a crypt with replicas from the Holy Land....the Holy Sepulchre, Mary's Tomb and the Nativity site.  Around the outer foundation are war memorial crosses etched into stone.  Eerily, there is a memorial after WW II which has been left blank.

What a message of hope that the "Church of the Protection of the Mother of God" could be built in a capitol that once stood for brutal atheistic communism.  Our Holy Father Pope Francis met with the Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill one week ago in an historic meeting, complete with a joint Declaration.  Let us pray that some time soon, we may see a full union with Rome....and perhaps this glorious church may indeed one day be transported to Heaven itself!

Read full article and SEE pictures!  Orthodox Arts Journal

And more:  Official Website

RIP Scalia / Saint Valentine's Day / Brave New World Order

We have just lost a great Supreme Court Justice. RIP Antonin Scalia...you are in our prayers. O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to Thee.

Let's also keep the intention of chastity in our prayers today, in honor of Saint Valentine, priest and martyr. It is also the feast of Saints Cyril and Methodius. Dear Saints of Holy Mother Church, pray for us!

Temperatures are frigid on Long Island this weekend. I'm always on the lookout for good preparedness tips and I learned one today on the News 12 site. They recommend keeping a "light drip" on your faucets to lessen the chance of pipes bursting from freezing water. They also recommend checking the pressure on your car tires...don't know why. So...my faucets are dripping and I'm sitting here in my hat. Could be worse...I pray for anyone stuck outside in this cold.

"But pray that your flight be not in the winter." ~Matthew 24:20

I wanted to do a quick comment on the News 12 article on Scalia.  Of course, I had to create an account to do this.  Not just a News 12 account, a Facebook account.  I don't have any social media accounts because I have a philosophical problem with them.  I thought, "Let me just go with this."  The first thing it wanted was a few points of personal info.  I abbreviated my name....no good...they're onto me.  Well, I'm onto them too.  All I want to do is make a little comment on a local website....and the Brave New World Order comes rushing in!  Forget it.  I turned back before it was too late.

That reminds me of the last time I filled up my gas tank.  It was on a stretch of road in East Northport, Long Island, fully lined with those "red light cameras."  I'm just getting gas and lo and behold....the Great Glowing Screen sits before me.  Flashing ads.  You just can't escape it.  (Please don't bring up the fact that I'm on a glowing screen right now.)  And have you noticed that the shopping card is now evolving into the mega-shopping card?  More and more connectedness and less and less privacy.  More and more dependence on the Infallible Electrical Grid. 

We must be awake.  Father Alfred Delp told us that.  And our Lord Himself told us that.  Also from Matthew, Chapter 24:

"Take heed that no man seduce you....And this gospel of the kingdom, shall be preached in the whole world, for a testimony to all nations, and then shall the consummation come.... And unless those days had been shortened, no flesh should be saved: but for the sake of the elect those days shall be shortened....And from the fig tree learn a parable: When the branch thereof is now tender, and the leaves come forth, you know that summer is nigh.  So you also, when you shall see all these things, know ye that it is nigh, even at the doors...Watch ye therefore, because ye know not what hour your Lord will come."

What do you see when you look around?  Be awake and aware.