20 March 2013 5th Week of Lent -- Wednesday Jesus is silent before Pilate The first accusations by the Jews were vague and false. Pilate rejected them and declared Jesus innocent. Some points were beneath our Lord’s dignity to merit a reply. The sanctity of his life answered for him and proved his divinity. Despite efforts to appear human, his answers to the judge revealed his divinity. Happy is the man whose conduct is a conclusive defence against the false accusations of the wicked and envious! Happier still if his conscience bears witness to his constant effort to be spotless before God. The astonishment of Pilate was not surprising. It was natural for an accused to defend himself before a tribunal from which there was no appeal, and whose death was eagerly sought. Particularly when the judge favors his cause. But Jesus was silent. Pilate could not understand the calm dignity of our Lord’s silence. We are better off than Pilate, for we know why Jesus was silent. He was determined to die for us. Having manifested the truth, he would not say a single word to save his life. By his silence he chose to expiate our sins of the tongue, and to teach us to avoid an angry reply to whoever wounds our feelings, or injures us. After Pilate had acknowledged the innocence of Jesus, his duty was to silence the accusers, and dismiss them with the contempt they deserved. This he dared not do. The Jews, perceiving his weakness, pressed their advantage. They succeeded in besieging him to grant what was against his conscience. The devil treats us in this same way. Once he sees us hesitating between God and creatures, or conscience and our passions, he takes advantage of our weakness, and grows bolder than ever. His arguments deafen our ears. He terrifies us with imaginary difficulties, and gives us no peace till we consent to sin. Let us be aware of our weakness; and reasonably in fear of the tempter, never yield a bit. We must firmly resist his first suggestions, arming ourselves, as the Apostle says, with the shield of faith and prayer. Ref: Cf “Practical Meditations” by a Father of the Society of Jesus, 1964, pp129-31 Love of God God expects from each one of us an unconditional response to his love for us. Our love for God is shown in numerous little incidents of each day. We love God through our work done well, how we live our family life, our social interactions, the use we make of our leisure time. Everything can be converted into a deed of love. “While we carry out as perfectly as we can (with all our mistakes and limitations) the tasks allotted to us by our situation and duties, our soul longs to escape. It is drawn towards God like iron drawn by a magnet. One begins to love Jesus in a more effective way, with the sweet and gentle surprise of his encounter.” (St Josemaria Escrivá, “Friends of God”, 296) “... all sorts of setbacks are encountered as difficult by those who do not love; those who do love, on the contrary, find them trivial and easily manageable. There is no suffering, however cruel or violent it may be, which is not made bearable or even reduced to nothing by love.” (St Augustine, “Sermon 70”) Our love for God has to be supreme and absolute. Within this love all the noble loves of the earth are found, according to each one’s vocation and with naturalness. “It would not be fair to say ‘either God or man’. They ought to love ‘God and man’ ... In other words, love for God is certainly dominant, but is not exclusive. ...” (John Paul I, ‘General Audience’, 27 Sept 1978) Love for God is necessarily shown in love for others; in the way we live charity with whoever are with us everyday. “In this they will know you are my disciples ...” (Jn 13:35) In refined dealings with others; in mutual respect. In thinking favorably of others, in helping in little things at home or at work, in a loving and appropriate fraternal correction, in prayer for the one who needs it most ... Let us ask Our Lady to teach us to respond to the love of her Son, so that we may also know how to love, with deeds, her other children who are our brothers. Ref: Cf Francis Fernandez, “In Conversation with God”, 2:148-150 Remembrance and Challenge Lent reminds us of the way the Lord pointed out by His forty days’ fast at the beginning of his messianic mission. It also reminds us — at whatever point one may be on his earthly path — one must detach oneself from the “threefold desires” (cf 1 Jn 2:16), “works of the flesh” (Gal 5:19), which “oppose the Holy Spirit” (Acts 7:51), and so leave room for “the fruit of the spirit” (Gal 5:22), by following Christ in prayer and fasting, so far as one is capable. If, therefore, we feel ourselves to be in that unity with Christ which makes us remember the very name of Christian, we cannot admit that this exceptional period in the Church’s life does not stand out in some way in our lives ... Let us live the spirit of penitence better. Let us remember that the Christ of Lent is above all the Christ who awaits us in every suffering person, He who urges us to love and judges according to what we have done for even one only of our weaker brethren. Lent is therefore, not only remembrance, but also continual ‘challenge’. Entering into this period and living it in the spirit which the oldest and ever-living tradition of the Church transmits to us, means: opening up our consciences; letting Christ Himself open them for us with the word of His Gospel, above all with the eloquence of His Cross. Lent is thus an exceptional occasion for saving ‘the inner being’ in each of us (cf Eph 3:16). He is often forgotten, yet he is created “in justice and holiness” (Eph 4:24) through the operation of the Sufferings and the Resurrection of Christ. Ref: Cf Pope John Paul II, “Prayers and Devotions”, 1994, p114 • Our Lady of Calevoirt, at Uckelen, near Bussels. This image began to work miracles in the year 1454, which induced the erection of a magnificent chapel in honor of Our Blessed Lady, in the year 1623. The Infanta of Spain, Isabella Clara Eugenia, devoutly visited it the same year.—(Aub. Miraeus, in Annalis Belgicis.) “Catholic Gems or Treasures of the Church” Historical Calendar (http://www.bethlehemobserver.com) • Our Lady of Calevourt. Uckelen, Belgium. 1454. (www.marylinks.org/Mary-Calendar.htm) • Our Lady of Calevourt, near Brussels, Belgium (1454) (http://www/divinewill.org/feastsofourlady.html); (www.iskandar.com/ourlady/ourladyfeasts.html) • Our Lady of Calevoirt (Uckelen, near Brussels). (maryfest.htm / www.starharbor.com/santiago/m_feasts.html)