Good Friday

“I simply argue that the cross be raised again at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles, but on a cross between two thieves; on the town garbage heap; at a crossroads so cosmopolitan that they had to write his title in Hebrew and in Latin and in Greek . . . at the kind of place where cynics talk smut and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where he died. And that is what he died about.” ~George Macleod

Maundy Thursday

“In the washing of the feet, we see Jesus entering into a parable, teaching his disciples by example what it means to be the greatest by becoming the least, inverting the normal understandings of power and deference, making service the measure of greatness and linking the acceptance of grace to the purification of one’s life. All this could be written about or spoken of, but Jesus simply did it.” ~Michael Sean Winters

Wednesday of Holy Week

“The heart is stretched through suffering, and enlarged. But O the agony of this enlarging of the heart, that one may be prepared to enter into the anguish of others!…The cross as dogma is painless speculation; the cross as lived suffering is anguish and glory. Yet God, out of the pattern of his own heart, has planted the cross along the road of holy obedience. And he enacts in the hearts of those he loves the miracle of willingness to welcome suffering and to know it for what it is – the final seal of his gracious love.” ~Thomas R. Kelly

Tuesday of Holy Week

“There will always be many who love Christ’s heavenly kingdom, but few who will bear his cross. Jesus has many who desire consolation, but few who care for adversity. He finds many to share his table, but few who will join him in fasting. Many are eager to be happy with him; few wish to suffer anything for him.
 
“Many will follow him as far as the breaking of bread, but few will remain to drink from his passion. Many are awed by his miracles, few accept the shame of his cross. Many love Christ as long as they encounter no hardship; many praise and bless him as long as they receive some comfort from him. But if Jesus hides himself and leaves them for a while, they either start complaining or become dejected. Those, on the contrary, who love him for his own sake and not for any comfort of their own, praise him both in trial and anguish of heart as well as in the bliss of consolation. Even if Jesus should never comfort them, they would continue to praise and thank him. What power there is in a pure love for Jesus – love that is free from all self-interest and self-love!” ~Thomas à Kempis

Monday of Holy Week

“The agonizing pain and loneliness Christ must have felt as he hung on the cross is too fearful to imagine; yet even then he cried out, “Father, into thy hands I give my spirit.” Here we find the crowning of faith. Even the most intense suffering and feelings of God-forsakenness could not sway his faith in his and our Father: he gave his spirit into God’s hands. If we want to be healed of the wounds made by Satan’s tricks and arrows, we must find this same unyielding trust in God, so that even if we feel nothing yet, we are able to give ourselves absolutely and without reserve to him with all we are and have. Ultimately, all we have is our sin. But if we lay it before him like children, he will give us forgiveness, cleansing, and peace of heart; and these lead to a love that cannot be described.” ~J. Heinrich Arnold

March 23: Saint Turibius of Mongrovejo

“Three times [St. Turibius] traversed the eighteen thousand miles of his diocese, generally on foot…” ~The Catholic Encyclopedia
 
Perhaps St. Turibius is a good Saint to call upon if you’re a hiker.
 
The Hiker’s Prayer
 
Thank you God for the rising sun. You’ve granted me another day. Your grace is amazing; bless you faithful Lord. The creation sings your praise, and I join the sound. Heal my tired soul; restore my aching bones. Lead each step along my path today. Ease my burdens as I press forward. Quench my thirst with your living streams.
 
Like the cool morning breeze, your peace refreshes me. Steady me on the slippery slopes. Release me from the ropes that bind me, that hold me back. Protect me from the viper that hides (within and without). Lift me up from this shadowy valley. The peak is almost in sight. I am rising above this world.
 
Into your country, I long to go. Bless my companions who travel with me. The trail is rugged and narrow, but you are right beside me. Thank you God, my trusted Guide. Glory to your Holy Name. Amen
 
St. Turibius, pray for us.

March 22: Saint Lea

“We must not allow … money to weigh us down, or lean upon the staff of worldly power. We must not seek to possess both Christ and the world. No; things eternal must take the place of things transitory; and since, physically speaking, we daily anticipate death, if we wish for immortality we must realize that we are but mortal.” ~St. Jerome, from a letter eulogizing Saint Lea

We are not born at random

“Realize it, my brethren; —every one who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; . . . God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also.” ~Blessed John Henry Newman

March 21: St. Enda of Aran

God of Mercy, You gave us Saint Enda of Aran to proclaim the riches of Christ. By the help of his prayers may we grow in knowledge of You, be eager to do good, and learn to walk before You by living the truth of the gospel. Grant this through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, One God, forever and ever. Amen

March 20: St. Cuthbert

Almighty God, whose servant Cuthbert gave himself to a life of prayer, reached out to those in need, healed the sick and spread the Good News of salvation; may we be faithful to the teaching and way of your Son, and may we be filled with the Holy Spirit, to enable us to show and share your love. Amen
St. Cuthbert, pray for us.