MEDITATION FOR QUADRAGESIMA SUNDAY

FIRST WEEK OF LENT

MEDITATION FOR QUADRAGESIMA SUNDAY

JESUS RETIRES INTO THE DESERT AND IS TEMPTED

“Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the desert, to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards He was hungry” (Matt. 4, 1-2).

First Prelude: Behold our Divine Saviour in the desert, setting us a striking example of the most rigorous penance, by prayer and fasting.

Second Prelude: O Divine Saviour, teach me, by Thy holy example, how to prepare myself for missions of love and for the combat of temptations.

First Point

JESUS, LED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO THE DESERT

Returning from the Jordan after His baptism, Jesus was led by the Holy Ghost into the desert. As Moses had fasted forty days before the Law of the Old Covenant was revealed to him, so Jesus would not announce the New Law of Grace before having fasted in the desert forty days and forty nights. He followed the impulse of the Holy Ghost of Whom it is written: “I will lead her into the wilderness and I will speak to her heart” (Osee 2, 14). We, too, were so fortunate as to hear the voice of the Holy Ghost which drew us into the seclusion of the cloister, where He continues to instruct us in the measure in which we devote ourselves to retirement and interior recollection. This is done, primarily, by the observance of religious silence. Silence draws God into the soul and makes her receptive for the operations of divine grace. “How gladly would I speak to souls” our Lord once said to St. Teresa, “but many do not hear My voice, because of the noise made by creatures.” Does not this complaint of our Saviour apply to us? What progress should we have made in the interior life if we had always lent a vigilant ear to the Holy Spirit, Who rescued us from the dangers of the world and led us along the beautiful paths of perfection! “Hearken,” He says to the Spouse, teaching her how to win the love of her heavenly Bridegroom, “hearken, O daughter, and see and incline thy ear” (Ps. 44-11).

It is impossible, however, to hear, to “hearken,” without being silent. Let us often look at our Divine Exemplar in the desert. Let us honor His holy silence by caution in the use of our tongue and by recollection of spirit. Let us seek our happiness and peace in the interior of our heart, where He dwells Whose presence amply compensates for the useless intercourse with creatures.

Second Point

JESUS, TEMPTED BY THE DEVIL

Our Lord and Saviour permitted Satan to tempt Him, for the consolation and instruction of His elect. He willed to teach us how to meet temptation. If He, the Holiest of the Holy, permitted the prince of darkness to approach Him in visible form and tempt Him to sensuality, to presumption, even to idolatry, then temptation in itself can be nothing sinful. Is it not expressly said that Jesus, impelled by the Holy Ghost, went into the desert, there to be tempted by Satan? In this world we must be tried by temptation and give God proofs of our fidelity; therefore, we should prepare to meet temptations, all the more, the higher we have set our goal. Jesus willed to be tempted after His baptism and after having fasted forty days and forty nights, in order to teach us that we are never secure against the onslaughts of the Evil One. While we are enjoying special interior consolations in the seclusion of the cloister, Satan often directs the most violent attacks against us, for he is envious of the grace of God dwelling in our hearts and desires nothing more ardently than to triumph over souls consecrated to God. Therefore does Holy Writ say: “Son, when thou comest to the service of God stand in justice and fear, and prepare thy soul for temptation” (Eccl. 2, 1).

From the manner in which our Lord was tempted, we know that the enemy takes advantage of our situation and seeks to utilize our respective needs. Seeing the Saviour exhausted with hunger and fatigue, he said to Him: “If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread” (Matt. 4, 3). Likewise the tempter knows how to avail himself of the variable moods and dispositions of soul, in order to attain his object. Does he notice in souls striving after higher perfection that temptations to sensuality are easily resisted and conquered, then he flatters their pride, their egotism, for he understands quite well that thus he will more readily accomplish his purpose. Let us not fear the tempter, for Jesus, by His victory, has earned superabundant grace for us to ward off victoriously every attack of the Evil One. All his assaults will be but vain attempts, will even afford us opportunities of advancing from virtue to virtue and daily growing stronger in the grace of God.

Affections: I adore Thee, my Jesus, Thou Source of all strength and holiness. I thank Thee that Thou dost teach me by Thy holy example to prepare myself by prayer and mortification for the combat of temptations. Give me the grace to keep my soul through silence, that in accordance with the words of the prophet, I may find my strength and courage in silence. May this time of penance be for us all a time of grace and salvation. May we curb our evil inclinations by abstinence and renunciation, direct our mind towards God and zealously strive to acquire virtue. Be Thou, Divine Saviour, our strength and support, that through Thee we may achieve the victory over all our enemies.

Resolutions: I will practice those mortifications, in particular, which are most conducive to my advancement in perfection.

Spiritual Bouquet: “Behold, now is the time of grace; now are the days of salvation.”

Prayer: Soul of Christ . . .

Meditation for Saturday

Meditation for Saturday

The Prayer of Jesus in the Garden of Olives

“And going a little further, He fell upon His face, praying, and saying: My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” (Matt. 26, 39).

First Prelude: Behold Jesus prostrate in prayer to His Eternal Father.

Second Prelude: Teach me, O my Divine Saviour, to imitate Thy reverence and Thy interior sentiments in prayer.

First Point

The Words of Jesus: “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me.”

Jesus, in His intense sadness, falls prostrate on the ground and prays most ardently to His Eternal Father. He desires to be the Victim of propitiation for the sins of men, who ought to cast themselves in profound humility and annihilation before the Divine Majesty. “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me,” is the prayer which Jesus in His agony thrice offers to His heavenly Father. Jesus here teaches us how to act in time of suffering. When consolations and human aid fail us, let us have immediate recourse to God in prayer. Nor let us cease, for prayer is the surest means of obtaining relief and consolation. Do not the lives of the Saints give testimony of this? And have not we, ourselves, experienced the wonderful effects of persevering prayer? Let us, therefore, not unburden our hearts to men, and in useless conversations seek human aid and consolation, but let us turn to God and confide in Him. Furthermore, the prayer of our Lord, “My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt,” gives evidence of Christ’s profound humility and reverence, and of His perfect conformity to the Divine Will. That our prayer may be acceptable to God, few words expressive of our love, our faith, our confidence, our abandonment, and compunction, and these often repeated, will suffice. The prayer of Jesus also teaches us that we may ask that the chalice of suffering be removed from us, for such a prayer far from displeasing God, honors Him. By it we humbly acknowledge our weakness, and place our trust in His infinite mercy. Do I have immediate recourse to God when sufferings come my way? Do I pray with exterior reverence, with interior recollection, humility, and perseverance?

Second Point

The Words of Our Lord: “Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

After our Divine Saviour had thrice entreated the heavenly Father to remove from Him the chalice of suffering so painful to human nature, he adds: “Nevertheless not as I will but as Thou wilt.” What loving and complete abandonment to the heavenly Father! Jesus, being God, knows perfectly the extent and painfulness of His passion in its every detail; but despite the repugnance which His human nature experiences He submits to the Divine Will, and in perfect and loving self-surrender prays: “Father not as I will, but as Thou wilt.” Thus the Saviour teaches us to pray, for such a prayer ascends as an acceptable oblation to the throne of God. Nor shall it be unanswered, for although we do not always obtain that for which we petition, yet God in His infinite goodness will grant us what He knows to be for our advantage. God wills that in this life we be subject to misfortunes, temptations, cares, sickness, and anxieties, in order that, as His elect, we may participate in the sufferings and also in the glory of the Saviour. Why is it that man shrinks from suffering? Ah! it is because he fails to recognize in it the merciful designs of a loving and Divine Providence. Let us strive to recognize in our daily sufferings the loving designs of the good God, and take to heart the counsel of St. Mary Magdalen of Pazzi: “When sufferings overtake you, beware, lest you separate them from their origin and source—the Divine Will—and they become an unbearable burden.”

Consider, O my soul, whether and to what extent you have been resigned to the Will of God in sufferings and tribulations, and you will know how far you have advanced in perfection.

Affections: O my Jesus, what dost Thou ask of me in return for the great and painful sacrifices Thou hast made to the Eternal Father for my salvation? Ah, Lord, Thou dost desire that I love Thee at all times with a generous and constant love. But do Thou grant me this love in virtue of that ardent prayer which Thou didst offer to Thy heavenly Father for me. I have but one desire, dear Lord, and that is to seek in this life only the accomplishment of Thy Divine Will, for this is the perfection of love. Strengthen me, O my dear Saviour, that I may do Thy holy Will not only in things easy and agreeable, but also in those painful and disagreeable.

Resolution: I will pray in union with my Divine Saviour, in order to obtain strength, lovingly to accomplish His holy Will in all difficulties.

Spiritual Bouquet: “Father not as I will, but as Thou wilt.”

Prayer: Our Father . . .

February 20

Meditation for Friday

Agony of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

“Then Jesus came with them into a country place which is called Gethsemane; and He said to His disciples: ‘Sit you here, till I go yonder and pray.’ And taking with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, He began to grow sorrowful and to be sad. Then He saith to them: ‘My soul is sorrowful even unto death; stay you here, and watch with Me.’” (Matt. 26, 36-38).

First Prelude: Behold our Divine Saviour in the Garden of Gethsemane weighed down by sorrow and grief.

Second Prelude: O my Jesus, give me true compunction for my sins, that I may share Thy sorrow and seek consolation with Thee alone.

First Point

The Profound Sorrow and Anguish of Jesus

A little while ago Jesus had lovingly consoled His Apostles in the Supper Room, had spoken of His passion as the object of His intense desires. Suddenly He yielded to sorrow, fear, and anguish of soul. “My soul is sorrowful unto death,” He said to His disciples. How excessive must this sorrow have been if the Eternal Truth spoke thus! We see further that Jesus suffered voluntarily, and that sorrow could assail Him no sooner than He Himself had decreed. What a miracle of love! To behold a God, the essence of eternal happiness, sorrowful for love of mankind!

This sorrow was caused by the sight of the sins for which He willed to atone. Like a tremendous burden, all the crimes, all the sins committed since the Fall weighed down our Blessed Saviour and plunged His soul into inexpressible grief. This sorrow was further intensified by the thought of all the sins of the future. Looking into the future Jesus saw a new torrent of sins breaking in upon Him and flowing on until the end of time. What must have been the sentiments of His sinless, holiest Soul at sight of such abominations! This sorrow alone would have sufficed to cause His death. At the same time it augmented all His corporal sufferings, for it clung to Him until He commended His Soul into the hands of His heavenly Father. Even now the Saviour foresaw the vast ocean of sufferings that awaited Him. He beheld the treason of Judas, the flight of the Apostles, the denial by Peter, felt the inexpressible anguish and pain of the scourging, the excruciating pain of the crowning with thorns, and saw even the cross erected on Calvary, on which He was to die amid inexpressible anguish. The most bitter suffering of His love-inflamed Heart, however, was the thought that, notwithstanding His sufferings, so many souls would be eternally lost.

Behold your Saviour, O my soul! Contemplate this sorrowful picture and be mindful that your sins, too, were the cause of His agony. Learn here to repent of them, and to accept the sorrow that God suffers to come upon you in punishment of your sins. If the Son of God thus grieved over my sins, what must not I do, who have committed them?

Second Point

By His Agony in the Garden, Jesus Willed to Sanctify Our Sorrow

By divine dispensation we must suffer manifold reverses and tribulations in this life. Sufferings are repugnant to our rebellious, corrupt nature, inasmuch as they produce pain, unrest, and disgust; but by His agony in the Garden, Jesus merited for us the grace to sanctify such dispositions of soul. He wills that in dark hours we look upon Him as our model and unite ourselves with Him, that our sorrow, too, may redound to the honor of God and the salvation of souls! Countless souls have found, in the agonizing Heart of Jesus, the source of all consolation. Contemplating the agonizing Heart of Jesus in Gethsemane, penitents of every rank have, despite the most poignant grief for their sins, experienced profound peace of soul.

Let us then renew our courage, and in all our sufferings seek comfort and relief in the Sacred Heart of Jesus; the more we despise every other form of consolation, the more shall we find it in this Sacred Heart. Let us banish far from us every sorrow and grief that might endanger the welfare of our soul, such as springs from imperfect motives, from inordinate affections, or from lack of confidence in Divine Providence. Oh, how unlike the sorrow of Jesus is such grief!

Affections: O my Saviour, I thank Thee for the sorrow which Thou didst will to suffer for my sins. Offer it to the heavenly Father in satisfaction for my many transgressions. Let me share Thy anguish by sincere compunction and contrition for all the sins whereby I have grieved Thy infinitely loving Heart. O Heart, plunged in an ocean of bitterness, Thy sorrow is the surest pledge of Thy infinite love. For the future I will no longer seek consolation with creatures. I desire Thy grace and Thy love. Possessing them, I shall desire nothing further.

Resolution: In every affliction I will have recourse to the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I will unite my contrition with the sorrow of Jesus in the Garden.

Spiritual Bouquet: “My soul is sorrowful even unto death.”

Prayer: Soul of Christ . . .

February 19

MEDITATION FOR THURSDAY

PREPARATORY MEDITATION ON THE PASSION

“And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” (Luke 12, 50).

First Prelude: Behold Jesus, leaving the hall of the Last Supper and going with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, to begin His bitter passion.

Second Prelude: O my Divine Saviour, by the infinite love wherewith Thou didst die for me, I beseech Thee to imbue my heart with the sentiments requisite to derive great profit from the contemplation of Thy sacred passion.

First Point

LOVE, THE MOTIVE OF OUR LORD’S SUFFERINGS

Our Divine Saviour spoke quite frequently of His pending passion. How touching are His words: “And I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I straitened until it be accomplished!” He tells us that He must suffer, urged by the power of love which He cannot resist. Though the justice of His Father did not demand such immense sufferings, the Son desired to take upon Himself an excess of pain to merit superabundant graces for us. Accordingly, He suffered in all His senses: in His eyes, when they were forced to see so much that deeply grieved His tender Heart, namely, the depression and desertion of His disciples, and the angry, despicable mien of His enemies; in His ears, when forced to hear the blasphemies, the false testimony and the derision of his enemies. His taste was cruelly tortured by the excessive thirst and the bitter draught of vinegar and gall. He suffered inexpressible pain in His whole Body in the scourging, in the crowning with thorns, and in the crucifixion. His holy Soul, however, endured still greater agony: the dereliction and desolation in Gethsemane and on the cross, the dread of the magnitude of His sufferings, the sorrow on account of the infinite offense against the Divine Majesty, and the loss of so many souls.

Let us contemplate the infinite love of our Saviour, Who endured all these sufferings voluntarily, for the whole human race, for His friends and His enemies. Thus can everyone say with the Apostle: “He hath loved me and delivered Himself up for me” (Gal. 2, 20). Should we not gladly return His love, by joyfully accepting in a spirit of love all the hardships, all the sacrifices ordinarily inseparable from our holy vocation, to prove our gratitude to our Divine Saviour for His infinite mercies?

Second Point

THE CONTEMPLATION OF THE PASSION OF CHRIST IS VERY PROFITABLE FOR US

The saints call the passion of Christ a wonderful book, opened to the whole world that all may read therein the great mysteries of the justice and love of God. The Lord Himself once revealed this to St. Angela of Foligno: “Whoever wishes to find My grace, should never lose sight of the cross, no matter what may be his frame of mind—be he in joy or in sorrow. Those who earnestly occupy themselves with the contemplation of My passion and death, are in truth My children.” At sight of the cross the sinner will be moved to repentance, the lukewarm will be anew inflamed with zeal in the combat of passions and will strive earnestly to acquire virtue; the God-loving soul will attain more intimate union with her Lord and Saviour. From contemplation of the Crucified the saints derived courage to follow Jesus and to walk unflinchingly on the way of the cross; they rejoiced to be nailed to the cross with Christ by means of corporal and spiritual sufferings, till, finally, their dying gaze riveted on the Crucified, they could say with Him: “It is consummated.” O my soul, for thee, also, is the book open; thou, too, canst partake of the blessing revealed to St. Angela at another time: “Be ye blessed by My Father, ye, that have compassion with My sufferings, that share My afflictions, and walk My ways; for thereby ye have merited that your garments be washed in My Precious Blood. Be blessed all ye that compassionate Me in My inexpressible anguish and the death that I have suffered to release you from eternal pangs, to make atonement and pay the ransom for you, that you may be found worthy to share My poverty, My humiliations, My sufferings and distress. Be blessed all ye that faithfully commemorate My passion, this greatest of wounds of all times, the salvation and life of the fallen human race, the sole refuge of sinners, because ye also have part in My resurrection, in My everlasting reign and My honor, which I purchased at the price of My Precious Blood and bitter passion, and for all eternity ye shall be my heirs.”

Imbued with these holy sentiments, let us enter with heart and soul upon the contemplation of the passion of Christ. Let us endeavor lovingly to sympathize and to suffer with Him. Let us beg the holy angels, who were present during the passion of our Divine Saviour, and the Blessed Virgin, our dear Mother, to accompany us in spirit on the way to Gethsemane and thence to Golgotha with our Divine Lord. Let us beg them to teach us how to console Jesus, how to impress His bitter passion indelibly on our hearts, to cherish the memory thereof and to derive great profit for the salvation of our soul.

Affections: O my Jesus, Thou didst suffer so much for me, and how little is that which I suffer for Thee! How must I blush for shame when I compare my sufferings with Thine! How could I ponder the excruciating torments which Thou, O Jesus, didst endure for love of me, immolating Thy life and shedding the last drop of Thy Precious Blood, and not be ready to suffer for Thee, to immolate my heart to Thy service! Should I not even offer my life, if Thou shouldst ask it of me? Give me then, my beloved Saviour, the grace to seek all my happiness in sharing Thy passion, to impress it deeply on my mind and heart by profound meditation, that I may say with the Apostle: “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord, Jesus Christ” (Gal. 6, 14).

Resolution: I will endeavor to contemplate the passion of my Saviour with zeal and tender compassion, and daily ask God for the requisite grace.

Spiritual Bouquet: “My Saviour hath loved me and delivered Himself up for me.”

Prayer: Take, O Lord . . .

February 18 - Ash Wednesday

MEDITATION FOR ASH WEDNESDAY

THE THOUGHT OF DEATH A REMINDER OF PENANCE

“Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return” (Mos. 3, 19).

First Prelude: Hear Holy Mother Church, speaking through the mouth of the priest while he distributes blessed ashes: “Remember, O man, that thou art dust and unto dust thou shalt return.”

Second Prelude: Replenish our hearts, O Lord, with sentiments of true compunction and penance, which Holy Mother Church so ardently desires to infuse into her children at the beginning of this holy season.

First Point

THE ASHES, A REMINDER OF DEATH

With our first parents in paradise we were doomed to die, through the words: “Dust thou art and unto dust thou shalt return.” Holy Church wishes to remind us of this sentence by strewing blessed ashes on our heads. Let us often think of death, especially during the holy season of Lent, for it is a wholesome thought which will preserve us from sin, as the Holy Ghost Himself assures us, “In all thy works remember thy last end and thou shalt never sin” (Eccl. 7, 40). If mankind, instead of grievously offending God, would reflect seriously on death, they would certainly recoil from sin; but they simply banish far from their minds all such thoughts and seek to lull themselves into a false slumber in the turmoil of worldly pleasures.

We, on the contrary, have the great grace to be reminded of death so often; our Holy Rule bids us call it to mind every hour. We often face death, see it in various forms, severing body and soul, now calmly, now in a fierce struggle, but always accosting us with the earnest admonition: “It is appointed unto men to die” (Hebr. 9, 27). How salutary is this admonition, how well calculated to preserve us from tepidity, to help us atone for past sins by penance, and to incite us to persevere in the practice of good works!

Holy Church, therefore, exhorts us to penance today, at the beginning of the Lenten season. Mindful that the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, we should appear before God humbly penitent, and willing to shoulder whatever is bitter or repugnant in the discharge of our duties.

Second Point

THE THOUGHT OF DEATH HELPS US CRUSH OUR EVIL TENDENCIES

“I die daily” (Cor. 15, 31), St. Paul writes to the Corinthians. Let us strive to imitate Him, and accordingly prepare ourselves better for the last moment of our life. How foolish are not most people in this regard! They exert themselves to master the various arts and sciences but at the same time they neglect the one art—to die well. Consequently, death seems to them bitter and hard, and so many die an unhappy death. Religious, on the contrary, have already partly overcome that which renders death so difficult; they have left their relatives for the love of God; have severed all ties of flesh and blood; have sacrificed temporal goods and renounced the joys of life. Jesus is their love, their happiness, their wealth, Whom they confidently hope to possess perfectly throughout eternity. To the good religious, therefore, apply the words: “Blessed are the dead, who die in the Lord” (Rev. 14, 13). Would we share this happiness and partake of this bliss, then we must strive earnestly to fix our attention on the things of eternity, and with all diligence labor to acquire the goods which death cannot rob. This evidently imposes many a sacrifice upon our corrupt nature, which we must constantly curb, using violence as the Apostle says: “I die daily.” This incessant struggle, this constant self-denial, seems so difficult to him that he terms it “dying.” But if we thus daily die the death of the just, we shall at the same time, like them, live happily in Jesus. We shall finally be able to say with St. Paul: “I live, now not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Gal. 12, 20). May we practice the art of dying to self, especially during the holy season of Lent. Everyone is equal to the task, and none should seek to exempt themselves, for by no other form of penance can we give greater joy to our Blessed Lord.

Affections: O my God, I have sinned and deserve Thy just punishment; therefore, I will enter into the spirit of Holy Church and begin the penitential season with sentiments of profound humility, sincere compunction, and holy fervor, that it may truly be for me a time of grace and mercy. Grant that the constant remembrance of death may imbue me with a wholesome fear, and preserve me from sin. Let me daily realize my faults and my utter unworthiness that I may become truly humble, contrite of heart, and thus please God in all my actions. Give us all the grace, O my Saviour, to pass this holy season in silence and holy recollection, and in the earnest effort to advance in perfection.

Resolution: I will be zealous in the practice of the mortifications that are most conducive to my advancement in perfection.

Spiritual Bouquet: “Remember, O man, that thou art dust, and unto dust thou shalt return.”

Prayer: Take, O Lord . . .

 

February 13

Meditations will be on Pause until Ash Wednesday, February 18, 2026. 

 

February 12

JESUS IN THE MOST BLESSED SACRAMENT THE VICTIM OF EXPIATION FOR OUR SINS

“Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world” (John i, 29).

First Prelude: Behold the priest elevating the Sacred Host with profound reverence, at the same time pronouncing the words: “Behold the Lamb of God.”

Second Prelude: O my Saviour, Who in infinite love didst take my sins and those of the whole world upon Thyself, grant me grace always to assist at the renewal of the Holy Sacrifice with sentiments of gratitude and thus render myself worthy to participate in its precious fruits.

First Point

JESUS TAKES AWAY THE SINS OF THE WORLD BY HIS PRAYER

What consolation must it afford us to hear from the lips of the priest: “Behold the Lamb of God Who taketh away the sins of the world!” The Apostle assures us (Hebr. 5, 7) that Jesus, our true High-priest, during His life on earth, with prayers and tears supplicated the heavenly Father for us. This supplication He continues to the end of time in the adorable Sacrament of the Altar. Knowing that it is impossible for God to resist the petitions of His servants, that He heard Moses whenever he interceded for the ungrateful people, that we find in the lives of the Saints countless proofs that testify to this truth, what dare we not expect of a prayer which Jesus incessantly by day and by night offers to the heavenly Father in our behalf! We may safely assume that for the sake of such a prayer God has countless times spared a sinful world and withdrawn His chastening hand to give full sway to His mercy. In His fervent prayer, world-wide in its embrace, He is our Mediator and Conciliator. If we unite our supplications with His, the coldness of our hearts will be transformed by contact with the fire of His love, and we shall be able to discharge worthily our duty of expiation, of reparation and of atonement. Oh, that we may be among the pious souls that weary not of pouring out before the Blessed Sacrament their most ardent zeal and love! Let it be our earnest endeavor to console Him by our prayers and to lead back to Him those that have gone astray that the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world, may have mercy on them.

Second Point

CHRIST’S PROPITIATORY SACRIFICE

From the first moment of His Incarnation Jesus considered Himself the Victim of immolation for the sins of the world, and He persevered in these sentiments until His death. At His entrance into the world He spoke to His heavenly Father: “Sacrifice and oblation Thou didst not desire—Burnt offering and sin offering Thou didst not require. Then said I, ‘Behold, I come to do Thy Will’ ” (Ps. 39, 7-8). What sacrifices comprised in this one act! To the present moment, Christ is our High-priest, our Mediator between Heaven’s vengeance and the guilty human race, renewing incessantly in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the infinite satisfaction He once made on the cross. Thus He merits pardon for sinners and promotes the cause of His people with the heavenly Father with infinitely more success than did Moses and Aaron in the desert.

If we are deeply grieved at sight of the magnitude of sin, let us not forget that by His sacrifice on the cross Christ made satisfaction far exceeding the guilt of mankind. In union with these superabundant merits, which Christ continually immolates to His heavenly Father on countless altars, we will offer Him His own Precious Blood in expiation of our sins and those of the whole world. Not even the prayer of all the angels and saints combined is as worthy a reparation in the sight of God, is as capable of drawing so many graces down upon ourselves as the prayer of Jesus when He immolates Himself on our altar, and His sacred Wounds, as it were, cry to heaven in our behalf. The holy Sacrifice of the Mass is a treasure justly appraised only in heaven. Let us, therefore, during this holy season specially dedicated to the remembrance of Christ’s passion, renew our fervor and devotion in assisting at holy Mass. The Mass comprises the infinite merits of the bloody Sacrifice of Calvary. But our Divine Saviour expects of us fidelity in the many little sacrifices that He has allotted to us in the course of the day. He wills that, in union with the sacrifice of Christ’s Sacred Body and Blood, and His infinite merits, we offer them in advance to the heavenly Father. If our love of Jesus were genuine and our love of neighbor, likewise, how much could and would we do, especially during these days, for poor sinners.

Affections: O my Saviour and my God, in an excess of the tenderest and most marvelous love Thou art uninterruptedly present in the Sacred Mystery of the Altar as Victim and as such, dost immolate Thyself to the heavenly Father daily on countless altars. We thank Thee for the sacrifice of the Incarnation, for Thy extreme poverty and abasement, for the immolation of Thy Blood and Life, of Thy Humanity and Divinity, for which Thy love-inflamed Heart is the sacrificial Altar. O Jesus, let not such love be in vain bestowed on me. Imbue us all with holy zeal that we may assist at the sublime Sacrifice of the Mass with the proper dispositions, and incessantly offer ourselves through Thee to the honor and glory of the heavenly Father. Thus united with Thee, our Divine Model, we will, inasmuch as we are able, by our prayers, labors and sufferings repair the insults, the abuses and the ignominy heaped upon Thee.

Resolution: I will frequently during the day offer the prayers and self-immolation of the Heart of Jesus to the heavenly Father, in satisfaction for the sins of men.

Spiritual Bouquet: “Behold the Lamb of God, Who taketh away the sins of the world.”

Prayer: Soul of Christ . . .