Tag Archives: Christ

Lessons from the Passion

Jesus teaches us so much in  his suffering and death on the Cross. In this meditation we use the events from his prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, through his death on Mount Calvary, to his Resurrection on Easter Sunday to consider some of these lessons:

      • Our weakness, like that of Peter, in denying Christ through sin
      • The importance of prayer to avoid falling in temptation
      • The value of our penances, when we consider Christ’s scourging and crowning with thorns
      • Christ’s fortitude in rising again after his three falls
      • His love in suffering on the Cross when they were tempting him to come down
      • Christ’s gift to us of his Mother to be our own
      • Christ’s Resurrection, which follows his suffering and our own

The spirit of Lent

Face of Christ in the Passion

In Lent we prepare for the celebration of our redemption by Christ’s death and resurrection. In this meditation we consider how:

  • We can accompany Our Lord in his forty days of fasting and prayer in the desert by our own greater effort in prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
  • Lent is a time for conversion, of starting anew in our spiritual struggle.
  • As Christ loved us to the end by dying on the cross for us, we should be generous in our Lenten discipline.
  • When we live Lent well, we have a true springtime, new life and growth, in our spiritual life

Lessons from the Transfiguration

Transfiguration by Raphael

The Transfiguration of our Lord

Our Lord’s Transfiguration on Mount Tabor can teach us many lessons. In this meditation, we use passages from Scripture to consider some of them:

  • The climbing of the mountain calls to mind the difficulties in our own life in climbing the mountain of holiness
  • Seeing Christ transfigured in his divinity is a reminder that we too will see him transfigured in glory in heaven
  • This should spur us on to lift our thoughts above to the goal of life, especially when we are bogged down in the here and now
  • When Peter says “It is well for us to be here” we are reminded that we should often say the same thing, in good times and in bad
  • When the Father says, “This is my beloved Son with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” we should listen to Christ often:  in our prayer, in our conscience throughout the day, in the Scriptures, in Mass…
  • Like the apostles, we should share our faith with the many others who do not know Christ

Souls of prayer

The agony in the garden of Gethsemane

Our Lord praying

Christ spent forty days praying and fasting in the desert before beginning his public ministry and he prayed intensely in Gethsemane on beginning his Passion. In this meditation we use these examples of Our Lord and texts of St Josemaria Escriva to consider:

  • How and why we should be souls of prayer
  • The different forms our prayer can take
  • The need to have regular times set aside each day for prayer
  • How to pay attention and fight distractions in our prayer
  • The need to persevere in our habit of prayer throughout our life

Christ the Sower

Christ gives us the parable of the sower, who sows seed on different types of soil, yielding different results. In this meditation we consider how we can all be, at times, each of the different types of soil:

  • The path, when we turn a deaf ear to Christ’s promptings
  • The rocky ground, when we begin something with enthusiasm but then give up because it was too hard
  • The thorns, when we are drawn away from God by the attraction of the world
  • The good soil, when we respond to God with generosity and yield a rich harvest

 

The first Christmas gift

Nativity scene icon

 

 

At Christmas we have the wonderful custom of giving gifts to others. But the first Christmas gift came from God himself, who so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son  to dwell amongst us and redeem us by his death on the Cross. In this meditation we consider:

  • The Gospel passage of St Luke narrating the birth of Christ in Bethlehem
  • The Prologue of the Gospel of St John telling us who the Child born in Bethlehem is
  • The many benefits that flow from the Incarnation of God in Jesus
  • How we can show our gratitude for God’s Gift by welcoming Christ into our life, speaking to him in prayer, doing promptly what he asks of us, giving ourselves to him through those around us and sharing the Gift with others by bringing them to Christ