Catholic during the Great Apostasy

Saint Andrew the Apostle, who later, like his master Jesus, died the death of the cross, having seen the cross prepared for him from afar, cried out with joy: “O good cross, on which the adornment of the Lord’s body has descended, O cross long desired, heartily beloved, unceasingly sought for, and at last prepared for the thirsty soul: take me from men and give me to my master, that He who saved me through thee may receive me to Himself!”

If, therefore, the Apostle and disciple of Christ welcomed and greeted with such love and longing his cross, on which he was to die for his master: with what love must the Lord Jesus have welcomed his cross, which he had desired with infinite love for all his thirty-three years! With what tenderness did He take on His shoulders this sign of our salvation, on which He was to die for us and for our salvation?

But you, if God in His mercy sends upon you a cross of any kind, especially a long-lasting cross, you sometimes blaspheme God and say that God has forgotten you!

Wherefore! That’s when God remembers you best, when He sends you suffering! Tell me, if someone gave you a golden cross studded with precious stones and pearls every day, would you say that he forgot about you? Wouldn’t this cross be the best proof of his remembrance of you? Well, the Lord God gives you a cross, not a golden one, but an even more costly one: a cross of suffering, for with this cross you can buy yourself the kingdom of heaven!

A pious woman who had been seriously ill for a long time was once visited by an acquaintance in order to console her. Seeing a figure of the Crucified One hanging over her bed, she said to her: “Ask the Lord Jesus Crucified to remove from you this heavy cross of sickness which you have had to bear for so long!” The sick woman, in turn, replied with astonishment: “What! You show me Jesus Crucified and advise me to ask Him to free me from the cross? It is Jesus crucified who admonishes me to be crucified like Him!

I do not want to be free from the cross, but like the scoundrel at the right hand of it I only wish that the Lord Jesus would remember me in heaven !”

And so do you! When God sends you suffering and people persecute you, rejoice in the cross, embrace it and hold it to your heart as the highest treasure, place it on your shoulders and thank the Lord Jesus that you have been made worthy to bear your cross with Christ!

The cross was a mark not only of sorrow but also of dishonour! For slaves, thieves and robbers were condemned to the death of the cross.

Our Saviour chooses this shameful kind of death, so that you, my dear, who have committed so many evil deeds and killed your own soul with your sins, may be freed from such a harsh death.

O what a sweet consolation! Jesus takes my sins upon Himself and stands as a sinner burdened with the weight of my sins! For if the Lord Jesus had not taken upon Himself this burden of the cross we would still be lying in our sins and would be slaves of Satan.

This cross, however, is not a means of salvation for everyone, but only for those who bear it with love and sorrow for their sins;

But for those who lie in grave sins and bear the cross from God with reluctance and complaint, and even blasphemy, it is the beginning of eternal pain! For even beside the Lord Jesus two scoundrels carried their crosses. One calmly, recognising the rightness of the punishment for his criminal life and offering his sufferings in reparation for his sins, and the other with anger, resentment and blasphemy. That one became a partaker of eternal glory, while this one, rejected from God! And when this sign of salvation appears in the final judgment – the lovers of the cross will rejoice and be glad, because for them it will be the sign of eternal happiness, and the unrepentant sinners will tremble at the sight of it, because through the cross they could have been saved, but did not want to!

O sweetest Jesus , make your Cross the instrument of eternal salvation for us all!

…

As soon as Jesus had taken a few steps with the cross, He fell under its weight. He fell on the stones and was badly bruised; His wounds were renewed, and His head, wounded with thorns, having hit the sharp stones when He fell, suffered most terribly! Who can describe, who can speak or comprehend this terrible pain? And the torturers are still poking and beating Jesus and urging him to get up as quickly as possible and continue walking! And Jesus is so weak!

O my soul, see your God lying down and silently groaning saying to Himself:

“Ah, it is thou who hast knocked me down against the ground with thy sins! Lift me up, lift me up, for my wounds hurt terribly.”

And how can I do this? How can I raise you up my Lord?

– “Behold, arise from thy sins, and thou hast already lifted me up”.



Have you the heart to watch indifferently? Why do you not rush to lift Him up?

Do you love Jesus, and allow Him to lie here like this on hard stones? Lift your neighbour out of sin, lift him out of his misery, but first rise from sin yourself, for you cannot lift another if you do not rise first!

Jesus fell under the weight of the cross so that you might rise from sin; if Jesus had not fallen, you would not have been able to rise from sin. Ah, for the sinner lay under the weight of his sins, miserable poor, and could not raise himself; so Jesus had mercy on him, and fell himself, to obtain for him the grace of rising from his sins.

O how good the Lord Jesus! Thank Him, most beloved, for this new proof of love and, rising from sin, lift Jesus up! But lift Him up gently, not like those torturers who, beating, kicking and poking Jesus, lifted Him from the ground.

Jesus, having gathered up the last of his human strength, continues along the way of the cross. At that moment, His dearest Mother Mary, our Lady, stood in His way, looked at His most beloved Son in tears and said, weeping: “Ah, I am a grieving Mother! What have you people done to my dear child that you torment her so cruelly? Give my Son back to me, give him back to me; after all He has always done you nothing but good, and what have you done to Him?”

Tell me, beloved brother, dear sister, do you wish to cause Mary, the mother of Jesus and of ours, such terrible pain once again? For if you offend God with your sins, not only do you torment Jesus, but you also pierce Mary’s Heart with a sword of pain! Now look upon Jesus and Mary his suffering mother, and acknowledge that you are the cause of Jesus’ torment and Mary’s sorrow, and repent of your sins, then you will one day see Jesus and Mary in joy and happiness, and become partakers of that same joy! Consider what sorrow must have been like, what sorrow pervaded Mary’s soul at that time.

One mother had an only child, beautiful, strong, healthy. There was a war on – everyone was being taken into the army. She went to town with her son. She thought they would have mercy on her, a poor widow, and not take her son into the army. She begged with her eyes, pleaded with her tears and cried loudly. It was her little son’s turn. She stood like a stone and stared and listened… at last the presiding officer said: fit! -When the widow heard this, she staggered and fell to her death! That is the pain of a mother!

So also the Mother of Jesus, when she saw that He was being led to death, and to a death so shameful – she almost fell dead; but God gave her fortitude to continue suffering, and wished to preserve her for the consolation and help of the young Church! And of this sorrow we were the cause! It was we who shed these tears for our mother! For as often as we lay upon the Lord Jesus the heavy burden of our sins, so often do we fill His Mother with sorrow and pain….

The Blessed Virgin, when she saw her Son suffering so much, wanted to draw near to him, but the wicked men would not allow her this consolation; instead, mocking her, they said with derision, “This is the mother who has brought up such a son! And she wipes away her silent tears, deprived even of this consolation, so that she can join her little son on the way of the cross.

In the Blessed Virgin we have the image of a pious soul who desires Jesus and wants to unite herself to Him and serve Him, while evil and perverse people mock her and drive her away from the Lord Jesus!

How many souls would be holy, if there were not some who would turn them away from Christ, and lead them to music and games, and discourage them from the Church, from the Holy Sacraments, and would not even let them cry over the suffering Jesus! But you, dear soul, do not let them lead you away from Christ; let them mock you, let them insult you, let them persecute you – what is the harm? They will not judge you after death, they will not be able to prolong your life for a moment! Why are you afraid of evil men? Fear only Jesus, who will judge you after death! Help Mary to weep, walk with her along the way of the cross, and she will help you to eternal joy.

Notice here, dear brother, the heartfelt sorrow of the Lord Jesus. Everyone has abandoned Him, no one wants to carry the cross with Him, everyone wants to rejoice, no one is found wanting to carry the cross with Christ. Even though we suffer, if someone shows us compassion or speaks a word of comfort, we feel lighter in heart, we are no longer in such pain: and Jesus sees that all his disciples have abandoned him, only one stranger, and that forced man, helps him!

Are you the kind of person who doesn’t want to help Jesus carry his cross? (…)

But there was one among the women, one of those who served Jesus, named Veronica, who, seeing the face of her Lord, so drenched in sweat and blood, forced her way through the multitude of the crowding and mocking people, and taking out a clean handkerchief, with it she wiped the Saviour’s face; and the Lord Jesus was so pleased with Veronica’s brave service that he left her an image of his face on the handkerchief as a memento.
See what a brave woman she is! She presses herself among the people, among the army that surrounds Jesus, she does not care that some laugh at her, others poke at her; she is full of love, she is not afraid of anything, but simply – she pursues Jesus!

Why are there so few good people now, namely brave Catholics?

• Because they are afraid to hurl themselves at Jesus! They would not want to be laughed at, to be poked at, they would want to be respected and praised for their good deeds; they do not have the courage of Veronica, they are cowards who fear any difficulty in God’s service. And now it is precisely such brave women, such courageous men, that we need, when the enemies of Jesus would like to turn people away from Him with mockery and ridicule.

For this favour, the Lord Jesus left Veronica a beautiful memento!

If the Lord Jesus had given you such a wonderful memento, how happy you would have been! How happy you would have cherished it and held it in the highest esteem! And you do not think of the fact that the Lord Jesus gave you an even more beautiful keepsake, because to you the Lord Jesus left not the image of His face on a canvas, but the whole of Himself, most truly in the Most Holy Sacrament of the altar, as a memorial. What a wonderful, what a worthy remembrance! So that you never forget Jesus, He Himself in His own person remains on the altar! And you may remember nothing less than Jesus.

And for what is it that the Lord Jesus leaves us such a memorial? Think about it, for this thing is worthy of deep consideration.

When, for example, you are going on a long journey, you take food with you, and you eat well, so that on the way you do not become weak. We are all going on a very long, difficult and unpleasant journey, that is to say, a journey to heaven, and the way to heaven is steep, uphill, long and unpleasant, surrounded by robbers from all sides, and we have to walk it all our lives. Who can nourish and comfort us on such a journey but the heavenly food, the angelic bread, i.e. Jesus Himself, who came down from heaven and who speaks of Himself: I am the living bread which came down from heaven (John 6:51). Whoever feeds on this divine food will easily ascend to heaven, ascend to God, will become like God, will become a partaker of the divine nature! This is why the Lord Jesus left us such a memorial!

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus, loving us with an infinite love, wants to give us a gift that is a visible proof and sign of his love for us. What, then, will he give us? He will give us Himself, and in giving us Himself, He gives us a gift worthy of God Himself, a gift of which there is nothing better and no greater.
He wants, therefore, the Lord Jesus to be our complete possession, so that everyone who receives the Lord Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament can say, “Lord, thou art mine!” And since nothing in the world is so intimately ours as this bread which we eat and this drink which we drink, therefore the Lord Jesus, wishing to unite Himself to us as closely as possible, gives Himself to us under the forms of bread and wine as food and drink. O my soul, can you comprehend the infinite wisdom and love of Jesus for yourself?

Furthermore, the Lord Jesus, wishing to strengthen in us the hope of eternal happiness, to which we not only have no right, but by our sins have even deserved hell, gives us a pledge of this eternal happiness; and this pledge is Himself in the form of bread and wine in the Blessed Sacrament, and He says to us, as it were:

“Behold, that thou mayest know, O man, that I wish and desire to give thee heaven, and that I will surely give it to thee, if thou follow my commandments unto death: for this thou hast not only my divine word and promise, but even a pledge, and that of myself, that thou mayest know that if I give thee that which is worth more than all eternal happiness, for I give thee the ego of myself: this I will surely give thee also that which is worth less, and therefore eternal happiness.”

O invention of divine wisdom, who will grasp thee? Who will be able to repay you with dignity? What shall we give to the Lord Jesus as a memorial of His love? With his bloody wounds, the Lord Jesus wrote us on his hands and feet and on his Heart, so that he would never forget us. We, at least, having this memento of Holy Communion, let us respect it and not throw it out of our hearts through unworthy actions, let us often greet Jesus, hidden in the Blessed Sacrament, let us give thanks for this lovely and sweet memento, and, above all, let us strive to receive Him worthily in Holy Communion. Above all, let us strive to receive Him worthily in Holy Communion, through sincere confession and heartfelt sorrow for our sins, so that, nourished by this food, we may reach heaven and, having learned to love the Lord Jesus in this life, may love Him throughout eternity. Amen

It must have been no great help to the Lord Jesus from Simon of Cyrene, when He fell a second time not too long afterwards; and this fall was far more painful than the first, for the Saviour was far more weakened than when He fell the first time, and in addition the wounds in His head caused by the thorns, when He collapsed with His whole body weight and was crushed by the cross, became more and more painful.

Do you know, my beloved brother, who it was that struck the Lord Jesus down a second time?

These are the sinners who return to the sins they have already confessed and repented of. O how carelessly and recklessly they act! Do you know what happens in the soul of such a sinner? Behold, as the Lord Jesus Himself teaches, Satan will take seven of his companions worse than the first, and he will bring him into even heavier sins, and his inferior things will become worse than the first.

Such a man, who, having once been touched by the grace of God, has risen from his sins, and then falls into the same sins, becomes habitually worse than he was before, and this is because he has despised the greater and more abundant grace of God, and has become ungrateful to the greater mercy of God.

We read of Saint James the hermit that, while in the wilderness, he committed a terrible sin, but repented and continued to do penance for it all his life in a cramped cell until his death. And thou, O man, didst defile thy soul with such grave sins, and moved by the grace of God didst confess them sincerely; but afterwards, instead of repenting, thou didst commit even worse sins as before confession! What will become of you then?

Now the good and sweet Lord Jesus is falling for you under the weight of your sins for the second time; but the time will come when, when you fall into a heavy sin, you will never get up from it again, and it will happen to you as to that tree which, having fallen on one side, will never move again!

At last the henchmen lifted up the Lord Jesus, because he could no longer get up on his own, and led him away, poking and cursing him. Seeing this, the devout women, who loved the Saviour for the favours and blessings they had received, wept over Jesus and cried aloud. Jesus turned towards them and said: Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over me; but weep over yourselves, and over your sons (Luke 23:28).
This is how the Lord Jesus consoles those who weep over Him, not for possessions, nor for the loss of temporal happiness and pleasures. One tear shed over Jesus suffering is dearer to Him than I do not know how severe penances, without pity for human misery.
Therefore to those who, unable to save their neighbour from misery except by compassion and a word of consolation, says the Lord Jesus when He comes to judge: “Weep no more, my children; you have already wept enough in the world; come to me, I will wipe away your tears and you will weep no more”.

But remember these further words of the Lord Jesus: weep not for me, but for yourselves … and for your sons; for if they do this on a green tree, what shall they do on a dry tree?’ (Luke 23:31) If our Saviour, who is like a green tree, full of life, flowers and fruit, suffers so innocently, what will those sinners suffer who are like this dry tree, without the sap and life of grace, without the flowers of virtue and the fruit of good deeds? Will they not go to burn in the furnace of hell?

Barely had Jesus uttered this, and already he had fallen to the ground a third time and struck his head against the sharp stones. Imagine the excruciating pain when his head, which was crowned with thorns so that the thorns reached through his skull to his brain, hit the ground! If you, burdened with a heavy burden, had fallen on the sharp stones with your head covered with wounds, and if that burden had knocked you to the ground, what terrible pain would you have felt in your head? And Jesus – this is the third time he has fallen under such a burden! Why? Behold, the Lord Jesus is atoning for the fact that his governor, Peter the Apostle, has fallen three times into a grave sin, three times he has denied his God!

Yes, beloved brother, beloved sister, as many times as you fall into grave sin, so many times does Jesus fall under the weight of the cross!

But St. Peter corrected this wrong, for when Jesus asked him three times, “Simon of John, do you love me more than these? St. Peter replied, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you” (John 21:15), and so with threefold profession of love for threefold self-denial he made satisfaction.

And so you also, dearest, if you have sinned, try to pay the Lord Jesus for your sin with fervent love; He, very good, gracious and merciful, will forgive all your sins, no matter how great the sinner. For He Himself said that He did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He was most fond of the company of sinners, and attended their feasts; that is why He was called the friend of sinners. He forgave Magdalene and the open sinner, He promised the thief on the cross paradise, He commands us to forgive our trespasses. Would He Himself, then, who is infinitely superior to all men, not forgive us poor sinners? He will forgive us all, but He will also say, Go in peace, and sin no more!

Oh what goodness, what love of Jesus!
Already for this love of His, we should not sin, and offend Him so often and so severely. For if the Lord Jesus were not so good, gracious, patient and merciful, I would not be surprised that people offend Him; but I do not understand how such a good and gracious Jesus, who suffered so much for us sinners, can not be respected, but still be offended!

The Lord Jesus lying beneath the cross is the image of a sinful man!

Sinner! how poor, unhappy he is – scarred by his sins, stripped of God’s grace, having lost his fame and esteem with men and God, having lost his wealth, health and strength, and lying under the weight of his sins. And who can lift him up? Only he who for him fell three times under the cross, our most beloved Saviour! O good Jesus, lift all sinners from their sinful state, and raise them to heaven, that they may all love thee for ever!

Once again the executioners picked up Jesus, beating and poking Him, and amidst shouting and uproar they came with Him to Calvary.  Here they took down the cross from Him in order to nail Him to it later.

Now begins one of the cruellest torments of the Lord Jesus.

Behold how the wolves tore from Him the garments of His own, in which they had clothed Him. These garments clung and dried to the wounded body, which was almost one great wound. Now, therefore, these wounds tore and the most holy blood flowed in a torrent to the earth.
And Jesus stood unlike a man, exposed, ashamed before the whole world, and became the image of all mankind covered with the wounds of iniquity, ashamed before God and His angels at the last judgment. O, rather now before one man, to whom the Lord God has given the power of absolution, reveal all his sins,; than before the whole world and God and Angels and Satans be ashamed for ever.

Now the Lord Jesus, full of pity and mercy, will accept your shame and your humility as a penance for your sins – but then he will become a severe judge, who will also judge our righteousness, that is, our good deeds severely.

Perhaps you will tell me that it is difficult for you to have such courage and humility. But I will also ask you: was it easy for the Lord Jesus to stand like this before the whole world, before his enemies without clothes? Would it have been easy for you? Is it not easier, then, to blame yourself in words and heart before the Governor of God in a holy confession? Behold, Jesus takes all thy sins upon Himself; and thou only repent and confess them sincerely – and thou shalt have the sweetest peace in thy heart.

When they had stripped Jesus of his clothes, and he was shivering like a leaf from the cold and had almost lost all his strength, then to strengthen him they gave him wine mixed with bitter gall, and Saint Matthew adds that Jesus, having tasted it, refused to drink. Jesus tasted it so that his sense of taste would also have its torment, but he did not want to drink, lest he should seek to be strengthened by a natural remedy.

And then, when the Lord Jesus was already hanging on the cross, and cried out: I thirst! then a sponge filled with vinegar was given to Him on a reed, which Jesus accepted.

Behold, dearest brother, while you seek consolation in suffering, in distress, in the cup – it is the Lord Jesus who drinks acorn and vinegar for all our inebriation and indulgence of the sense of taste. You know this, and yet, when in liquor you seek entertainment and consolation, you seem to say: “Let the Lord Jesus there drink gall and vinegar, I will drink vodka!” Oh, do not say that; for the time will come when you will die of hunger and wither from thirst, and no one will give you a drop of water.

Just remember what the Lord Jesus himself tells about the rich man who was buried in hell. Oh how terribly he must have suffered and still suffers thirst when he asked Lazarus to give him at least a drop of water at the end of his finger, because he was terribly tormented in the flames of hell. O have pity on yourself and do not give the Lord Jesus gall and vinegar to drink, lest the same thing happen to you as to that rich man!

Since the Lord Jesus was given gall with wine and vinegar, the crucifixion itself began.

The executioners laid or rather threw the Lord Jesus on the cross lying on the mountain. The Lord Jesus lies down alone like a lamb and stretches out his hands. One of the executioners takes his hand, pulls it and puts it to the place where it was to be nailed to the cross. He takes a great iron nail and a thick one, and with his left hand he applies it with the sharp end to his hand, and in his other hand he takes a hammer – he lifts it and with all his strength strikes the head of the nail. Jesus groaned, blood gushed and splashed the face of the executioner….

The Blessed Mother almost fainted as she watched this ordeal, but she only shed silent tears and, uniting them with the blood of her Son, offered them to the Heavenly Father for our sins. As a result of the excruciating pain of the wound of the left hand nailed, the whole body towards the left side has drawn closer and the left hand has shrunk. So the second executioner takes Christ’s right hand and pulls it angrily towards the hole in the right arm of the cross, thus tearing the wound of the left hand and causing Jesus even more pain.

Again, as in the first instance, the torturer kneels on his right knee, takes the nail in his left hand and the hammer in his right hand; he puts the nail with the sharp end in the palm of his right hand, raises the hammer and strikes the nail with all his might on the head of the nail – blood spurts out again, splashes the torturer’s face; Jesus groans painfully, tears gush from his eyes, the Blessed Virgin covers her eyes with her hand and dies of pain, only John the Baptist and the women themselves weep. and the weeping women themselves support Mary! Behold, both hands are already nailed! Now the legs follow. He takes the third executioner and with all his strength drags both legs to the place of the cross where the holes have been made for the legs, whereby he tears again the wounds in both hands and causes new and crueler pain to Jesus.

The same as with the hands, is repeated with the feet – and again the blood gushed out and there followed the moaning of Jesus and the sorrow of Mary’s heart. As if on torture, Jesus, stretched out like a string, lies on the cross as if on a bed of pain and, raising his eyes to heaven, says to his Father.

Father, behold, I offer myself for them; accept my sacrifice, I willingly suffer, so that they may be happy for ever .

O love, infinite love of my God! For my sins, which I have committed with my hands, for the wildernesses in which I have wandered, walking and seeking occasions of sin – Thine hands and feet are nailed to the cross! For the beds of pleasures and comforts of the flesh, for my debauchery Thou art on a hard cross! That I, on a fiery bed, may not lie in hell, Thou art tormented on a cross-bed! That I may take sweet rest in heaven. Thou hast such a rest on the cross. Oh Lord, to me, I was due to suffer like this. What shall I give Thee for this Thy such sacrifice, for such terrible sufferings? Behold, I no longer wish to offend Thee either with my hands or my feet; if I have done wrong to someone with my hand, now I wish to do him good; if I have gone to places where I have offended Thee, now I will go only to Church and to work. Again, I want to be nailed to the cross with you, and when the deathly sickness comes, as you were on the cross, so I want to lie on my soft bedding as on the cross and offer my sickness to the heavenly Father for my sins and those of the whole world. O accept this my sacrifice now, Lord, and do not cast me away from Thy holy face.
Amen.

Rev. Kazimierz Riedl T.J. – “Readings on the Passion of the Lord” . Cracow 1901. pp. 110 – 134.