DAY 30 OF 33 TOTAL CONSECRATION

Begin With The Following Prayers:

Come Holy Ghost...

The Holy Rosary...

The Magnificat...

Matthew 27:36-44

And they sat and watched him. And they put over his head his cause written: THIS IS JESUS THE KING OF THE JEWS. Then were crucified with him two thieves: one on the right hand, and one on the left. And they that passed by, blasphemed him, wagging their heads, And saying: Vah, thou that destroyest the temple of God, and in three days dost rebuild it: save thy own self: if thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. In like manner also the chief priests, with the scribes and ancients, mocking, said: He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the king of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. He trusted in God; let him now deliver him if he will have him; for he said: I am the Son of God. And the selfsame thing the thieves also, that were crucified with him, reproached him with.

Imitation of Christ, by Thomas á Kempis: Book 2, Chapter 12

Of the King's High Way of the Holy Cross

Unto many this seemeth an hard saying, "Deny thyself, take up thy cross, and follow Jesus" (Matt. 16:24). But much harder will it be to hear that last word, "Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire" (Matt. 25:41). For they who now willingly hear and follow the word of the Cross, shall not then fear (Psalm 112:7) to hear the sentence of everlasting damnation. This sign of the Cross shall be in the heaven, when the Lord shall come to judgment (Matt. 24:30). Then all the servants of the Cross, who in their life-time conformed themselves unto Christ crucified, shall draw near unto Christ the Judge with great confidence.

Why therefore fearest thou to take up the Cross which leadeth thee to a kingdom? In the Cross is salvation, in the Cross is life, in the Cross is protection against our enemies, in the Cross is infusion of heavenly sweetness, in the Cross is strength of mind, in the Cross joy of spirit, in the Cross the height of virtue, in the Cross the perfection of holiness.

Take up therefore thy Cross and follow Jesus (Luke 14:27), and thou shalt go into life everlasting.

Meditation: The Seven Words Spoken on the Cross

by St Robert Bellarmine

Christ Jesus, the Word of the Eternal Father, of Whom the Father Himself hath spoken, "Hear ye Him,"[1] and Who hath said of Himself, "For One is your Master, Christ,"[2] in order to perform the task He had undertaken, never ceased from instructing us. Not only during His life, but even in the arms of death, from the pulpit of the Cross, He preached to us words few in number, but burning with love, most useful and efficacious, and in every way worthy to be engraven on the heart of every Christian, to be preserved there, meditated upon, and fulfilled literally and in deed. His first word is this, "And Jesus said: Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."[3] Which prayer, as though it were altogether new and unheard of before, the Holy Spirit wished to be foretold by the Prophet Isaias in these words: "And He prayed for the evil doers."[4] And the petitions of our Lord on the Cross prove how truly the Apostle St. Paul spoke when he said: " Charity seeketh not her own,"[5] for of the seven words our Redeemer spoke three were for the good of others, three for His own good, and one was common both to Himself and to us. His first care, however, was for others. He thought of Himself last.

Of the first three words which He spoke, the first was for His enemies, the second for His friends, the third for His relations. Now, the reason why He thus prayed, is that the first demand of charity is to succour those who are in want: and those who were then most in want of spiritual succour were His enemies; and what we also, the disciples of so great a Master, stand most in need of is to love our enemies, a virtue which we know is most difficult to be obtained and rarely to be met with, whereas the love of our friends and relations is easy and natural, increases with our years, and often predominates more than it ought. Wherefore the Evangelist wrote, "And Jesus said:"[6] where the word and shows the time and the occasion of this prayer for His enemies, and places in contrast the words of the Sufferer and the words of the executioners, His works and their works; as though the Evangelist would explain himself more fully thus: they were crucifying the Lord, and in His very presence were dividing His garments amongst them, they mocked and defamed Him as a seducer and a liar; whilst He, seeing what they were doing, hearing what they were saying, and suffering the most acute pains in His Hands and Feet, returned good for evil and prayed; " Father, forgive them."

He calls Him "Father," not God or Lord, because He wished Him to exercise the benignity of a Father and not the severity of a Judge; and as He desired to avert the anger of God, which He knew was aroused at their enormous crimes, He uses the tender name of Father. The word Father appears to contain in itself this request: I, Thy Son, in the midst of all My torments have pardoned them; do you likewise, My Father, extend your pardon to them. Although they deserve it not, still pardon them for the sake of Me, your Son. Remember, too, that you are their Father, since you have created them, and made them to your own image and likeness. Show them therefore a Father's love, for although they are wicked, they are nevertheless your children.

Reflection: The Eternal Happiness Of The Saints - St. Robert Bellarmine pg. 46

CHAPTER VIII. ON CHARITY, WHICH IS THE THIRD GATE.

LET us now speak of charity, which is the court of the heavenly gate. Charity is the queen of virtues, and on one side seems boundless, because it extends to God, to the angels, to men even those who may be unknown to us, and our enemies; but, on the other side it is made " narrow," on account of the incredible difficulties it brings along with it, since its precepts are to be observed, not only in word and in tongue, but "in deed and in truth." For what, I ask, doth this queen command? First, that we love God " with our whole heart, with our whole soul, with our whole strength." We are reduced to great difficulties when we endeavour to fulfil these commands. For, to love God with our whole heart and strength, what else is it but a true and earnest love? “With our whole heart and soul” signifies that our love must be real, not feigned; not in word and in tongue, as St. James saith, but in word and in deed. With our whole strength" signifies that our love of God ought to be supreme. The force of the precept, therefore, consists in loving God with a true and perfect love, so that we should prefer nothing before Him, but be prepared with the patriarch Abraham, if the glory of God required it, to sacrifice our only begotten and most beloved son. And not this merely; but also, as our Lord commands us in the Gospel, to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, even our own soul, and to renounce all that we possess: that is, we should be ready to be deprived of all these things with such promptitude as we should have, if we hated them in reality.

This is truly a severe command, and who can understand it? But how easily will men be found, and these not a few, who would rather renounce God and his promises than their riches and temporal honours, and much less their life or that of their sons! St. Cyprian, in his Treatise on the " Lapsed” beareth testimony, that in the primitive Church, when the fire of charity was much more ardent than now, there were many deserters, who preferred their riches and their lives before God; and Eusebius, in his Ecclesiastical History, testifies the same. But what shall we say of charity towards our neighbours? What doth charity command us to do with regard to our neighbours? That we love them as we love ourselves; and that what we wish to be done to ourselves, we do to our neighbours also. Who therefore is there, being much in need, would not wish the rich to give him something out of their superabundance?

DAY 30 OF 33 TOTAL CONSECRATION

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