REGINA COELI

The Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven )

 V. Queen of Heaven, rejoice, alleluia. 

 R. For He whom you did merit to bear, alleluia.

  V. Has risen, as he said, alleluia.

  R. Pray for us to God, alleluia.

  V. Rejoice and be glad, O Virgin Mary, alleluia.

  R. For the Lord has truly risen, alleluia.

  Let us pray.

  O God, who gave joy to the world through the resurrection of Thy Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, grant we beseech Thee, that through the intercession of the Virgin Mary, His Mother, we may obtain the joys of everlasting life. Through the same Christ our Lord.

  Amen.

HAPPY EASTER TO ALL OUR FRIENDS AND READERS!

IT IS FINISHED

 

MAUNDY THURSDAY

The following day, Thursday, the Passover Supper was to be celebrated in the evening. Jesus said to Peter and John, “Go and make preparations for us to eat the Passover." As the treasurer, Judas should have been in charge of those preparations; and because of this lack of confidence he understood that the Master knew about his intentions and about the treacherous sale of the day before. The two envoys said to Jesus, "Where do you want us to prepare for it?" The Savior answered them mysteriously, “As you enter the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him to the house that he enters and say to the owner of the house, `The Teacher asks: Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, all furnished. Make preparations there.” Judas listened attentively to the indications given by the Master, hoping to take advantage of them for the execution of his secret plan; but Jesus wanted the place of the Supper to be completely unknown, so that the traitor could not come to surprise Him before finishing the meal, nor disturb the mysteries that were to be carried in there. Peter and John found the man with the water jug at the city gates, they followed him and went with him to the house of his master, who showed them the upper room where they were to prepare dinner. It was on Mount Zion, in the city of David, near the palace in which the ark of the covenant long rested, where the prophet-king sang in his inspired psalms and the horrors of his Passion. 

 This place where the great events of Maundy Thursday took place, the Upper Room, became the first meeting place of the nascent Church. There risen Christ appeared to the Apostles and the Holy Ghost descended on the Most Holy Virgin, the Apostles and the disciples. It was in that same room that Peter, freed from prison by an angel, again found his brothers praying for him. According to St. Epiphanius, the Upper Room was preserved from the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. 

 * Source: JESUS CHRIST; his Life, his Passion, his Triumph. chap. VIII, The Last Supper. Rev. P. Berthe. Labels: Lenten topics

Christ goes to Calvary while you go and have fun?

 

His Mother Stood by the Cross by Saint Bernard, abbot of Clairvaux

From the sermons of Saint Bernard 

 The martyrdom of the Virgin is set forth both in the prophecy of Simeon and in the actual story of our Lord's passion. The holy old man said of the infant Jesus: He has been established as a sign which will be contradicted. He went on to say to Mary: And your own heart will be pierced by a sword.   

  Truly, O blessed Mother, a sword has pierced your heart. For only by passing through your heart could the sword enter the flesh of your Son. Indeed, after your Jesus - who belongs to everyone, but is especially yours - gave up his life, the cruel spear, which was not withheld from his lifeless body, tore open his side. Clearly it did not touch his soul and could not harm him, but it did pierce your heart. For surely his soul was no longer there, but yours could not be torn away. Thus the violence of sorrow has cut through your heart, and we rightly call you more than martyr, since the effect of compassion in you has gone beyond the endurance of physical suffering.   

  Or were those words, Woman, behold your Son, not more than a word to you, truly piercing your heart, cutting through to the division between soul and spirit? What an exchange! John is given to you in place of Jesus, the servant in place of the Lord, the disciple in place of the master; the son of Zebedee replaces the Son of God, a mere man replaces God himself. How could these words not pierce your most loving heart, when the mere remembrance of them breaks ours, hearts of iron and stone though they are!   

  Do not be surprised, brothers, that Mary is said to be a martyr in spirit. Let him be surprised who does not remember the words of Paul, that one of the greatest crimes of the Gentiles was that they were without love. That was far from the heart of Mary; let it be far from her servants.  

   Perhaps someone will say: "Had she not known before that he would not die?" Undoubtedly. "Did she not expect him to rise again at once?" Surely. "And still she grieved over her crucified Son?" Intensely. Who are you and what is the source of your wisdom that you are more surprised at the compassion of Mary than at the passion of Mary's Son? For if he could die in body, could she not die with him in spirit? He died in body through a love greater than anyone had known. She died in spirit through a love unlike any other since his.   

  Prayer   

  Lord, you have wanted the Mother to share the pains of your Son at the foot of the cross; Let the Church, associating with Mary to the passion of Christ, deserve to participate in His resurrection. For our Lord Jesus Christ.

THE CRUCIFIXION AND DEATH OF JESUS

Lo, we are on Calvary! made the theatre of divine love, where a God dies for us in a sea of sorrows. When Jesus had arrived there, they violently strip off his garments cleaving to his torn flesh, and cast him on the cross. The divine Lamb stretches himself out on this bed of death, presents his hands to the executioners, and offers to the Eternal Father the great sacrifice of his life for the salvation of men. Behold, now they nail him to the cross and raise him on it. Look, my soul, on thy Saviour, who, fastened by three hard nails, hangs from the cross, where he can find neither room nor rest. At one time he leans on his hands, at another on his feet; but where he leans, there the pain is increased. 

Saint Alphonsus Maria de Liguori