Let Us Go to the Last Supper with Jesus and His apostles.

Have you ever wondered how many people were at the last supper? Was it really only the twelve apostles? Jesus had many disciples. Were none of them included in that sacred night? The painting above, by Jean-Baptiste Jouvenet (18th c.), includes a few extras -- servants? Tintoretto in the late 16th century included even more.

One of the things I love about the Spiritual Exercises is St. Ignatius's advice to include yourself in scriptural scenes. What would it be like to be at the last supper: to see Jesus washing the feet of his apostles, hearing him give the last discourse? Will you go to the Last Supper today in your mind and see Jesus's face as He speaks the words of consecration? Will you see His grief as He points out His betrayer who dips in the dish with Him?

May this day be a source of blessing for all of us as we experience these final moments in the earthly life of Christ. Let us be witnesses who can then proclaim the truth of the life, passion, death, and resurrection of our Blessed Lord.

Lord Jesus, help me to enter into Your passion that it may set me on fire and make me a burning furnace of charity.

Spy Wednesdays from the past

I've written many posts on Spy Wednesday over the years. Here are a few. Today I'll be meditating on the betrayals in my own life. My sins were among those that caused Jesus's bloody sweat. Let me put sorrow for my sins in the cup of consolation the angel brought to Him in the garden. 

 Did Jesus Love Judas?

Why it's called Spy Wednesday

How does the evil one mess with you?

Betrayal

Taste and See the Goodness of the Lord.

I'm a beekeeper so when I saw this quote I had to share it.

"As it is impossible to verbally describe the sweetness of honey to one who has never tasted honey, so the goodness of God cannot be clearly communicated by way of teaching if we ourselves are not able to penetrate into the goodness of the Lord by our own experience."

+ St. Basil the Great

Monday of Holy Week: Are You a Christian?

Only Christians celebrate Holy Week, but is everyone who celebrates Holy Week really a Christian? I thought about that while reading a column by Msgr. Charles Pope in The Wanderer, Be Different, Be a Christian. I generally read Msgr. Pope's weekly article because he offers insightful and challenging thoughts that make me think. This particular column began:

Are you a Christian? Before you answer, consider these other questions: Do you love your enemy? Do you do good to them who hate you? The honest answers to these questions are at the very heart of Christianity and represent what distinguishes a Christian from others.

Holy Week: Pick Up Your Cross and Follow the Lord!

Simon Helps Jesus to Carry the Cross -- Titian c.1490-1576

This Lent I made Suffering with a Purpose: How to Turn Failures into Victories and Pain Into Joy, part of my daily meditation. Each chapter focuses on a Station of the Cross. A first reading offered so much food for thought that I began re-reading the book as soon as I finished it. The author, Fr. Hubert Van Zeller, has been like Dante's Virgil to me. I will be praying for him this Holy Week in thanksgiving for his wonderful work of God.

Monday of Holy Week: St. Francis de Sales on Humility and Obedience

I continue to read St. Francis de Sales' Sermons on Lent. On Palm Sunday, the focus was on humility

and obedience. St. Francis is a master of the spiritual life and we can certainly benefit from meditating on his writing during this Holy Week:

Everything in the world has two faces, because everything has two principles. The first is God, the first cause of everything that exists. The second is the nothingness from which everything has been drawn. Now, since God is the first principle of every being, there is nothing that does not contain something beautiful and lovable in it. But since very created things is drawn out of nothingness, each contains some imperfection.

What a Holy Week! It's Been a Real Bear!

And I mean that literally.

On Wednesday we were doing some work with two of our behives -- moving a frame of brood from a queen-right hive to a queenless hive. After we finished that in our satellite bee yard, I went down to check out the four hives in the lower yard. Unfortunately I took my veil off since I wasn't going to be working with the bees, but something attracted one of the girls to my face and she stung me on the lip. My whole face started to swell and we decided I better go to the emergency room. So I spent several hours being pumped full of steroids, anti-histamines, and anti-itch meds along with some anti-nausea medicine since I was feeling sick to my stomach.

Read more....

Monday of Holy Week and Five Reasons We Didn't Make it to Mass

Painting the seashells Grandma collected in Florida

 Larry and I go to daily Mass almost every day of the year. When we were in Florida, the available church only offered Mass on Monday and Tuesday, but we were blessed to be there in Lent because they offered Mass and stations on Friday evening. Here at home we have Mass every day and would normally have been there this morning, but I couldn't face getting five grandkids out of bed early after staying up too late (It's hard to settle them when they see their cousins) and corralling them in time to make Mass. So we had a big breakfast instead and chatted around the table. They love our "big breakfasts" and always ask for them when they visit. We think we'll start a pool to guess how many (waffles, pieces of french toast, or pancakes) Ryan can eat. I also made an entire pound of bacon this morning so we wouldn't have an argument over who gets the last piece on the plate.

Know the Enemy And Make a Good Holy Week!

Pope Francis is talking about the devil again. It's obvious he's a believer in the corrupter of souls! And Holy Week is a good time to reflect on his evil designs. You can't resist an enemy if you don't recognize him, so learn to "discern the spirits" as St. John says, because the devil can appear as an angel of light.

The devil, a liar and murderer from the beginning, isn't going to present sin in its ugliness. You won't see him depicting sodomy as painting fesces on the wall or the consequences of adultery with devastated children acting out with drugs and alcohol. No, sex is for pleasure and however you want to engage in it is your "freedom of choice." Enjoy, it's pleasurable. Who can dare to judge you for just having fun? A broken-hearted spouse? Grieving parents? Scandalized children? Diseases? Forget about them. You have a right to be happy!

Well, the Holy Father has no illusions about the devil and here's what he tells us:

Some of you might say: ‘But Father, how old fashioned you are to speak about the devil in the 21st century!’ But look out because the devil is present! The devil is here… even in the 21st century! And we mustn’t be naïve, right? We must learn from the Gospel how to fight against Satan.

Fight the enemy this week with the Eucharist, Confession, the rosary, Stations of the Cross, Scripture reading, prayer, and meditation. When you are most under attack, pray the St. Michael Prayer and repeat the powerful name of Jesus. "My Jesus I trust in You." Resist the devil and he will flee from you!

May this Holy Week bring us all closer to the Lord of Life who loves us enough to stretch out His arms on the cross and die to save us from eternal damnation. "Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine."

The Easter Triduum

Tomorrow begins the holiest days of the liturgical year, the Easter Triduum. I always reach this time wishing I had made a better Lent. This year was an especially busy time with a visit to Texas for a granddaughter's Confirmation. As a matter of fact we only returned home this afternoon in time to celebrate the Holy Week services at our own parish, the place we really wanted to be.

As much as I love spending time with our two Texas families in Houston and Austin, I find visiting and Lent a hard combination. Larry and I generally go to daily Mass, but during our two weeks on the road we managed to make daily Mass only a handful of times.

In the car we always have time for multiple rosaries, our Legion of Mary prayers, and selections from the Liturgy of the Hours, but our Lenten fasting commitments get more difficult. Throw in my Lenten birthday and several others among our children, and Lenten fasting is a challenge indeed.

So here I am at the end of another Lent, once again wishing I'd done more than I have and praying that the Lord will accept my meager sacrifices knowing how weak I am. I think the only time I really resemble the apostles is when they are sleeping in the garden and running away and hiding. But the grace of God can transform even a miserable apostle like me, so I throw myself on Christ's mercy and ask for the grace to become a saint. Help me, Lord, especially during these last few days of Lent, to be conformed more closely to Your holy will.

O Jesus, meek and humble of heart, make my heart like unto Thine.

Live for God!

Holy Week is a good time to reflect on living our lives "under God." Lord, help us to do Your will every day with every breath we take, with every word we speak, with every step we take. Help us to return good for evil and never to harbor hate toward our neighbors. Help all who are enslaved by sin to be freed by the grace of repentance and reform and a desire to be conformed to You, not the world. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

A Holy Idea for Holy Week

I've been getting lots of emails this week suggesting that everyone pray the rosary on Good Friday between noon and 3:00 p.m. for peace and a restoration of moral values to our communities. Seems like a great idea. Imagine a polyphany (I've got polyphany on my mind this week.) of rosaries in all the varied voices and languages of the word rising to heaven in praise of the Blessed Mother. How can that not be music to the ears of our Lord and Savior.

If you are having a 3:00 p.m. Good Friday service like we are all you have to do is arrive at church twenty minutes early and say the rosary before it begins. Won't the joy of the Resurrection be even greater knowing we are joined in union with our brothers and sisters throughout the world focused in mind and heart on the restoration of our world? Such a desire must be most pleasing to God.

On the cusp of Holy Week

The day before Palm Sunday is a good time to assess your Lent. How have you done with increasing your prayer, fasting, and almsgiving all meant to draw you to a closer walk with the Lord?

 I don't confess in public so I won't go into my own failures during this season of opportunity, but I'm resolved to take full advantage of Holy Week.

If you haven't been to confession, there's still time in these last few days. You can pack a lot into a short time even if your Lent so far leaves you with head bent, ashamed to look the Savior in the face. And you have plenty of friends to keep you company on the journey. Your guardian angel and patron saints are guides who know the way and they are eager to help if you ask.