ICWG Weekly Reflections

Often the dignity of the baptized person is veiled, unfortunately, by the ordinary circumstances of his life so, like the saints, we must strive hard to live in accordance with that dignity at all costs.

Remembering that we are children of God will give us that solid peace, which isn’t disturbed by the ups and downs of our emotions or the events of the day: it will give us the serenity and steadiness which we need so much.

We should read the Gospel with a longing to know God so as to love him.

The Eucharist maintains the life of God in the soul, freeing it from lukewarmness; and it helps us to avoid mortal sin and struggle effectively against venial sins.

My Lord and my God! These words have served as an aspiration for many Christians, and as an act of faith in the Real Presence of Jesus Christ in the Blessed Sacrament, when passing in front of a tabernacle or at the Consecration of the Mass.

The glorious resurrection of the Lord is the key to interpreting his whole life, and the ground of our faith. Without this victory over death, says St Paul, all our preaching would be useless and our faith in vain.

Let us look at Jesus slowly, and in the intimacy of our hearts say to him: Kind Jesus, hear my prayer! Hide me within your wounds, and keep me close to you. Defend me from the evil enemy. Call me at my death to the fellowship of your saints, that I may sing your praise with them through all eternity. Amen.

The whole of Jesus’ life is directed towards this supreme moment. He has barely managed, gasping and exhausted, to get to the top of that hillock called ‘the place of skulls’. The executioners stretch him out on the ground and begin nailing him to the wood.

Holy Thursday brings to mind the Lord’s Last Supper with the Apostles. As in previous years, Jesus celebrates the Passover with his own disciples. But this time the celebration would have singular characteristics

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.

Would our lives not be different this Lent if we were to make this presence of God a reality in the habitual things of each day.

Lent is the most opportune time for considering how we receive the sacrament of Penance, that meeting with Christ, who makes himself present in the priest.