Good Friday
Divine Mercy Novena - Day 1
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In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen ✝
Today bring to Me ALL MANKIND, ESPECIALLY ALL SINNERS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me.
Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit.
Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate Heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy for ever and ever. Amen.
(Now pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet).
Blessed Cesar de Bus
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EWTN
Global Catholic Television Network
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Fr. Cesar de Bus was one of the glories of the Catholic Counter-Reformation who proved to be one of the greatest catechists in the history of the Church. Born in Cavillon, France, on February 3, 1544, the seventh of thirteen children, he was to die in the odor of sanctity in Avignon, on Easter, April 15, 1607. He experienced a conversion from a worldly and frivolous life to embrace a life of prayer, penance, and austerity reminiscent of a St. Ignatius Loyola or a Pere de Foucald. He had been known as a dandy prone to cajolery and being the life of the party among his fellows.
His conversion took place on the way to a masked ball while passing by a place where a small light was burning before an image of Mary Most Holy. Suddenly, the prayer of a remarkable unlettered friend, the mystic Antoinette. Reveillade, came to mind. She had begged God with tears for the salvation of his soul that death would not find him in mortal sin. He thought, "How can I recommend myself to God while I am on the way to offend Him?" An extraordinary grace was victorious. In the words of one of his biographers, "One tempestuous night, the All-powerful God, the King of Glory, encountered the worldly chevalier Cesar de Bus, obstinate in sin, and conquered him."
(3 Minute Read)
“Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.”
– Jn 19:25-27
This rendition of "Were You There" gave us chills!
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The Vigil Project
Music and media for the Catholic journey
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Trust in Him
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Dr. Greg Bottaro
Integrating Catholicism + Psychology
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Mary joined her son in his suffering, also choosing it for our sake, and in doing so presented us with a perfect model of faith. She held her dead son's crucified and bloodied body in her arms and still trusted God's goodness and His plan.
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This is the faith we aspire to.
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Today, let us remember that death is not the end but merely a doorway to new life. There is nothing to fear, and nothing that we cannot trust God with, even our very lives!
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What are you currently attached or clinging to that you are afraid to abandon to God? There is NOTHING that you are holding on to that is safer in your hands than in God's.
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Even if you don't understand what He is doing with the things you give Him, they will be better off in His hands.
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Even if it seems as if death is winning, it never does. He has already conquered even death. Take heart!
What Does It Mean To Say “Thy Will Be Done?”
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Mary Pezzulo
Creator of the Steel Magnificat blog on the Patheos Catholic Channel
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I am constantly drawn to the image of Christ in Gethsemane: Christ, the all-powerful second Person of the Trinity, overwhelmed with trauma, collapsed in the throes of a panic attack, surrendering all to the love of the Father Whose presence He can [no] longer feel.
I have often been spiritually abused by the toxic interpretation of that verse, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me, still, not my will, but Yours be done.”
The will of God is something ineffable. It’s one of those things you can’t speak about in human language without being wrong. The only question is whether you’re slightly wrong or completely wrong. There are glorious saints who have come close to getting it right. They have fought to remain faithful to God in the face of terrible suffering and injustice, and they have found God present with them in the suffering, so close to them that the whole of their agony is shot through with the most beautiful light. And they’ve tried to write about these experiences of God, and told us that even suffering can become a gift, because that’s the closest they could get to the truth. And then other people have taken their fumbling to express that beautiful truth, and corrupted it by misunderstanding. Still others have taken the misunderstood truth and used it to abuse on purpose.
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No other god is worthy of our worship: only the God Who is Love.
This is me trying to find words for an ineffable thing, and I’m sure I’ve gotten it a bit wrong. But not as wrong as [a] version of the Gospel I was raised to believe.
If God is Love, then this passage is the most beautiful in all of the Gospel.
If He isn’t, the Gospel is worthless.
But I think that God is Love.
(6 Minute Read)
A.M.D.G.