In this month of the Sacred Heart, Let us read the Visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque.

What better time to read the visions of St. Margaret Mary Alacoque than the month dedicated to the Sacred Heart. She can appropriately be described as the apostle of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. How united she was to his passion and death to the point of receiving the stigmata. How united she was to the sufferings of her Lord.

God Loves Us! Don't Let Satan Rob You of the Truth!

What's a post about the crucifixion doing in Advent? Well...just think...God sent His Son to save us. That was His whole purpose in coming to earth. Even in that stable at Bethlehem, the crucifixion was symbolized. Jesus lay in a wooden manger, a place where animals eat. He died on a wooden cross in an area that served as a garbage dump. How many bones of dead animals cluttered the ground there? The joy of Christ's birth has in it the challenges and signs of future sorrow. Jesus was unwelcome in the town and the King of Kings and Lord of Lords had to find a borrowed stable to rest his head. Later He would be rejected by almost everyone and lie in a borrowed tomb. The love Jesus showed for us through His suffering and death and being pierced by a lance was mirrored in miniature in the piercing cold of the winter night in Bethlehem. Thank you to Fr. Collins for this reminder of what God did for us by sending His divine Son, the Word made Flesh. May we spend every day of Advent thanking and praising Him!

WHY JESUS HAD TO UNDERGO THE AGONIES OF HIS PASSION

by Fr. Tom Collins

Good Friday Reflection by Fr. Tom Collins

Jesus Carries the Cross, Titian

Editor's comment: Father makes important points. I've highlighted the ones that struck me personally. We are living in challenging times, but times that can make us saints if we cooperate with God's grace. May we never forget that "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and serve according to his purpose." So let us rejoice in the Lord always, especially when He allows us to participate in the salvation of the world by uniting our sufferings to His own. 

WE PROCLAIM CHRIST CRUCIFIED

by Fr. Tom Collins

You've been bought and at what a price!

We all need to be loved and we need to know we're loved! Remember the scene in Les Mis when the gendarmes bring Jean Valjean back to the bishop's house after they find him with the silver he's stolen? Instead of condemning him, the holy bishop dismisses the gendarmes telling Valjean in their presence that he forgot to take the candlesticks which he puts into his knapsack. When the gendarmes leave, the bishop tells the wounded and bitter man, "I've bought your soul for God." That single event transforms Valjean from an angry soul alienated from both God and his fellow man, to an icon of love and charity. 

As Lent approaches, a meditation from Fr. Tom Collins

WHY JESUS HAD TO UNDERGO THE AGONIES OF HIS PASSION 

One of the most harsh yet central teachings of Christianity is that, in order to save us, Jesus had to undergo all the torments of His Passion and Death (Lk 24:26).

Over the centuries, many have pointed out that, since Jesus is God, He could have redeemed us merely by shedding one drop of His Precious Blood. According to this perspective, it could be asserted that we were actually saved the day of His circumcision, when the first drops of His Blood were shed. But this is not what the Gospel proclaims, but rather Christ crucified.

A similar misunderstanding is that Jesus had to endure His Passion and Death in order to appease the just wrath of His Father, Who was infinitely offended by human sinfulness. This requires viewing God the Father as one, who severely punishes his children when they disobey his commands.  But this is not in harmony with the fact that God the Father so loved the world, even before we repented, that He sent His only Son to live among us and to lay down His life for our salvation. Thus all who believe in Him and are born of water and the Spirit in Baptism are able to share in eternal life with Him (Jn 3:16).  Thus it is that Jesus did not lay down His life for us to appease the Father, but rather to please Him (cf., Matt 3:17, 17:5; Mk 1:11; Lk 3:22).

Want to Make Spiritual Progress? Embrace Suffering!

Carl Bloch 1834-1890

An article by Steven Ertelt in the June 27th issue of The Wanderer discussed an interesting point he heard at a men's conference. "Suffering is progress:"

Christ gave us [the example] in the Gospels of patiently suffering His disciples' foolishness, the derision of the Pharisees and the crowds, the agony in the Garden, and ultimately the unimaginable torture of the Passion and the cross. 

All of this, paradoxically, was progress -- progress toward the redemption of all mankind from our sins. Christ thus gives us a template for what we are called to do in life: progress toward holiness, which will lead us to everlasting life with Him in Paradise. This calling, however, is a tall and uncomfortable order, because it inevitably involves suffering.

In other words, stop moaning and groaning and take up your cross. The message is certainly not a new one, but it's one we prefer to ignore.

Sunday Meditation: Need Patience? Contemplate your Savior Scourged at the Pillar!

Flagellation of Christ by Rubens (1577-1640)

“If you need patience...contemplate the mystery of your Saviour scourged at the pillar.

The Passion of Christ as Told by Surgeon Pierre Barbet

Every Good Friday my husband and I read Dr. Barbet's description of the passion from A Doctor at Calvary. The meditation is based on his expertise as a surgeon and a student of the Shroud of Turin. It's not too late to enter into this moving description of Jesus' sufferings. You can find it here and you will never look at the crucifix in the same way. 

Lord Jesus, our crucified Savior, have mercy on us. 

Redeemer of the world, have mercy on us.