(CNS photo/C. Peri via Reuters)
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FRIDAY MARCH 11, 2022
The Observer
Stations of the Cross Show How Much God Loves Us
O
ne of the great treasures of our Lenten spirituality is the Stations of the Cross. Over time, it recalls 14 different moments that we walk with Jesus on His Via Dolorosa, His suffering, death and burial on Good Friday. The Stations are a profound challenge to us to reflect, from various different standpoints, on the spiritual lessons of the suffering of Christ, the Son of God. In so doing, they help us to discover again and again the love of God has for the world and for each of us. Consider, for example, the First Station, classically named Jesus is condemned to death. We are drawn to think of several elements. First, there is Pontius Pilate. Historically, he was recorded to have been a cruel and hated governor. However, when Jesus is brought to him, the Gospels record that he was hesitant to order the crucifixion. The words and presence of Jesus before him seem to have touched him. In the end, we are given a lesson to ask of ourselves. What would I do if I saw the truth and recognized my duty, but I was placed under great pressure to do otherwise? It is a constant test of faith for all of us. Will I witness to Christ when it is not popular? Or will I give in as Pilate did? At that same moment, we think of Christ standing before the judge. We are brought to reflect that Jesus is there because He has surrendered Himself to the will of His Father. He Himself is totally innocent. In that way, we are reminded that Jesus was the lamb without blemish who died in our place so that we could regain before God the innocence we have lost. There is a third group in which we can see ourselves at the First Station. That is the crowd. Whipped into a frenzy for reasons that are not completely clear, they call for the suffering and death of Jesus. We often witness the human tendency to follow the crowd. To avoid being the one to speak up and say something is wrong or evil. This Station gives us the Lenten motivation to ask for the grace to be courageous and to be willing to suffer in doing so, even if we have to stand alone. We might try to walk all the Stations of the Cross imagining that we are alongside Mary. Mary, the perfect disciple, appears in the Third Station where she and Jesus briefly meet. And Mary is at the foot of the Cross in the Twelfth Station where Jesus speaks to her. Our souls and our spiritual imagination can profitably reflect that she likely walked along with Jesus in sadness and in faith throughout His ordeal. In the end, our thoughts are drawn to the death of Jesus on the cross. It was horrible and painful. It frightened the disciples until they saw the risen Lord. But Jesuss death is the key to understanding how much God loves us, how willing He is to forgive us if we only ask Him. Do consider attending the Stations of the Cross in your parish this Lent. Why not make it a family exercise, or one of your acts of penance this year? And dont forget to make your confession during Lent. Check your parish schedule for times and availability. And remember that Be Reconciled Day is Wednesday, April 6. On that day our parishes will be open for confessions during the period from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. throughout the Diocese. Please come, especially if you havent gone to confession in a long time. The Stations, confession and helping the poor are all ways we enter into Lent to seek once again Gods love and forgiveness. BY BISHOP DAVID J. MALLOY
From the General Audience, Paul VI Audience Hall, Vatican City, Jan. 19.
In the Apostolic Letter Patris Corde , I had the opportunity to reflect on this aspect of tenderness, an aspect of Saint Josephs personality. As the Lord had done with Israel, so Joseph did with Jesus: he taught Him to walk, taking Him by the hand; he was for Him like a father who raises an infant to his cheeks, bending down to Him and feeding Him (cf. Hos 11:3-4) ( Patris Corde , 2). Jesus always used the word father to speak of God and His love. Many parables have the figure of a father as their protagonist. Among the most well known is certainly the one of the merciful father, recounted by Luke the Evangelist (cf. Lk 15:11-32). This parable emphasizes not only the experience of sin and forgiveness, but also the way in which forgiveness reaches the person who has done wrong. The text says: While he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him (v. 20). The son was expecting a justice that at most could have given him the place of one of the servants, but he finds himself wrapped in his father's embrace. Tenderness is something greater than the logic of the world. It is an unexpected way of doing justice. We must never forget that God is not frightened by our sins He is frightened by our lack of faith in His love. There is great tenderness in the experience of God's love. And it is beautiful to think that the first person to transmit this reality to Jesus was Joseph himself. Indeed, the things of God always come to us through the mediation of human experiences. We can ask ourselves if we ourselves have experienced this tenderness . For tenderness is not primarily an emotional or sentimental matter: it is the experience of feeling loved and welcomed precisely in our poverty and misery, and thus transformed by God's love. God does not rely only on our talents, but also on our redeemed weakness. This makes Saint Paul say that there is also a plan for ones fragility. In fact, he wrote to the community of Corinth: A thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me. Three times I besought the Lord about this, that it should leave me; but He said tome,'Mygraceissicientforyou,forMypower is made perfect in weakness (2 Cor 12:7-9). The Lord does not take away all our weaknesses, but He takes our weaknesses by the hand and places Himself by our side. And this is tenderness. The experience of tenderness consists in seeing Gods power pass through precisely that which makes us most fragile. We are converted from the gaze of the evil one who makes us see and condemn our frailty, whereas the Holy Spirit brings it to light with tender love ( Patris Corde , 2). Look at how nurses touch the wounds of the sick: this is how the Lord touches our wounds, with the same tenderness. That is why it is so important to encounter Gods mercy, especially in the sacrament of reconciliation in personal prayer with God, where we experience His truth and tenderness. Paradoxically, the evil one can also speak the truth to us. He can arrange things so that he tells us the truth in order to lead us to lies, yet he does so only to condemn us. We know that Gods truth does not condemn, but instead welcomes, embraces, sustains and forgives us ( Patris Corde , 2). God always forgives. We are the ones who tire of asking for forgiveness. It does us good, then, to mirror ourselves in Josephs fatherhood, which is a mirror of Gods fatherhood, and to ask ourselves whether we allow the Lord to love us with His tenderness, transforming each one of us into men and women capable of loving in this way.
There is Great Tenderness in God's Love
BY POPE FRANCIS
T
he Stations, confession and helping the poor are all ways we enter into Lent to seek once again God's love and forgiveness.
T
enderness is not primarily an emotional or sentimental matter: it is the experience of feeling loved and welcomed precisely in our poverty and misery, and thus transformed by God's love.
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