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Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “Thanks to the favors that the Lord does not cease to lavish upon me, I find that I have improved very much with trust in God. In the past it sometimes seemed to me that I needed the help of others, but now no more. I know by personal experience that the true remedy to not fall is to lean on the cross of Jesus, with trust only in Him, Who for our salvation wanted to be hung upon it.” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “ ‘How many times’ Jesus said to me ‘you would have abandoned me, my son, if I had not crucified you. At the foot of the cross one learns to love, and I do not give it to all but only to those souls who are dearest to me.’” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “I know not what will happen to me; I only know one thing for certain, though, and that is that the Lord will never break His promises. ‘Do not fear’ Jesus keeps repeating to me ‘I will make you suffer, but I will also give you the strength for it. I desire that your soul be purified and tried with a daily and hidden martyrdom. Do not be frightened if I permit the devil to torment you, the world to disgust you and those people dearest to you to afflict you because nothing will prevail over those who groan under the cross for love of me and for whom I do everything to protect them.” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “In certain moments my soul suffers very much, and if, from time to time, this torment was not interrupted by some moment of respite, who knows what might become of me. Yes, this merciful Lord of ours, when the trial is at its peak, solicitously runs to my aid and, loving Father that He is, it seems He consoles me and encourages me to run along the way of the cross. I suffer, it is true, but I do not complain because thus Jesus wants it.” |
Ave Maria Meditations
 Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus (En ego, o bone et dulcissime Iesu)Look down upon me, good and gentle Jesus, while before your face I humbly kneel, and with burning soul pray and beseech you to fix deep in my heart lively sentiments of faith, hope and charity, true contrition for my sins, and a firm purpose of amendment, while I contemplate with great love and tender pity your five wounds, pondering over them within me, calling to mind the words which David, your prophet, said of you, my good Jesus: “They have pierced my hands and my feet; they have numbered all my bones” (Ps 21, 17-18). |
Ave Maria Meditations
THIRTEENTH STATION:Jesus is taken down from the Cross and given to his Mother
V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum. From the Gospel according to Matthew 27:54-55: When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe, and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!” There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him. MEDITATION: Jesus is dead. From his heart, pierced by the lance of the Roman soldier, flow blood and water: a mysterious image of the stream of the sacraments, Baptism and the Eucharist, by which the Church is constantly reborn from the opened heart of the Lord. Jesus’ legs are not broken, like those of the two men crucified with him. He is thus revealed as the true Paschal lamb, not one of whose bones must be broken (cf. Es 12:46). (more…) |
TENTH STATION
Jesus is stripped of his garments
V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum. From the Gospel according to Matthew. 27:33-36 And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall, but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. MEDITATION: Jesus is stripped of his garments. Clothing gives a man his social position; it gives him his place in society, it makes him someone. His public stripping means that Jesus is no longer anything at all, he is simply an outcast, despised by all alike. The moment of the stripping reminds us of the expulsion from Paradise: God’s splendor has fallen away from man, who now stands naked and exposed, unclad and ashamed. And so Jesus once more takes on the condition of fallen man. Stripped of his garments, he reminds us that we have all lost the “first garment” that is God’s splendor. (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations
SEVENTH STATION Jesus falls for the second time
V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. R/. Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum. From the Book of Lamentations. 3:1-2,9,16 I am the man who has seen affliction under the rod of his wrath; he has driven and brought me into darkness without any light. He has blocked my way with hewn stones, he has made my paths crooked. He has made my teeth grind on gravel, and made me cower in ashes. MEDITATION: The tradition that Jesus fell three times beneath the weight of the Cross evokes the fall of Adam the state of fallen humanity and the mystery of Jesus’ own sharing in our fall. Throughout history the fall of man constantly takes on new forms. In his First Letter, Saint John speaks of a threefold fall: lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and the pride of life. He thus interprets the fall of man and humanity against the backdrop of the vices of his own time, with all its excesses and perversions. (more…) |
Ave Maria Meditations ?
St. Peter of Alcantara was a priest well acquainted with suffering. He took upon himself many penances. His Feast day is Oct. 22nd and he is a model for the acceptance of sufferings. ? A person’s daily sufferings, borne in either patient resignation or joy, and joined to the Holy Cross of Our Lord is a mark of eternal glory. To reject sufferings, sacrifices, humiliations, and mortifications in this life is to walk the broad and easy way that leads to destruction (Matt 7:13-14). Our Lord himself clearly stated that we are to deny our desires, take up our cross daily and follow Him (Mark 8:34-36). Our Lord is calling us out of our selfish self-centered lives and into “the works (Will) of Him Who sent Me.” (John 9:4). |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “Full of faith, lift up your thoughts to the heavenly homeland and may all the beats of your heart and aspirations be turned there. Marvel at those who already possess Heaven, those who arrived there by no other way than by having trod the path of affliction. That is our true homeland. What does it matter if the only way there is by means of the bitter paths of tribulation and sacrifice?!” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “If our Lord manifests Himself, thank Him. And if He hides Himself, thank Him again. This is all a simple jest of love. I earnestly hope that you reach the point of expiring with our Lord on the Cross, that with our Lord you may sweetly exclaim, ‘Consummatum est’.” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “May we always be fixed to the cross, and may a hundred thousand arrows pierce our flesh, on condition that the dart enflamed with the love of God has first penetrated our being. May this arrow, of which I dreamt with open eyes the other night, make us die its holy death, which is worth more than a thousand lives. I beseech the archer who carries the quiver through the intercession of the great St. Sebastian.” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “Don’t let the cross trouble you. The most certain proof of love consists in suffering for the beloved, and if a God suffered so much pain for love, then the pain that one suffers for Him becomes sweet in proportion to one’s love. Be patient in the afflictions that our Lord bestows upon you and with joy unite yourself to the Divine Heart, knowing that all of this is a simple jest on the part of the Lover.” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “It is always necessary to have courage, and if some heaviness of soul or weakness of spirit comes upon you, fly to the foot of the Cross, place yourself amidst the heavenly perfumes and you will be unduly comforted and refreshed.” |
Ave Maria!– September’s Theme: The Cross “I exhort you to love the God who was crucified in the midst of darkness; remain near Him and say to Him, ‘It is good for me to be here, let us make three tents, one for our Lord, another for our Lady, and the third for St. John.’ Go ahead and make three crosses, put yourself at the feet of the Cross of the Son, or that of the Mother, or that of the beloved disciple. You will be well received at all three.” |
