Monday of Passion Week

April 4, 2022 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Holy Week, Lent, Passiontide Leave a Comment

Today, the Monday of Passion Week, we meditate on the illustrious title of the Name of Jesus.

JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS

It is a scared and powerful title which ought to be said with great reverence.

Thomas A Kempis offers the following mediation:

O Jesus of Nazareth, bright flower of the Virgin Mary; O illustrious Son of David, the Only-Begotten of the Supreme Father, write, I pray Thee, with a strong and clear hand, upon the tablets of my heart, Thy sweet and glorious Name, along with that sacred and brightly-shining Title of Thy Passion, which declared the cause of Thy death, that so I may keep it ever before my eyes, and may often read it to the praise of Thy Most Holy Name.

May that Title be the comfort of my heart in
distress, may it be my special protection when temptations assail me; may the evil spirit depart from me; may the lust of concupiscence die out within me; may the whole world have a bitter taste to me, when I think, or read of “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

For of a truth nothing is more sweet than Jesus, nothing more wholesome, nothing more helpful. Nothing can be brighter, nothing more pure, nothing more holy than the Nazarene.

Nothing can be more worthy of honor than the King of the Jews, nothing more powerful, nothing more exalted.

Therefore let no enemy think to withstand me. Let no plague think to touch me. Let no calamity think to crush me, so long as I humbly invoke Thy aid, O my Jesus, or call to mind Thy Passion, or dwell with heart and lips upon Thy Title “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.”

O Jesus, above all else deserving of my love, Thou art my King and my God, dear to me above everything, far above all the praise that I can give Thee.

Dear to me wert Thou in the Manger, still dearer wert Thou on the Cross.

Dearest of all art Thou, when sitting upon the Throne of Thy Kingdom. For though, in the weakness of Thy flesh, Thou didst hang upon the Cross, yet now, by the Power of God, Thou livest, and art sitting at the Right Hand of the Father, exalted above every creature forever and ever. Amen. #passionofchrist

First Sunday of Lent

March 7, 2022 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Archbishop Lefebvre, First Sunday in Lent, Instagram, Lent Leave a Comment

Temptations to sin can come from three sources, the world, the flesh and the devil. Our Lord could be tempted only externally, and only by the world and the devil. These tempters could exert their influence on Him only from outside; they could not affect His mind and His will. Nevertheless, He allowed such external temptation to molest Him in order to teach us how we should act in time of temptation.

Like Him, we must resist the first impulse to sin when it makes itself felt in our soul.
It is only when we act in this manner that we can hope to escape the worst evil that can befall us in life, sin. From time to time we should remind ourselves that life is a battle between good and evil and that if we wish to avoid sin we must fight courageously.

No misfortune that can come into our lives is as great an evil as mortal sin.

Sickness, loss of fortune, disgrace in the eyes of our fellowmen, even death cannot compare to the dreadful catastrophe of defiling our souls by even one mortal sin.

We must be imbued with the spirit of Christian faith to appreciate this truth. People of the world will lightly commit mortal sin day after day, and apparently not be troubled.

*No Catholic who accepts the teaching of his Church can regard sin as anything except a terrible tragedy.*

The momentary pleasure or gratification that sin gives bears no comparison to the ruin of soul and the rejection of sanctifying grace that result from sin. Mortal sin is truly the death of the soul, for it means that the life of grace has been deliberately cast out.

One who sins mortally subjects himself to the power of the evil spirit. He has cast God from his soul and accepted Satan as his master. He has yielded to the persuasion of the devil repeating the promise which he made to Christ nineteen centuries ago, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” He has refused to imitate Our Lord, whose reply to temptation was, “Begone, Satan.”

– Sermon of #archbishoplefebvre

📸my husband and I have been blessed to go further into the “desert” for silence — I tagged along with him to a work trip. 😉 But we are taking full advantage to make it a retreat within a “retreat,” Lent.

Fasting & Abstinence

March 7, 2022 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Fasting and Abstinence, Lent Leave a Comment

Here is a reminder of the traditional laws of the Fast from a priest of tradition:

In Lent, we eat 1 full meal of the day. Two small meals that do not equal one full meal.

On Fridays, we never eat MEAT!

We do not eat meat on Fridays because that is the day that Christ died. We do not eat flesh meat because that is the day that the Flesh of the Son of God was crucified.

We observe the great penances that Mother Church gives us.

Sunday is never a fast day — it is the day that Christ rose from the dead. +

Why do we fast? What guidelines do we follow?

Over the years I have shared much on this topic as we have journeyed to the traditions of the Church.

The short answer:

We fast for many reasons: to imitate Christ, for penance, and to conquer ourselves among them. And we fast out of obedience: Our Lord and His Apostles tell us to.

I follow the traditional laws of fasting of the Catholic Church (before modernizations, according to the Catholic rite 1950) as my season in life permits.

Communion fast starting at midnight, if possible, or at least three hours before Holy Mass.
On days of fast we go eat at a specific time, less than one meal (Black Fast) OR eat principal/full meal and two smaller meals (that add up to less than a full meal).
No meat or meat products are consumed on days of complete abstinence.
Eating between meals is not permitted, but liquids, including milk* and fruit juices,* may be taken any time on a fast day.
Meat may be taken at the principal meal on days of partial abstinence.

In the many years that I was not bound to fast due to pregnancy, nursing, or health (per the direction of my confessor — priest of tradition), I followed what good traditional bishops once urged the faithful:

attend daily Mass during the period of fast and abstinence
say all or part of the Divine Office or the Little Office of the BVM
pray an extra rosary
receive Holy Communion often
take part more frequently in exercises of piety
give generously to works of religion & charity
perform acts of kindness toward the sick, the aged, and the poor
practice voluntary self-denial
pray more fervently

➕

“Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity. Enter again into yourself.” #StAugustine

“Fasting is the support of our soul: it gives us wings to ascend on high, and to enjoy the highest contemplation! […] God, like an indulgent father, offers us a cure by fasting.” #StJohnChrysostom

*I don’t eat these things in my regular diet for health reasons.

As a help in understanding the Church’s discipline of fast and abstinence, here is a summary of the requirements, both current and those in force in 1962. It has been excerpted from the Liturgical Ordo published by the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter.

Fasting & Abstinence

Current Practice vs. 1962 Discipline

SERMONS DISCUSSING FASTING:

Quinquagesima: Prayer, Fasting, & Almsgiving During Lent – Audio Sermon
Quinquagesima Lent: Prayer, Fasting, Charity – Audio Sermon
We Must Fast to do Reparation – Audio Sermon
Fasting Becoming Holy | Exorcist Fr Ripperger – Audio Sermon

The Christian Life

March 1, 2022 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Lent, The Liturgical Year Leave a Comment

The fundamental rule of Christian life is, as almost every page of the Gospel tells us, that we should live out of the world, separate ourselves from the world, hate the world.

The world is that ungodly land which Abraham, our sublime model, is commanded by God to quit. It is that Babylon of our exile and captivity, where we are beset with dangers.

The beloved disciple cries out to us: ‘Love not the world, nor the things which are in the world. If any man love the world, the charity of the Father is not in him.’

Our most merciful Jesus, at the very time when He was about to offer Himself as a sacrifice for all men, spoke these awful words: ‘I pray not for the world.’

When we were baptized, and signed with the glorious & indelible character of Christians, the condition required/accepted of us, was that we should renounce the works and pomps of the world (expressed under the name of Satan); and this solemn baptismal promise we have often renewed…

The world is everything that is opposed to our Lord, that refuses to recognize Him, and that resists His divine guidance.

Those false maxims which tend to weaken the love of God in our souls; which recommend the vanities that fasten our hearts to this present life; which cry down everything that can raise us above our weaknesses or vices; which decoy and gratify our corrupt nature by dangerous pleasures, which, far from helping us to the attainment of our last end, only mislead us—all these are ‘the world.’

This world is everywhere, and holds a secret league within our very hearts. Sin has brought it into this exterior world created by God for Himself, and has given it prominence. Now, we must conquer it, and trample upon it, or we shall perish with it.

There is no being neutral; we must be its enemies, or its slaves…

Let us also tremble for ourselves; that our courage may not fail us, let us ponder those consoling words, which our Savior…addressed to His eternal Father…: ‘Father! I have given them Thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, as I also am not of the world. I pray not, that Thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that Thou shouldst keep them from evil.’

Dom Prosper Gueranger

A few spiritual reads and journals have been selected. The others will finalize their selections in the next few days, within the Septuagesima Season in preparation for Lent.

What spiritual reading have you selected for this Lent or years past?

➕
“Spiritual reading is the food of the soul, which renders it dauntless and strong against all temptation, which prompts it with holy thoughts and ardents desires for heaven, which enlightens the mind, strengthens the will, and sites comfort in all afflictions, which, in conclusion, procures that true and holy joy which is found in God alone.” St. Ambrose

My Holy Week Missal

February 24, 2022 by Lena {JOYfilledfamily} Filed Under: Holy Week, Lent Leave a Comment

Here’s a resource to help little ones go deeper into Christ’s Passion & Holy Week Liturgies.

My Holy Week Missal – Holy Week for Children 96 pages (5.25×7) of beautiful illustrations and simple explanations to help your child understand and follow the Holy Week ceremonies. This is the English translation of the French work “Ma Semaine Saint” published by Editions Saint Pierre-Julien Eymard. It can be found at Angelus Press. (Use the Code Lent2022 for 20% off your order – only good for a limited time.)

This is a missal for the Tridentine Mass. Note that it follows the post-1955 Holy Week liturgies/ceremonies.