Seven Last Words: "Woman, behold your son . . . behold your mother"

(John 19:26-27)  

During the seven weeks of Lent we invite you to  come and stand with us at the foot of the Cross as we listen to the 'Seven Last Words' spoken by Jesus.  Each week we will post a reflection which will seek guidance from these words as we, his Church today, like him, experience betrayal, criticism, abandonment and disownment.

   

In this third weekly Lenten Reflection we shall listen to Christ's plea for us to lovingly embrace one another as family; considering these words in the context in which Jesus spoke them and questioning how they affect our perception of Church and our place in it today.

Reflection:
The presence of Mary and the beloved disciple at the foot of the cross remind us that Jesus was a real human being; a man who had once been a boy, who had once been carried in the womb of his mother, who had once been a dear friend.  A man who had laughed, cried, and loved.  Even as he was dying on the cross as the Son of God, Jesus remained a son, a brother, and a friend.  And there, in the midst of this injustice, inhumanity, and brutality, flickers another moment of love and tenderness; a heartbroken mother and a distraught friend remain near their beloved Jesus.  With what little strength he had left, Jesus entrusts each to the other.  Selfless to the end his love and concern for them reveals itself.  

Mary and the beloved disciple brought the love of a mother and that of a friend to the foot of the cross and from the cross Jesus commissions them to become one family.  We witness no competition or rivalry between them for the love and favour of Jesus.  They love Jesus and in response to him they offer their love and concern to each other.  Similarly today, each of us is brought to Christ by a different manner of love.  Often we do not recognise our God in the love of another person.  We can dismiss their faith as traditional or progressive, as too pious or as too intellectually removed.  We may see it as a threat to strict Catholic Orthodoxy to be silenced or expelled.  How different from Jesus’ message from the cross; to unite in our love of Jesus as one family.  Today, we are given the task of reaching across all the boundaries and hostilities that divide human beings and saying, ‘behold my sister’, ‘behold my brother’, ‘behold my mother’.

Do you dismiss the love that others have for Christ or maybe see the love that others have as of more value than your own?  (short pause)

Do you see the Church as existing in just four walls or within certain structures?  (short pause)

Do you allow yourself to take responsibility for your role in the Church?  (short pause)

Do you focus all your love towards Christ on the cross and refuse to see your neighbour beside you as your sister, your brother or your mother? (short pause)

It goes to the very roots of our Christian belief that through our baptism we are adopted into the family of God.  Jesus, by making Mary mother of the beloved disciple, was making himself our brother and asking us to become sisters, brothers and mothers to each other.  To be a Christian is to recognize that at the foot of the cross is born our family, from which no one who loves Jesus can be excluded.  That family, that living-church that Jesus commissioned, does not just exist in Rome, or Drumcondra, or Armagh, or among the Bishops, or the priests, or the brothers, or the sisters.  Yes there, but not just there; Church belongs to every one of us and every one of us is Church – we, as disciples, sisters, brothers, and mothers of Christ gathered here tonight make up this Church; we are Church and are responsible for our Church as much as any other group of men or women.  Today, in our broken and fragmented situation we can do no greater service to Jesus than listen to and act upon His words to re-embrace our church as a loving-family-community.

Prayer for the week:

Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy, hail, our life, our sweetness and our hope. To thee do we cry, poor banished children of Eve: to thee do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this vale of tears. Turn then, most gracious Advocate, thine eyes of mercy toward us, and after this our exile, show unto us the blessed fruit of thy womb, Jesus, O clement, O loving, O sweet Virgin Mary!  Amen.

Come and Join us....

If you live in Dublin why not come and be present for our 'Seven Last Words' Lenten Reflections?  The above reflection will be part of a 30 minute meditation held at the Our Lady of the Angels Capuchin Church on Church Street each Friday of Lent beginning at 8:00pm.  Music for these reflections will be provided by the CYC chamber choir (you can read the reflection for week one here and for week two here).

Seven Last Words: "Today you will be with me in Paradise"

(Luke 23:33, 39-43)

During the seven weeks of Lent we invite you to  come and stand with us at the foot of the Cross as we listen to the 'Seven Last Words' spoken by Jesus.  Each week we will post a reflection which will seek guidance from these words as we, his Church today, like him, experience betrayal, criticism, abandonment and disownment.

   

In this second weekly Lenten Reflection we shall listen to Christ's offer to us of eternal life, so long as we come to him with true repentance and full faith

Reflection:

As Jesus hung upon the cross horrendously suffering, vulnerably naked, helplessly dying he had to endure further scoffing, mocking and derision, from the Jewish leaders, the soldiers and the unrepentant thief. Their taunts about saving himself reveal that for them salvation meant liberation from the cross.  However, amidst all of this the repentant thief cries out to Jesus and teaches us two vital lessons: repentance and faith.  Contrary to the unrepentant thief, the openness of the repentant thief to accept his judgment is linked with the acceptance of his sin.  He acknowledged his need for forgiveness and asked for salvation from the very one who could grant it.

Jesus’ response is one of the most astounding and encouraging verses in all of Scripture. He promises that the criminal will be with him in paradise.  He asks nothing of the past crimes of this man.  We have no reason to believe this man had been a follower of Jesus, or truly understood who He was.  He hadn't left everything behind to be Jesus’ disciple.  He wasn't suffering because he spoke the truth to those who refused to hear it, but because of his crimes. He even admitted that he had been justly condemned!  The repentant thief’s faith was the size of a mustard seed, if that.  And even though he came for forgiveness in the very last hours of his life it seems that his confession of guilt opened the way for forgiveness and salvation. 

Do you acknowledge your sins? 

Do you accept your guilt and any fair-judgments put against you? 

Do you accept your cross and see delight and salvation through sorrow? 

Have you put your ultimate trust in Jesus?

Do you know that, when your time comes, you will be with him in paradise?

There are many of us who are ignorant of our sins and deluded by what they are doing through pride and self-centredness.  There are those of us who seem to deny our guilt, refuse to accept fair judgements put against us, rebuke criticism, and place our trust in people and not in God; we can be people imprisoned by our stubborn denial of sin.  Last week we reflected on how God is infinitely forgiving but how we must reach out for this forgiveness.  How much, today, in response do we need to hear the word Jesus once spoke to a man who had no hope and no reason to expect mercy. We can be in God’s presence with all our weaknesses and failures, like the good thief, and God still takes pleasure in our very existence and promises Paradise to us.

 
Although we should make every effort to live, according to the Church’s teachings, as disciples of Jesus, in the end our relationship with him comes down to simple trust. "Jesus, remember me," we cry. And Jesus, embodying the mercy of God, says to us, "You will be with me in paradise." We are welcome there not because we have the right theology, and not because we are living rightly, but because God is merciful and we have put our trust in Jesus. All Christ asks of us is repentance and faith. 

Prayer for the week:

Lord Jesus, those you loved wished to crush all hope from you leaving you hanging in utter sorrow and despair.  And yet it is joy and hope that you offered to the repentant thief.  When we cry out to you, you hear us. When we ask you to ‘remember us when you come into your kingdom’, you offer us the promise of paradise.  Today, I live trusting you and you alone.  My life is in your hands; fill me with joy and hope so that I may share it with those who are filled with sorrow and despair.  Amen

Come and Join us....

If you live in Dublin why not come and be present for our 'Seven Last Words' Lenten Reflections?  The above reflection will be part of a 30 minute meditation held at the Our Lady of the Angels Capuchin Church on Church Street each Friday of Lent beginning at 8:00pm.  Music for these reflections will be provided by the CYC chamber choir.  

You can read the other weeks reflections here: week one, week two, week three, week four and week five.

Lenten Reflections and Resources 2012

  'The Spirit led Jesus into the desert 
       where hestayed for forty days'.  

  ...Mark1:12

      We begin, once again, for our annual pilgrimage with the Lord as we journey with Him for forty days. This Season of Lent is anopportunity to take ourselves out of our normal routine and place ourselves more consciously into relationship with God. It is traditional practice during these forty days to ‘give something up’, however, increasingly we decide to take on a Lenten challenge instead; like voluntary work, or raising money for charity, or a daily good deed.  This Season can be a time when we discern between what we really need and what we think we need.  It can be an opportunity to let go of what is holding us back from living life to the full!

      Below we have listed seven useful resources for you to use during Lent (click on the pictures to be brought to the site).  There is also some information about Lenten reflections which we will be running in our Church Street Friary in Dublin and to which you are more than welcome to attend. During Lent we will also be posting weekly reflections and will update our resource list so please do ‘follow’ this blog or ‘favourite’ us and be sure to check back during the Lenten Season. 

1) Vatican Website

MESSAGE OF HIS HOLINESS BENEDICT XVI FOR LENT 2012

“Let us be concerned for each other,
to stir a response in love and good works” (Heb 10:24)

2) Christian Aid

Lent is an opportunity to stillour minds and focus our thoughts on those less fortunate than ourselves.  Join Christian Aid in reflection and prayer during Lent as they journey with Jesus into the wilderness and from there, towards the cross.

Anew reflection will be added every week.

Download Count Your Blessings leaflet

CountYour Blessings is a daily calendar which takes you through Lent using thought-provoking reflections and engaging actions that will encourage and challenge you, not only in your own life but in praying for those living in poverty around theworld.

3) Churches Together in Britain and Ireland

In Lent,Christians go on a journey of deepening reflection, prayer and discipline which leads them to the great festival of new life at Easter. In their Lent study course, CTBI invite you to think of this journey as leading towards the true freedom of living in love towards God and others, and what this freedom means for ourselves, our churches, ourlocal communities and our world.

4) Trocaire 

This year, Trócaire’s Lenten campaign focuses on communities in northern Uganda who are trying to rebuild their lives after 20 years of war. Find out more below about our work and what you can do to help rebuild lives and communities.

5) Catholic Ireland

Lent is above all a time for prayer, for withdrawing a little from the hustle and bustle of daily life to be alone with God in the secret room of our hearts, to encounter the hidden God (cf. Matt 6:6). The danger is that, using the Lenten fast for any other reason – like collecting money for Third World projects, for example, which are good in themselves and can be personally gratifying – can so easily distract us from the initially less appealing task of seeking the face of God. But that is the real purpose of the Lenten Fast. 


6) Franciscans International 

It is during this time of Lent that we remember Jesus’ suffering on the cross because he was seen as a threat to the powerful. We can liken this to the continuing suffering that people are still experiencing today worldwide, because of unjust legal structures.
FI invites you to use this new prayer booklet to reflect on the 'Seven Last Words of Jesus' in relation to current issues affecting people who are marginalised and to hold them in prayer.

Download 'The Seven Last Words of Jesus'>>
 

7) Church Support Team

The Church Support Team invite you to share their Lenten journey.  They will be offering you some ideas, encouragement, support and guidance on this journey.  Their daily material is organised through the ‘Lenten Journey’ buttons which you can reach by clicking here.

8)  Capuchin Franciscan Lenten Reflections on the 'Seven Last Words'

The Irish Capuchin Franciscan Friars invite you, for the next seven weeks, to come and stand with us at the foot of the Cross as we listen to the 'Seven Last Words' spoken by Jesus.  Each week we will post  a reflection (click here) which will seek guidance from these words as we, his Church today, like him, experience betrayal, criticism, abandonment and disownment. Inthis first weekly Lenten Reflection we shall listen to Christ's plea offorgiveness; considering these words in the context in which Jesus spoke themand questioning how they affect our perception of God's forgiveness towards us - and others.

If you live in Dublin then why not come and attend the actual reflections?  At 8:00pm, on each Friday of Lent, we will be hosting 40 min reflections in Our Lady ofthe Angels Capuchin Church on Church Street in Dublin.  Music for these reflections will be provided bythe CYC chamber choir (click to be redirected to our blog page).

 Lent is our annual SpringtimeJourney  to God - where will it take you?!

Seven Last Words: "Father forgive them for they know not what they do"

 (Luke 23:33-35)

As we begin our Lenten journey today we invite you, for the next seven weeks, to come and stand with us at the foot of the Cross as we listen to the 'Seven Last Words' spoken by Jesus.  Each week we will post a reflection which will seek guidance from these words as we, his Church today, like him, experience betrayal, criticism, abandonment and disownment.
   

In this first weekly Lenten Reflection we shall listen to Christ's plea of forgiveness; considering these words in the context in which Jesus spoke them and questioning how they affect our perception of God's forgiveness towards us - and others.

Reflection:

As Jesus spoke these words he may have thought about Judas who betrayed him, the Jewish leaders who perceived him as a threat, the Romans who wished to maintain control and order; he may have looked down from the cross towards the people who had scourged him, beaten him, spat on him, and shouted for him to die….and yet he asked God to forgive them.  But when we consider the whole ministry of Jesus, would we expect any less from him than forgiveness of those who mistreated and killed him?  Isn’t that ultimately what his cross is really all about?

As Christians we believe that it is also our sins that put Jesus on the cross, as much as Pilate and all the others, and so we can rightly hear Jesus’ petition for forgiveness as including us too.  And just as God forgave those who betrayed his Son and attempted to eradicate all his influence and his works so too, in present times, does God forgive those who, like Judas, have betrayed his Church. . . God forgives those who, like some of his followers, have abandoned his Church. . . God forgives those who, like Peter, have denied belonging to his Church. . . God forgives those who, like the Romans, would like to see the Church’s influence and works die. . . God forgives those who, like Pontius Pilate, listen to the crowds without following their own hearts. . . God forgives those who, like Thomas, have lost faith in the Church. . . God forgives pride, anger, judgements, jealousies, resentments. . . God’s forgiveness is bountiful and endless. It may be a forgiveness which we feel is underserved and inappropriate for some but, nonetheless, God’s forgiveness, often unlike our own, is immediate and without reservation.

But how do we feel about being forgiven by God?  

We may not have explicitly betrayed or abandoned Christ and the Church but we are all sinners.  Do we really believe God has forgiven us for our sins? Do we enjoy the freedom of God’s forgiveness? Even though you trust God and have confessed your sins perhaps, you believe you are only ‘semi-forgiven’ and you live as though sin still has power over your life?  Do you try to prove yourself to God, as though you might earn more forgiveness if only you were better?  

The truth of God’s complete forgiveness needs to penetrate your heart in new ways.  Jesus dies so that we are forgiven for our sins.  As we hear the words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" may we fully understand that we too today are forgiven through Christ.

Prayer for the week:

Good and gracious God, help me to know with fresh conviction that I am fully and finally forgiven, not because of anything I have done, but because of what you have done for me. May I live this week as a forgiven person, opening my heart to you, choosing not to sin because the power of sin has been broken by your salvation. All praise be to you for your matchless forgiveness! Amen.

Come and Join us....

If you live in Dublin why not come and be present for our Lenten Reflections?  The above reflection is one of two that will be shared; the second will have a particulary Francsican flavour.  Reflections will be held at the Our Lady of the Angels Capuchin Church on Church Street in Dublin each Friday of Lent beginning at 8:00pm for forty minutes.  Music for these reflections will be provided by the CYC chamber choir. You can read the other weeks reflections here: week one, week two, week three, week four and week five.

"Come and See" Vocation Weekend! 24th - 26th February 2012

Why not "Come and See"?
 

A “Come and See” vocation weekend is a no-strings-attached chance to spend time learning about the life of the Irish Capuchin Franciscans. The weekend will provide you with an opportunity to take time out, to reflect, to pray, to share the life of the friars and to talk with those who are already journeying as Capuchins. If you are a single Catholic man aged between 18 and 40 and are considering our way of life why not come for the weekend and see for yourself? 

For more information about the weekend, life as a Capuchin Franciscan friar, or to schedule a time to visit the Friary please contact Br. Terence Harrington on 086 323 0638, email: capuchinvocation@gmail.com or visit our webpage: www.irishcapuchinfranciscans.org

Upcoming events in Church St, Dublin

Peace be with you!!

We have two very exciting events coming up in our Church Street Friary. You are all most welcome to come along. I have attached some details

Padre  Pio Triduum
20 / 21 /22 & 23rd of September. Keynote Speaker is Br Kieran Shorten. Mass is celebrated at 7.30pm each night, confessions available and blessing with the relic of St Pio. This is always a fantastic and uplifting Triduum and well worth attending.

The Call to Fatima - Triduum
7th, 8th & 9th of October. Keynote speakers include Dr Branca Paul (Physician to Sr Lucia), Fr Apostoli, Louise Irvine, Tom McCormack and Sr Angela Coelho. We are very pleased to be asked to host this event in Church Street and look forward to welcoming you along. Full details are available on the following blog:
http://thecalltofatima.wordpress.com/