Suffering With Joy

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

March 26, 2011

Welcome to Sunday Snippets, a weekly meme hosted by RAnn at This That and the Other Thing. Please join us even if you’re not a blogger.  You’ll find some interesting reading.  Leave comments if you wish.  I’ve meet some very interesting people at this carnival.

This week I addressed the “why?” of suffering in Lent, the “Why?” of Suffering and the Japanese Tragedy.

At Liturgical Stations of the Cross I posted links to the fourteen stations I published last year.  These stations make great one-a-day short meditation with snippets from the Old and New Testaments plus prayers from the Extraordinary Form.  If you want to bookmark it, you can use it throughout the year.

Ancient Lenten Hymn, Parce Domine is a presentation of the hymn and a recording of it in polyphonic style by a 20th century Polish composer.

Praying the Psalms – Psalm 63 is a meditation on that Psalm.

Sabbath Moments relates blessings of this past week.

Another APOD photograph for your enjoyment:

Cooling Neutron Star

Credit: X-ray: NASA / CXC / UNAM / Ioffe / D.Page, P.Shternin et al; Optical: NASA / STScI;
Illustration: NASA/CXC/M.Weiss)

Explanation: Supernova remnant Cassiopeia A (Cas A) is a comfortable 11,000 light-years away. Light from the Cas A supernova, the death explosion of a massive star, first reached Earth just 330 years ago. The expanding debris cloud spans about 15 light-years in this composite X-ray/optical image, while the bright source near the center is a neutron star (inset illustration) the incredibly dense, collapsed remains of the stellar core. Still hot enough to emit X-rays, Cas A’s neutron star is cooling. In fact, 10 years of observations with the orbiting Chandra X-ray observatory find that the neutron star is cooling rapidly, so rapidly that researchers suspect a large part of the neutron star’s core is forming a frictionless neutron superfluid. The Chandra results represent the first observational evidence for this bizarre state of neutron matter.

Tags: liturgy, music, psalms, Stations of the Cross

Liturgical Stations of the Cross

March 23, 2011

Last year, one-by-one, I published my favorite Stations of the Cross from St. John’s, Collegeville, MN, © 1957.  The contents of each were taken from Sacred Scripture and the liturgical prayers of the Extraordinary Form which are derived from Sacred Scripture. They are great for meditation or for making the Stations if you can’t get to your parish Stations. Here are the links to each in one place for your convenience if you want to pray them.

Victim for Our Sins

Stations of the Cross

I.      First Station: Jesus Is Condemned to Death

II.       Second Station: Jesus Takes Up His Cross

III.   Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time

IV.    Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother

V.      Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene is Forced to Carry the Cross

VI.    Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

VII.   Seventh Station: Jesus Falls a Second Time

VIII. Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Daughters of Jerusalem

IX.    Ninth Station: Jesus Falls a Third Time

X.      Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

XI.     Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

XII.   Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

XIII.  Thirteenth Station: Jesus is Taken Down From the Cross

XIV.   Fourteenth Station: Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

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V.  Praised be Jesus Christ!

R.  Now and forever.  Amen.

(Click on the link above to read why I am ending my posts with this.)

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Fourteenth Station: Jesus Is Laid in the Tomb

March 23, 2010

Burial, 1308-11, Duccio di Buoninsegna (b. ca. 1255, Siena, d. 1319, Siena) Tempera on wood, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Siena

Jesus is Laid in the Tomb

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And Joseph, having taken down the body of Jesus, wrapped it up in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb which he had hewn out in a rock.  And he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb.¹

V.  Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.

R.  Nor wilt Thou give Thy holy one to see corruption.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who hast left us a record of Thy passion in the holy shroud, / wherein Joseph wrapped Thy sacred body when taken down from the cross: / mercifully grant that through Thy death and burial / we may be brought to the glory of Thy resurrection. / Who livest and reignest forever and ever.  Amen.³

Hymn:  Christ, when Thou shalt call me hence, be Thy mother my defense, by Thy cross my victory.

While my body here decays, may my soul Thy goodness praise, safe in paradise with Thee.

¹ Mt. 27: 59-60. ² Ps. 15:10. ³ Collect, Feast of the Holy Shroud.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Thirteenth Station: Jesus Taken from the Cross

March 22, 2010

Lamentation, 1475-80, Hans Memling (b. ca. 1440, Seligenstadt, d. 1494, Bruges), Oil on oak panel, Galleria Doria Pamphili, Rome

The Body of Jesus is Placed in the Arms of His Mother

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

O all ye that pass by the way, stop, and consider if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.  Mine eyes have failed with weeping; my whole being is troubled, and my strength is poured out upon the earth, as I behold the cruel death of my Son, for the enemy hath prevailed against Him.  Call me not Noemi (that is, beautiful), but call me Mara (that is, bitter), for the Almighty hath quite filled me with bitterness.¹

V.  The tears are on her cheeks.

R.  And there is none to comfort her.²

Let us pray

O God, at whose passion, as Simeon had foretold, / a sword of sorrow pierced the sweet soul of Mary, the glorious Virgin Mother: / grant that we, who reverently call her anguish and suffering, / may obtain the blessed fruits of Thy redemption. / Who livest and reignest forever and ever.  Amen.³

Hymn: When the flames of hell would end me, at the judgment day, defend me, gentle Virgin with thy prayer.

¹ Lam. of Jer. 1:12, 2:11, 1-16, Ruth 1: 20. ² Lam. of Jer. 1: 2. ³ Collect, Feast of the seven Sorrows of the B.V.M.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Twelfth Station: Jesus Dies on the Cross

March 21, 2010

The Crucifixion: `Behold Thy Mother', c. 1805, William Blake 1757-1827, Tate Collection, London

Jesus Dies on the Cross

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

When Jesus therefore had seen His mother and the disciple whom He loved, He said to His mother: Woman, behold thy son.  After that He saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother.  And Jesus, when He had taken the vinegar, said: It is consummated.  And again, crying with a loud voice, He said: Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.  And bowing His head, He gave up the ghost.¹

V.  Christ for our sake became obedient unto death.

R.  Even the death of the cross.²

Let Us Pray

O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, / who at the sixth hour didst mount the gibbet of the cross for the redemption of the world, / and didst shed Thy precious blood for the remission of our sins: / grant us, we humbly beseech Thee, / that after our death we may enter with joy the gates of paradise. / Who livest and reignest forever and ever.  Amen.³

Hymn: Let his stripes and scourging smite me.  At His holy cross requite me, let His blood refresh me there.

¹ Jn. 19: 26, 27, and 30 and Lk. 23: 46 (Fifth Responsory of Tenebrae of Good Friday). ² Versicle of Good Friday (Philip. 2:8). ³ Postcommunion, Votive Mass of the Passion of Our Lord.

*****

We study William Blake’s poetry in English literature, but how many of us know that he was an accomplished artist as well?  It was a happy find to discover his religious art.  I found this image at Biblical Art on the WWW.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Sunday Snippets – A Catholic Carnival

March 21, 2010

Welcome to Sunday Snippets hosted at This That and The Other Thing.  We bloggers post our favorites of the week and link to RAnn where we all gather to read what others have to share.  Join us, please.  If you don’t have a blog, visit anyway and leave comments.  We all like to get feedback on our work!

This week I continued to post a Station of the Cross each day.  You can find all of them by scrolling through the blog, but here is the one from Monday – Simon of Cyrene is Forced to Take Up the Cross. I am posting these stations because they are no longer available in the beautiful and poetic English of the church of my youth.

Archbishop Chaput wrote a letter to his diocese on the health bill which I posted with highlights and a few comments.

A reflection on suffering and holiness is here.  Sometimes we need reminders that God is beside us always, even during the worst of times.

My post on Sabbath Moments is about a stunningly beautiful Madonna and Child I ran across several years ago.  In the midst of mental and emotional turmoil over the “death care” bill this Friday I fled to Our Lady.  I was able to track down a certain amount of information on this work, but I need readers to ask Polish friends or art specialist friends to visit the blog with information on an interpretation of the image.  As I searched I found modern Polish artists who have painted some of the same unique elements which are in the painting I found from 1450.  It must be part of the Polish Catholic tradition or Eastern European Catholic tradition. Let’s get some Poles involved here to help me!

Tags: art, pro-life, Stations of the Cross

Eleventh Station: Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

March 20, 2010

Crucifixion, 1524, Breu, Jorg the Elder, b. 1475/76, Augsburg, d. 1537, Augsburg, Wood, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest

Jesus is Nailed to the Cross

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And when they were come to the place which is called Calvary, they crucified Him there, and with Him two thieves, one on the right and the other on the left, and Jesus in the midst.  My people, what have I done to thee?  I have exalted thee with great power, and thou hast hanged Me on the gibbet of the cross.¹

V.  They have pierced my hands and my feet.

R.  They have numbered all my bones.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who by the passion of Thine only-begotten Son, / and by the five wounds from which His blood was poured, / didst repair the evil wrought by sin in our human nature: / grant, we beseech Thee, / that we who here on earth revere the wounds which He received, / may be worthy to obtain in Heaven, the fruit of His most precious blood. / Through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn: Let me to my latest breath, in my body bear the death of that dying Son of thine.

¹ Lk. 23: 33,  Jn. 19: 18 and Reproaches of Good Friday. ² Ps. 21: 17-18. _³ Collect of the Feast of Five Wounds.

*****

Feast of the Five Wounds: The Church and all the great saints have from time immemorial encouraged us to meditate on the Passion of Our Lord.  Sts. Bernard and Francis of Assisi spread the devotion to the Five Wounds in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries and by the 14th century a Mass, known as the Golden Mass, was included in the Roman Missal.  The Passionists spread devotion to the Five Wounds and in 1831 a feast was assigned to the Friday after the third Sunday in Lent.  The Divine Office for the feast dates back to the Middle Ages.

The entire Church does not celebrate this feast, and indeed I could not find it in either of my two 1962 missals, but according to the 1913 edition of the Catholic Encyclopedia it is placed in the appendix of some Breviaries and Missals.  If anyone can find the Divine Office and Mass for this feast, please leave a comment here so I can update this post. I suspect it can be found in Franciscan, Dominican, or Passionist Breviaries and Missals based on the history of the devotion.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Tenth Station: Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

March 19, 2010

Jesus is Stripped of His Garments

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And they came to the place that is called Golgotha, which is the place of Calvary.  And they gave Him wine to drink, mingled with gall.  And when He had tasted, He would not drink.  And they divided His garments, casting lots; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet saying: they divided My garments among them; and upon My vesture they cast lots.¹

V.  They gave Me gall for My food.

R.  And in My thirst they gave Me vinegar to drink.²

Let Us Pray

Strip us, O Lord of our former self / with its evil deeds and ways; / and clothe us with the new nature which is created after the manner of God / in justice and in holiness of truth. / Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn: Virgin, of all virgins blest! Listen to my fond request: let me share thy grief with thee.

¹ Mt. 27: 33-35. ² Ps. 68: 22. ³ Rite of religious profession.

*****

Rite of religious profession: the rite of the Church in which monks and nuns make vows to Christ.  Some religious communities have a first profession and then a final profession while others take yearly vows and some make solemn vows according to canon law.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Ninth Station: Jesus Falls a Third Time

March 18, 2010

Christ Carrying the Cross, 1737-38, Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (b. 1696, Venezia, d. 1770, Madrid), Oil on canvas, Sant'Alvise, Venice

Jesus Falls a Third Time

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

My people, what have I done to thee, or in what have I grieved thee?  Answer Me.  I brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and thou hast led Me to the gibbet of the cross.  Forty years I fed thee with manna in the desert, and thou hast beaten Me with blows and scourges.  What more ought I do for thee that I have not done?¹

V.  He was led as a sheep to the slaughter.

R.  And he was mute as a lamb before the shearer.²

Let Us Pray

Guard us, we beseech Thee, O Lord, / in Thy ever-present mercy; / and since without Thee weak man must fail, / keep us ever by Thy help from all things harmful, / and lead us to all things profitable unto our salvation. / Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn: By the cross with thee to stay: there with thee to weep and pray: this I ask of thee to give.

¹ Reproaches of Good Friday. ² Is. 53:7. ³ Collect, Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost.

*****

The Good Friday Reproaches, also known as the Improperia, are part of the Good Friday liturgy.  They are sung by the choir during the time of the adoration of the Cross.  The biblical texts become the requital of Jesus against His people for whom God did so many favors beginning with their delivery from the bondage of Egypt and safe conduct into the Promised Land.  These reproaches, a deeply touching personal rebuke to all of us sinners, serve to stir up in the soul great compunction of spirit for the ignominious passion and cruel death Jesus suffered on behalf of each of us.  Through them we hear the voice of God in a very personal way calling us to salvation.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Eighth Station: Jesus Meets the Women

March 17, 2010

Jesus Meets the Women of Jerusalem

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And there followed Him a great multitude of people and of women who bewailed and lamented Him.  But Jesus turning to them said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me but weep for yourselves and for your children.¹

V.  They that sow in tears.

R.  Shall reap in joy.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who dost choose rather to have mercy / than to be angry with those who hope in Thee: / grant that we may truly grieve for the evil we have done / and so deserve to obtain the grace of Thy consolation. / Through Christ Our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn: Let me mingle tears with thee, mourning Him who mourned for me, all the days that I may live.

¹ Lk. 23: 27-28. ² Ps. 125:5. ³ Prayer over the People, Saturday of Fourth Week in Lent.

*****

Prayer over the people: On weekdays of Lent in the Traditional (Extraordinary Form) Liturgy, a prayer is said over the people after the Postcommunion prayer.  It begins with “Bow down your heads before God” and then the prayer for that day is said.  These prayers are all quite beautiful and in keeping with the season.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Seventh Station: Jesus Falls a Second Time

March 16, 2010

Christ Falls on the Way to Calvary, 1517, Sanzio Rafaello (b. 1483, Urbino, d. 1520, Roma). oil on panel transferred to canvas, Museo del Prado, Madrid

Jesus Falls a Second Time

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

They delivered Me into the hands of the impious, they cast Me out amongst the wicked, and they spared not My soul.  The powerful gathered together against Me and like giants they stood against Me.  And striking Me with cruel wounds they mocked Me.¹

V.  But I am a worm and no man.

R.  The reproach of men and the outcast of the people.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who by the humility of Thy Son hast lifted up a fallen world: / grant to Thy faithful people abiding joy; / that those whom Thou hast delivered from the perils of eternal death, / may come to enjoy unending happiness. / Through the same Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn: Holy Mother, pierce me through, in my heart each wound renew of my Savior crucified.

Let me share with thee His pain, who for all my sins was slain, who for me in torments died.

¹ Seventh Responsory, Tenebrae of Good Friday, First Responsory, ibid. ² Ps. 21:7. ³ Collect, Second Sunday after Easter.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Sixth Station: Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

March 15, 2010

Veronica Wipes the Face of Jesus

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Lo, we have seen Him and there is no beauty in Him nor comeliness;  He is despised and the most abject of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with infirmity.  His countenance is, as it were, hidden, whereupon we esteemed Him not.  His appearance is inglorious among men, and His form among children of men.  And yet, He is the beautiful one above all the sons of men, and by His bruises we are healed.¹

V.  Turn not Thy face away from us.

R.  And withdraw not from Thy servants in Thine anger.²

Let Us Pray

O God, who dost renew us to Thine image / by the precious blood of Jesus Christ Thy Son: / lead our footsteps in Thy paths, / so that we may truly obtain the gift of Thy divine charity. / Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen.³

Hymn: Make me feel as thou hast felt; make my soul to glow and melt with love of Christ my Lord.

¹ Third Responsory, Tenebrae of Holy Thursday, Is. 53: 3, 52: 14, Ps. 44: 3. ² Ps. 26: 9. ³ Secret, “For Charity”.

Tenebrae, meaning “darkness”, is the name given to the liturgy of the Divine Office – Matins and Lauds – on the last three days of Holy Week.  It is sung around 3 p.m. on the eve of the day to which it belongs.  During this service, the lights are gradually put out, a practice dating from the fifth century.  On Holy Saturday the church is in darkness from the beginning to the end of the service except for a single candle near the lectern to read by.  These three days commemorate the death of Jesus and the time of His entombment with the liturgy conducted in a spirit and demonstration of mourning. Tenebrae is a lengthy service observed in monasteries and in a few parish churches or oratorios where the public may take part.

Tags: Stations of the Cross

Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene

March 14, 2010

Christ Carrying the Cross, Hieronymous Bosch (b. ca. 1450, 's-Hertogenbosch, d. 1516, 's-Hertogenbosch), Oil on panel, Palacio Real, Madrid

Simon of Cyrene is Forced to Take Up the Cross

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

And as they led Him away, they laid hold of one Simon of Cyrene, a passer-by, and forced Him to take up the cross of Jesus. And they laid the cross on him to carry after Jesus.¹

V.  Whoever does not carry his cross and come after Me.

R.  Cannot be my disciple.²

Let Us Pray

Receive our prayers, O Lord, / and be appeased, / and in Thy mercy subdue to Thy service even our rebellious wills. / Through Christ our Lord.  Amen.³

Hymn:  For the sins of His own nation, saw Him hang in desolation, till His spirit forth He sent.

¹ Mt. 27: 32, Mk. 15: 21, Lk. 23: 26. ² Lk. 14: 27.  ³ Secret, Saturday of Fourth Week in Lent.

*****

The Secret prayer is very old in the celebration of the traditional Roman liturgy.  The celebrant says it in a low voice at the end of the Offertory because the choir is singing the offertory during this time.  Even at a Low Mass the Secret is said quietly.  It was called “secret” because it is the only prayer in the traditional liturgy that is said this way.  It is part of the Propers of the Mass.

*****

The painting above shows Simon of Cyrene helping Jesus carry the Cross.  Dating from Bosch’s mid-to-late period, this portrait of Christ draws the viewer into His eyes for an enduring devotional image.  The Blessed Mother collapses into the arms of St. John in the distance.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Stations of the Cross

Fourth Station: Jesus Meets His Mother

March 13, 2010

Jesus Meets His Afflicted Mother

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

To what shall I compare thee; or to what shall I liken thee, O virgin daughter of Jerusalem?  For great as the sea is thy distress.  O Mother of mercy, grant that we may ever realize in ourselves the death of Jesus and may share with Him in His saving passion.¹

V.  A sword of sorrow hath pierced thy soul.

R.  And hath filled thy heart with bitter pain.²

Let Us Pray

O Lord Jesus Christ, / grant that now and in the hour of our death / we may obtain the favor of Thy mercy / through the pleading of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Thy Mother, / whose soul was pierced with a sword of sorrow in the hour of Thy passion. / Who livest and reignest forever and ever.  Amen.³

Hymn: O thou Mother, font of love, touch my spirit from above, make my heart with thine accord.

¹ Lam. of Jer. 2:13 and Stabat Mater. ² Lk. 2: 35 and Job 9: 18. ³ Collect, Votive Mass of the Seven Sorrows of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

*****

The Collect: In its original meaning in early Rome (after the first persecutions and when churches began to be built) the term was used for the service held at a certain church on the days when there was a station (church where Mass was to be said that day) somewhere else. The people gathered together and became a “collection” at this first church. After certain prayers had been said they went in procession to the station church for Mass. Just before they started the celebrant said a prayer, the oratio ad collectam.

The collect is the prayer said before the Epistle (or the first reading in the Novus Ordo).  Every collect has three parts: first, the invocation; second, the subject or matter which we desire by the prayer; and third, the pleading through the merits of our Lord and Savior that we may obtain what we ask.  You can see the three parts in the above prayer, though the pleading is implied by “in the hour of Thy passion.”  Here is another example from the fourth Sunday of Lent:

Invocation: Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God,

Subject: that we who are justly afflicted for our deeds, may be relieved by the consolation of Thy grace.

Pleading: Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son, who livest and reignest with Thee in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, world without end.  Amen.

Tags: Catholic Church, Stations of the Cross

Third Station: Jesus Falls the First Time

March 12, 2010

The Way to Calvary, c. 1540, Jacopo Bassano (b. ca. 1515, Bassano, d. 1592, Bassano), Oil on canvas, National Gallery, London

Jesus Falls the First Time Under the Cross

V.  We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee.

R.  Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.

Our Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself unto death, even to the death of the cross.  For which cause God hath exalted Him and hath given Him a name that is above every name.  Come, let us adore and bow down before God, let us weep in the presence of the Lord who made us, for He is indeed the Lord our God. ¹

V.  Surely He hath borne our infirmities.

R.  And He hath carried our sorrows. ²

Let Us Pray

Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty God, / that we, who fail in so many adversities through our own weakness, / may take heart again through the pleading of the passion of Thine only-begotten Son. / Who liveth and reigneth forever and ever. Amen.³

Hymn: Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender child all with bloody scourges rent.

¹ Epistle of Palm Sunday (Philip. 2: 8-9) and Ps. 94: 6-7 of daily Matins. ² Is. 53:4. ^₃ Collect, Monday in Holy Week.

The Church encourages frequent meditation on the Passion of Christ to instill in us an attachment to Him, and love and gratitude for opening the gates of heaven to us.  By meditating on the Passion throughout the year, we can become attached to Christ and detached from sin.  As with all things related to the life of Christ, Mother Mary is never far away, so coupling the Stabat Mater with the Stations allows us to walk with her and honor her for suffering in union with Him.

Tags: Blessed Virgin, Stations of the Cross