PURCHASED BY HIS BLOOD
by the Priests of the Congregation of St. Paul, 1893
"Christ being come a high-priest of good things to come, by His own blood entered once into the holies, having obtained eternal redemption."--Heb. ix. 11, 12.
Today, dear brethren,
is Passion Sunday. Its very name teaches us that we are drawing near to
the time which is set apart by the Church, for the purpose of keeping
alive in our memories the most marvellous events which the world has
ever known. The time thus set apart is called Holy Week. It does not
begin until next Sunday, but it will be well for us to turn our thoughts
in advance to this most sacred time, and to consider in what way we can
best spend it for the good of our souls.
The first day of Holy Week is Palm Sunday. On this day our Lord entered into the Holy City of Jerusalem, and was greeted with the Hosannas of the very same people who a few days afterwards cried '' Crucify Him! Crucify Him!'' From the entry into Jerusalem the Church calls upon us to follow our Lord step by step, until He reaches the Hill of Calvary; and wishes us to place ourselves in spirit at the foot of the cross to gaze on that blessed and awful sight. She says to us: Go and behold your Lord and your God bleeding with the strokes of the cruel scourge, torn with the thorns which were put upon His sacred head.
Behold Him mocked and jeered at by cruel men; betrayed by one of His Apostles, deserted by the rest. See Him nailed to the accursed tree, raised high in the air like the brazen serpent in the wilderness; behold Him worn out with His awful weight of suffering, bowing His head and giving up the ghost. Listen to His sacred voice praying for His murderers: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Listen to the words of fearful woe, when He seemed abandoned by His Father: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?'' Try during this week to make the sufferings of our Lord real to you, to bring them home to your hearts, to enter into them so as really to feel with and for your suffering Lord! No better way of doing this can be found than the reading in the Holy Gospels the accounts there given of His Passion and Death, provided you read these accounts with attention and devotion.
These are the events of all others which have ever taken place in which we have the deepest possible interest. Our sins are the burden of our lives, they weigh us down and bring us to the ground, they cut us off from the source of light and joy and peace; they fill us with a fearful anxiety as to what awaits us hereafter. How are we to get rid of this burden? How are we to obtain pardon and forgiveness? What grounds of hope and confidence can we find? Were we to look to ourselves and to our efforts alone we might well despair. The sanctity and awful holiness of God might well fill us with fear and trembling.
It is only in the love of God manifested in the death and sufferings of Christ that we can attain the full conviction that we shall be forgiven if we return to Him. ''Surely He hath carried our sorrows: He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His bruises we are healed." This it is which gives to the events of this week an interest greater for each one of us than any other event which has ever taken place. All that took place was caused by us: all that took place was done for us. Therefore, as we dwell devoutly upon these various events, and witness the scenes which took place, the thought which we must ever keep in our minds is: "All this was done for me: our Lord suffered in order to obtain forgiveness for me, in order to wean me from my fondness for sin; in order to bring me to confess my sins with sorrow and true repentance; in order to open to me the gates of heaven."
Many persons are unwilling to give up their sins: some who are willing find it hard to confess their sins. But however much repentance and confession may cost you, did not the grace which is to lead you to repentance and confession cost our Lord a great deal more? Try to spend this holy season so that you may have a keen and lively sense of the bitter and cruel sufferings of Christ: then the time will not have gone by unprofitably, but will have produced fruit both for this life and the next.
The first day of Holy Week is Palm Sunday. On this day our Lord entered into the Holy City of Jerusalem, and was greeted with the Hosannas of the very same people who a few days afterwards cried '' Crucify Him! Crucify Him!'' From the entry into Jerusalem the Church calls upon us to follow our Lord step by step, until He reaches the Hill of Calvary; and wishes us to place ourselves in spirit at the foot of the cross to gaze on that blessed and awful sight. She says to us: Go and behold your Lord and your God bleeding with the strokes of the cruel scourge, torn with the thorns which were put upon His sacred head.
Behold Him mocked and jeered at by cruel men; betrayed by one of His Apostles, deserted by the rest. See Him nailed to the accursed tree, raised high in the air like the brazen serpent in the wilderness; behold Him worn out with His awful weight of suffering, bowing His head and giving up the ghost. Listen to His sacred voice praying for His murderers: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Listen to the words of fearful woe, when He seemed abandoned by His Father: "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?'' Try during this week to make the sufferings of our Lord real to you, to bring them home to your hearts, to enter into them so as really to feel with and for your suffering Lord! No better way of doing this can be found than the reading in the Holy Gospels the accounts there given of His Passion and Death, provided you read these accounts with attention and devotion.
These are the events of all others which have ever taken place in which we have the deepest possible interest. Our sins are the burden of our lives, they weigh us down and bring us to the ground, they cut us off from the source of light and joy and peace; they fill us with a fearful anxiety as to what awaits us hereafter. How are we to get rid of this burden? How are we to obtain pardon and forgiveness? What grounds of hope and confidence can we find? Were we to look to ourselves and to our efforts alone we might well despair. The sanctity and awful holiness of God might well fill us with fear and trembling.
It is only in the love of God manifested in the death and sufferings of Christ that we can attain the full conviction that we shall be forgiven if we return to Him. ''Surely He hath carried our sorrows: He was wounded for our iniquities, He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and by His bruises we are healed." This it is which gives to the events of this week an interest greater for each one of us than any other event which has ever taken place. All that took place was caused by us: all that took place was done for us. Therefore, as we dwell devoutly upon these various events, and witness the scenes which took place, the thought which we must ever keep in our minds is: "All this was done for me: our Lord suffered in order to obtain forgiveness for me, in order to wean me from my fondness for sin; in order to bring me to confess my sins with sorrow and true repentance; in order to open to me the gates of heaven."
Many persons are unwilling to give up their sins: some who are willing find it hard to confess their sins. But however much repentance and confession may cost you, did not the grace which is to lead you to repentance and confession cost our Lord a great deal more? Try to spend this holy season so that you may have a keen and lively sense of the bitter and cruel sufferings of Christ: then the time will not have gone by unprofitably, but will have produced fruit both for this life and the next.