Lenten Series - 2021 - Final Session

APOSTOLIC LETTER - JOHN PAUL II SALVIFICI DOLORIS ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING   READ Paragraphs #28 through #31 . . . LINK . . . Summery Notes: ·      The parable of the Good Samaritan belongs to the Gospel of suffering. For it indicates what the relationship of each of us must be towards our suffering neighbour. ·         A Good Samaritan is one who brings help in suffering, whatever its nature may be. ·         Following the parable of the Gospel, we could say that suffering, which is present under so many different forms in our human world, is also present in order to unleash love in the human person, that unselfish gift of one's "I" on behalf of other people, especially those who suffer. ·         How much there is of "the Good Samaritan" in the profession of the doctor, or the nurse, or others similar! ·         The eloquence of the parable of the Good Samaritan, and of the whole Gospel, is especially this: every individual must feel as if called personally to bear witness to love in suffering. ·         Finally, this parable, through its essential content, will enter into those disturbing words of the Final Judgment, noted by Matthew in his Gospel: "Come, O blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was in prison and you came to me" ·         Christ said: "You did it to me". He himself is the one who in each individual experiences love; he himself is the one who receives help, when this is given to every suffering person without exception. ·         This is the meaning of suffering, which is truly supernatural and at the same time human. It is supernatural because it is rooted in the divine mystery of the Redemption of the world, and it is likewise deeply human, because in it the person discovers himself, his own humanity, his own dignity, his own mission. For Reflection: ·       Consider how many of our first hospitals, elderly residences, hospices, nursing homes began as the work of various religious communities of the Church. ·       At this very time we are marking one year since the declaration of a worldwide pandemic of Covid-19. How are you perceiving it: a chastisement from God; a result of human error; the natural course of nature? ·        Among believers there are a number of false and misleading interpretations being put forward concerning the religious significance of this pandemic. That is why adhering closely to the discernment of the magisterium of the Church is so vital today.  ·        Has this time of suffering drawn you more deeply into the redemptive suffering of Christ's passion and cross? ·       Do you foresee this time of suffering drawing people back to the practice of their faith? ·       Continue in the remaining days of Lent to revisit this profound teaching by Pope John Paul II on the Christian meaning of suffering.

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This series of posts is a journey in prayer through the days of Lent and Holy Week using the Ignatian Approach to Contemplation
Part One	Part Two	Part Three	Part Four	Part Five	Part Six
Part Seven	Part Eight	Part Nine	Part Ten	Part Eleven	HolyWeek 1
HolyWeek 2	HolyWeek 3	HolyWeek 4	HolyWeek 5	HOME

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Lenten Series - 2021 - Session Six

APOSTOLIC LETTER - JOHN PAUL II SALVIFICI DOLORIS ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING   READ Paragraphs #25 through #27 . . . LINK . . . Summery Notes: ·         The witnesses of the Cross and Resurrection of Christ have handed on to the Church and to mankind a specific Gospel of suffering. ·         Jesus' Mother Mary, through the exemplary testimony to suffering - in the solemn words of the aged Simeon, when he spoke of a sharp sword that would pierce her heart. ·         Christ did not conceal from his listeners the need for suffering. He said very clearly: "If any man would come after me... let him take up his cross daily '' ·         Jesus does not conceal the prospect of suffering from his disciples and followers. The Apostle Paul will say: "All who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted" ·         Down through the centuries and generations it has been seen that in suffering there is concealed a particular power that draws a person interiorly close to Christ, a special grace. To this grace many saints, such as Saint Francis of Assisi, Saint Ignatius of Loyola and others, owe their profound conversion. ·         Faith in sharing in the suffering of Christ brings with it the interior certainty that the suffering person "completes what is lacking in Christ's afflictions"; the certainty that in the spiritual dimension of the work of Redemption he is serving, like Christ, the salvation of his brothers and sisters.  For Reflection: ·       Have you taken into account that your following of Christ may bring you suffering? ·       St. Paul connected his sufferings to those of Jesus. We pray for our sufferings to be taken away; can you, like Paul, see them as also having great merit? ·        Jesus on the cross was mocked: "He saved others," they said, "but he can't save himself! If he's the king of Israel let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him". Has your sufferings or those of others caused doubt to invade your faith?

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This series of posts is a journey in prayer through the days of Lent and Holy Week using the Ignatian Approach to Contemplation
Part One	Part Two	Part Three	Part Four	Part Five	Part Six
Part Seven	Part Eight	Part Nine	Part Ten	Part Eleven	HolyWeek 1
HolyWeek 2	HolyWeek 3	HolyWeek 4	HolyWeek 5	HOME

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Lenten Series - 2021 - Session Five

APOSTOLIC LETTER - JOHN PAUL II SALVIFICI DOLORIS ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING   READ Paragraphs #19 through #24 . . . LINK . . . Summery Notes: ·         One can say that with the Passion of Christ all human suffering has found itself in a new situation. In the Cross of Christ not only is the Redemption accomplished through suffering, but also human suffering itself has been redeemed. ·         the Apostle Paul in the Letter to the Galatians will say: "He gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age", and in the First Letter to the Corinthians: "You were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body ". Thus each person, in their suffering, can also become a sharer in the redemptive suffering of Christ. ·         The eloquence of Jesus’ Cross and death is completed by the eloquence of the Resurrection. Man finds in the Resurrection a completely new light, which helps him to go forward through the thick darkness of humiliations, doubts, hopelessness and persecution. ·         This discovery caused Saint Paul to write particularly strong words in the Letter to the Galatians: "I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me: and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me"(Gal. 2:19-20). ·         The witnesses of the Cross and Resurrection were convinced that "through many tribulations we must enter the Kingdom of God". Those who share in the sufferings of Christ are also called, through their own sufferings, to share in His glory. ·         In the mystery of the Church as his Body, Christ has in a sense opened his own redemptive suffering to all human suffering. In this redemptive suffering, through which the Redemption of the world was accomplished, Christ opened himself from the beginning to every human suffering and constantly does so. For Reflection: ·         Consider this paradox, The God we petition to take away our suffering sent His Son to suffer with us. ·         Much suffering is the result of human sinning. You understand that in the natural order redemption comes with a cost. Do you see a connection  with the spiritual order? ·         How do we take on ourselves the cost of the sin of the world? Consider the spiritual and corporal works of mercy as examples. ·         And the King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me.’ Mtt. 25:40

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This series of posts is a journey in prayer through the days of Lent and Holy Week using the Ignatian Approach to Contemplation
Part One	Part Two	Part Three	Part Four	Part Five	Part Six
Part Seven	Part Eight	Part Nine	Part Ten	Part Eleven	HolyWeek 1
HolyWeek 2	HolyWeek 3	HolyWeek 4	HolyWeek 5	HOME

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Lenten Series - 2021 - Session Four

APOSTOLIC LETTER - JOHN PAUL II SALVIFICI DOLORIS ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING   READ Paragraphs #14 through #17 . . . LINK . . . Summery Notes: ·         Salvation means liberation from evil, and for this reason it is closely bound up with the problem of suffering. ·         The mission of the only-begotten Son consists in conquering sin and death. He conquers sin by his obedience unto death, and he overcomes death by his Resurrection. ·         At the basis of human suffering, there is a complex involvement with sin. ·         But death primarily involves the dissolution of the entire psychophysical personality of man. ·         Even though the victory over sin and death achieved by Christ in his Cross and Resurrection does not abolish temporal suffering from human life, it nevertheless throws a new light upon this dimension and upon every suffering: the light of salvation. ·         "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life". Christ goes toward his own suffering, aware of its saving power. ·         In his suffering, sins are cancelled out precisely because he alone as the only-begotten Son could take them upon himself, accept them with that love for the Father which overcomes the evil of every sin; in a certain sense he annihilates this evil in the spiritual space of the relationship between God and humanity, and fills this space with good. ·         Human suffering has reached its culmination in the Passion of Christ. And at the same time it has entered into a completely new dimension and a new order. For Reflection: ·         To what extent do you think of suffering as a disconnect with God? ·         Have you experienced a troubled conscience - thought of it as cutting you off from God? (St. Ignatius calls this desolation.) ·         Do you find that you tend to excuse yourself when your conscience troubles you? ·         In a court of law, "do the crime, do the time ". Is this how you see it? ·         Why would Jesus take upon himself the punishment you deserve? ·         During Lent ask for the grace to understand your personal connection to the suffering Jesus took upon himself.

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This series of posts is a journey in prayer through the days of Lent and Holy Week using the Ignatian Approach to Contemplation
Part One	Part Two	Part Three	Part Four	Part Five	Part Six
Part Seven	Part Eight	Part Nine	Part Ten	Part Eleven	HolyWeek 1
HolyWeek 2	HolyWeek 3	HolyWeek 4	HolyWeek 5	HOME

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