We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
As they threw Jesus on the Cross, He willingly allowed himself to be nailed. As they punctured His hands and His feet, I felt the pain in my heart. Then they lifted up the Cross. There He was, my Son, whom I love so much, being scorned as He struggled for the last few moments of earthly life. But I knew this had to be, So I stood by and prayed silently. Let us pray: Lord, what pain you endured for me. And what pain your Mother went through, seeing her only Son die for love of me! Yet, both you and She are ready to forgive me as soon as I repent of my sin. Help me, Lord, to turn away from my sinfulness. Holy Mother, pierce me through! In my heart each wound renew, of my Saviour crucified. Illustration by Jan Hearn © Posted by Fr Tomas
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We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world. With my Son finally relieved of the weight of the Cross, I thought He would have a chance to rest. But the guards immediately started to rip His clothes off the blood-clotted skin. The sight of my Son in such pain was unbearable. Yet, since I knew this had to be, I stood by and cried silently. Lord, in my own way I too have stripped you. Let us pray: I have taken away the good name of another by foolish talk, and have stripped people of human dignity by my prejudice. Jesus, there are so many ways I have offended you through the hurt I have caused others. Help me to see you in all people. Make me feel as thou hast felt; Make my soul to glow and melt, With the love of Christ, my Lord. Illustration by Jan Hearn © Posted by Fr Tomas Today we wake up to the devastating news that our much-loved Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has now deteriorated to such a point that he is in intensive care and receiving oxygen treatment. This comes amid reports of more and more people, each one a son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife or friend, suffering severely from the effects of Covid-19, both within our parish and beyond.
Yet the Lord would not have our hearts be troubled; please be assured that there is hope, as today’s saint would no doubt tell us if she were still on earth. What’s curious about Julian of Norwich is that none of us know her real name. In fact, we don’t know a great deal about her life at all, other than that she was born toward the end of the year 1342 in Norfolk (then one of England's most religious places) and that she lived as an anchorite in the grounds of St. Julian’s Church, Norwich, from where she gets her name. As an anchorite, she would have undergone a rite of profession and consecration which resembled a funeral rite, symbolising her death to the world and desire to live only for God. Unlike hermits, anchorites also took vows of stability of place, electing to be permanently enclosed in a tiny cell which was usually attached to the church, as was the case with Julian. Julian lived during the time of the Black Death, which swept through Europe and is thought to have killed fifty million people, or sixty percent of Europe’s population. Julian almost certainly lost loved ones and she herself became gravely ill when she was just thirty years old (it’s believed that this took place before her consecration as an anchorite). On the 8th of May, believing she was close to death, the curate came to give her the last rites, holding a crucifix over her bed and telling her to “look at it, and be strong”. Julian did so and saw the Corpus Christi begin to bleed as the room went dark, leading her to believe she was about to die, although she later said that she no longer felt any pain. He’s not cross Over the next twelve hours Julian received fifteen wonderful visions from the Lord and Our Lady, and a sixteenth the following night. A week later, she completely recovered from her illness and proceeded to write about her “shewings”, which she believed were intended for all Christians. These Revelations of Divine Love are beautiful in that they draw back the black drapes of fear and shame to display the brilliant light of a God who is sweet-natured, “friendly and courteous”, infinitely gentle and merciful and whose love is truly inalienable. Perhaps most significantly, they reveal to us a God who is simply incapable of wrath: “I saw truthfully that Our Lord was never wroth nor never shall be. For he is God, he is good, he is truth, he is love, he is peace. And his might, his wisdom, his charity, and his unity do not permit him to be wroth. For I saw truly that it is against the property of his might to be wroth, and against the property of his wisdom, and against the property of his goodness. God is that goodness that may not be wroth, for God is nothing but goodness.” This revelation of God’s character came at a particularly significant time, and not merely because the theology of the day was laced with guilt and placed a heavy emphasis on sin and damnation. Church leaders believed – and taught – that the Black Death was an expression of God’s displeasure with the human race and a means of punishing sinners. Julian’s shewings assure us that this was not and never will be the case. I’ll leave it to the reader to make the necessary application to our current situation. It’s a Truth that many of us find difficult or even impossible to believe, as Julian was well aware: “Some of us believe that God is almighty, and can do everything; and that he is all wise, and may do everything; but that he is all love, and will do everything— there we draw back.” The hazelnut Much has been made in the news of patients dying alone in Intensive Care Units because they aren’t allowed to have any visitors and medical staff are too stretched to be able to attend properly to them. But is this really true? Jesus said that not even a sparrow falls to the ground without Our Father noticing, and human beings are of much more worth than sparrows. Here, too, Julian has a jewel of Divine Wisdom for us: “And in this he showed me a little thing, the quantity of a hazel nut, lying in the palm of my hand, as it seemed. And it was as round as any ball. I looked upon it with the eye of my understanding, and thought, ‘What may this be?’ And it was answered generally thus, ‘It is all that is made.’ I marveled how it might last, for I thought it might suddenly have fallen to nothing for littleness. And I was answered in my understanding: It lasts and ever shall, for God loves it. And so have all things their beginning by the love of God. In this little thing I saw three properties. The first is that God made it. The second that God loves it. And the third, that God keeps it.” The hazelnut, then, can be seen as a microcosm of all creation and symbolic of every living thing. There is not a single soul on this earth who is not infinitely precious to our God and who is not held cherishingly in the palm of His hand, either during their life or when their time comes to pass unto Him. All shall be well Life on earth can be tragic and fraught with difficulty. It’s a truth from which, in the modern West, we sometimes manage to shield ourselves to a degree, kidding ourselves that our advanced technology and state of the art medical equipment make us invincible. Times like this can leave us feeling exposed and vulnerable and, with our limited human perspective, it might not be easy to see how God is working. Living in a time of only primitive medicine, Julian would have experienced this to full – yet she would encourage us not to lose heart: “AND thus our good Lord answered to all the questions and doubts that I might make, saying full comfortably: I may make all things well, I can make all things well, I will make all things well, and I shall make all things well; and thou shalt see thyself that all manner of things shall be well.” I once saw a man wearing a T-shirt which bore the slogan: ‘death is only the end if you assume the story is about you’. I have a hunch that this young man probably didn’t hold any religious affiliation, but the slogan was true up to a point. The story is about you, and me, and everyone else – but the story itself is not mine, yours, or anyone else’s but His. We, like Julian, are living in the midst of His Story – and it’s a story whose ending has been written from all eternity. Therefore, regardless of how each tiny chapter unfolds, we have assurance that the ending shall be a happy one. With a God who is so gratuitously good, loving, tender and merciful, a God who knows and cherishes everything He has created and who is so incapable of being angry - how could it be anything else? By Lucy Stothard Today, we find ourselves in Bethany, where Lazarus, Martha and Mary are giving a supper for Jesus (https://universalis.com/mass.htm).
Mary’s anointing mirrors ancient burial rites; when she anoints the feet of Jesus, she does so with reverence and great devotion. She spares no expense and stands in front of Jesus in a humble attitude of service. In only three days, the Lord will gird Himself with a towel and wash, as a servant, the feet of His disciples. Mary's action today contrasts that of Judas who, under the pretext of helping the poor, “conceals the selfishness and falsehood of a person closed into himself, shackled by the greed for possession and who does not let the good fragrance of divine love envelop him” (Pope Benedict XVI). The attitude of Judas is calculating and his mindset is narrow, unable to fathom the total love and dedication he could see in front of him. Our Lord can no longer be silent and defends Mary: "Leave her alone; she had to keep this scent for the day of my burial. You have the poor with you always, you will not always have me." Mary feels God's immense love and her action points out at the final hour of Jesus which is approaching; the hour when Jesus will make Himself "obedient, unto death, even death on a cross" (Phil 2: 8) – in the words we heard duting Mass yesterday, on Palm Sunday. St. Augustin writes: "Whatever soul of you wishes to be truly faithful, anoint like Mary the feet of the Lord with precious ointment.... Anoint the feet of Jesus: follow by a good life the Lord's footsteps. Wipe them with your hair: what you have of superfluity, give to the poor, and you have wiped the feet of the Lord." (In Ioh. evang., 50, 6). By Fr Tomas Illustration by Jan Hearn © Fr Samuel McNally-Cross is a former curate of SGs, and is currently the vicar of S Thomas, Kensal Town in London. We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
This fall of Jesus was agony to me. Not only had He fallen on the rocky ground again, but now He was almost at the top of the Hill of Crucifixion. The soldiers screamed at Him and abused Him, almost dragging Him the last few steps. My heart pounded as I imagined what they would do to Him next. But, I knew this had to be, so I climbed the hill silently behind Him. Let us pray: My loving Jesus, I know that many times I have offered my hand to help people, but when it became inconvenient or painful to me, I left them, making excuses for myself. Help me, Lord, to be like your mother, Mary, and never take my supporting hand away from those who need it. O thou Mother, fount of love, Touch my spirit from above. Make my heart with thine accord. Illustration by Jan Hearn © Posted by Fr Tomas We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world
I was walking a few steps behind Jesus when I saw Him stop. Some women were there crying for Him and pitying Him. He told them not to shed tears for Him. They had the opportunity to accept him as the Messiah. Like many others, they rejected Him instead. He told them to shed tears for themselves, tears that would bring their conversion. They did not see the connection between that and His walk to death. I did, and as he walked on, I followed silently. Let us pray: My Saviour, many times have I acted like these women, always seeing the faults of others and pitying them. Yet, very rarely have I seen my own sinfulness and asked your pardon. Lord, you have taught me through these women. Forgive me, Lord, for my blindness. For the sins of His own nation, Saw Him hang in desolation, Till His spirit forth He sent. Illustration by Jan Hearn © Posted by Fr Tomas We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you, because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Again, my Son fell, and again my grief was overwhelming at the thought that He might die. I started to move toward Him, but the soldiers prevented me. He rose and stumbled ahead slowly. Seeing my Son fall, get up again, and continue on, was bitter anguish to me. But, since I knew this had to be, I walked on silently. Let us pray: Lord, of all people, Mary was your most faithful follower, never stopping in spite of all the pain She felt for you. I have many times turned away from you by my sins and have caused others to turn away from you. I beg you to have mercy on me. Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, She beheld her tender child, All with bloody scourges rent. Illustration by Jan Hearn © Posted by Fr Tomas Today, we celebrate “Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord”. Before the reforms of the Second Vatican Council, it had an even longer name: “Palm Sunday of the Solemn Procession of Palms in Honour of Christ the King”.
I would like to share with you the following meditation of St. Andrew of Crete, a great theologian of the Christian East from the 8th century: ON THE PALM BRANCHES Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; blessed is the King of Israel. Let us go together to meet Christ on the Mount of Olives. Today he returns from Bethany and proceeds of his own free will towards his holy and blessed passion, to consummate the mystery of our salvation. He who came down from heaven to raise us from the depths of sin, to raise us with himself, we are told in Scripture, above every sovereignty, authority and power, and every other name that can be named, now comes of his own free will to make his journey to Jerusalem. He comes without pomp or ostentation. As the psalmist says: He will not dispute or raise his voice to make it heard in the streets. He will be meek and humble, and he will make his entry in simplicity. Let us run to accompany him as he hastens towards his passion, and imitate those who met him then, not by covering his path with garments, olive branches or palms, but by doing all we can to prostrate ourselves before him by being humble and by trying to live as he would wish. Then we shall be able to receive the Word at his coming, and God, whom no limits can contain, will be within us. In his humility Christ entered the dark regions of our fallen world and he is glad that he became so humble for our sake, glad that he came and lived among us and shared in our nature in order to raise us up again to himself. And even though we are told that he has now ascended above the highest heavens – the proof, surely, of his power and godhead – his love for man will never rest until he has raised our earthbound nature from glory to glory, and made it one with his own in heaven. So let us spread before his feet, not garments or soulless olive branches, which delight the eye for a few hours and then wither, but ourselves, clothed in his grace, or rather, clothed completely in him. We who have been baptized into Christ must ourselves be the garments that we spread before him. Now that the crimson stains of our sins have been washed away in the saving waters of baptism and we have become white as pure wool, let us present the conqueror of death, not with mere branches of palms but with the real rewards of his victory. Let our souls take the place of the welcoming branches as we join today in the children’s holy song: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed is the king of Israel. By Fr Tomas Illustration by Jan Hearn © John is my son, and a really great kid. Being a good sport, he agreed to give everyone a little boost on this Palm Sunday. |
Lucy Stothard & Fr David & Fr TomasLucy is an Intern at S Giles, Fr Tomas is is our curate, and Fr David is the vicar. We hope to offer some regular words of encouragement during this difficult time. Archives
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