Stations of the Cross from the Maronite Archbishop of Syria - Independent Catholic News

 COMMENT: Hours of the Passion
Making the Stations of the Cross in Lent - there seem to be different views  on Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus. Among the mystics: Luisa Piccarreta, "Simon unwilling and grumbling, not by love but by force", Maria  Valtorta, "the man from Cyrene, strong man, about forty standing near donkey and his sons sons... the man from Cyrene feels such pity, as he sees that Mary cannot embrace Her Son..."
Prayer and meditation of the Twenty Hours of Jesus Passion, 5 PM to 4 PM.

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At Rome, the Station is in the church of St. Anastasia, where, formerly, the Mass of the Aurora on Christmas Day was celebrated. The first church was built in the late 3rd or early 4th century, and was one of the first parish churches of ancient Rome. It was given by a woman called Anastasia and called titulus Anastasiae after her. Later, it was dedicated to a martyr of the same name.

Catholic Culture: Stational Church Rome

Stations of the Cross from the Maronite Archbishop of Syria - Independent Catholic News    

Stations of the Cross from the Maronite Archbishop of Syria

By: Antonia Moffat

Posted: Monday, February 23, 2015 6:02 pm

This Lent,  Archbishop Samir Nassar, the Maronite Archbishop of Damascus, has sent us Meditations on the Stations of the Cross in his capacity as Episcopal Shepherd of the Syrian Commission for the Family. They are deeply moving and I hope that you will appreciate them and encourage the Parishes to pray them in solidarity with the Persecuted Church. Syria has now entered a 5th year of continuous war .. there is nothing more to say .. and in presenting us with the Stations of the Cross the Archbishop of Damascus. “Blessed Are They Who are Persecuted for justice, the Kingdom of Heaven is theirs.”   Matthew 5:10 The Way of the CROSS Meditation for refugee and homeless families in the Middle East FIRST STATION: JESUS IS ​​SENTENCED TO DEATH “Pilate delivers Jesus to be crucified.” Mt. 15:12-13 An innocent man condemned to death. What injustice! Lord, our families feel their suffering with you, innocent victims in your image, through violence and persecution. They are forced to leave homes, schools, parishes, towns, neighbors, friends, and cemeteries, to live in refugee camps of misery and indifference. Pilate is always there to feed injustice. Lord, enlighten the minds of these “judges” and make us messengers of justice. Amen. SECOND STATION: JESUS ​​CARRIES THE CROSS “ ..then they led him away to crucify him ..” Mk. 15:20 Jesus is taken to the soldiers, he “through whom all things were made and nothing was made without him,” (Jn. 1:3) lowers his head and walks humiliated, carrying the cross, defenseless. Lord Jesus, the force of evil is still rampant and destroys. Lord you identified with the weak, look at our fragile families, humiliated and torn by violence. They are victims of injustice as you were. Give them the strength to carry the cross, to keep the faith, and to hope in you. Amen. THIRD STATION: JESUS ​​FALLS FOR THE FIRST TIME “He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities.” Isaiah 53:5 He who brings peace to the world is wounded by our sins and falls under the burden of our sins. Lord we are crushed by the weight of the cross and the great desolation around us. Our selfishness and weakness pulls us down. Lord, lift us from our falls and direct our mind back to your truth. Amen FOURTH STATION: JESUS ​​MEETS HIS MOTHER “And a sword will pierce your own soul.” Luke 2:35; Isaiah 53.5 Wounded and suffering, carrying the cross of humanity, Jesus meets his mother and the face of all humanity. In this mutual suffering between son and mother a new humanity is born. O Mary, Mother of God, you saw your son suffer. Help our moms who are deprived of their children, whose children suffer and die alone away from them. In our daily life children and parents are hurting mutually. Help us Lord to transform our families and homelands into spaces of love and serenity in the image of the Holy Family. Amen FIFTH STATION: SIMON OF ​​CYRENE HELPS JESUS TO CARRY HIS CROSS “..they laid the cross on him and he carried it behind Jesus.” Luke 23:26 This silent encounter between Jesus and Simon of Cyrene is a life lesson. Two eyes met in a silent speech that says a lot. Suffering received in faith traces a path of salvation. Lord, our families are left alone in their misery. They are waiting for a hand, a heart, a “Simon of Cyrene” that you send in the wilderness. Amen. SIXTH STATION: VERONICA WIPES THE FACE OF JESUS ​​ “Your face, O Lord, I seek. Do not hide your face from me.” Ps. 27:8-9 Veronica makes a strong symbolic gesture. She wipes the pain of your face in a gesture of faith that expresses her love for you. In Christian tradition this face is still seen on Veronica’s veil. Who will wipe away the wounded faces of our brothers, our mothers who weep for their children, and their distress? God grant that we see your face in that of the poor, persecuted, and innocent victims of violence and injustice. Amen. SEVENTH STATION: JESUS ​​FALLS FOR THE SECOND TIME “Be not far from me, for trouble is near; for there is none to help.” Psalm 22: 8-12 This second fall under the cross is a sign of loneliness in suffering. Injustice and violence pound the lowly people into the abyss. Your loneliness, Lord, joined the isolation of the poor victims of the world’s selfishness. Come Holy Spirit to comfort, strengthen and sow hope in the hearts the oppressed so that, united to Christ, they may be witnesses of his universal love. Amen. EIGHTH STATION: JESUS ​​MEETS THE WOMEN OF JERUSALEM “Daughters of Jerusalem weep not for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children.” Luke 23:27-28 These women saw in the cross a curse. The Lord saw redemption, the taking away of sins, and consolation for the oppressed. The eyes of the women were open to the truth of Easter. Lord, our wounded moms who are suffering, need your consolation and comfort. O suffering Christ, be peace and balm for their wounds. Amen. NINTH STATION: JESUS ​​FALLS FOR THE THIRD TIME “For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again.” Cor. 5: 14-15 Jesus falls under the cross for the third time and, despite his exhaustion, he seeks to get up again. Lord this exhausted and weakened people gathers strength to get up in vain. Our divisions are deep even in the Church as we work for Christian unity. Lord, help us to get up and walk the path of forgiveness and unity that flows from your saving suffering. Amen. TENTH STATION: JESUS ​​IS STRIPPED OF HIS CLOTHING “…they divided my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing.” Ps 22:19 Lord you carry our humanity. The many victims of indiscriminate violence are poor and can only join you in your liberating suffering and your infinite love. Lord, to our poor refugees who encounter various difficulties, give strength to overcome fear and remain committed to this holy land which empties of Christian witnesses to your word. Lord, teach us to detach from material goods so as to live in your evangelical poverty. Amen ELEVENTH STATION: JESUS IS ​​NAILED TO THE CROSS “Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews.” John 19:19 Lord Jesus, you were crucified for our sins. The blows of the hammer echo in our hearts. Our children are martyred, killed with savagery, in aimless violence. These oppressed young people are close your cross. Lord, may your liberating suffering release these young people and families from slavery so they may discover your divine face. Amen. TWELTH STATION: Jesus Dies on the Cross “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Luke 23:46 This cry of abandonment breaks the silence and opens the way to freedom. The whole meaning of the cross takes its value from this saving suffering. These innocent victims did not die for nothing. By your death Lord, you opened the door of the kingdom of eternal life. Death does not defeat us. Death introduces us to the Resurrection. Lord, open the hearts of those who endanger the lives of others to discover the value of human life, a reflection of your divinity. Amen. THIRTEENTH STATION: JESUS ​​GIVES US HIS MOTHER “He said to the disciple, behold your mother.” Jn. 19:26 Lord Jesus, the one who loves you stands beside you. Mary is the model of this love, the model of faith. O Mary, our Mother, we place in your hands our martyrs, our refugees, those unjustly tortured, hated and excluded. We entrust to you, our dear Mother, children without schools, the sick who are untended, and our homeless refugees. Ask the Lord that the blood of innocent victims is made the seed of a new society, peaceful and just. Amen FOURTEENTH STATION: JESUS ​​IS LAID IN THE TOMB “They took the body of Jesus and wrapped it in linen.” Jn. 19:39 Nicodemus gratefully receives the body of Jesus, prepares it for burial and lays it in the tomb. Jesus crucified abandons himself completely into human hands, perfectly united with humanity in all things. Indeed, by his death we are buried with him so as to rise to new life with him. These tombs of darkness await your spring Lord, the light of the Resurrection. Give us the grace to choose your redeeming cross, to keep faith and hope. Lord, make us children of the light who no longer fear the darkness. Make our cross lead to forgiveness, reconciliation and peace in the light of your Resurrection. Amen. All Rights Reserved: Episcopal Commission for the Family in Syria. Translation: Sr. Margaret Kerry, fsp Original French: Maronite Bishop Samir of Syria

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Simon of Cyrene  https://lordofsick.wordpress.com/2014/11/05/fifth-station-simon-cyrene-helps-jesus-carry-the-cross/   

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross

 NOVEMBER 5, 2014 BY MATHUKUTTY P V

1

Station V Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry the cross

PRAYER

Leader: We adore you, O Christ, and we praise you.
All: Because by your holy cross You have redeemed the world.

Jesus, the soldiers are becoming impatient. This is taking longer than they wanted it to. They are afraid you won’t make it to the hill where you will be crucified. As you grow weaker, they grab a man out of the crowd and make him help carry your cross. He was just watching what was happening, but all of a sudden he is helping you carry your cross.

As a child, sometimes I see people who need my help. Sometimes I pretend not to hear when my parents call me. I disappear when I know others could use my help.

As an adult, sometimes I try to do as little as I can and still get by. Others might need my help, but I ignore their needs. Even when I’m asked to help, I sometimes claim to be too busy.

My Jesus, blest, thrice blest was he who aided Thee to bear the cross. Blest too shall I be if I aid Thee to bear the cross, by patiently bowing my neck to the crosses Thou shalt send me during life. My Jesus, give me grace to do so.

Our Father…. Hail Mary…. Glory be to the Father….

Leader: Jesus Christ Crucified.
All: Have mercy on Us.
Leader: May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, Rest in peace.
All: Amen.

Heart touching devotional song narrating about the station in this video is written by Fr. Abel C.M.I. in Malayalam Language of Kerala State, India. All viewers may not understand the meaning of the lyrics, but the music will surely touch your heart. This video also contain short narration and images of some of the places like, Gethsemane, Golgotha, Jerusalem, Tomb of Jesus etc. These informations and images are collected from Internet. I am not sure about the correctness of the same. Aim of the video is to make the people to think about the burdens and sorrows Jesus took for us.

If possible, it is good to pray and meditate Way of the Cross daily which will give peace and happiness in mind and also protect from Satan and Sin.

May the crucified Jesus Bless you and your family.

Other Stations of the Cross 

Way of the Cross – Introduction                                         

Way of the Cross – Start

Station I Jesus is condemned to death 

Station II Jesus Carries His Cross 

Station III Jesus falls the first time                                        

Station IV Jesus meets his mother  

Station VI Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

Station VII Jesus falls the second time                                

Station VIII Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem

Station IX Jesus falls the third time                                   

Station X Jesus’ clothes are taken away

Station XI Jesus is nailed to the cross                                 

Station XII Jesus dies on the cross

Station XIII Jesus is taken down from the cross                    

Station XIV Jesus is laid in the tomb

Way of the Cross – Lokathil Aanjuveeshi

Fr. Nivard Friday after Ash Wed

Lent Mass
COMMENT:
Sr. Noreen attended the 21 Feb 2015 'Oasis' day of Retreat. She gave us the interesting account of the sharing. And below we see the illustration of the Levi (Matt) Carravaggio.

 Fw; Frid after Ash Wed

----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Nivard ....
...

Sent: Saturday, 21 February 2015, 15:45
Subject: Frid after Ash Wed

www.dailyscripture.net, adapted Copyright author Don Schwager © 2015 Servants of the Word

Ash Frid 20 Feb 2015 Mt 9:14-1534 

Fasting for the kingdom of God.

   What kind of fasting is pleasing to God?

   Fasting can be done for a variety of reasons - to gain freedom from some bad habit, addiction, or vice, to share in the suffering of those who go without, or to grow in our hunger for God and for the things of heaven.   

   Basil the Great wrote: Take heed that you do not make fasting to consist only in abstinence from meats. True fasting is to refrain from vice.

   Pardon your neighbors. Forgive them their trespasses.

   Let us hunger to know God more, to grow in his holiness, and to live the abundant life of grace he offers us.

  

With St Augustine we pray,

   Father in heaven, work upon us, set us on fire and clasp us close.

   Be fragrant to us, draw us to your loveliness, let us love, let us run to you, through Christ our Lord.

21 February- 2015 Saturday after Ash Wednesday

Today's Theme ‘Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?' ...Lk 5:30 ScriptureReflectionStoryActionPrayerMeditation Scripture reading: Luke 5: 27-32 (The Call of Levi.....Carravaggio) Jesus he noticed a tax collector, Levi by name, sitting by the customs house, and said to him, 'Follow me'.  And leaving everything he got up and followed him. In his honour Levi held a great reception in his house, and with them at table was a large gathering of tax collectors and others.The Pharisees and their scribes complained to his disciples and said,  'Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?'  Jesus said to them in reply,   'It is not those who are well who need the doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the virtuous, but sinners to repentance.' *********************************** General CommentsIsaiah calls out for greater service of God and fellow human beings. Lent gives us the opportunity to jettison much that is unnecessary and unhelpful in our way of life. following of Christ implies a leaving behind of much that causes unhappiness. ***************************

Sancta Maria Abbey: http://www.nunraw.com.uk (Website)  
Blogspot :http://www.nunraw.blogspot.co.uk |

domdonald.org.uk 

Fr Christopher Jamison to present breakfast show on Premier Radio - Independent Catholic News

Consecrated Life,

Inspirational Breakfast

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Monday 23rd February 2015 - 07:00 am

Guest presenter Fr Christopher Jamison will be joining John Pantry. He’s a Benedictine monk and former Abbot of Worth Abbey in West Sussex, whom you may well have seen on the BBC TV series The Monastery. He’ll be with us on the show every Monday throughout Lent. 

On the show we’ll be asking ‘Are there certain areas that Christians should not attempt to pray into without some foreknowledge?’. With the elections coming up, many of us are praying for our leaders and for parliament, which is good. Some Christians are planning on prayer marches to pull down spiritual strongholds in the country. However, are Christians making a mistake when they believe they have the authority to challenge the powers of darkness in the heavenly realms? You may have heard rhetoric about "taking back what the enemy stole" or "possessing the land" that the enemy currently inhabits, but do we have the authority to do this? We’ll be joined by church leader, author and broadcaster Gerald Coates who has some experience in this area.     

 http://www.premierchristianradio.com/Shows/Weekday/Inspirational-Breakfast/Episodes/Inspirational-Breakfast188 

Today’s readings: Psalm 10, John 5: 1 – 18
  Fr Christopher Jamison to present breakfast show on Premier Radio - Independent Catholic News 

Fr Christopher Jamison to present breakfast show on Premier Radio

Posted: Sunday, February 22, 2015 8:28 pm

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There will be a chance to hear Benedictine Fr Christopher Jamison every Monday morning throughout Lent, when he joins ‘Inspirational Breakfast’ on Premier Radio - beginning at 7am on Monday, 23 February. Fr Christopher, former Abbot of Worth Abbey in West Sussex, became a familiar figure following the BBC 2 documentary series ‘The Monastery’. He is also the author of two books: ‘Finding Sanctuary’ -Monastic Steps for Everyday Life, and ‘Finding Happiness’ – Monastic Steps for a Fulfilling Life.' The Australian-born monk will co-host Premier’s ‘Inspirational Breakfast’ show with resident presenter John Pantry, who said today: “Fr Christopher will be the first monk to present a programme on Premier and I look forward to sharing the show with him and our morning listeners.” As the director of the National Office for Vocation, an office of the Roman Catholic Church, since 2010, Fr  Christopher is responsible for creating a culture of vocation throughout the country. He said today: “I love radio, both to listen and to broadcast, but this will be my first experience of presenting on radio. I’m really looking forward to the opportunity to engage with Premier’s listeners who are doing such a fantastic job sustaining this wonderful station.” Premier Christian Radio broadcasts on 1305, 1332, 1431, 1566 MW in London and nationally on DAB and Freeview 725. For more information and to listen online see: http://www.premier.org.uk/

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Coptic Church recognizes martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians - Independent Catholic News - Polycarp Lent: February 23rd

    Coptic Church recognizes martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians - Independent Catholic News   

Coptic Church recognizes martyrdom of 21 Coptic Christians

Posted: Sunday, February 22, 2015 10:30 pm

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The Coptic Orthodox Church has announced that the murder of the 21 Egyptian Christians killed by the so-called Islamic State in Libya will be commemorated in its Church calendar. Pope Tawadros II announced that the names of the martyrs will be inserted into the Coptic Synaxarium, the Oriental Church’s equivalent to the Roman Martyrology. This procedure is also equivalent to canonization in the Latin Church. According to terrasanta.net news service,  the martyrdom of the 21 Christians will be commemorated on the 8th Amshir of the Coptic calendar, or 15 February in the Gregorian calendar. The commemoration falls on the feast day of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple. The names of the martyrs are: 1. Milad Makeen Zaky 2. Abanub Ayad Atiya 3 Maged Solaimen Shehata 4. Yusu Shukry Yunan 5. Kirollos Shokry Fawzy 6. Bishoy Astafanus Kamel 7. Somaily Astafanus Kamel 8. Malak Ibrahim Sinweet 9. Tawadrps Yusuf Tawadros 10. Girgis Milad Sinweet 11. Mina Fayez Aiziz 12. Hany Abdelmesih Salib 13. Bishoy Adel Khalaf 14. Asmeul Alham Wilson 15. Worker from Awr Village 16. Exat Bishri Naseej 17. Loqa Nagaty 18. Gaber Munir Adley 19. Esam Badir Samir​ 20. Malak Farqg Abram 21. Sareen Salah Farug See also: ICN 21 February 2015 - Brother of slain Egyptian Christians prays for their killers http://www.indcatholicnews.com/news.php?viewStory=26787 Source: Terra Santa/SAT   +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lent: February 23rd Memorial of St. Polycarp of Smyrna, bishop and martyr    Read the Golden Legend account of the life of St. Polycarp and this life of St. Polycarp from The Early Church Fathers website. Read an account of his martyrdom. Read St. Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians. The Station is in the basilica of St. Peter in the Vatican, where the people would assemble towards evening, that they might be present at the ordination of the priests and sacred ministers. This day was called Twelve-Lesson-Saturday, because, formerly, twelve passages from the holy Scriptures were read, as upon Holy Saturday. Built by Constantine in 323, the basilica was erected over the place where St. Peter was buried.

http://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2015-02-23

Wednesday Chapter Talk by Br. Barry

 Chapter Talk  

        

Barry Dougan

Feb 18 at 12:45 PM

Wednesday Chapter talk attached.

For good stuff on Evagrius, see ldysinger.com (website of Luke Dysinger O.S.B.).

Barry.

INTRODUCTION.

Chapter 67 of the Rule, ‘Brothers Sent On A Journey’, gives some indication of what ‘enclosure’ meant to Saint Benedict:

‘no-one should relate to anyone else what he saw or heard outside the monastery because that causes the greatest harm’ (v. 5).

Why does it cause the greatest harm?  St. Benedict has already provided the answer, in chapter 4 verse 20: ‘your way of acting should be different from the world’s way’.

That verse is expressed in the Constitutions of our Order thus: ‘those who prefer nothing to the love of Christ make themselves strangers to the actions of the world’. That is from the Constitution on ‘Separation From The World’. ‘Separation’ seems to be the preferred Cistercian expression for enclosure.

STRANGERS 1.

‘Strangers to the actions of the world’ – it was to make themselves such strangers that the Holy Founders of the Cistercians ‘headed for the desert place called Citeaux’ as the Exordium Parvum puts it. (The Exordium Parvum being the first account of the origins of Citeaux).

They understood that ‘the more despicable and unapproachable the place was for seculars, the more suited it was for monastic observance’. The description of Citeaux as a ‘desert’ was quite deliberate, a piece of medieval propaganda or spin. The Cistercians are of course only one example, out of many, of the monastic reform movements of the 11^th and 12^th centuries. Likewise, accounts of starvation diets among pioneer communities took a standard form. St. Stephen Murat, founder of the Grandmontines, more or less contemporary with the first Cistercians and located only about 150 miles from Citeaux, is said to have lived off nothing but nuts, berries and ‘floury dumplings’. As he lived to over 80 years of age, it would be interesting to know what exactly the ingredients of those floury dumplings were.

For the monastic reformers, strict enclosure or separation was a vital element because it represented to them the desert of the Desert Fathers. It was an integral part of their stated desire to return to the origins of monasticism – the inspiration of the Desert Fathers and/or the ‘purity’ of the Rule of Saint Benedict. However, the Cistercian historian Louis Lekai says about this, ‘changes rarely generated universal enthusiasm among monks; therefore those who prepared such moves were compelled to disguise their intentions as attempts to return to certain ancient and hallowed traditions’.

So, concerning the purity of the Rule, as Fr. Hugh pointed out the other week, it was never a question of a literal following of the Rule for the Founders of Citeaux. The Exordium Parvum refers to ‘the monastic observance they had already conceived in their mind’. In other words, their own particular interpretation of the Rule.

The Exordium lists many things which the Founders rejected because they were not found in the Rule; manors, tithes, serfs and so on but in their enthusiasm for introducing laybrothers they conveniently omit to say that St. Benedict makes no mention of laybrothers. Not such a pure interpretation of the Rule after all.

STRANGERS 2.

‘Strangers to the actions of the world’. There are resonances in that phrase with the Proper prayer for the Office of St. Anthony, Father of Monks, which speaks of his ‘strange and wonderful way of life’. It is very insightful of the liturgy to pick out ‘strangeness’ as a defining characteristic of the monastic way of life.

The monk, sad to say, will always be strange to society at large. Although enclosure today is under threat – the Internet, the all-pervasive media, increasing numbers of lay staff – still, the monk has separation thrust upon him whether he likes it or not.

Just by taking up monastic life, entering a monastery, wearing a monastic habit, he becomes a figure of fun or suspicion or even hostility. Let’s face it, he becomes like an alien from outer space to many people.

This can be hard to take, especially in the light of what is perhaps the ultimate purpose of monastic enclosure or separation. This purpose was given its classic expression by the great Desert Father, Evagrius of Pontus. He wrote: ‘the monk is separated from all in order to be united to all’.

In this experience, the monk shares in what happened to the Saviour when ‘he came unto his own and his own received him not’.

COMMENT: Interest of the Melrose interview by Br Barry. 

BBC not currently available.

Our Blogspot illustrations;

BBC 2 TV Melrose Abbey heart in the History Document

28 Apr 2014

Interview at Melrose Abbey. A monk from Nunraw Abbey was invited by historian Rory Stewart, to participate in the production. Br. Barry was warmly welcome by the staff. It can be difficult to open the BBC iPlayer - the pictures ...

http://nunraw.blogspot.com/

Episode 1, Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost ... - BBC

www.bbc.co.uk › Factual › History

Border Country: The Story of Britain's Lost Middleland Episode 1 of 2. For historian and MP Rory Stewart, the building of Hadrian's Wall was the single most   

historian and MP Rory Stewart

  ...

BBC Border Country The Story of Britains Lost Middleland-Episode 2

Sunday Gospel Reflection With Fr. Bill Grimm l Feb 22, 2015

Sunday Gospel Reflection With Fr. Bill Grimm

• International
• February 20, 2015

Published on 18 Feb 2015

The Lord calls us to a change of life, a change we exercise in some small way in Lent as a means of recommitting ourselves at Easter to the big reform we accepted in our baptismal commitment.

Stational Church     

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The Temptation of Christ

Sunday Readings   
The first reading is from the Book of Genesis 9:8-15 and is about the covenant between God and Noah not to destroy the world again by water.

The second reading is from the first letter of St. Peter 3:18-22. In this passage St. Peter is exhorting the newly converted Christians to live according to the Christian faith, no matter what trials they may have to endure because of it.

The Gospel is from St. Mark 1:12-15. The very thought of our divine Lord's suffering hunger, loneliness, and humiliation at the hands of his enemy—and that all this was for us—should make us feel ashamed at the little bits of suffering and humiliation we are willing to suffer for our own selves. He had no sin to atone for. He was making atonement for us and for our sins. He was the Son of God and his home was heaven, but he left it for a while to assume human nature, so that he could through his humiliations and sufferings bring us to share his eternal home with him. What is the thanks he gets from us? Ingratitude, forgetfulness, and even worse: insults and disobedience.

While the Church has eased the strict fastings and penances of Lent, we are still expected to do some private fasting and penance. It need not be fasting from food, but we can all do some daily penance which will help to keep our unruly minds and bodies in check while at the same time it will show that we are grateful to our loving Savior for all that he suffered for us. A few extra prayers each day, control of our temper in the home, less talk and especially less uncharitable talk among our neighbors, a little helping hand to a neighbor in need, a fervent prayer and where we can spare it (perhaps by doing without some luxury) a donation toward helping the starving millions in other lands. The sincere Christian will find a hundred such ways in which to thank and honor Christ during this holy season of Lent. We can all keep the last verse of today's reading before our minds with great profit. "Repent and believe in the gospel." This is the essence, the marrow, of Christ's teaching. Turn away from sin and come back to God. Anyone who believes in the gospel, who believes that there is an everlasting life after death prepared by God for all those who do his will while on earth, should not find it hard to give up offending that loving God who thinks so much of him. This life is only a passing shadow, every step we take, every breath we breathe is bringing us nearer to our earthly end and to the grave. But the believing Christian knows the grave is not the end. Rather, is it the beginning of the true life—provided we use this passing shadow, these few years, properly.

Now is the time to take these words of Christ to heart. He is asking each one of us today, to repent and to believe the gospel, that is, to act according to its teaching. Christ, in his mercy, will make this appeal to men again and again, but will we be here to hear it? If we answer his appeal now and start living our Christian faith in all sincerity, we need not care when death calls us. It will find us ready to pass over to the future, happy, unending life.

— Excerpted from The Sunday Readings by Fr. Kevin O'Sullivan, O.F.M

• Today's Gospel speaks of the temptation of Jesus after his forty days' fast in the desert. After you go to Mass, discuss this reading with your children, emphasizing that temptation itself is not a sin, but we must use the Word of God to combat it, as Christ did. Read the Catholic Encyclopedia's explanation of the Temptation of Christ.

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The Station today is at St. John Lateran. The Lateran is comprised of the Basilica, the Pontifical Palace and the Baptistry. The church is dedicated to the Christ the Savior. In the fifth century the titles of St. John Baptist and St. John the Evangelist were added. The Papal altar contains the wooden altar on which St. Peter is said to have celebrated Mass. This basilica is the mother of all churches and is the only church which has the title of Archbasilica.

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Saturday 21 February

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The station for today is at the church dedicated to St. Augustine of Hippo or S. Agostino in Campo Marzio. Michelangelo was one of the artists commissioned for the decoration of the church. The Renaissance façade, one of the first in this style, is built of travertine marble said to be from the ruins of the Colosseum.