4 April 2012: Wednesday in Holy Week

On this eve of Holy Thursday the princes and doctors of the nation, gathered in council under Caiphas, have determined to put our Lord to death. Judas had agreed to betray him to them for thirty pieces of silver.
Jesus, as usual, taught in the Temple, and denounced the Pharisees who misled the people by an outward semblance of virtue and religion.
“Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint, dill and cummin, and have neglected weightier matters of the law: justice, mercy and faith. ... blind guides who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel; ... you are like white-washed tombs, outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s bones and all filth.” (cf Mt 23:23-7)
Did our Lord address these bitter reproaches to the Pharisees alone? Did he have in mind Christians who are prone to scruples and accuse themselves of trifles, while they ignore grave omissions in the discharge of their duties? Truly, when they examine their conscience, ‘strain out a gnat and swallow a camel’.
Are there not others who only care for appearances, who wish to be virtuous in the eyes of men, while in the sight of heaven they are unclean and mere whited sepulchres? Do we belong to either of these two classes?
In general, hypocrites loudly censure others, while they allow themselves great liberties. The Pharisees belonged to this class.
Our Lord again denounced them, saying, “... you hypocrites, you shut the kingdom of heaven against men! You neither enter nor allow those who were entering to do so.” (cf Mt 23:13) “... they bind heavy and oppressive loads, lay them on men’s shoulders, but will not lift a finger to move them.” (cf Mt 23:4)
We condemn the conduct of these hypocritical Pharisees, as did our Lord; but are we not disposed to exact as much from others, our subordinates, which we do not consider is required of us? Do we practise what we teach?
Jesus also condemned the Pharisees for their pride and self-interest. Doing all their works to be seen by men; they make their phylacteries* broad, and enlarge their fringes. They love first places at feasts, and first chairs in synagogues; while they devour the houses of widows. “They will receive the greater judgment.” (Mk 12:40)
The world often complains that some Christians are proud and self-interested. May we never give it any excuse for such reproaches. Let us carefully examine our conscience regarding our intentions, words, and behavior before God.
Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp753-5

(*Little boxes containing Scripture texts bound to the forehead and left arm when the Jews say their prayers. [In Juan MH Ledesma, SJ, STD, “The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ”, p233])

Jesus meets His Mother
‘In the Way of the Cross’, we meditate on the meeting of Jesus with his mother in one of the narrow streets where the cruel procession passed. Jesus stopped for a moment.
“With immense love Mary looks at Jesus, and Jesus at his Mother. Their eyes meet, and each heart pours into the other its own deep sorrow. Mary’s soul is steeped in bitter grief, the grief of Jesus Christ.
“O all you that pass by the way, look and see, was there ever a sorrow to compare with my sorrow? (Lamentations 1:12) But no one notices, no one pays any attention: only Jesus ...
“In the dark loneliness of the Passion, Our Lady offers her Son a comforting balm of tenderness, of union, of faithfulness: a ‘yes’ to the divine will. Hand in hand with Mary, you and I also want to console Jesus, by accepting always and in everything the Will of his Father, of our Father.
“The Lord continues on his way, and Mary accompanies him a few yards behind, right up to Calvary. Simeon’s prophecy is being fulfilled to the letter. What man would not weep seeing the Mother of Christ in such a cruel torment?” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “The Way of the Cross”, Fourth Station)
Her Son so stricken ... we, cowards, keep our distance, not wanting to accept the Will of God. My Mother and Lady, teach me how to pronounce a ‘Yes’, which, like yours, will identify with the cry Jesus made before his Father: “not my will but God’s be done” (cf Lk 22:42).
When we suffer pain or affliction, when these are all the more piercingly severe, we turn to Our Lady, to the ‘Mater dolorosa’, to implore her to strengthen us and so we may learn to sanctify them with peace and serenity.
Ref: Cf F Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:272-3

Not Momentary Practices but Constant Attitudes
During Lent we often hear directed at us these words: ‘prayer’, ‘fasting’, ‘almsgiving’.
We are accustomed to think of these things as good, pious works, which every Christian ought to do at this time above all. This is a correct, but incomplete way of thinking.
Prayer, almsgiving and fasting require to be more deeply understood. If we wish to bring them more into our lives, it is not simply as passing practices but ‘constant attitudes of mind’, which give lasting form to our conversion to God.
We mature spiritually by converting to God, and conversion is effected through prayer as well as through fasting and almsgiving, properly understood. As a liturgical season, Lent lasts only forty days in each year; but we have to stretch out to God always, that is, converting continually.
Lent ought to leave a strong and indelible imprint on our lives. It ought to renew the knowledge in us of our union with Jesus Christ, who makes us see the need for conversion and shows us the way to accomplish it.
Prayer, fasting and almsgiving are exactly the way pointed out to us by Christ.
Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, pp145-6

• Our Lady of Grace, in Normandy. This image is very famous in the country, and people from all parts come to venerate it. — Archives of the Church. (“Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar; www.bethlehemobserver.com)
• Our Lady of Grace, Normandy, France. (www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html); (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html); (www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/calendar/index.html)
• “Notre Dame de Grace”. Normandy, France. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm)