Life without the Eucharist: Day 19
He was nineteen days dying & not yet dead.
'Tis Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, the first day of Holy Week: Palm Sunday-link, Wikipedia-link Palm Sunday, & Wikipedia-link Holy Week.
Scripture of the Week
Mass Readings—Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-one, verses one thru eleven;
The Book of Isaiah, chapter fifty, verses four thru seven;
Psalm Twenty-two (R/. two[a]), verses eight & nine, seventeen & eighteen, nineteen & twenty, & twenty-three & twenty-four;
The Letter to the Philippians, chapter two, verses six thru eleven;
The Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-six, verse fourteen thru chapter twenty-seven, verse sixty-six
(or, the Gospel according to Matthew, chapter twenty-seven, verses eleven thru fifty-four).
Commentary: Reflection by Bishop Robert Barron (Word on Fire):
Friends, on this Palm Sunday, Matthew’s magnificent Gospel of the Passion bids us to reflect on the seriousness of sin.Video reflection by Father Greg Friedman, O.F.M. (U.S.C. of Catholic Bishops): Daily Reflection.
To be sure, the Gospel proclaimed by the first Christians involves the glorious Resurrection, but those initial evangelists never let their hearers forget that the one who had been raised was none other than the one who had been crucified.
So the question was—and remains—why would God’s salvation of the human race have to include something as horrifying as the Crucifixion of the Son of God?
Here’s the point. The Scriptural authors understand sin not so much as a series of acts as a condition in which we are stuck. No amount of merely human effort could possibly solve the problem. Something awful had to be done on our behalf in order to offset the awfulness of sin.
With this biblical realism in mind, we can begin to comprehend why the Crucifixion of the Son of God was necessary. The just rapport between God and human beings could not be reestablished either through our moral effort or with simply a word of forgiveness. Something had to be done—and God alone could do it.
Reflect: Meditate on one of Christianity’s most mysterious truths: that the Crucifixion of the Son of God was necessary.
Video reflection by Father Bismarck Chau (Array of Hope): "Easter of Hope" Reflection.
Audio reflection by Scott Hahn, Ph.D. (St. Paul Center for Biblical Theology): Breaking the Bread.
Scripture Study—Exodus 90: Day 84
The Book of Exodus, chapter forty, verses one thru seventeen.
Commentary: Erection of the Tabernacle (Exodus, 40:1-17).
Scripture Study—The 3:16 Project
The Book of Zephaniah, chapter three, verse sixteen.
On that day it shall be said to Jerusalem:†
"Do not fear, O Zion;
let not your hands grow weak."
Otherwise, 6 April would be the commemoration of Saints Theodore & Pausilippus, Martyrs (died circa 130), martyred in the reign of the Roman emperor Hadrian: Martyr-link Tango, Martyr-link Papa, & Wikipedia-link.
'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Derfel, Abbot (circa 566-660, A.K.A. Derfel Gadarn, meaning "the Mighty"), abbot of St. Mary's Abbey on Ynys Enlli (A.K.A. Bardsey Island): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link; Wikipedia-link Ynys Enlli.
Commentary: Wayback Machine '18. Brother of Ss. Tudwal [30 November] & Armel [16 August], cousin of St. Cadfan [1 November].
'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Vincent Ferrer, Priest, O.P. (1350-1419): Saint-link ūnus, Saint-link duo, & Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Precision is important. One of the sources cited above states St. Vincent was a "counselor to Pope Benedict XIII." Not quite: Pope Servant of God Benedict XIII (Pietro Orsini, 1649-1730) lived three centuries after St. Vincent Ferrer; what they surely meant was that St. Vincent was a counselor to Antipope "Benedict XIII" (Pedro de Luna, 1328-1423), which is accurate.
'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Catherine of Palma, Religious (1533-1574): Saint-link & Wikipedia-link.
Commentary: Wayback Machine '18.
'Twould also be the commemoration of Saint Maria Crescentia Höß, Virgin, T.O.R. (1682-1744): Saint-link ūna, Saint-link duæ, & Wikipedia-link.
'Twould also be the commemoration of Blessed Mariano de la Mata Aparício, Priest, O.S.A. (1905-1983): Blessed-link & Wikipedia-link.
Papal Quote o' the Day
"We are here to profess with victorious vigor that in Christ is the Way, the Truth, & the Life. The explosion of our faith is so strong that that—as Jesus Himself said—if our voices were to keep silence, even the stones would cry out instead."Saint Quote o' the Day
—Pope St. Paul VI (1897-1978, r. 1963-1978; feast: 29 May)
"Fix your minds on the passion of Lord Jesus Christ. He Himself gave us an example of perfect patience & love. We, then, are to be patient in adversity."
—St. Francis of Paola (1416-1507, feast: 2 April)
Archbishop Sheen Quote o' the Day
"Our Lord spoke from the cross to those who hated, for there are an abundance in the world who cannot endure His name. They hurled a challenge to Him. They said, 'If you are the Son of God, come down from that cross.' Come down & we'll believe. Sure, they will believe. They'll believe anything: just no cross, no mortification, no self-denial. This is not weakness to hang on the cross. This is obedience to the law of sacrifice. If He came down, He never would have saved us. It is human to come down. It is divine to hang there. So there are many who say, 'I'll believe anything. I'll believe that He is divine; I'll believe in His Church; I'll believe in His pontiff, only no cross, no sacrifice.' That's all. George Bernard Shaw said, 'It's that that bars the way.' Sure, it bars the way. It bars the way to hell. And for them our Blessed Lord merely prayed for forgiveness. He said, 'Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.' It is not wisdom that saves, it is ignorance. If we knew what we were doing when we crucified the Lord, we would never be saved. It is only in the ignorance of what we do when we crucify Him that we come within the pale of hearing the cry, forgive."Chesterton Quote o' the Day
—Ven. Fulton Sheen (1895-1979)
"Red is the most joyful & dreadful thing in the physical universe; it is the fiercest note, it is the highest light, it is the place where the walls of this world of ours wear thinnest & something beyond burns through. It glows in the blood which sustains & in the fire which destroys us, in the roses of our romance & in the awful cup of our religion. It stands for all passionate happiness, as in faith or in first love."
—G. K. Chesterton (1874-1936)
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