Divine Mercy Sunday

"Do not be unbelieving but believe. Blessed are they who have not seen and have believed."

John 20:27b, 29b

From Divine Mercy in My Soul, the Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska:

"This Feast emerged from the very depths of My mercy, and it is confirmed in the vast depths of my tender mercies." (420)

"I desire that the Feast of Mercy be a refuge and shelter for all souls, and especially for poor sinners. On that day all the divine floodgates through which grace flow are opened. Let no soul fear to draw near to Me, even though its sins be as scarlet. My mercy is so great that no mind, be it of man or of angel, will be able to fathom it throughout all eternity." (699)

Večný Otče, obetujem ti telo a krv, dušu i božstvo tvojho najmilšieho Syna, 
Eternal Father, I offer to you the body and blood, soul and divinity of your most beloved Son, 

a nášho Pána Isusa Christa, na odčinenie našich hriechov i hriechov celého sveta. 
our Lord Jesus Christ, in expiation for our sins and the sins of the whole world.

Pre Jeho bolestné umučenie maj milosrdenstvo s nami i s celým svetom.
Because of his sorrowful passion have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Svätý Bože, Svätý Mocný, Svätý Nesmrteľný, zmiluj sa nad nami i nad celým svetom.
Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us and on the whole world.

Holy Friday

After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, "I thirst."  John 19:28

Chorus and Chorale: 

Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen! Sehet !Wen? Den Bräutigam. 

Come, ye daughters, help me lament! Behold! Whom? The Bridegroom. 

Seht ihn! Wie? Als wie ein Lamm! Sehet! Was? Seht die Geduld. 

Behold him! How? Like a lamb. Behold! What? Behold his patience.

Seht! Wohin? Auf unsre Schuld. Sehet ihn aus Lieb und Huld 

Behold! Where? Behold our guilt. Behold Him, out of love and graciousness, 

Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen!

Himself carrying the wood of the cross. 

Chorale: 

O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig am Stamm des Kreuzes geschlachtet, 

O guiltless Lamb of God, slaughtered on the stem of the cross, 

 

Allzeit erfunden geduldig, wiewohl du warest verachtet. 

Always found patient, although thou wast despised. 

All Sünd hast du getragen, sonst müßten wir verzagen.

All sin hast thou borne, else we must have despaired. 

Holz zum Kreuze selber tragen! 

Himself carrying the wood of the cross. 

Erbarm dich unser, o Jesu!

Have mercy upon us, O Jesus!

Holy Thursday

If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.

John 13:15

Ostinato:
Bleibet hier und wachet mit mir; wachet und betet.
Remain here and watch with me; watch and pray.

Descant:
Meine Seele ist zu Tode betrübt. Bleibt hier und wacht mit mir. 
My soul is troubled unto death. Remain here and watch with me.

Setzt euch und wartet hier, während ich dort bete.
Sit ye and wait here, while I pray yonder.

Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass me by. 

Father, if this can not pass me by without I drinking it, your will be done

Holy Wednesday

"Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me."

Matthew 26:21

Jesus experienced rejection throughout his ministry. From his first public manifestation at Nazareth, the people wanted to throw him over a cliff; those who tie up burdens hard to bear and do not lift a finger to help were indignant when he admonished their hardness of heart; there were many among the priests who profited from revenue during the Pax Romana and were eager to suppress any anti-imperialism. But none of these succeeded in seizing Jesus; he passed through their midst and went away or entered the city in secret, rather unsophisticated evasions, but they show that they could not lay a hand on Jesus unless he allowed it, and he only allowed it when one of his own betrayed him.

Jesus was invulnerable to the power of the authorities, but not that of his friends; it was by his choice that those he loved had the opportunities to betray and desert him. The vulnerability of Jesus did not end when the helpless infant grew up, but continued as he experienced everything that is in man, including betrayal of trust, the greatest fear and pain in relationship. Jesus foretold betrayal by one, but also that his kenosis was for many for the forgiveness of sins, because he bore all sins and offenses. Let us stand with our mother and look on him whom they have pierced with compunction.

Woe is me, my Child!
I see Thee, dearest and beloved Child,
hanging upon the cross,
and my heart is bitterly wounded.
But in Thy love, speak some word to Thy handmaiden.

Woe is me, my Child!
I wish to take my son down from the wood
and to hold Him in my arms
as once I held Him when He was a little child;
But alas, there is no-one to give Him to me.

Woe is me, my Child!
I see Thee bruised and wounded,
without glory, stripped upon the cross.
O my Child, and my heart burns.

Woe is me, my Child!
In my arms, I hold Thee as a corpse,
O loving Lord, who has brought the dead back to life;
Grievously is my heart wounded,
and I long to die with Thee,
for I cannot bear to look upon Thee lifeless and without breath.

Woe is me, my Child!
I reflect, O Master: how never again shall I hear Thy voice.
Never again shall Thy handmaiden see the beauty of Thy face
as in the past, for Thou, my Son,
hast sunk down before mine eyes.

Woe is me, my child!
Where dost thou go, my Child?
Why dost thou run so swiftly?
Is there another wedding in Cana,
and are thou hastening there to turn the water into wine?
Shall I go with thee, my child,
or shall I wait for thee?
Speak some word to me, O Word;
Do not pass me by in silence.
Thou hast preserved my virginity,
and thou art my Son and God.

Woe is me, my child!
Release me from agony
and take me with Thee, O my Son and God.
Let me also descend with Thee, O Master, into Hell.
Leave me not to live alone,
for I cannot bear to look upon Thee, my sweet Light.

Woe is me, my child!
Dost thou change my grief to gladness by Thy Resurrection?

Rise, O God, and judge the Earth!
Rise, O God, and judge the Earth!

Woe is me, my Child.

Watch and Pray

The first thing I asked of my priests, my newly-ordained apostles,
and of these, the three closest to My Heart,

was to watch and pray with Me.
I did not send them out immediately,
nor did I entrust them with any priestly task apart from keeping watch with Me in prayer,
lest they fall in the hour of trial.

I wanted them close to Me to console Me,
to comfort Me in My agony
by their union with My prayer of obedience and abandonment to the Father.
This was their first priestly action,
their first mandate as priests of the New Covenant:
not to preach, not to teach, not to heal, nor even to baptize,
but to watch and pray with Me.

I wanted them to understand by this
that unless a priest keeps watch and perseveres in prayer,
all else will be in vain.
He will dispense the substance of My mysteries,
but without the sweetness of a heavenly unction,
without the fire and light of a personal experience of My Divine Friendship.
This is why I beg My priests to become adorers:
to begin to keep watch and pray close to Me in he Sacrament of My Love.

If you could have heard the urgency and sorrow of My plea to Peter, James, and John!
I did not merely ask them to watch and pray,
I begged them to do so.
I needed their prayer at that hour,
just as I need the prayer of all My priests
in this final hour that is coming, and that is already upon my Church.

Only the prayer of My priests,
made in union with the prayer of My Heart to the Father,
will be able to preserve and console My Church in the darkness that lies ahead.
I beg for the prayer of My priests,
for a prayer of adoration, of reparation, and of supplication.
I ask them for a prayer that is sincere and persevering,
for a prayer that will become in their hearts
a ceaseless murmur rising to the Father as a spiritual offering.

When will my priests begin to pray as I have asked them for so long
– lo, all these centuries — to pray?
I want priests who will watch and pray with Me.
I need such priests.
Without their prayer, my mystic agony will be prolonged
and be without consolation
from the friends whom I have chosen to abide with Me
in the trials that will soon beset My Church, my poor, frail Bride.

The crisis in My priesthood will continue
and will even grow worse unless My priests — the chosen friends of My Heart –
forsake this passing world’s vanities and empty pursuits
to become adorers in spirit and in truth.

I pleaded with My apostles to watch and pray; and they slept.
Still do I plead with my priests to watch and to pray,
and still they sleep,
even at this hour when My Church invites them to stay with Me,
to linger close to My real presence,
and not to forsake Me in the darkness and terror of this night.

Where are My priests?
I wait for them.
I call to them.
I desire that they leave all else
to offer Me their companionship, their presence, their wordless love, and their tears.

Those who are responding to My plea,
and to the first mandate given to My Apostles, are still too few.
Offer yourself so that others may find their way to My altars
and learn that there is no sweetness, no comfort, and no presence
like the sweetness, the comfort, and the presence
that I offer them in the Most Holy Sacrament,
which they themselves consecrate for My Church.

Share . . . this desire of My Heart for priests who will keep watch close to My altars,
and abide in My presence,
even if this means forsaking things that are, in themselves, innocent, and good, and gratifying.
The hour is late.
Soon there will be no time left
to offer Me the prayer and companionship
that I have always sought and still seek from my priests.
I say this not to cause panic or fright,
but because priests must begin to realize
that what I asked of My Apostles in Gethsemani perdures
– and it is My request, here and now –
and it is no less urgent today than it was in that awful night in Gethsemani.
Let them begin to carry out the first request I made to My priests,
the first mandate I gave them: to watch and to pray.
Only then will they live to see the splendour of My glory on the day of My return.

From In Sinu Iesu, The Journal of a Priest

Holy Tuesday

"Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow me later. Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times."

John 13:36, 38

We must experience the love of God before we can follow Jesus with an undivided heart. Peter loved Jesus and earnestly desired to follow him, but he did not yet know the depth of Jesus' love for him and his own love had not yet matured through suffering. Jesus' first instruction to his disciples after he commanded them love one another as I have loved you was watch and pray, to remain close to him although he would be taken away. This is our instruction also, our induction into the school of love, to watch and pray, remaining by Jesus' side before and above all else.

Chant:

Ave verum corpus, natum de Maria Virgine, vere passum, immolatum in cruce pro homine,
Hail, true Body, born of the Virgin Mary, having truly suffered, sacrificed on the cross for mankind,

cuius latus perforatum fluxit aqua et sanguine: esto nobis praegustatum mortis in examine.
whose pierced side flowed with water and blood: be for us a foretaste [of Heaven] in the trial of death.

O Jesu dulcis, O Jesu pie, O Jesu, fili Mariae.
O sweet Jesus, O loving Jesus, O Jesus, Son of Mary.

Holy Monday

Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil.    John 12:3

Acts of penance cannot impress the Lord or win pardon for sins; it is only as signs of a contrite and humbled spirit that the actions accompanying our repentance are pleasing sacrifices.

Psalm 51 [50]
Miserere mei, Deus, secundum magnam misericordiam tuam; 
Have mercy on me, O God, according to thy great mercy. 

et secundum multitudinem miserationum tuarum dele iniquitatem meam.
and according to the multitude of thy mercies blot out my iniquity.

Amplius lava me ab iniquitate mea et a peccato meo munda me. 
Wash me yet more from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. 

Quoniam iniquitatem meam ego cognosco, et peccatum meum contra me est semper.
For my iniquity I know, and my sin is before me always.

Tibi soli peccavi et malum coram te feci, ut iustificeris in sermonibus tuis et vincas cum iudicaveris. 
To thee only have I sinned, and have done evil before thee: that thou mayst be justified in thy words and mayst overcome when thou art judged. 

Ecce enim in iniquitatibus conceptus sum, et in peccatis concepit me mater mea.
For behold in iniquities I was conceived, and in sins did my mother conceive me.

Ecce enim veritatem dilexisti: incerta et occulta sapientiae tuae manifestasti mihi. 
For behold thou hast loved truth: the uncertain and hidden things of thy wisdom thou hast made manifest to me. 

Asperges me hysopo, et mundabor; lavabis me, et super nivem dealbabor.
Thou shalt sprinkle me with hyssop, and I shall be cleansed: thou shalt wash me, and I shall be made whiter than snow.

Auditui meo dabis gaudium et laetitiam, et exultabunt ossa humiliata.
To my hearing thou shalt give joy and gladness, and the bones that have been humbled shall rejoice. 

Averte faciem tuam a peccatis meis et omnes iniquitates meas dele.
Turn away thy face from my sins, and all my iniquities blot out.

Cor mundum crea in me, Deus, et spiritum firmum innova in visceribus meis. 
A clean heart create in me, O God, and renew a right spirit within my bowels. 

Ne proicias me a facie tua et spiritum sanctum tuum ne auferas a me.
Cast me not away from thy face and thy holy spirit take not from me.

Redde mihi laetitiam salutaris tui et spiritu principale confirma me. 
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and strengthen me with a perfect spirit. 

Docebo iniquos vias tuas, et impii ad te convertentur.
I will teach the unjust thy ways, and the wicked shall be converted to thee.

Libera me de sanguinibus, Deus, Deus salutis meae, et exsultabit lingua mea iustitiam tuam. 
Deliver me from blood, O God, thou God of my salvation, and my tongue shall extol thy justice. 

Domine, labia mea aperies, et os meum annuntiabit laudem tuam.
O Lord, thou wilt open my lips, and my mouth shall declare thy praise.

Quoniam si voluisses sacrificum, dedissem utique; holocaustis non delectaberis.
For if thou hadst desired sacrifice, I would indeed have given it; with burnt offerings thou wilt not be delighted. 

Sacrificium Deo spiritus contribulatus; cor contritum et humiliatum, Deus, non dispicies.
A sacrifice to God is an afflicted spirit: a heart contrite and humbled, O God, thou wilt not despise.

Benigne fac, Domine, in bona voluntate tua Sion; ut aedificentur muri Hierusalem. 
Deal favorably, O Lord, in thy good will with Sion; that the walls of Jerusalem may be built up.

Tunc acceptabis sacrificium iustitiae, oblationes et holocausta; tunc imponent super altare tuum vitulos.
Then shalt thou accept the sacrifice of justice, oblations and whole burnt offerings; then shall they lay calves upon thy altar.

Second Sunday of the Passion

Continually we carry about in our bodies the dying of Jesus, so that in our bodies the life of Jesus may also be revealed.

2 Corinthians 4:10 (Office of Terce)

Why do we speak of Christ's passion, using the same word for love and for unimaginably intense suffering? We love in spite of pain and suffering that accompanies willing the good of another; Christ did not love despite torture, rejection, and suffering, but in the midst of it.

Love is proven by perseverance through struggle, and how much more when the suffering is borne willingly! And what greater love is there than that of him who suffered infinitely, bearing the sins of all? As we enter into the Lord's Passion, let us take time to contemplate deeply the suffering he endured that we may better understand the depths of his love.

Choir:

Glorioses playes
Glorious wounds

Et desiderabam videre vel saltem illud parum de carne Christi quod portaverant clavi in ligno.
And I longed to see at least that little bit of Christ's flesh that the nails had fixed to the wood.
(-Bl. Angela of Foligno)

Ostendit cor suum perforatum quasi ad modum portulae unius parvae laternae, quod ex ipso corde exiverunt radii solares. Immo solaribus radiis clariores!
He showed his heart, perforated like the openings in a small lantern. From his very heart issued forth rays of the sun. No indeed - brighter than the sun's rays!
(-Na Prous Boneta)

Non est aequum, velle solum de melle meo gustare, et non de felle. 
It is unjust to wish to taste only of my honey and not of the gall. 

Si perfecte vis mecum uniri, mente intenta recogita illusiones, opprobia, flagella, mortem, et tormenta, quae pro te sustinui.
If you wish to be perfectly united with me, contemplate deeply the mockery, insults, whippings, death and torments I endured for you.
(-Bl. Margarita, 14th century)