Apr 9 Thu - Why do we pray the Lord’s Prayer before Communion?

 

Apr 9 Thu
Why do we pray the Lord’s Prayer before Communion?

We approach the very same body and blood of Christ that, by being immolated, restored our friendship with God. Christ’s sacrifice and the paschal meal (communion) are intimately linked. Our Mother the Church encourages us to participate in one and in the other, if we are properly disposed, by receiving our Lord’s body and blood. These will be our nourishment for the journey to our Father’s home. And this is what the Communion Rite is going to do: to prepare our souls to receive our Lord.

In the early Church, the Communion rite was simple. The Eucharistic Prayer (Anaphora) was followed by the Breaking of the Bread, and then by the Lord’s Prayer and Communion. Other prayers and ceremonies were added through the centuries. 

Nowadays, the Communion rite is ordained thus:
- Lord’s Prayer, preceded by the invitation to pray and followed by the embolism and the people’s acclamation.
- Rite of Peace.
- Breaking of the Bread, with the commingling, while the Agnus Dei is said or sung.
- Personal preparation of the priest.
- Invitation to the sacred banquet by showing the host to the faithful.
- Communion of the priest and the faithful.
- Communion song.
- Silent prayer, if opportune.
- Prayer after Communion.

The Lord’s Prayer begins with the priest’s invitation to pray, and all of us continue the prayer with him. The priest raises his hands. No special gesture is indicated for the people during this prayer.

This invitation is a very touching and most ancient formula (one alluded to as early as the fourth century by St Jerome). It states that we should not dare (audemus) to utter what we are about to say, were it not for the express command of our Lord. He taught us to approach God as a son talks to his father. 

The profound religious atmosphere pervading the Canon is increased here with the great reverence rendered to this prayer. We are so miserable, and our minds are so limited, that we do not even know what we should ask of God. Jesus Christ himself deigned to compose this prayer to indicate how we should address God. It is our Savior’s own prayer, and, therefore, the prayer of the Christian. 

In the early Church, the Lord’s Prayer was taught to the catechumens only a few weeks before baptism. Outside the Mass, it was always said in a low voice. It seemed that the faithful recited it before Communion. They brought Communion home on Sundays, kept it there, and received it on ordinary days. Then, it may have been introduced into the Mass. 

Many are the allusions made to this custom in the writings of the Fathers of the Church, and St Augustine regarded it as something well established in his own time.

When teaching us the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus used the Aramaic word Abba. It was how children called their father; the best translation could be Daddy. 
God wants us to deal with him with full confidence, as his little children. This fact nourishes all our prayers; we are children of God. 

Apr 8 Wed - Can I talk to my guardian angel?

 

Apr 8 Wed
Can I talk to my guardian angel?

Like many people, as a child, I prayed the traditional prayer to our guardian angels: “Angel of God, my guardian dear to whom God’s love entrusts me here, ever this day (or night) be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.
Amen.”

I still ask my guardian angel at night when I go to bed and, in the morning, when I get up, to watch over and protect me.

We can converse with and be assured of our guardian angel’s protective and guiding presence.

Moreover, we should dispel the romantic and “cute” notion that guardian angels are only relevant for vulnerable children.

Adults are in as much need of their guardian angels – maybe even more so, for their temptations and affairs are often of a more serious nature.

Our guardian angels are therefore present to strengthen, to encourage, and to guide us in living out our respective vocations, whether single, married, religious, or priestly.

The question has been asked: After death, do our guardian angels cease to be with us once we enter into Heaven?

According to Catholic tradition, our guardian angels even remain with us in Heaven and we give praise and glory to the most holy Trinity together – to our heavenly Father who is the ultimate source of life, to the risen Jesus, the Father’s incarnate Son, who is our loving Savior and Lord, and to the Holy Spirit who cleanses us of sin and makes us holy.

At the conclusion of the Preface at Mass, the following is said: “And so, with the Angels and all of the Saints, we declare your (the Father’s) glory, as with one voice we acclaim: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of hosts.

Heaven and earth are full of your glory.”

Thus, when we participate in Mass, all of us on earth join the heavenly angelic liturgy.

The Mass, then, fulfills Isaiah’s heavenly vision:

“I saw the Lord sitting upon his throne, high and lifted up; and his train filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. And one called to another and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory.’”

At Mass, the earth is filled with the glory of God.
Our churches are “jam-packed” with angels, and so, in unison with our guardian angels, we join the seraphim in singing this thrice-holy proclamation of the Trinity’s holiness.

At the end of funeral Masses, just before going to the cemetery, the priest prays: “To you, O Lord, we commend the soul [name], your servant, in the sight of your saints and in the presence of your angels.
May the angels lead you into paradise; may the martyrs come to welcome you and take you to the holy city, the new and eternal Jerusalem.”

Our guardian angel will be among the saints and angels who will lead us (we hope) into the new and everlasting heavenly Jerusalem – rejoicing, knowing that he has accomplished the task God had given him to do – to guard and guide us into happiness.

With excerpts from Fr. Thomas G. Weinandy, OFM, Cap. 

Apr 7 Tue - How can I pursue happiness?

 Apr 7 Tue
How can I pursue happiness?

By controlling your desires. 
In the soul’s coaching and in Confession, we are given guidance to combat our evil inclinations and overcome our weaknesses. However, we will receive God's grace only when we put this advice into practice with faith and obedience.

Our senses are like the doors of the soul. Our spiritual powers are fed by what the senses give them. Therefore, we must guard our senses so as not to admit into our souls anything harmful.

If you slake your senses in whatever pool you meet on the way, you will feel the results: unsettled purpose, scattered attention, dead will, and accelerated concupiscence. Subject yourself once again to a serious plan of life that will make you lead a Christian life. Or you'll never do anything worthwhile. 

We must fight against our passions by having a daily life of piety. If you abandon those means, you will fall. It's a clear symptom: when the energies of someone's soul are habitually weakened, when they are dull or their life is lazy, you can be sure that they already abandoned the fight some time ago; that their hearts are empty of God and filled instead with selfishness, love of comfort, and the flesh ...So feed your soul on God's love. Give God to your heart!

Some want to be humble without being despised. They want to be happy with what they have, but without suffering need. They want to be chaste without mortifying their body ... They fly from any effort. They hoped to win a war by living comfortably at home. Of course, they cannot win in that way.

How are we to keep our hearts and our senses for God alone? By loving the virtue of temperance, that renews us in God, to put aside the pleasures of the body and human praises, and direct all our love to the things of God.

“Temperance is self-mastery. Not everything we experience in our bodies and souls should be given free rein. Nor need to do everything we can do. It is easier to let ourselves be carried away by so-called natural impulses, but this road ends up in sadness and isolation in our own misery."

Some misuse the faculty of generating new life - a great and noble faculty, a participation in God's creative power - and make it a tool for their own selfish ends.

“Temperance does not imply narrowness, but greatness of soul. Life then takes on again shades and tones which self-indulgence had tended to blur. We find ourselves able to care for the needs of others, to share what is ours with everyone, to devote our energies to great causes. There is much more deprivation in the unrestrained heart which abandons self-dominion, only to become enslaved by the first caller who comes along."

The conquerors are those who remain awake and vigilant, those who battle with the enemy, those who regularly mortify themselves. And these people are precisely the happiest. Because you need a heart that is in love, not an easy life, to achieve happiness.

Apr 6 Mon - What does it mean that the Church is a priestly and prophetic people?

 

Apr 6 Mon
What does it mean that the Church is a priestly and prophetic people?  

All Christians must make the faith known, spread Christ’s teaching, and bring all people under the mantle of the Church.
However, there are specific tasks for each segment of the faithful within the common apostolic mission.

The PRIESTLY task of the Church is her task of sanctifying people. Pope Leo XIV explains it:
“The Lord Jesus, through the new and eternal Covenant, has established a kingdom of priests, constituting his disciples as a ‘royal priesthood’. "

“This common priesthood of the faithful (also called baptismal priesthood) is given with Baptism and strengthened in the sacrament of Confirmation. This common mission unites the ordained ministries and the lay faithful." 

The laity are called, as living members, to contribute with all their strength to the building up of the Church and to her continual sanctification. All the lay people, then, have the exalted duty of working for the spread of the divine plan of salvation to all men, of every epoch, and all over the earth. All their works, prayers and apostolic undertakings, family and married life, daily work, relaxation of body and mind, if they are accomplished in the Spirit—indeed even the hardships of life if patiently borne—all these become spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

But mostly, in the celebration of the Eucharist, they offer everything to the Father along with the body of the Lord. In so doing, the laity consecrates the world itself to God.

The holy People of God also participate in the PROPHETIC mission of Christ (also called the office of teaching). 
This prophetic nature is shown in the supernatural appreciation of the faith (sensus fidei) of the whole people of God, whereby his children unfailingly adhere to the faith. 

This sensus fidei “is like a faculty of the whole Church, by which she, in her faith, recognizes the revelation handed down, distinguishing between true and false in matters of faith, and at the same time penetrates it more deeply and applies it more fully in life.” 

To guide the faithful in this growth and to teach the truth, Christ endowed his Church with a living Magisterium. The Church’s Magisterium, even though carried out through human instruments, is not a human magisterium: “The Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” 

The totality of the faithful possesses a supernatural sense of faith. They are infallible when they unanimously believe that a truth has been revealed by God. Thus, the sense of faith belongs to individual believers not in their own right, but as members of the People of God as a whole.

The laity—part of the Church—also teaches, announcing Christ with their words, the testimony of their lives, and their speech. Thus, they teach their children, relatives, and friends “so that the power of the Gospel may shine out in daily family and social life.” 

Apr 5 Sun - How does the Resurrection of Christ affect my life?

 

Apr 5 Sun
How does the Resurrection of Christ affect my life?

Christian life is a process of identification with Christ, and culminates in the Cross and our own Resurrection.

Today's solemnity reminds us that Christian life must be a constant process of imitation of Christ. This process starts with the first grace received in Baptism and transforms the soul gradually until it reaches total identification with our Lord in this life or the next. This is an obligation for all Christians; thus, you and I must follow Christ “so closely that we live with him as did the first Twelve, so closely that we identify ourselves with him, we live his very life."

Following Christ culminates on this earth in the same way as Jesus' own life did: in the Cross and Resurrection, mysteries which are inseparable in the life of Christ. Our meeting with the Cross and Resurrection usually takes place little by little, as on a steady upward slope, almost without our realizing it.

Nevertheless, since we are thus united to the crucified and risen Christ, we are sanctified and become co-redeemers. “The Holy Cross will make us long-suffering, always maintaining the spirit of the Gospel, which leads to apostolic activity as the wonderful fruit of prayer and sacrifice. Thus, through the Church and each of her members, the great divine secret which St Paul taught to the Philippians is lived once more - a sure path to immortality and glory: through humiliation, to the Cross; and from the Cross, with Christ, to the immortal glory of the Father."

Thus, “If you have been raised with Christ, exclaims St Paul, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God."

Living with Christ in God is an ideal which we are happy to spend our lives pursuing. This is the reason why Easter is a time of joy. For Christ is alive. He is not someone who has gone, someone who existed for a time and then passed on, leaving us a wonderful example and a great memory.

No, Christ is alive. Jesus is the Emmanuel: God with us. His Resurrection shows us that God does not abandon his own. He promised he would not forget us. And he has kept his promise. His delight is still to be with the sons of men.

“Christ is alive in his Church. ‘I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.’ That was what God planned: Jesus, dying on the Cross, gave us the Spirit of truth and life. Christ stays in his Church, her sacraments, her liturgy, her preaching - in all that she does." 

Apr 4 Sat - Why was Mary at the foot of the Cross?

 

 Apr 4 Sat
Why was Mary at the foot of the Cross?
Jesus Christ dies embracing his Cross to redeem us. Our Lady is with Him. Today, we should immerse ourselves in Mary's Immaculate Heart, which suffered so much because of our sins.

From the words of Simeon, Mary learned that God had a role for her, next to her Son, in the work of redemption, which would demand suffering and sacrifice: “Behold, a sword will pierce your own soul also." Yet Our Lady placed herself unreservedly at the service of God's plan.

Now, “we realize that the supernatural value of our life does not depend on accomplishing the great undertakings suggested to us by our overactive imagination. Rather, it is to be found in the faithful acceptance of God's will, and in welcoming the opportunities for small, daily sacrifice generously."

How often our Lady must have meditated on the mission she was called to carry out at Christ's side! ‘But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.’ “Let us try to imitate her, talking to our Lord, conversing like two people in love about everything that happens to us, even the most insignificant incidents."

That is the way Mary lived during the thirty years of Jesus' hidden life: thirty long years of simple, ordinary life, just like that of any other home in a small village in Galilee, but years filled with ever-increasing fervor as she carried out God's will. In these years, Mary shows herself as the teacher of the sacrifice that is hidden and silent.

One day, when Jesus was about thirty, He said goodbye to his Mother and left the house of Nazareth. He was beginning his public life. From then on, until the moment of the Passion, our Lady practically disappears from the Gospel scenes: “See her, nearly always in the background, cooperating with her Son; she knows, yet keeps silence."

We must learn from our Mother how to sacrifice ourselves gladly, and without attracting attention, filled with supernatural hope. “What a contrast between our Lady's hope and our impatience! So often we call upon God to reward us at once for any little good we have done. No sooner does the first difficulty appear than we start to complain. Often, we are incapable of sustaining our efforts, of keeping our hope alive." Contemplating Mary's life will help us to rectify our outlook, and make it more supernatural.

On the Cross, Jesus wanted to have her at his side, and Mary assented. “What could she do? She united herself fully with the redemptive love of her Son, and offered to the Father her immense sorrow, which pierced her pure heart like a sharp-edged sword."

On the Cross, “Jesus looks at her, and then turning his gaze to John, he exclaims, Woman, this is your son. Then he said to the disciple, This is your Mother. In the person of John, Christ is entrusting all to his Mother, and especially his disciples: those who were to believe in him."

“Mother, my Mother - yours, because you are hers on many counts - may your love bind me to your Son's Cross; may I not lack the faith, nor the courage, nor the daring, to carry out the will of our Jesus."

Apr 3 Fri - How can I accompany Jesus in His sacrifice?

 

Apr 3 Fri
How can I accompany Jesus in His sacrifice?
Pontius Pilate, a pagan, did not believe the Truth. The Pharisees, a minority among the People of God, hated the Truth. This situation has been often repeated throughout the history of salvation.
What did Jesus do? He continued straightaway fulfilling his mission.

“God is my Father, even though he may send me suffering. He loves me tenderly, even while wounding me. Jesus suffers, to fulfill the Will of the Father... And I, who also wish to fulfill the most holy Will of God, following in the footsteps of the Master, can I complain if I, too, meet suffering as my traveling companion? It will be a sure sign of my sonship, because God is treating me as he treated his own Divine Son.

“But don't drag the Cross. Carry it squarely on your shoulder, because your Cross, if you carry it like that, will not be just any Cross... It will be the Holy Cross. Don't carry your Cross with resignation: resignation is not a generous word. Love the Cross. When you really love it, your Cross will be... a Cross without a Cross.
“And surely you will find Mary on the way, just as Jesus did.

“Very likely, there will be times when, alone in front of a crucifix, you find tears coming to your eyes. Don't try to hold them back... But try to ensure that those tears give rise to a resolution.

As for your sins, God always forgives when you are totally repentant and desire to change. He forgives... and He never gets tired of forgiving. Never. You may get tired of asking. I hope not. He never, never tires of forgiving. Never.

“We must give our life for others. That is the only way to live the life of Jesus Christ and to become one and the same thing with him.” St Josemaría 

Apr 2 Thu - What do we celebrate on Holy Thursday?

 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eso7w59MImfP_wax95dvgVxKcnm16H6U?usp=sharing 
Apr 2 Thu
What do we celebrate on Holy Thursday?
Today, we celebrate the institution of the Eucharist and of the “Ministerial Priesthood.” 

The Lord shares his gifts, his sacrifice, and his priesthood with us.
He is the High Priest through whom we have been reconciled with God,
He is the Sacrifice by which we have been reconciled,
He is the Temple in which we have been reconciled,
He is God with whom we have been reconciled.

He alone is priest, sacrifice, and temple because He is all these things as God in the form of a servant; but He is not alone as God, for He is this with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God.

I am glad to share with you my small composition “Acts of Thanksgiving after Communion”, they are seven prayers, one for each day of the week. I hope this helps you to establish a real dialogue with Our Lord after the Mass. 
You can download it in pdb (for ISilo) and in pdf.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eso7w59MImfP_wax95dvgVxKcnm16H6U?usp=sharing 

Apr 1 Wed - Is Jesus “The Truth”?

 

Apr 1 Wed
Is Jesus “The Truth”?
Søren Kierkegaard compared Socrates and Christ; while Socrates claimed to be a “midwife” of truth, so that his students give birth to the truth inside themselves, Christ is “the Truth.” He has “authority” because He is the Author of all Creation. I merely talk about God; He is God.

But if He is the Author of all Creation, all creation is “sacramental”: it is a symbol and an instrument of God’s love.

So, when a student says, “I hate math,” the teacher should say, “But one of the languages of the universe is mathematics. It is the language God uses to help us understand the order of things.”

Thus, it is time for us Christians to shout from the rooftops that work, in this material world, is a gift from God. For work is a participation in the creative work of God. Moreover, since Christ took it into his hands, work has become for us a redeemed and redemptive reality. It is something to be sanctified and something which sanctifies.

Man ought not to limit himself to material production. Work is born of love; it is a manifestation of love and is directed toward love. We see the hand of God, not only in the wonders of nature, but also in our experience of work and effort. Work thus becomes prayer and thanksgiving, because we know we are placed on earth by God, that we are loved by him, and made heirs to his promises.

The visible things of Creation are like handwritten letters from God. Who among us who has known the love of a beloved would simply toss out a handwritten letter from our beloved? We read it, save it, and read it again and again as if to put the beloved in our presence, if merely in this small, indirect way. We should realize that what looks like the indistinguishable white envelopes of Creation are really letters from our Beloved. And so, we should open them carefully and lovingly so we shall find the communications of love they contain.

And yet, although letters can be wonderful, love is best delivered in person. If letters from your beloved are wonderful, who wouldn’t want to visit the beloved in person? The two aren’t mutually exclusive.

In classes, we talk about God. Or we talk about God’s handiwork in Creation. But in the Eucharist, God comes to us in person, in the person of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen. So, we should take Math students to Mass, not to have a little “religion” before they go back to the “real world” stuff. Rather, we should take students to Mass to encounter their Creator, and His love “incarnate,” in Person. And in that encounter, remind themselves that they are loved, and in all their scientific studies, they are reading love letters from the One who loved them so much He was willing to die for them. 

Mar 31 Tue - Do I always tell the truth with charity?

 

Mar 31 Tue
Do I always tell the truth with charity?
I heard my father say a saying… “The Truth doesn’t offend,” and it was something that stuck with me. However, as my life progressed, I discovered that although this saying was true, it needed to be completed: to live and always tell the truth, but accompanied by charity.

Now, let’s see what the words truth and charity mean. Truth: It is the conformity of things with the concept that the mind forms of them.
Charity: It is the attitude of solidarity that one has with the suffering of others.

Too often, we Christians have debased charity, as if it could be confined to a soulless and cold alms-giving, or we have reduced it to more or less stereotyped “good works”.

From our simplest conversations to the deepest and most difficult ones we have to address, in any area of our life, we must proceed in a clear, direct, and firm way, but with charity.

Now, it is difficult, which is why many of you may tell me: It is one thing to say it and another to do it.
But because it is difficult, we should not avoid it, but, on the contrary, we should continually practice it. Let’s remember that, like any art, practice makes perfection.

To help, I share with you some obstacles that I think we have all faced on a daily basis to always live in the truth…

• False humility: Not recognizing the talents and virtues that I have, because if I do, I must put them at the service of others.

• Boasting: I declare having virtues and merits that I do not have, because I want to look good to others.

• Hypocrisy: Saying one thing and doing another, as the saying goes, “acting double standards.”

• Adulation: It is giving another an exaggerated and interested “compliment.”

Let us cement our relationships, make them lasting over time, and be close to the people who matter to us and who care about us (caring about each other genuinely and generously, applying fraternal correction if necessary). Only then can we always live in the truth with charity.

“Defend the truth with charity and firmness when the things of God are at stake. Practice holy shamelessness in denouncing errors, even though at times they are no more than insinuations; at other times they will be odious utterances of the most blatant ignorance, and, normally, a sign of man’s frustration at not being able to endure the fruitfulness of the word of God."

A poet said, “Life is the art of encounter, although there is so much disagreement about life.”

What do you say? Do you dare? Let’s go against the current, on topics that are not trends or fashion. I assure you that we will leave a better world.

Mar 30 Mon - How can I become more united with God?

 

Mar 30 Mon
How can I become more united with God?

Recently, Pope Leo talked to a group of young priests on the sacrament of penance. 

“The fact that the Sacrament of Reconciliation can be received repeatedly is not always matched by a willingness on the part of the baptized to make use of it: it is as though the infinite treasure of the Church’s mercy remained 'unused’. Some Christians, not infrequently, remain in a state of sin for a long time, rather than approaching the confessional with simplicity of faith and heart to receive the gift of the Risen Lord."

“The law of the Church establishes that every Christian is obliged to make a sacramental confession at least once a year, and the Catechism of the Catholic Church, following the Second Vatican Council, confirmed this norm."

“Saint Augustine affirms: One who confesses his sins, and accuses them, begins to work with God. God accuses your sins: and if you also accuse, you are united to God. To recognize our sins means ‘being in harmony’ with God, uniting ourselves with Him.”

“The Sacrament of Reconciliation is thus a 'workshop of unity’: it restores unity with God through the forgiveness of sins and the infusion of sanctifying grace, unity with the Church, and your inner unity."

The Pope expressed the hope the sinner should have since he remains totally dependent on God the Creator; this dependence, when recognized, can open the way to conversion. Sin is turning one’s back on Him. With the celebration of the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the Church, through the priest, restores people’s unity with God. 

The unity restored with God is also unity with the Church, which is the mystical body of Christ: we are members of the “whole Christ”.

“With the sacrament of Confession, the Church is also enriched by the renewed holiness of her repentant and forgiven children. In the confessional, the priest collaborates in the edification of the Church: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic; and in so doing, he also gives new energy to society and to the world."

“Unity with God and with the Church, finally, is the prerequisite for the inner unity of individuals, so necessary today. This inner unity is a genuine desire, especially among the younger generations. The unfulfilled promises of unbridled consumerism and the frustrating experience of a freedom detached from the truth are opportunities for evangelization. They allow us to awaken those existential questions to which only Christ can give a full answer. God became man to save us, and He does so also by nurturing our religious sense, our irrepressible longing for truth and love, so that we may embrace the Mystery in which ‘we live and move and have our being’."

Those who allow themselves to be continually renewed by God’s forgiveness become agents of reconciliation in everyday life. In him or her are fulfilled the words attributed to Saint Francis of Assisi: “Lord, make me an instrument of your peace”.

Dear friends, never neglect to approach the Sacrament of Reconciliation with constancy, so that you may always be the first to benefit from divine Mercy.

Mar 29 Sun - Am I committed to Jesus?

 

Mar 29 Sun
Am I committed to Jesus?
Jesus makes his entry into Jerusalem as the Messiah upon a donkey, just as had been prophesied many centuries before. The people also acclaim him in a clearly messianic fashion. The Pharisees knew these prophecies very well, but so also did the common people, and they were visibly overjoyed.

The triumph of Jesus is a simple affair; He makes do with a poor animal for a throne. “I don’t know about you, but I am not humiliated to acknowledge that in the Lord’s eyes I am a beast of burden: ‘I am like a donkey in your presence, but I am continually with you. You hold my right hand,’ you take me by the bridle" (St. Josemaría).

Jesus also wants to enter triumphantly into the lives of men today, riding upon a humble animal; he would like us to bear witness to him in the simplicity of our work done well, showing forth our cheerfulness, our serenity, and our sincere concern for others.

The story of each man is the story of God’s continual watchfulness over him. Each man is the object of the Lord’s special love. Jesus was ready to do everything for Jerusalem, but the city was not willing to open up its gates to his mercy. This is the deep mystery of human freedom, which always retains that sad possibility of rejecting the grace of God. “Free man, subject yourself to a voluntary servitude, so that Jesus won’t have to say of you what He is said to have told Saint Teresa about others: ‘Teresa, I was willing. But men were not’."

How indeed are we responding to the countless promptings of the Holy Spirit, who seeks to make us holy in the midst of our ordinary duties and surroundings? Each day, how often do we say ‘yes’ to God and ‘no’ to our selfishness, to our laziness, and to everything that amounts to a lack of love, even if it is only something small?

St Bernard comments, “How different the cries, ‘Away with him, away with him, crucify him,’ and then ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, hosanna in the highest!’ How different the cries are that now are calling him ‘King of Israel’ and then, in a few days, will be saying, ‘We have no king but Caesar!’ What a contrast between the green branches and the cross, between the flowers and the thorns! Before they were offering their own clothes for him to walk upon, and so soon afterwards they are stripping him of his, and casting lots upon them."

The triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem asks for loyalty and perseverance from each one of us; it calls us to deepen in our faithfulness, and for our resolutions to be more than just bright lights that sparkle for a moment and then fade away. Thus, we will be following Our Lord unto the Cross.
Excerpts from F. Fernández Carvajal