Jesus Christ loved us so much that he suffered and died on the Cross to redeem us, to reconcile us with the Father after the original sin of Adam and Eve. In this meditation we follow the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary to see how Christ has loved us “to the end” and how we can correspond to this love:
Jesus’ passion and death give us many lessons. In this meditation we use texts from St Thomas Aquinas and St Josemaria Escriva to consider some of the many virtues Christ teaches us from the Cross:
When we consider the passion and death of Christ on the Cross we tend to overlook the enormous suffering of his mother Mary. Because of her great love for Jesus, Mary suffered unspeakably. In this meditation we use texts from the Stabat Mater, St Josemaria and St Bernard to consider how:
Mary was always united with Jesus, from his birth until his death on the Cross
Mary suffered in her soul what Jesus suffered in his body because her heart was one with his
Our Lady is with us in our own crosses
Jesus gives us Mary to be our mother and we, like John, should take her into our heart
Because of her great suffering, Mary can be called truly a martyr
Jesus enters Jerusalem and is well received, a feast we celebrate on Palm Sunday–the start of Holy Week.
In Holy Week we follow Christ from his triumphal entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, through his institution of the Eucharist and the priesthood on Holy Thursday, to his passion and death on Good Friday and his resurrection on Easter Sunday. If we follow him closely throughout our life we will not abandon him as did the apostles and we will rise to eternal life with him when we die. In this meditation we consider how we should:
acknowledge our weakness and our possibility of denying Our Lord as did Peter
attend Mass often and receive Holy Communion well in order to strengthen our love for Jesus
stay awake in our prayer in order to draw ever closer to Christ
follow Christ closely, not at a distance, avoiding lukewarmness
avoid attachment to creature comforts and things in order to have our heart free to love God
take up our cross daily and follow our Lord in his passion
follow Christ closely throughout our life in order to rise with him to eternal life