Intercessions ~ The Second Sunday of Lent

Pope Francis has been pope for one year./ We ask blessings for him/ and that the world would catch his spirit of joy and hope./ We pray to the Lord.

Millions of Syrian children are suffering terribly in the fighting which afflicts their country./ We pray for them and for the agencies attempting to help./ We pray to the Lord.

Mindful of the disappearance of the Malaysian flight near China/ we pray for those who await news of loved-ones/ and for those who are searchers and helpers./ We pray to the Lord.

While there are little hints of spring/ we pray all the more for an inner Lenten springtime/ which opens us to the truth about ourselves as we stand before God./ We pray to the Lord.

We continue to pray over the world/ asking the blessings of peace and well-being for the countries of Belarus,/ Belgium,/ Belize,/ Benin,/ Bermuda and Bhutan./ And for the peaceful resolution of tensions in Ukraine./ We pray to the Lord.

For our relatives and friends,/ travelers and those who suffer in any way,/ for prisoners,/ the aged and those who struggle with special needs./ We pray to the Lord.

Grateful for God's kind mercies,/ we ask gifts of light and life for those who have died/ and consolation and faith for those who mourn./ We pray to the Lord

The Ninth Station ~ Jesus Falls the Third Time

WE HEAR OF DOGGED DETERMINATION to become an Olympian or to win the big prize money on the reality TV show. But here is a determination that almost defies our understanding or appreciation: Jesus returning to his feet after this third crushing fall. 

If I'm a disciple of Jesus, then I return to my feet, fall after painful fall: moral failing, faithlessness in my problems, succumbing to cravings and addictions, letting myself down, setting out again after discouragement. Why? Because Jesus did. He knows how difficult it can be and that the raising up may be pained and slow.

Saint Peter writes: "No one can hurt you if you are determined to do only what is right; and blessed are you if you have to suffer for being upright. Have no dread of them; have no fear. Simply proclaim the Lord Christ holy in your hearts, and always have your answer ready for people who ask you the reason for the hope that you have." (1 Peter 3:15)

Silence

Our Father Who Art in Heaven...

Hail Mary full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...

The Eighth Station ~ Jesus Speaks to the Women of Jerusalem

SOBBING, WAILING WOMEN meet Jesus along the way as he carries his cross to Calvary. He stops to tell them not to cry for him but for themselves and for your children. This is a mysterious saying cry for your children.

In Italy there is a Christmas tale told with a dark side. A mother has lost her baby in the slaughter of the Holy Innocents, ordered by Herod who was jealous of the newborn boy being called a king. But Joseph, warned of the danger by a dream-angel, took Mary and the Infant Jesus to the safety of Egypt.

But this other mother, overwhelmed with grief, packed her child's belongings in a bag and searched among all the remaining children for her own. The long travel and worry caused her to grow ugly, worn out and beggarly. 

Finally she found the Child Jesus, placing the bag of clothes at his feet, embittered that her baby had been killed while Jesus escaped. But Jesus blessed her and gave her the new name La Befana, which means The Bestower. Though her sadness remained, Befana, outwardly ugly but inwardly beautiful, left Jesus and spent the rest of her days giving gifts to children.

And let us cry too for the dead children - the children who died at Bethlehem, who die in abortions, and the children who died (and die still) at Wounded Knee, Hiroshima, Dresden, My Lai, Gaza, Beirut, Birmingham, Baghdad, Calcutta, Chicago...

Silence

Our Father Who Art in Heaven...

Hail Mary full of grace...

Glory be to the Father...