DIVINE PROVIDENCE RULES ALL THINGS

“Divine Providence rules all things, and what we consider evil is a remedy” (St. Jerome).

These words are spiritually challenging and should instill in us a deeper faith. For understandable reasons, we all resist the evils that may befall us, and rightly so, for evil cannot simply be tolerated. However, since our heavenly Father integrates even evil into His plan of salvation, He will use it for the good of His own. Here we must make a distinction that is as subtle as it is essential: God can never actively will evil, but He can allow it to happen and thus turn it into a medicine that heals and strengthens us.

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GIVE NO PLACE TO SADNESS

“Sadness is a great obstacle: it suffocates life, dims the light and extinguishes the fire of love” (John Tauler).

The masters of the spiritual life warn us insistently against the gloomy thoughts to which we give space in ourselves. The Desert Fathers refer to them as ‘tristitia’, which means disordered sadness. This is quite different from the sadness we may feel for our personal sins, which leads to repentance, or the sadness for the sins of the world, which leads us to pray and sacrifice for humanity.

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THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 20:24-29): “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe”                              

Thomas, one of the twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord.” But he said to them, “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and place my finger in the mark of the nails, and place my hand in his side, I will not believe.” Eight days later, his disciples were again in the house, and Thomas was with them. The doors were shut, but Jesus came and stood among them, and said, “Peace be with you.” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see my hands; and put out your hand, and place it in my side; do not be faithless, but believing.” Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

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THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 20:19-23): “The Risen Lord appears to His disciples”                            

On the evening of that day, the first day of the week, the doors being shut where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you.” And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

On the evening of that same day, the Lord showed himself to the disciples, who, fearing persecution from the Jews, had hidden themselves. But Jesus found His way to them, even through the closed doors, and began by wishing them peace. These were the first words of the Risen One to His disciples, and in them is expressed what is foreseen for all people.

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THE LOVE OF GOD PRECEDES US

‘If the soul seeks God, much more does her Beloved seek her’ (St. John of the Cross).

We must always be attentive to the Lord and seek Him in everything. This is the language of love, and it is God Himself who invites us to do so: “Seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you!” (Mt 7:7). If we follow the inner invitation of our Father, our soul will have set out on the path prepared for her. “Our heart is restless until it rests in you”, exclaimed Saint Augustine, whose deep search for God we know from his Confessions.

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THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 20:11-18): “The Risen One appears to Mary Magdalene”                              

Mary stood weeping outside the tomb, and as she wept she stooped to look into the tomb; and she saw two angels in white, sitting where the body of Jesus had lain, one at the head and one at the feet. They said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping?” She said to them, “Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.” Saying this, she turned round and saw Jesus standing, but she did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom do you seek?” Supposing him to be the gardener, she said to him, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.” Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned and said to him in Hebrew, “Rab-boni! (which means Teacher). Jesus said to her, Do not hold me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brethren and say to them, I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples, I have seen the Lord; and she told them that he had said these things to her.

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GOD’S CONCERN IS MINE

“God’s concern is mine.  Nothing that concerns Him is foreign to me.”  (St Bernard of Clairvaux).

These are the words of a soul aflame with love, who has already come very close to our Heavenly Father and whom He has filled with His love. The intimacy between St Bernard and our Father is palpable, and we recognise this profound relationship in another beautiful sentence in which he invites his brothers to draw near to the Father. In this loving invitation, which we will hear next, we see how he had made God’s cause his own, because we know very well that our Father longs ardently for all people to be close to Him, to know Him, to honour Him and to love Him. Then He will be able to give them all that He has in store for them.

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THE GOSPEL OF ST. JOHN (Jn 20:1-10): “The empty tomb”

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran, and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” Peter then came out with the other disciple, and they went toward the tomb. They both ran, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first; and stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; he saw the linen cloths lying, and the napkin, which had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths but rolled up in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not know the scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

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VIA CRUCIS – XIV. Station: “Jesus is laid in the tomb”                                   

 

 V. Adoramus te Christe et benedicimus tibi (We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee)

R. Quia per Crucem tuam redemisti mundum (For by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.)

“When Pilate learned from the centurion that Jesus was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. And he bought a linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud, and laid him in a tomb which had been hewn out of the rock; and he rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. Mary Mag′dalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.” (Mk 15:45-47).

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