TODAY’S GOSPEL READING (LUKE 15:1-3, 11-32)

YOUR BROTHER HERE WAS DEAD AND HAS COME TO LIFE.

The tax collectors and the sinners were all seeking the company of Jesus to hear what he had to say, and the Pharisees and the scribes complained. “This man,” they said, “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he spoke this parable to them:

“A man had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, let me have the share of the estate that would come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. A few days later, the younger son got together everything he had and left for a distant country where he squandered his money on a life of debauchery.

“When he had spent it all, that country experienced a severe famine, and now he began to feel the pinch, so he hired himself out to one of the local inhabitants who put him on his farm to feed the pigs. And he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks the pigs were eating but no one offered him anything. Then he came to his senses and said, ‘How many of my father’s paid servants have more food than they want, and here I am dying of hunger! I will leave this place and go to my father and say: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as one of your paid servants.’ So he left the place and went back to his father.

“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

“Now the elder son was out in the fields, and on his way back, as he drew near the house, he could hear music and dancing. Calling one of the servants he asked what it was all about. ‘Your brother has come,’ replied the servant, ‘and your father has killed the calf we had fattened because he has got him back safe and sound.’ He was angry then and refused to go in, and his father came out to plead with him; but he answered his father, ‘Look, all these years I have slaved for you and never once disobeyed your orders, yet you never offered me so much as a kid for me to celebrate with my friends. But, for this son of yours, when he comes back after swallowing up your property – he and his women – you kill the calf we had been fattening.’

“The father said, ‘My son, you are with me always and all I have is yours. But it was only right we should celebrate and rejoice, because your brother here was dead and has come to life; he was lost and is found.’”

V. The Gospel of the Lord.
R. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.

 

LENT: SHORT MEDITATIONS ON THE WAY OF THE CROSS

THE 14 “CONSIDER…” MEDITATIONS ON THE PASSION OF JESUS CHRIST

(These reflections can be used as Stations of the Cross. In this case, pray at each station: “We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You. Because by Your Holy Cross You have redeemed the world.” The following act of contrition may be used: “I love You, Jesus, my love above all things. I repent with my whole heart of having offended You. Never permit me to separate myself from You again. Grant that I may love You always and then do with me what You will.”)

I. JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH
Consider how Jesus, after having been scourged and crowned with thorns, was unjustly condemned by Pilate to die on the Cross.
(Our Father; Hail Mary; Glory be; to be repeated after each meditation.)

II. JESUS RECEIVES THE CROSS
Consider how Jesus, in making this journey with the Cross on his shoulders, thought of us, and offered for us to his Father the death he was about to undergo.

III. JESUS FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME
Consider the first fall of Jesus under his Cross. His flesh was torn by the scourges, his head was crowned with thorns; he had lost a great quantity of blood. So weakened he could scarcely walk, he yet had to carry this great load upon his shoulders. The soldiers struck him rudely, and he fell several times.

IV. JESUS IS MET BY HIS BLESSED MOTHER
Consider this meeting of the Son and the Mother, which took place on this journey. Their looks became like so many arrows to wound those hearts which loved each other so tenderly.

V. THE CROSS IS LAID UPON SIMON OF CYRENE
Consider how his cruel tormentors, seeing that Jesus was on the point of expiring, and fearing he would die on the way, whereas they wished him to die the shameful death of the Cross, constrained Simon of Cyrene to carry the Cross behind our Lord.

VI. VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS
Consider how the holy woman named Veronica, seeing Jesus so ill-used, and bathed in sweat and blood, wiped his face with a towel, on which he left the impression of his holy countenance.

VII. JESUS FALLS THE SECOND TIME
Consider the second fall of Jesus under the Cross; a fall which renews the pain of all the wounds in his head and members.

VIII. THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM MOURN FOR OUR LORD
Consider how these women wept with compassion at seeing Jesus in such a pitiable state, streaming with blood, as he walked along. ‘Daughters of Jerusalem’, said he, ‘weep not for me, but for yourselves and for your children’.

IX. JESUS FALLS THE THIRD TIME
Consider the third fall of Jesus Christ. His weakness was extreme, and the cruelty of his executioners excessive, who tried to hasten his steps when he could scarcely move.

X. JESUS IS STRIPPED OF HIS GARMENTS
Consider the violence with which Jesus was stripped by the executioners. His inner garments adhered to his torn flesh, and they dragged them off so roughly that the skin came with them. Take pity on your Saviour thus cruelly treated.

XI. JESUS IS NAILED TO THE CROSS
Consider how Jesus, having been placed upon the Cross, extended his hands, and offered to his Eternal Father the sacrifice of his life for our salvation. Those barbarians fastened him with nails, and then, securing the Cross, allowed him to die with anguish on this infamous gibbet.

XII. JESUS DIES ON THE CROSS
Consider how Jesus, being consumed with anguish after three hours’ agony on the Cross, abandoned himself to the weight of his body, bowed his head and died.

XIII. JESUS IS TAKEN DOWN FROM THE CROSS
Consider how, after our Lord had expired, two of his disciples, Joseph and Nicodemus, took him down from the Cross and placed him in the arms of his afflicted Mother, who received him with unutterable tenderness, and pressed him to her bosom.

XIV. JESUS IS PLACED IN THE SEPULCHRE
Consider how the disciples, accompanied by his holy Mother, carried the body of Jesus to bury it. They closed the tomb, and all came sorrowfully away.

 

ITE AD IOSEPH

Let us go to Saint Joseph, let us beg him to help us on the difficult road of this life.
He, like ourselves, has travelled there.
He, like us, has suffered there.
Born in lowly circumstances, although of a royal family, he earned his daily bread by rough toil.

How many humiliations he endured!
How much anxiety and trouble!
When, chosen by God, he had to watch over Jesus and Mary, and to provide for them.
He knew the miseries of life, the moments when courage abandons us, when all is dark around us.

Let us have recourse to Saint Joseph, and ask him for resignation.
Let us go to him, for he loves us.
He loves us because we belong to Jesus and Mary. Their affections have become his.
Let us ask him to love us as he loved Jesus and Mary, and to obtain for us that we may love them as he loved them. O Joseph, who had the incomparable honour of watching over Jesus, and of providing for Him by your labours,
Speak to Him for us.
He loves you.
He remembers your tenderness.
Lead us to this Saviour, so dearly loved.
And when the last hour shall have arrived, present us to Him, that we may see Him and love Him for eternity.
– Laverty&Sons (Eds.), Leeds, 1905