Tag Archives: penance

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

Journey to Bethlehem

The road to Bethlehem

In this season of Advent we can learn much about how to focus our spiritual life from Our Lady, as she makes her way to Bethlehem with St Joseph. Among the lessons Mary teaches us are:

      • Docility to the will of God
      • Self-giving to others
      • Bearing hardships without complaining
      • Purifying our soul through penance
      • Life of prayer
      • Bringing Christ to others

The first Christmas gift

Christmas is a time for giving gifts. The wise men brought gifts to the baby Jesus, but the first Christmas gift was Jesus himself, a gift from the Father to all of mankind. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture to consider how we can live Advent like Our Lady and St Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men, to show our gratitude to Jesus by:

  • Growing in our life of prayer in all its forms, especially through meditation on the Scripture passages that refer to Christ’s birth
  • Living a life of sacrifice, as has been traditional in Advent, to clean out the stable of our soul and make it welcome to receive Jesus
  • Giving of ourselves to those around us, for what we do to them we do to Jesus
  • Preparing well for four comings of Jesus: at Christmas 2000 years ago, at the end of time, everyday when he comes into our life in different ways, and when he comes to call us to eternal life with him.

The spirit of Advent

In Advent, we prepare for the coming of Christ in history, which we celebrate at Christmas, and for his coming in glory at the end of time. We can also prepare for his coming daily into our hearts and for his coming at the end of our life to call us to our eternal home. To live Advent well, It is good to consider it like a “little Lent”. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St Cyril of Jerusalem and St Bernard of Clairvaux to consider how we can do this:

  • Learning from Mary and Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem
  • Improving our life of prayer
  • Living a generous spirit of penance
  • Showing more love to those around us

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector

the Pharisee and the Publican

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector praying in the temple has much to tell us. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St Augustine, St John Chrysostom and St Josemaria to reflect on how:

  • We too should endeavour to pray before the Blessed Sacrament whenever possible
  • The Pharisee’s pride and self-righteousness make his good deeds of less value
  • We should never judge others the way the Pharisee did
  • The tax collector teaches us the great importance of humility
  • We should regard all our virtues and good deeds as gifts from God.
  • We are all sinners and we should ask God to forgive us, as the tax collector did
  • We should do penance for our sins and go regularly to confession

The value of self-denial

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ on Mount Calvary

Our Lord Jesus crucified

Our Lord invites us, if we would be his disciples, to deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow him. We do this especially in Lent but we should do it throughout the year. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture and of St Josemaria Escriva to consider how:

  • Jesus Christ, out of love for us, took up the cross in his passion and death, and he suffered more than we ever will
  • There are many reasons for, and benefits from, living self-denial
  • Self-denial is essential for holiness
  • We can live self-denial in many ordinary ways
  • We should accept in a spirit of penance the crosses life brings
  • Those who live self-denial find joy in this life and in the next

The cross, pathway to heaven

Our Lord invited us, if we would be his disciples, to take up our cross and follow him. A few days later he manifested his divinity to three of his apostles in the Transfiguration, as we will see him in his glory in heaven.  In this meditation, using texts from Scripture, St Josemaria and St John Vianney, we consider how:

  • Our pathway to heaven passes by way of the cross
  • The cross is truly a blessing, in that it purifies us and it can be offered up for others
  • The cross is a manifestation of God’s love for us
  • When we have a cross to bear, we can think that Christ suffered more than we ever will, and that many others are suffering more than we are
  • If we love the crosses life brings, we will find joy in them and they will unite us with Christ
  • We should seek the cross too through mortification and penance

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

 

Living Lent well

 

Our Lord fasted and prayed for forty days before beginning his public life of preaching the Gospel. In Lent we accompany him in prayer, fasting and almsgiving to prepare for the great feast of Easter. In this meditation we consider how:

  • Inspired by Christ’s example, our prayer and fasting will help us overcome the many temptations we face in life.
  • When we live Lent well, we grow in self-mastery and experience the joy of the resurrection every day.
  • Lent spurs us on to new growth in the spiritual life and prepares us for our final meeting with Our Lord.
  • Texts of Pope Francis and St Peter Chrysologus show us the importance and unity of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
  • There are many practical ways of living each of these aspects of Lent.

Sacrament of joy

 

The parable of the prodigal son is mercy perosnified.

The sacrament of Penance is truly a sacrament of joy, a sacrament of mercy. In this meditation we use texts of Scripture, St John Paul II, Pope Francis and St John Vianney to consider how:

  • Christ gave the sacrament of penance  to the Church on the very evening of his Resurrection
  • The sacrament corresponds to deep-seated human needs
  • We obtain many benefits when we go to Confession
  • We do well to receive the sacrament frequently
  • We should do all we can to take others to Confession