First time down to the creek for pictures of Mary for her birthday tomorrow - right in the midst of the Tridium - Holy Saturday!
This crucifix is battered and broken and just emotes to me the brutality of what Christ endured for me. I have many crucifixes in my home, but for Good Friday - I always look for this one. It has a powerful history as it was in the maple tree and marked the beginning and ending of the stations of the Cross that Maria made for our grove after she came home from considering the Poor Clare monastery for 5 months. The outside stations had been very powerful for her in her discernment and she now has a stations in her study throughout Lent in her home. Many times I have walked the stations and even on the lawn mower I will look up at one or the other. This crucifix suffered in the elements over a few years, and eventually fell apart, but I have fixed it numerous times and even now the body is broken in two at the waist! It is a powerful figure of Christ and that makes it that much more of a sacrifice! Just as this innocent lamb waiting for slaughter - to see this powerful human man dead upon this cross is hard and wrong yet so necessary for us to find LIFE/LOVE/LIGHT in our lives!
Ruth's 3 boys sharing time together...
Pat and I just shared morning prayer and the readings for mass today... well, we didn't read the narrative, but I just looked at it and seeing that it is the one from John where Jesus gives John Mary for his Mother, and John for her son... "And from that hour the disciple took her into his home." Yes! We too can receive her motherly care and intercession if we only take her into our homes! As John counted - I have 40 images here in our living space - "You wanted this room to be beautiful, so you put the most beautiful woman in the world in here 40 times!" 
I would like to share the first reading from The Celebration of the Passion today. It will be read aloud to so many more than usual as this is highly attended by many that are not usually there at mass. As we read it this morning I was very moved at how it really takes us there at the Cross with Jesus and reminds us vividly of what he has done for us for eternity!
"See, my servant shall prosper,
he shall be raised high and greatly exalted.
Even as many were amazed at him-
so marred was his look beyond human semblance
and his appearance beyond that of the sons of manC
so shall he startle many nations,
because of him kings shall stand speechless;
for those who have not been told shall see,
those who have not heard shall ponder it.
Who would believe what we have heard?
To whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
He grew up like a sapling before him,
like a shoot from the parched earth;
there was in him no stately bearing to make us look at him,
nor appearance that would attract us to him.
He was spurned and avoided by people,
a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity,
one of those from whom people hide their faces,
spurned, and we held him in no esteem.
Yet it was our infirmities that he bore,
our sufferings that he endured,
while we thought of him as stricken,
as one smitten by God and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our offenses,
crushed for our sins;
upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole,
by his stripes we were healed.
We had all gone astray like sheep,
each following his own way;
but the LORD laid upon him
the guilt of us all.
Though he was harshly treated, he submitted
and opened not his mouth;
like a lamb led to the slaughter
or a sheep before the shearers,
he was silent and opened not his mouth.
Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away,
and who would have thought any more of his destiny?
When he was cut off from the land of the living,
and smitten for the sin of his people,
a grave was assigned him among the wicked
and a burial place with evildoers,
though he had done no wrong
nor spoken any falsehood.
But the LORD was pleased
to crush him in infirmity.
If he gives his life as an offering for sin,
he shall see his descendants in a long life,
and the will of the LORD shall be accomplished through him.
Because of his affliction
he shall see the light in fullness of days;
through his suffering, my servant shall justify many,
and their guilt he shall bear.
Therefore I will give him his portion among the great,
and he shall divide the spoils with the mighty,
because he surrendered himself to death
and was counted among the wicked;
and he shall take away the sins of many,
and win pardon for their offenses."
Lord, we are unworthy of your love and mercy... may we recall that we are to take up our most Cherished Cross and follow your example in our own lives... "In the days when Christ was in the flesh, he offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears to the one who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. Son though he was, he learned from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him." Hebrews from mass today. St Paul, just like us never walked the earth with Christ, yet he had a very personal encounter with Jesus, and fell in love with the Truth - His Bride, The Church! God's not dead - He's truly alive! Jesus, we trust in you. Amen
Baby Luke folded his hands and went into a peaceful sleep in his mommy's arms at mass last night. May he always love and cherish The Church!
Bless-bless, Barbara Luke
"Oh true and sweet bond! So great is your power that you held the God-Man nailed fast to the wood of the most holy Cross! For neither the nails nor any other iron could have held him had not love for his Father and our salvation held him... Open, open your mind's eye, and you will see the blood of God's Son overflowing! For that splitting open of his body has made it clear to us that God loves us without measure and wants nothing other than our good. If he had wanted anything else he would never have given us such a Redeemer." St Catherine of Siena (1380)
"Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world:
come, let us adore."
Liturgy of the Lord's Passion
Lead me to the Cross - Francesca Battistelli
Danielle Rose - A mother's song - The Crucifixion
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