Today is both a good day and a bad day for friends of Christ. On the one hand, hardly any showed up, on the other hand Christ was forging his friendship with us in the most definitive way - he was giving everything to this friendship.First, let us remember Mandy, Fr Julian's sister who died yesterday after a long illness. We remember her husband and their three children. We remember Fr Julian who has been at his family's side all this week. Holy Week has been lived, by that family, in a remarkable way. May Mandy rest in Christ's peace.
Today, we are called to re-live the Passion, as it is given to us in the Gospel, to stand with the Blessed Mother and St John and venerate the Cross, to give witness to the terrible events by which Christ redeemed humanity. In the New Evangelisation, our Heavenly Father wishes to bring us to a new faith in the love which Christ had for each of us as he hung on the cross. It is our conversion which is at stake, and this Good Friday might see us making a huge advance. The Sacrament of Confession is the key and for many of us the season of Eastertime will be a time for covering lost ground.
We cannot conceive of immediately
living a life that is 100 percent Christian without doubts and without sins. We
have to recognise that we are journeying on, that we must and can learn, and
also, gradually, that we must convert. Of, course, fundamental conversion is a
definitive act. But true conversion is an act of life that is acheived through
the patience of a life-time. It is an act in which we must not lose trust and
courage on the way. (B16, 22.2.07)
1 comment:
May God grant eternal life to Mandy. May God bless all her family. It sounds as though she endured much suffering, as did her family too. How fitting that she died in the holiest week of the year. i will pray the rest of the Triduum for Fr Julian & Mandy all her family.
O Jesus, our adorable Saviour, behold us prostrate at Thy feet, imploring Thy mercy for ourselves, and for the souls of all the departed. Vouchsafe to apply to us the infinite merits of Thy Passion. Grant that while we trace this path of sighs and tears, our hearts may be so touched with contrition and repentance, that we may be ready to embrace with joy all the crosses, sufferings, and humiliations of this our life and pilgrimage.
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