For the last fourteen days of Lent, I’m posting one Station of the Cross per day, taken from Pope John Paul II’s 2003 Good Friday meditations, and Pope Benedict’s 2005 Good Friday meditations, both delivered at the Colosseum. SECOND STATION: JESUS TAKES UP HIS CROSS V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. [We adore Thee,… Continue reading The Second Station: Jesus Takes Up His Cross
Tag: Lent
The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
For the last fourteen days of Lent, I’m posting one Station of the Cross per day, taken from Pope John Paul II’s 2003 Good Friday meditations, and Pope Benedict’s 2005 Good Friday meditations, both delivered at the Colosseum. FIRST STATION: JESUS IS CONDEMNED TO DEATH V. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. [We adore Thee,… Continue reading The First Station: Jesus is Condemned to Death
A Lenten Warning from the Saints
In Introduction to the Devout Life, St. Francis De Sales warns of a kind of false religiosity that can convince both others and ourselves that we’re right with God, when we’re not. Specifically, he warned of our tendency to “colour devotion according to our own likings and disposition”: One man sets great value on fasting,… Continue reading A Lenten Warning from the Saints
Daily Lenten Poems
An Anglican friend, Bryan Wandel, has put together a great collection of 40 short Lenten poems for each day of Lent. So far, he’s featured gems from John Donne, George Herbert, and the like. For example, on Ash Wednesday, he fittingly chose this excerpt from “Ash Wednesday,” by John Keble: John Keble (1860) … Let us… Continue reading Daily Lenten Poems
Remembering You Are Dust, in the Hope of the Resurrection
Yesterday, as we went up for ashes, there’s a good chance that as he applied them to our foreheads, the priest said, “Remember, man, that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” a reference to Genesis 3:19. A friend of mine asked how we, as Catholics, should understand this, in light of our belief… Continue reading Remembering You Are Dust, in the Hope of the Resurrection
Where Does Lent Come From, and Why Do We Celebrate it?
Where does Lent come from? How quickly did the Church start celebrating Lent? Why is it forty days? Was it always this long? What role have the popes played in fixing the Liturgical calendar for Lent and Easter? Many of the answers to these questions are found, or at least hinted at, in a recent… Continue reading Where Does Lent Come From, and Why Do We Celebrate it?
Ash Wednesday Motivation
Morning Prayer this morning in the Liturgy of the Hours contained a particularly beautiful prayer for Ash Wednesday and the start of Lent: Grant, O Lord,that we may begin with holy fasting this campaign of Christian service, so that, as we take up battle against spiritual evils, we may be armed with weapons of self-restraint.… Continue reading Ash Wednesday Motivation
How Should We Understand Islam?
I noticed yesterday that the hot dog vendor near my work was gone, and I asked him about it today. He informed me that he’s Muslim, and that he’d taken off yesterday to celebrate Eid ul-Fitr, the “Festival of Breaking Fast.” Like Judaism, Islam uses lunar calendars for months. (By the way, this is why St. Paul… Continue reading How Should We Understand Islam?
Why We Celebrate Holy Thursday
This is from a post I wrote in 2009: Happy Maundy Thursday, everyone! For those of you who don’t know, Maundy Thursday is the day before Good Friday. The word “Maundy” comes from the word “command,” referring to Christ’s command for His disciples to serve. Because Good Friday is the anniversary of our Lord’s death on… Continue reading Why We Celebrate Holy Thursday
A Lenten Fast from Pride
A priest I know was telling me about the dangers of “perpetual penances.” That is, giving up something for a short time (like giving up sweets for Lent, or giving up meat on Fridays) is a true sacrifice, and works internally the way that a fast is supposed to. But a perpetual penance, like giving up… Continue reading A Lenten Fast from Pride