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The Easter Cycle
“By His own blood,” out of the depths of His love, He redeemed us. Today the Church
veils the cross. Is it perhaps because we are not worthy to see it? Is it possible that we are
His enemies, who wish to stone Him in return for His love? For our salvation He undertook
the bloody ordeal in the Garden of Olives, the cruel scourging at the pillar, the ignominious
crowning with thorns, and the death on the cross. Yet for the most part we have remained
cold and indifferent. What do we do for the salvation of souls? It is true that we pray for
one another, offer a few words of comfort, and do each other slight favors; but we do little
more. Christ was more generous. He endured the crowning of thorns and dragged the
heavy cross to Calvary. We pamper our bodies as if they were our last end. We prefer to
have our heads crowned with laurels and roses. We are impatient and consider ourselves
unfortunate whenever we are called on to carry a mere splinter of the cross of Christ. Are
we one in spirit with Him? Do we love what He loves and hate what He hates? Are we His
friends? He lives for God and for sinners; we live for ourselves, for pleasure, and for the
satisfaction of our passions.
Christ and His members must be one. They must walk the same road, not only during the
liturgical service, when they are lifted up together in the mysteries of the sacrifice, but also in
every event of life. Christ welcomed suffering, and accepted it freely; He did not flee the hardships
of life. He makes suffering in us, His members, serve the spirit; He uses it as a means of
freeing us from the world and all that is temporal, and thus raises us from things of this world
to the things that are eternal.
Now, during Passiontide, we must begin to love and treasure pain and suffering. In the
cross, in suffering, in our crucifixion with Christ, we shall find salvation. For Him and with
Him we should bear all the slight injustices committed against us. For Him we should suffer
freely and willingly the unpleasant and disagreeable things that occur to us. But our faith is
weak. We flee from the cross instead of holding it dear, instead of loving it and welcoming it
as our Savior did.
Prayer
We beseech Thee, almighty God, mercifully look upon Thy family, that by Thy bounty it may be
governed in body, and by Thy protection be guarded in mind. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.
Monday
Christ issues an urgent invitation today to become sharers of His passion in order that what is
“wanting of the sufferings of Christ, [may be filled up] in my flesh” (Col 1:24). Hence the liturgy
takes us today to the holy martyr Chrysogonus, after whose example we should undertake to
suffer with Christ.
“The rich He hath sent empty away” (Lk 1:53). Those unfortunate rich are pictured in the
Gospel today. They have heard of Christ, they have heard many things of Him, they have
shown an interest in Him; but they find that they have no need for Him. He has nothing
to give them, for they are sufficient in themselves and have all that they desire. They live
happily without Him. He may even be a disturbance in their lives, a reproach, a thorn in the
side, pricking their vanity and their pride. But eventually they find that one cannot ignore
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