Holy Week

Hosanna to the Son of David, Blessed is He that comes in the Name of the Lord. Hosanna in the Highest!
Hosanna is an exclamation of joy, like a Sacred Hurrah.  In St. Luke's Gospel he uses the following phrase, "Peace in Heaven and glory on High."  This day Jesus was celebrated for who He was but how easily the hearts of man are corrupted.

Mary Magdalen generously anointed the feet of Jesus while Judas increased his avarice. Where are our hearts?

This avarice opened the door wide for the evil one to entice Judas to further use his greed to betray Jesus. However, according to the revelations in the City of God, at this time the evil one was not sure if Jesus was truly the Messiah and he began to desire to find out, for if this was the Messiah His Death would destroy so much of the work of the demons.  They had already set within the hearts of Judas, the High Priest and the Pharisees much hatred towards Jesus and even when the demons tried to thwart this Death, they could no longer change the hearts of these hard-hearted men.  Remember, God only allows the evil one some power, he isn't all-powerful, Grace is much stronger than the evil one.  

Judas betrayed Our Lord to the Pharisees at the price of 30 pieces of silver, the price of a mere slave.  

The Apostles celebrated the Last Passover meal with Our Lord. 

And celebrated the first Mass when He changed the Bread and Wine into His Body and Blood and instituted the Sacred Priesthood.  According to private revelation, Jesus chose to suffer so much that He even gave His Body and Blood to His betrayer.  Thereafter, Judas was to go and do quickly what he had to do.

Jesus washed the feet of His Apostles to teach us the lesson of Divine Charity and Divine Humility.  I'd imagine we learn a bit about Divine Patience and Infinite Humor, as Christ dealt with Peter!    My question is whether Jesus washed the feet of Judas before he left.

Following the First Mass Jesus went to the Garden of Olives where He often prayed.  Here He sweat blood and suffered greatly for our sins.  My Father, if it be possible, let this chalice pass from me. Nevertheless not as I will, but as Thou wilt.  Per the agreement with the Pharisees, Judas came to this place and betrayed Our Lord with a kiss.  Betrayed with what is suppose to be a sign of love.

Peter betrayed Christ 3 times and then got "the look". How heart breaking that must have been when Peter realized how weak he was and that he had betrayed Jesus out of fear.  But... he did not despair of the mercy of God. He wept bitterly, but did not despair.

Judas knew he had done great wrong and went back to the Pharisees left the money there.  But his heart was filled with little else but self.

And he despaired of the mercy of God and hung himself upon a tree.  His bowels burst out, all these signs that he was filled with evil, but as Christ said, it would have been better if he had never been born. According to the City of God a special place awaited him in hell.  A place in the very depths and heart of hell.  The thought of souls going to hell is most heart-breaking. And we know it is easy to get there and unless we take the narrow path, we will not find our way to the Beautiful Gates of Heaven, which we can only obtain through the Cross.

According to private revelation, Jesus was scourged with some 5115 whippings.  Throughout the days of his sufferings he was stripped of his garments several times but never was His Purity violated.  According to the City of God, those who tried to remove His loin cloth were paralyzed in the arms.  I will admit I laughed... served them right!  A reminder that in this decadent day of impurity just how important purity is!  Christ allowed Himself to be violated in every possible horrific manner, in ways we cannot even comprehend but never to tempt others to sin by way of impurity.  In this book is given a very detailed description of Our Lord's physical appearance. The picture above is a nice picture in comparison to the reality.

Then, Jesus, in his whipped and beaten state, was made to carry the cross He was to die on.  

According to private revelation the men who were in charge of the crucifixion deliberately made the holes for His hands and feet further apart to further pull Him limb by limb and stretch His Body.  There He was nailed to the Cross that contained all our sins to die between two thieves.

Jesus died in 3 Sacred Hours on the Cross and was then laid in His Mother's arms.

And here were are on Holy Saturday with our dead Savior.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the sufferings of Our Blessed Mother.  I have been blessed to read from the City of God this  Lent.  It was the most beautiful readings that I can remember.  And what I liked best was that it showed the unity of Our Blessed Mother and her Son.  She has been pushed aside by so many as "just a mother". But she was not just a mother, she was chosen to be the Mother of God.  If one knows the heart and love of a mother for her child(ren), one knows she must have suffered beyond any mother's comprehension.  We all know about saints who were so close to God that they floated or suffered exceedingly, or had private revelations, or the very wounds of Christ! So who are we to deny that Our Blessed Mother would not have within her soul and body all these unions with Christ!  She was pure, perfect, immaculate and so her sufferings were never marred by human selfishness, pride or any other vice.  She was full of Grace, hence full of virtue. Her union with Christ was so deep, rich and close that she suffered more deeply than we can ever imagine.  At the same time, God kept her hidden.  She suffered His Wounds in her body and soul, yet never known to the ordinary people around her.  If only we could suffer so!

So as I reflect back on Lent, we began with a death and we ended with The Death. I didn't accomplish much on my "to-do" list as God called us to a different kind of suffering during Lent.  But God has rewarded us in His Time and in His Mysterious Ways as this has been the most beautiful Holy Week I have ever experienced. And for that I am very grateful.

Now we wait and wait and wait.  The Easter Vigil TLM begins at 10:30 pm.   I better go pack the cookies for the ride home :)