Monday in the Octave of Easter Lk 24,13-35

We can also witness such inconspicuous scenes in our cemeteries. People have already built tombs in their lifetime and go to look at them. There is nothing wrong with devoting at least as much time to their soul as they spend time and money to their temporary abode here on earth – their grave. I saw a woman crying over her grave. She is alive; she has sweet words carved in stone there; it is a pity that those who know her know about the state of her life, especially her soul, and that the words on the monument do not match reality. When I saw this woman, I remembered the largest desert in the world – the Sahara. Some scientists claim that there should be a large sea under the Sahara. When people manage to get to it, the water rises from the depths and the fertile sand of the desert. This picture is characteristic of the situation of many people.
Many people live on the surface; they lack nothing. They also think about when they will die, but they do not go deep; they even convince themselves that life is only the world in which we find ourselves that we consume. They will not allow a new life; they will not admit that a new time, eternal life, could occur in their lives. They are afraid and afraid to leave the old life and start a new one. For us, gathered here today on Easter Monday, the gospel is a reinforcement, and we draw great strength from it. Jesus is known to women who wanted to show him their love when they wanted to anoint his dead body with fragrant ointments.

Women are to mediate the meeting of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus wants to meet his brothers, the apostles. The place of meeting is well known to the apostles. It is a place where you have called them apostles. For the apostles, the Lake of Gennesaret is not only a place of vocation, but they also ate bread here, which, after the blessing of Jesus, they distributed to the crowds, and many were fed. It was here that they marveled at the power of Jesus because he acted as one who has power. Here they marveled at the teachings of Jesus, which won not only their hearts and lives but also many others. Jesus invites them back to the lake through the women. To which he calls them, this meeting is to strengthen their faith, which was shaken by the events of three days before he was captured in the Garden of Gethsemane until his body was placed in the tomb. The apostles are beginning to realize that much had changed since the incident when he called them to be disciples. The most recent event that Christ rose from the dead shook them more than the death of Christ. They begin to understand things they did not understand. They realize that they can regain faith so that they will never lose it again, complete their mission, which Christ has called them to so that they will be willing to die for it.

After the Second Vatican Council, much is said about faith in today’s world. In the last twenty years, the Church has not survived her death, as predicted by the false prophets, that the Church will not survive the year 2000; on the contrary, we see that the Church is entering its second youth. This raises the question: What is our role, our mission in the world, to engage properly in the Church’s mission in modern times? The resurrection of Christ gives us strong motives. We strive to remain faithful Christians. Being a Christian in the 20th century is not a reason to be ashamed of one’s faith, even at a time of discovery, of progress in all science areas. Let us remember that everything we admire today grew out of Christianity. Christianity brought development, ignited culture, enriched civilization. Who built the first schools, hospitals, orphanages, and old houses? Not Christianity? Let’s look at the list of scientists, writers, discoverers and find out that they were church figures.

Let us remember that Christianity’s hallmark is not backwardness, but on the contrary, development and culture, even today. Many would like to change Christianity. However, Christianity must not be understood as a matter of taste, of opinion, how it would suit us best, liked it … Christianity is based on a truth that cannot change according to who is in power, whether political, economic, or cultural. That is why the Church says this morning that Christ has risen from the dead, even though millions will cry that it is a lie because history says that they are deceiving themselves.

The Church and Christianity are aware that it is not at the whim of the people. Faith does not depend on the power of lords. History convinces us that even though Christianity was trampled on, persecuted even when it was bleeding, it always fulfilled its mission as determined by the risen Christ. Indeed, the more his resurrection was ridiculed, the more sacrifices Christ’s followers had to make, the purer and more valuable Christians’ lives were. That is why we have to talk about Christianity’s role because there are many of them, and each of us can participate in them for our enrichment here on earth, but also for the reward in eternity.

At the end of the 20th century, believers face two serious challenges. Namely, lest we be seduced by the mammon who has already seduced many from Christ, we know that the broad path has always led from God. To those who want to make the slogan: “Carpe diem!” – “Have a good day!” remind me how much sadness, unhappiness, and disappointment is in the end. Money, fame, power, position, sex, drugs, it’s all field grass that withers quickly, dries up. Today’s Christians should realize that they must not become slaves. They must not be enslaved; they must not succumb to the modern slave of our day – mammon. This does not mean that a Christian must not live within the limits of comfort, glory … In the first place, however, the believer must be the Risen One, who says that one day we too will be called to resurrect body and soul.

An example is Nelli Cooman, who won a gold medal at the second indoor World Championships in Budapest Athletics. In teleshopping, her editor asked what she had in the first place in her life: “Is it a sport?” “No,” the winner replies. “Then the husband?” “Not even a husband.” Astonished and curious and the reporter asked the same thing again, and the winner replies: “In the first place, I have God, in the second husband, in the third sport.” The surprised editor asks again, “And does the husband know about this?” “Yes, he knows. He also has God in the first place, and I hope,” and he smiles mischievously, “that he also has me in the second place.” “I don’t know if you believe, but try talking to him” while pointing up, “and he’ll always help you.” At the same time, she was full of joy, youth, and strength.

So we can say that she did our first task very well. From the screen, it was an extraordinary profession of faith. Our second task is not to be frightened by the victims. Jesus says, “Whoever wants to follow me, let him deny himself, takes his cross every day and follows me” (Lk 9:23). For us, this means that we remain faithful in preaching the truth of Christ. A well-known scientist and discoverer of medicine Against rabies, the Frenchman Pasteur, rebuking him for his directness in faith, said: “It is a pity that I do not believe as a Breton peasant, but that I believe as a Breton peasant.” It is known that Breton peasants had a profound faith.

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Easter Sunday B

Easter Sunday 2021 See and believe (Jn 20: 1-10)
Easter is a time to reflect on your faith.

“Hallelujah, let us rejoice; Christ Jesus rises from the dead.” This is how the whole Church sings all over the country today. She is an expression of our joy. However, this joy we are experiencing today is conditioned by our inner and personal conviction of our Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection. In the Gospels, we read: “Then came the second disciple, the first to come to the tomb, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture to rise from the dead ”(Jn 20: 8-9).

When Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and saw that the stone was rolled away from the tomb, she was terrified. She quickly ran to tell his disciples. They, all frightened, ran to the tomb to see for themselves the truth of the message brought by Mary Magdalene. When they got there, they found him empty and folded in it, wrapped the body of Jesus and the scarf he had on his head. And this is where we meet the first evidence of the resurrection. This evidence is the folded sails that remained in the grave. When John saw them, he wrote of himself: “Then the second disciple also came in, the one who had come to the tomb first, and he saw and believed. For they did not yet understand the Scripture to rise from the dead ”(Jn 20: 8-9). The evangelist does not write, “he saw and was convinced,” but “he saw and believed.” This discovery of the empty tomb was the first step for the disciples to acknowledge the resurrection’s very fact. Although the resurrection is proclaimed in the New Testament as a historical event, it cannot be understood as other historical facts because it is not subject to our world’s laws in its space and time. The empty tomb was a sign that they understood only when they met the living Christ. These external experiences and inner faith are an inseparable conviction that gives meaning to the whole mission and life of the apostles, the witnesses of the Risen One. The faith of today’s man is dependent on the credible word of the first witnesses.
Dear brothers and sisters! See and believe. There are things in the world that we can see with our eyes, touch with our hands, measure, dare, describe. There are others that we can understand with reason, as the principles of mathematics, others to enjoy with emotion, rather than the beauty of nature, art, and another whole world that can only be perceived by faith. Faith in a hidden God is and will remain a faith that seeks, asks, and takes risks again and again. He who truly knows God and believes in Him will change his life – internally and externally. The knowledge of God is the work not only of reason but also of heart, t. j. the whole person. Knowing God means recognizing him as the reason and goal of one’s own life to accept him as the only and absolute good.

The famous Max Jacob lived in a quiet street of Greater Paris. He made a living making a living by painting pictures. He didn’t pray, he didn’t go to church, he didn’t have time to do it, but when working on paintings, he often thought about whether there was a God, whether to believe in God and how to get to believe in God. And God rewarded him with a wonderful experience. Once, when he returned home from the National Library, he noticed a heavenly revelation by the wall on which his picture of the landscape hung. He saw a cloaked figure standing there. He knew from familiar images that he was the figure of the risen Christ. Jesus had a calm and radiant face. The artist fell to his knees in front of him and cried out, “Lord, forgive me!” And then Jesus disappeared from his sight.
This experience shook the young artists so much that he asked the Catholic priest for instruction in the faith and baptism. After his baptism, the artist experienced the most beautiful moments of his life in a deep faith in God. He loved the Lord so much that he longed with all his soul to become a priest so that he could proclaim to people the happiness of deep faith in God for man.

The joy we experience today from our Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection must find concrete application in our daily lives. For otherwise, our joy would be only something superficial. And it is faith that is the basic foundation by which man responds to God’s call, to God’s call. Deep faith and trust in God will help us overcome all our life’s difficulties and crises. Many times it seems to us that we are completely alone in all our life’s problems. But this is not the case! After all, God is always with us and knows what is best for us. To believe means to surrender unconditionally to God and embark on a journey into the unknown with him. By resurrecting His Son, God assured us of His love for us. We already read in the Old Testament with the prophet Isaiah: “Shall a woman forget her infant, and have no mercy on the fruit of her womb? Even if she forgets, I will not forget you ”(Isaiah 49:15). What could be more beautiful evidence than this? It only depends on us how we decide. In His great love, God makes himself known to every human being. He speaks to each of us without distinction. A great openness and receptivity of the heart are needed for us to accept it. Our faith must be a free and responsible act. Therefore, to believe in God means to make a radical decision for him. So this is the basic direction and meaning of our lives.

If we surrender ourselves to the risen Christ by living faith today, he will draw us so strongly to his heart that even death will not snatch us from his embrace, and we will live with him forever in love and joy with the Heavenly Father.

A fire broke out in the house at night. Terrified parents fled the children from the burning house. The mother was horrified to find that their five-year-old son was missing. She thought his father had taken him. What to do? He wants to throw himself into the flames, but the flames were too high. A window on the second floor opens, and the boy screams for help. Father raises the sail, unfurls it with the help of others, and shouts, “Jump; we’ll catch you!” The boy cries, “Dad, I can’t see you!” “But I see you,” your father shouts, “and that’s enough, jump!” And the child jumps and is saved in the father’s arms.

To believe means to jump into the open arms of the Father he saves with courage. Faith often has to take risks. Our faith needs to be alive, unwavering, and full of trust. And although we were not direct witnesses of the resurrection, Jesus encourages us: “Blessed are those who have not seen and believed” (Jn 20:29). He tries to look at the world through the eyes of faith and evaluate it with the heart of faith, in which this feeling gradually develops and grows, so one finds oneself in a completely new world. In a world of God’s goodness and love. He who knows God in his life knows that he owes everything to him. Paul described the existence of faith in the resurrection as follows: “In all things we have affliction, but we do not suffer; we feel lost, but not without a way out; they persecute us, but we are not forsaken; I throw us to the ground, but we don’t die! We still bear the death of Jesus on our bodies so that the life of Jesus may reflect our bodies. We are alive, but we still go to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh ”(2 Cor 8-11). Faith in God brings great joy and satisfaction to every person’s life.

Christ has risen from the grave; he is no longer accessible to our human eyes. But it invites us to enter the world of faith, where it continues to live just as real, just differently. Let’s not look for the living among the dead, with the mind what can only be understood by living faith. Blessed so far have been everyone who discovered it. Our faith is based on the testimony of the apostles. It just depends on our decision. The ultimate proof of the resurrection for each individual is his own knowledge of the risen Christ.

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Holy Saturday At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter

Several knelt, prayed, meditated at God’s tomb were interrupted by a small, about four-year-old Dominik. He wasn’t naughty. He didn’t run. Vice versa. Silence with his grandmother knelt at the cross. When they got up, he told his grandmother what he thought. Dominik said aloud, “I’ll take the nails out of him, so he doesn’t hurt.”

What we are reminded of today by the words of the young man, who did not address only the three women who came on Saturday morning to anoint Jesus’ dead body: “Do not be afraid! You are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He rose from the dead. It’s not here. Behold, the place where they laid him up ”(Mk 16: 6)

The events we commemorate in the Great Week have a profound significance, a rapid decline, and, above all, an amazing impact on the salvation of humanity. The text of the gospel says that Jesus rose from the dead. The words of a young man dressed in a white robe, in which we see an angel, the messenger of God, the herald of the greatest event of salvation, are clear, intelligible today. We have nothing to fear when we look at the empty tomb where the dead body of Jesus was laid. The angel’s words are clear: “He rises from the dead” (Mk 16: 6).
It is not enough to accept the resurrection of Christ only as a symbol, but it is necessary to believe in the fact of the resurrection, its historical truth. The resurrection is in itself a concept that cannot be testified of, and that cannot be accepted by our categories of reason associated with the experiments of the natural world. None of the people were present at the time of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. No one can say that he saw Christ rising from the dead (the resurrected), but he can only say that he saw him after the resurrection (the resurrected). The resurrection can only be spoken of “post factum,” relying on what followed as with “incarnation,” when only the physical, natural presence of the Word in the Virgin Mary confirms the reality of its incarnation. The Lord Jesus’s resurrection is witnessed by those who saw him personally, heard him, touched him, ate with him after he died, and rose from the dead. When the pagan historian Tacitus writes of “the death of some Christ in the time of Poncio Pilate,” he is not talking about the resurrection. This fact did not make sense and significance for the one who was not a personal witness of the event. For those who have been direct witnesses to meeting the Risen One, the Resurrection changes their lives. The feared apostles who fled after his death become martyrs and are willing to suffer and die for their faith in the risen Christ. The Holy Scriptures mention the witnesses of the resurrection of Christ more. These are especially the eleven apostles, Peter, John, and Thomas, at the supper and fishing and other meetings. Three women wanted to apply ointment to their dead bodies at dawn on Sunday. Two Emmaus disciples and groups of people and the apostle St. Paul at the gate of Damascus.

Even after millennia, the events surrounding Jesus, as given by the Gospels, appeal to and call for their realization in every person’s life.
Tonight reminds us of one more night. The church mentions two nights. She called one “holy” and the other “great.” During Holy Night, humanity learns of the love of God, who as a child was born in Bethlehem and placed in a manger. On that Easter at dawn, the world learns of the triumph of God who has risen from the dead. Both nights are a gift for a man. The joyful “Glory to God in the Highness” continues today with the solemn “Hallelujah.”
We began today’s liturgy with a threefold exclamation: “Christ, the Light of the world!” From the Easter candle, the cough, we lit the other candles. The Easter hymn, which mentions the joy that fills the world as Christ brings new life, calls for accepting the gift he has conveyed through his resurrection. The previous three days, immersed in silence, silence, contemplation of the passion and death of the Lord Jesus, and with a joyful ringing, an organ playing, allele singing.
Liturgical readings from the Old Testament recall the history of salvation as the chosen nation awaits the Messiah. Excerpts from the Scriptures interspersed with psalms culminate in a New Testament reading that assures us of Christ’s resurrection. With the resurrection of Christ, a new life begins for humanity. It reminds us of the blessing of baptismal water as we invite, during the ordinance, the help, intercession, and protection of brothers and sisters whom the Church teaches sharing in the glory of God’s kingdom. Sprinkling water on the sign of baptism is a reminder of baptism and a call to realize the rights and responsibilities we have accepted at baptism. The Easter we live in its symbolism wants to awaken the hope that we may enter a new life with the risen Jesus.
In Gloria and Credo’s words, we recall the basic truths of the faith, to which we must respond appropriately. To be silent, to be passive, not to feel engaged tonight would mean that there really is something wrong that needs to be researched and removed as soon as possible.
The celebration of the Eucharist and, finally, the procession is not only our outward expression of gratitude, love, and reverence for Jesus Christ but also of accepting Jesus Christ as his Redeemer, Savior, and Judge, who wants to bring us all to the Father by his resurrection.
Easter is not just a matter of reason and emotion. Some things cannot be understood by reason and cannot be convinced by the senses. Easter addresses us to ask the Holy Spirit for his gifts. May the Holy Spirit remind us tonight of what Jesus taught to share in the mystery of the love of the Holy Trinity.

Tonight puts us at a crossroads in our lives.

Let’s think like the Austrian philosopher and writer Arthur Schnitzel. He walked with his friend through the Viennese city park in Práter. It was a beautiful sunny day. Beautiful trees with rich greenery, beautifully landscaped lawns, tasteful flower beds. Everything breathed the scent of life. They said it was something uplifting. Schnitzel’s friend remarked, “You really can’t do anything else here; just enjoy life.” The writer also remained in thought, and after a short pause, he said, “Do you see this far-reaching alley? He almost disappears into a merger. Listen, would you still be so excited about everything around us if you knew that at the end of the alley, where it all converges, there is an abyss, and it all ends? ” His friend became serious, and the writer continued,“ Life often they tend to be described as a path that ends in the abyss of death. Do you accept this philosophy of life, that all our efforts end in the grave? ” Tonight, we realize that we disagree with such a philosophy that our life ends in the grave. We have believed and believed in the words of the risen Jesus: “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even if he dies. And whosoever lived and believed in me shall never die. ”(Jn 11: 25-26)

When we receive Christ’s legacy of Easter that just as he rose from the dead, we will rise, when we adopt the example and testimony of many witnesses of Christ’s resurrection, then we no longer need the warning of four-year-old Dominic because Christ did not die unnecessarily for us. We are full of joy and gratitude to God.

 

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Jesus’ crucifixion

Jesus’ first statement on the cross: “Father, forgive them” Jesus uttered his first words on the cross immediately at the act of nailing to the cross. They are asking for forgiveness for those who treat him this way: “Father, forgive to them, for they do not know what they are doing. “(Lk 23:34). What is hatred? He doesn’t call for revenge. He asks for forgiveness for those who brought him to the cross and motivated his request by “not knowing what they are doing.” Words of ignorance later appear in the sermon of St. Peter in the Acts of the Apostles. To the crowd gathered in Solomon’s pillar after the healing of the lame Peter, he first reminds us that “they denied the Saint and the Righteous, and demanded the release of the murderer “(Acts 3:14).
“You killed the originator of life, but God raised him from the dead.” (3:15). After this painful reminder, which was also part of his Turkish sermon and touched his heart her listeners (cf. 2:37), Peter continues: “And now, brethren, I know that ye have done this in ignorance, as well as yours leading men.  Once again, the motive of ignorance appears in one from the autobiographical perspectives of St. Paul. The apostle recalls that he himself once blasphemed Jesus, persecuted him, and mocked him; then continues: “I have obtained mercy because I did it out of ignorance and in unbelief. “(1 Ti m 1,13). If we remember Paul’s former self-confident behavior in the pose of a perfect disciple of the Law who knew and fulfilled Scripture, these are very harsh words. He learned from those of the best masters and considered himself a true expert in the Scriptures; he must admit that he lived in ignorance. However, it was ignorance that saved him and allowed him to turn and seek forgiveness. This connection, great learning, and deep ignorance should be our memento. He points out consciousness, which remains self-contained and does not attain the very truth that must transform man. In yet another way, the same intermingling of consciousness and misunderstandings appear in the story of the East’s sages. High priests and scribes know exactly where to go to give birth to the Messiah. Well, they don’t recognize him. Although they know, they remain blind (cf. Mt 2: 4-6).
It is clear that such an intertwining of consciousness and unconsciousness, material knowledge, and misunderstanding of deep
essence is a matter of all historical periods. Therefore, Jesus’ words of ignorance and their variations in various situations on all Scripture pages had opened all supposed leaders’ eyes. We are not blind precisely because we think we know something? They do not defend our knowledge to know the very truth that he wants to touch us in what we know? We’re not running from the pain of a heart pierced by the truth that Peter spoke of in his Turkish discipline? Ignorance alleviates guilt and leaves the way open for conversion. However, an apology is not simply because it reveals the heart’s numbness reluctance to respond to the truth’s demands. All the more so for people of all time remains the comfort of that the Lord makes both ignorances of executioners and leaders who have condemned him out of their ignorance motive for his request for forgiveness. He considers it a gateway that allows us access to the conversion. Laughter at Jesus’ address.
There are three groups of mockers in the gospel. The first of them are passers-by. They shout at the Lord by alluding to his words about the destruction of the temple: “Ah, he who will destroy the temple and in three days he will build it. Save thyself, come down from the cross. “(Mark 15: 29-30) People who thus mock the Lord express their contempt for the helpless and give to feel his helplessness again. At the same time, they want him to try in the same way as the devil once: Help yourself! Show your power! They don’t know that’s right. The destruction of the temple takes place for a while, and that a new temple is being built in an unprecedented way. At the end of the passages, at Jesus’ death, according to the submission.

The synoptic curtain of the temple tears from top to bottom in two (cf. Mt 27,51; Mk 15,38; Lk 23,45). This probably meant the inner of the two temple curtains, which prevented people from accessing the saints’ sanctuary. Only once a year was the high priest allowed to pass for this curtain, appear before the face of the Highest and utter his holy name. Now, at the hour of Jesus’ death, this curtain is torn from top to bottom in two. This expresses two things: On the one hand, it becomes apparent that it’s over the time of the old temple and its sacrifices, and that the place of foreshadowing and rituals that referred to the future, now came to the reality itself – the crucified Christ, who reconciles us all to the Father. The rupture of the temple curtain, on the other hand, also means that access to God has been opened. God’s face has been so far veiled. Only symbolically could he before her once a year to represent the high priest. However, God Himself has removed the curtain in the Crucified One, as one who loves up to the extreme. Access to God is free.
The second group of mockers consists of members of the council. Matthew mentions all three factions: priests, codes, and elders. These express their ridicule in connection with the Books of Wisdom, where it is written in Chapter 2. on the righteous, who stands in the way of the wicked conduct of others, is called the Son of God and is at the mercy of suffering (pores. Wisdom 2: 10-20). Also, members following these words, the councils speak of the crucified Jesus: “He is the king of Israel; let him descend now from the cross, and we will believe in it. He relied on God; leave him. He will deliver now if he likes him. For he said, I am God’s Mt 27: 42-43;  Be from that you are the ridicules realized this, they confess in these words, that Jesus is indeed the one of whom the Books and Wisdom speaks.
It is in a situation of extreme helplessness that Jesus appears as the true Son of God. I can assume that the author of the Books of Wisdom
could recognize Plato’s thought experiment from his works on the nature of the state, where he deals with the idea of ​​what the fate of a perfectly righteous man will be on this world and concludes that it will end up on the cross (Politeia II, 360-362a). It is possible that the Books and Wisdom followed up this philosopher’s idea and introduced it into the Old Testament and now applies directly to Jesus. Right in the middle, mockery confirms the mystery of Jesus Christ. How the devil did not lead him to throw himself from the temple terrace (cf. Mt 4: 5-6; Luke 4: 9-13), so even now, Jesus does not allow to be tempted by this temptation. He knows very well that B himself will save him – but it will be another way than imagine these people. The moment God snatches him from the hands of death and will confirm him as his Son, for he will be the resurrection.
The third group of mockers is the men they crucified with Jesus. Evangelists Matthew and Mark them they characterize in the same word lists (“bandit”), by which John called Barabbas (cf. Mt 27:38; Mark 15:27; Jn 18.40). This means the fighters of the resistance movement, which the Romans liked to criminalize and without. They crucified them together with Jesus because they were found guilty of the same crime: Roman power defiance. However, in the case of Jesus, the process was different from that of these two possible Barabbas uprising participants. Pilate knew full well that Jesus had nothing in mind, and therefore, in the inscription on the cross, he formulated the essence of Jesus’ “crime” in another way: “Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.” (Jn 19:19) Until now, Jesus has avoided the title “Messiah” or “King” or applied it directly to his suffering (cf. Mk 8: 27-31). He wants to prevent misinterpretations. Now, however, the title “King” may appear completely publicly. In three great words associated with the latest events, Jesus publicly proclaims himself king. It is quite understandable that the council members got caught up in this title, which certainly served Pilate. To express his cynical attitude towards the Jews, he wanted to take revenge on them. According to world history, however, it is an inscription that is tantamount to declaring a king. Jesus is “exalted.”
His throne is the cross. It attracts the world from it. From this place of extreme self-sacrifice, divine love reigns like a true king from this place of reality. And he rules his own way-rules in a way he could understand neither Pilate nor members of the Sanhedrin.

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Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper Jb 13,1.15

How many photos does a person sometimes hold in his hand and look at them, at the faces of his acquaintances or loved ones? Sometimes, among those photographs, the face of a man who once meant a lot to us would appear. Where is his end? And that was great love! Memories are usually accompanied by specific things or shared experiences. Maybe also reminders of what he or she (or I) was able to do for that love. He stopped going to the pub for a while. She stopped bothering parties; she also quit smoking … That was love! He was willing to move from Prague to the countryside, even though he grew up in the capital all his life. That was love! Because something great out of love could be done. In the coming days, we will hear something similar more often connected with what we celebrate in the church. And we priests will again say inaccurately, “He did it out of love.” He – Jesus! But why inaccurately?

Because I’m afraid, we can never quite understand what happened in Jerusalem once. Too often, we compare the love of others with our love and project our own into the love of the other. We do not take the love of Jesus out of this. We also often put our abilities into it, and we remind ourselves of images from our own lives, from our own love. We will also attribute our human attributes to His love of Jesus. That is, the way we love, instead of striving to do the opposite and allowing the attributes of His love that He loved into our lives and our love. This is His command and the message of these days: “As I love, love ye also!” Is that possible? Do we know how He loved? Yes, we know!

Well, I’m already committing that inaccuracy. Because every time we use that verb in the past tense – “loved” – something of how we humans get into the love of Jesus. We can and can talk about love in the past tense. We know this from our own experience: “Love is no more. She’s gone. ”Today we have another one, and the second love has come, the third! Whenever we talk about Jesus, we will have a little problem not fall into the temptation to see ourselves in Him and project ourselves into His life. He has become close to us, and we can project His life into our own and, in our various situations, look to Him who has experienced something similar. But He has become like us; the opposite process does not necessarily always apply (on our part).

Let’s try to imagine, for example, a situation when we learn that we have the last few hours of our lives left. At the same time, we are completely healthy, at full strength, we do not want to die at all. We have no cancer, nothing to indicate that the end of our earthly life is near. And suddenly we get 100% news that I’ll be dead at the same time tomorrow. I’ll know, I’m sure. What will I do? I only have 24 hours to live. I know it’s a hypothesis. But we can help with other similar situations how we react when something hits our lives that we didn’t expect and breaks our plans. I don’t need us to answer in front of others now. All we have to do is be honest with ourselves.

How do we behave in such situations? Someone is surprised and needs to “breathe out,” so he does not communicate with anyone; he closes himself in. On the other hand, another is very emotional, even hysterical, spreading anger around himself, still talking as if he needed to testify on his own. Another cries are angry, angry, beat the table. Someone is getting drunk. Another stares at the wall. So what would I do? I have packed for a trip abroad, furnished with everything I need, ready for a month-long internship in a dream location. Suddenly the news that everything is canceled. So what will I be like in the next few hours? I would be like that even if I found out, I would die in a few hours. The last hours started to count down. We can add even more answers. Quickly to confession, to clean the computers, to destroy some things, or on the contrary to still have time to enjoy … I am more or less sure that I would probably not be able to do what Jesus did.

He knew for sure that he would die. He had the will of God. God, because he could not cease to be God when he was man, otherwise he would not be God at all. But also human because he was similar to us in everything. But perhaps all the more, he may have suffered and experienced in himself immense pain, strong inner psychological pressure. It could not be separated. To know everything as God and at the same time to desire, to plan, to want as a person. If we take these facts as given premises, the initial situation, then every psychologist knows that it must have been awful for him. What his human will had to go through at that moment was insane, when you know not only the time, but in detail everything that hurts you and will hurt as a person. In all respects! When you not only see everything that happens in front of you like on a plasma screen but you are already experiencing it!

He also experienced his suffering and death. But even what was to come after his death, in two days, in a week, in a hundred years, in two thousand years… He knows not only those who deny him his arrest when they flee to safety but also all those who for centuries will say that they are his disciples, that they love him and would be able to do so because of his anything. And yet, at the earliest opportunity, he will be replaced by a more comfortable way of life. He sees and perceives those he invited to follow him, and they preferred a different career… What was reflected in his head in the last hours, when humans had to carry this terrible consciousness? Only a few hours left, less than a day! What will he do?

What we can realize today is truly unreal. He does not regret it; he does not close himself. He thinks not of himself at that moment, but of others! He is maximally self-sufficient and does not show that he may now be entitled to have others notice him. Who could blame him if he said, “I’ll be with you for a while, pay attention to me …” He has the last few hours of human life left, and he gives himself a total change, as completely as he can. At this point, we have the opportunity to understand, at least a little, that true love does not really know time.

Jesus bows and washes his feet to the apostles. It’s a slave job; the teacher doesn’t do it! He who has a position cannot do that. What would it look like if a manager, or a priest, or a teacher, or a lawyer, started doing something similar! That bending to your knees and washing your dirty feet, that … that’s the work of those Ukrainians, Russians or gypsies …! They do work that no one wants to do. That is, work that we do not usually do either. We do have schools, education, a degree, a different position. No wonder Peter resists that the apostles cannot breathe. They feel that even though Jesus didn’t do it every day, now it’s not just a gesture and a theater, that it’s not even just about washing his feet. Before, they often washed their feet themselves and will continue to do so again. It is about something else, about the truthfulness with which Jesus does it. For the love with which he does exactly what he does. He does not cry over himself for love with which he does not pity himself but serves everything he does. It is given.

And what happens next? Jesus also thinks of those who, sometime in the year eight hundred and twenty or two thousand six or three hundred and fifty, will be weak, fall and betray, and claim that they want to live as they should, but they cannot. To those who claim that they cannot do it alone. He loves them too; they too are the object of his love. The one that is getting married. He also wants to be with them and clarify that there is nothing to be afraid of. What if they wanted? They could handle everything with him that they can accept him into their lives again and again. That they can also strengthen their souls. That he leaves them himself, his presence. Therefore, his presence in the Eucharist is only symbolic; only bread and wine are symbols in which He Himself is really present. Is it that incomprehensible? He arranges the bread’s transformation in which He will be for all who believe in His presence because he loves to the extreme because he gives away. It doesn’t work anymore; he left nothing to himself. It’s not just a Catholic folklore secret. It’s more. He promises to be with people for ages to come!

Yes, that’s the inaccuracy I’ve been talking about from the beginning. It cannot be said of him that he did something out of love. His love is not over; He is still doing it. His love lasts. Therefore, we can believe that at Mass, we not only remember Jesus’ sacrifice but that it really takes place at the moment of the Transfiguration because He did not love us. He loves us. He did not do it out of love; He does it out of love. So I don’t just have to worry about what a great love it was. It is not a yellowed photograph from youth; it is not a portrait of former student love. We can look again and again at something that has not ended, that lasts. Today, when we look at the bread, tomorrow, when we look at the cross, the day after tomorrow, when we perceive the Easter light… And every time, even every day, when I become a heart cleansed of sins in the queue and receive a transformed guest. I can experience, perceive and realize: Such is love!

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Is betrayal a destiny?

Encourage faithfulness to Jesus.
We often encounter opinions that the fate that awaits us will not pass us by. We listen as others say, “He was judged.” “Whatever fate wanted happening.” Today’s gospel also touches on such a destiny, but it addresses it differently than we would. Maybe they were waiting.
Again, as yesterday, we experience events in the middle of the last supper and perceive Jesus as he speaks of betrayal. He says, “… one of you will betray me” (Mt 26:21). Further, he develops: “The Son of man is as it is written, but woe to the man who betrays the Son of man ”(Mt 26:24).
So the Son of man does go, as written of him: but woe to him that betrayed him. The prophets of the Old Testament wrote about the Son of Man, that is, about Jesus. In particular, Isaiah, from which book we read in the first reading even today. The prophet Isaiah lived around the year 770 before the birth of Jesus Christ. That is, almost eight hundred years before the birth of Jesus, He also recorded the words of the future Savior: “I set my back on what they beat, and their cheeks by what they tore. I have not covered my face from humiliation and saliva ”(Isaiah 50: 6).
And there are several such places relating to Jesus in the Old Testament tens. We call them messianic prophecies. So the prophets really wrote about Jesus, and the life of Jesus filled their prophecies to the point. So it might seem that Judas, to the betrayal, was “planned” by the prophets and that Judas had no choice but to betray. If that were the case, Judas would suddenly become a hero because, in fact, he helped Jesus fulfill his mission. However, we know the truth about this help.
Judas, like us, had a free will to decide for himself what would happen and what will not do. He himself decided to betray and sell Jesus. It was his free act, so there can be no question of any destiny. The thirty pieces of silver that he received for Jesus was the price of a child. Jesus knew this, and at the last possible moment, he warned everyone, too Judas, for what awaits man for betraying God. He says, “It would be better for that person if he had not been born ”(Mt 26:24).
We will once have a personal judgment on each of our freemen and voluntary deed. What was against God will be punished, and the deeds will be well rewarded. What awaits anyone who betrays God …? We are all disciples of Jesus as we are here. We also try our while to walk by Jesus’ side in life. We listen to what he tells us, we ask him for help, and we try to report it where they have not heard of it yet. We are his disciples because we are we meet him here at Mass, in prayer. We are the same disciples as John, Peter, Matthew, like James and Judas. We are also often in danger of betraying Jesus. That him we reject in our brothers, families, colleagues, or friends. Judas’s betrayal, his unfaithfulness is a shadow that often falls on each of us. We meet with opinions that the fate that awaits us will not pass us by. We listen to how others say, “He was judged.” “What happened was what fate wanted.” From the neighborhood to us, they catch up with hundreds of different interpreters of “unchangeable destiny.”
But we know the truth and know that the only unchangeable constant is the love that God loves us. Everything else depends on our decision. We decide for ourselves whether we will go with Jesus and remain faithful to his teachings and life or if we sell it for a pair of pieces of silver, like Judah. Therefore, I wish all of us, brothers and sisters, to have a Son in our lives. They did not betray man but remained faithful to him every day, in every decision.

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Jesus before the Sanhedrim

 A fundamental decision to intervene against Jesus that fell at a council meeting turned into an act on Olive’s mountain on the night of Thursday to Friday, when Jesus was arrested. That very night, they brought Jesus into the high priest’s palace, where she has apparently already managed to gather again and gather the  Sanhedrin with her three factions-priests, elders, and lawmakers. Two ‘trials’ with Jesus before the Holy See and before the Roman governor Pilate became the subject of extensive discussions in the circles of law historians and exegetes, who analyzed them down to the smallest detail. To these subtle historical issues, we do not have to enter here. After all, as Martin Hengel has already pointed out, daily we do not know Sadducee criminal law, and do retroactive conclusions regarding the time of Jesus from the later treatise of the Mishnah Sanhedrin are not allowed.

At present, our knowledge and could, however, be likely to the hearing against Jesus before the council was not for the process in the proper sense of the word, but only a kind of ordinary interrogation, which ended with a resolution to issue Jesus to the Roman governor to condemn him. Let’s take a closer look at the Gospel accounts. It will always be a matter of us getting to know and understand better—the person of Jesus. We have already seen that after the cleansing of the temple, two lawsuits against Jesus hung in the air.
The first concerned words that explained the prophetic symbolic act of expelling cattle and vendors from the temple. This appeared as an attack on the holy place itself and thus on the Torah on which Israel’s whole life was based. I consider it important that the hearing subject was not the act of cleansing the temple itself but only the interpretive words by which the Lord explained his gesture. It can be concluded that the symbolic act did not go beyond unbearable limits and did not provoke any public unrest that would become the reason for criminal proceedings. Greater security was represented by words giving meaning to events, the apparent attack on the temple, and Jesus’ claim to “power of attorney. We know from the Acts of the Apostles that the same lawsuit was also raised against Stephen. He followed Jehovah’s prophecy about the temple, which his listeners considered blasphemy, and therefore stoned him. Witnesses appeared in the trial of Jesus to reproduce Jesus’s words. However, they did not have a single version: what Jesus did, he actually said it could not be unambiguously communicated. The fact that this indictment was later withdrawn shows that the competent authorities sought legal correct procedure.
The second point of the accusation was based on the words of Jesus in the temple. Jesus made a messianic claim, which in a way put him in a position of oneness with God himself, thus seemingly contrary to the foundation of faith. Israel is the confession of one God. Note that both points of the indictment are of a purely theological nature. However, since, as we have said, it was not possible to separate the religious and political levels, the two actions also have a political dimension: the temple was a sacrifice to the place of Israel where he traveled during the great holidays of the whole nation and was, therefore, the basis of internal unity Israel. A messianic claim is a claim to reign over Israel. Therefore, as a reason for Jesus’ execution,
then the words “King of the Jews” fixed on the cross. According to what we learn from Jewish events of the war, there were certainly many in a circle that tended to liberate Israel by political and military means. Well, the way he presented his claim to Jesus obviously didn’t seem right to them to serve such an intention. In comparison, the existing state of affairs, in which Rome was, nevertheless, had to be preferred. He only respected Israel’s religious principles. So the existence of the temple and the people were quite well guaranteed. After an unsuccessful attempt to raise a clear line against Jesus and the reasoned lawsuit based on his statement on the destruction and rebuilding of the temple was a dramatic clash between the reigning high priest of Israel, the supreme instance of the chosen nation, and Jesus in whom later Christians met “high priest of future gifts. (Hebrews g, n) and the definitive high priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” (Z 110.4; Heb r 5,6 and elsewhere). In the four Gospels, this historical moment appears like a drama in which three different planes intersect, which we must perceive as one whole to be events they understood in all their complexity (cf. Mt 26: 57-75; Mk 14.53-72; Lk 22: 54-71; Jn 18: 12-27). At the same time, when Caiaphas hears Jesus and finally asks him a question about his messianic identity, Peter sat in the courtyard of the palace and denied Jesus. The chronological intertwining of both suggestively depicts these scenes, in particular, evangelist John. In Matthew’s version, the question of messianic rank appears in the intrinsic connection between Jesus’ confession and Peter’s denial. With Jesus, the temple guard’s mockery is also directly connected with the interrogation (or were they the members of the council themselves?) to which, at the trial before Pilate will be ridiculed, Roman soldiers.

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Jesus and those who betray him

To point out that betrayal has been and will be a danger in everyday life. The greatest pain of a mother, a father, is the betrayal of their own children. The biggest pain, brothers and sisters, is the betrayal of loved ones: family, friends, colleagues …
Children whose own parents have betrayed suffer the most. Betrayal is the word that resonates in almost every thought of today’s gospel. Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, one of you shall betray me” (John 13:21). And Petra, at the end of the pericope, reminds: “… the cock shall not sing until you deny me three times” (John 13.38). Betrayal is a breach of contract between two equal partners. It’s sudden and the misfortune of violating the agreed rules. Scripture is the whole great covenant between God and man.  The Old Testament, a translation of the “Old Testament” would be more accurate, was always about compliance covenants between God and man. The first contract was an agreement between Abraham and God. Abraham’s descendants all pledged to abide by the Lord the law, and God is committed to helping and caring for them until the end of the world. People, however, embezzled this covenant and still betrayed God. Whether idolatry, adultery, by mutual hatred, they still betrayed the agreement with the Lord. For that, the Jewish people then began to behave very badly. It’s a black period for him – night came. However, God did not forget his part of the covenant and promised them and us through the Jewish nation to all – the Savior. Someone to bring people out of this darkness. God kept his promise, and to the people, he sent the Son – light into darkness. Therefore, the evangelist John could say about him: “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not receive it” (John 1: 5).

That light, kept by the covenant, was and is Jesus Christ. But we see that humanity has not changed even after a thousand years of waiting for the Savior. Jesus again, someone betrays, even as painfully as possible. His loved ones betray him: Judas and more Peter the same night. We also read that Judas “… took a mess and went out at once. And the ball night ”(John 13:30). Betrayal, brothers, and sisters, is an act by which man falls into darkness. The evangelist John does not write to us that when Judas left to betray Jesus, it was already evening. He says something else. He literally writes, “And it was night” (John 13:30). In creating the world, God said: “Let there be light, and it was light, the first day” (Ex 1: 3). And here man betrays God, “and it was night” – last day. We always fall into betrayal at night.
What’s worse, our betrayal can throw other people into darkness. The other apostles also fell into the darkness of Judas’ betrayal, and Peter explicitly denied Jesus three times. Even at night, before sunrise. The darkness of betrayal passed from one man to the other.

Our betrayal of anyone causes terrible suffering. He throws himself into the darkness, first us, our hearts, then gradually spreads the darkness to our loved ones. Betrayal begets another betrayal and the other. And it came to pass after this, that Judas betrayed the teachings of Jesus first Jesus himself, like the last, he betrays his own life and ends in suicide. Small, we will not avoid great betrayals in life, but let’s take an example from Peter when they do occur. After denying his Master, he wept bitterly, regretting his betrayal, and he returned to Jesus. And all his life, he tried to live according to Jesus’ words and mission from him.
At first glance, it is difficult for us to commit such a betrayal as Judas. But not even that we don’t have to. It is enough if we insidiously deceive our parents if for a better place at work we betray a colleague if, for our convenience, we don’t help the family … It’s enough if we don’t do what we have promised and beget treason. It is like darkness and cold, which gradually creep into the hearts of children and parents, to friends and colleagues’ hearts to subvert them and make friends enemies. It is a betrayal of the oldest and worst quality of people. From Adam to today, he cuts on us and waits for our weak moment to convince us that our EGO is the most important person in the world. Let us not be deceived by it and remain faithful to our Lord and his teachings wherever we will, whether at home or work.

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Friendship of Jesus and we

Please point out the parallel between the friendship of Jesus and our friendship. When a person is the hardest, sometimes no one will help, just a good friend. A friend of ours often understands more than his own family. “You’ll meet a friend in an emergency,” the certified person tells us wisdom.
The Lord Jesus also knew this. Therefore, in the most difficult period of life comes to strengthened with a friend of Lazarus. Jesus knew what awaited him in Jerusalem. We read that it was six days before the Great night, that is, only six days before the betrayal and torture. We are not surprised because Jesus visits his loved ones: Lazarus and his sisters Martha and Mary. It comes to you; he rested a little for them to please and strengthen each other. The fact tells us that Mary did not hesitate to anoint Jesus’ feet with the true and very precious fragrant oil about what respect to Jesus these three siblings kept. Martha is her own. She showed affection again by generously caring for precious guests. And Lazarus, sir of the house, he was the best witness of Jesus’ power, for Jesus resurrected him himself of the dead.
Jesus came to strengthen himself with friends, and at the same time, to strengthen friends before everything suffering, which was to come in a few days. Why the liturgy presents us today, a few days before Easter, just this reading, just this event from the life of Jesus? Why did the apostle John remember just that this event? The Church knows the value of friendship well. He even knows this price. God himself and the Church want to draw our attention to this award, but not in any way, but the light of Christ’s life, performance, and death for friendship, fidelity, and love. Let’s try now together to transfer to Lazarus’ house. Imagine guests sitting at a table. Marta cares to give them nothing it was not missing; Mary brings a container of precious oil and Lazarus from all around. He talks about his death and how Jesus resurrected him. The Pharisees hear it all, and in a crowded room, somewhere in the middle, Jesus is sitting, looking painfully at the people, for of whom he will soon die … There are noise and life everywhere, and the Lord is trying to get a little human love from your friends. Somewhere in that noise, you suddenly show up, brother – sister, we are there, and we can’t help but wonder what’s going on around us. Jesus is sitting opposite, and we are looking at me. We register Judas as angry for money, but Jesus looks at us. It is the moment we meet a friend. We hear the Pharisees behind our backs. They whisper, “We have to kill them both. Jesus, and that of Lazarus! ” Well, we’re still looking at a friend.
Suddenly, we realize that without this friend, the rest of our lives would be useless. It wouldn’t be “it.” We are slowly beginning to realize the meaning of the word friend. He who once knows this friendship of Jesus begins to perceive completely differently, again your friends. Namely, how Mary, Martha, and Lazarus showed their respect for Jesus is also a recipe for us. Our friends are worthy of such a service from us. Let’s not be afraid to spill the precious oil of our time on the feet of the man who needs us to hold him. Ours with that, our whole life and his life will be permeated. Let’s not be afraid to serve and attach a helping hand, like Martha, and let us take care of the guests whom the Lord sends us to our lives. It is not for nothing that they say: “Guest to the house – God to the house.”
And let us not be afraid to testify of what Jesus has done for us in our lives, just like Lazarus. And above all, let us be careful not to deny Jesus for our own comfort and greed, like Judas. This is what the gospel tells us today. Friendship, love, and dedication will help us be saved. As the Book of Ecclesiastes warns us in the Old Testament when it says that: “Two are better off than the man himself: They can get it for their efforts greater reward, and when they fall, one picks up the other. Woe to the same, though falls! He has no other to lift him”(Ecclesiastes 4: 9-10).

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Calvary

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Calvary
The Legendary is the story of the Virgin Mary, who is said to be at the end of her life on the Cross’s Jerusalem Way. So this devotion (cf. Syrian Apocrypha On the death of Mary, about the 5th century). From the oldest messages, Personal devotions pilgrims’ to the Holy Land can be seen attending Jerusalem’s sacred places. Still, neither the pilgrimage from Bordeaux (r. 333) nor Silvia’s pilgrimage from the end of the 4th century writes about the Cross’s Way. Nevertheless, a kind of one already appears at this time a hint of piety. Pilgrims walk in procession with the coats of candles to the tomb of God and Calvary. Bologna. Petronas (5th century) allegedly brought with him from Palestine the Temple of the Holy Sepulcher’s dimensions. They imitated the building in Bologna (St. Stephen’s Cathedral), in nearby the hills were then imitated by the Temple of the Ascension from the Mount of Olives, and the valley below it was called Jehoshaphat. By the 9th century, there were already many imitated buildings in Europe God’s grave.
Medieval saints were characterized by piety for Christ’s suffering. St. Paul had a great influence here. Bernard, vol. A team, but especially St. Francis of Assisi. Writings are made contemplating the torture of the Lord. The fabric used to be laid out according to the choir clock. For example, it was recommended to think in the “direct” (morning prayer) of Christ’s arrest, at the third (ninth hour in the morning) for whipping, crowning with thorns, and carrying the cross. At noon, it was about the crucifixion, as none (at noon) there was death Lord, in the case of vespers about the removal from the cross and during the evening mod litters of burial in the grave. Medieval passion plays and folk devotions are also emerging, e.g., to the holy wounds, “your face” (especially Veronica’s scarf in Rome). The Crusades reawakened interest in the Holy Land’s pilgrimage, especially since 1333 when the Franciscans settled at memorable places. The pilgrims, of course, visited Golgotha, the tomb of God, the Mount of Olives. Dominican Ricardo de Monte Cruces writes in the Pilgrimage Book of 1294: WE SEE HIS GLORY. 
«We walked the path that Christ walked and carried his cross … »He mentions the Palace of Herod, the place of Lithostrotos, the place where the cross stood, where the Virgin Mary was, and St. John, about the grave. Pilgrims from the 14th century are already talking about all the places we now call the “stops” of the Cross’s stations. However, it is interesting that they walk around the reverse: from God’s tomb to Pilate’s palace. It spread in Germany and the Netherlands in the 15th-century devotion to the “falls of Christ” in the days of his Passion: as Jesus crossed the brook Cedron, on the road from Herod to Pilate, after the scourging, on the Way of the Cross, etc. Over time, the number of the seven falls of Jesus with seven has stabilized the Virgin Mary’s pain. Similarly, the “seven painful steps” were worshiped. Christ (or nine, or twelve) and this devotion is it was associated with a visit to seven churches (in Rome, it was spread mainly by St. Philip Neri). Instead of churches, they were sometimes established columns and statues, «God’s Passion» with images of torture Lord. Some of them were already very reminiscent of today’s Stations of the Cross. Instead of ‘pads,’ there was then talk of ‘stops.’ There were various numbers, from six to fifteen. Some began at the Last Supper, others from the Savior’s farewell to the Virgin Mary, the last stop, then it was at God’s tomb. At the beginning of the 16th century, established in Freiburg, Switzerland, seven stops on the painful way of Christ from the house of Pilate to Calvary. It was seven pillars. The sacred sites of Jerusalem measured their distance. That’s how it suddenly arises in the way of today’s Stations of the Cross. It expands mainly in
Flanders in the 17th century, at the same time in Poland (recommended by Jesuits Tylkowski and Družbicki). Intoxicated of these European Personal Devotions.

The processions in Jerusalem have also changed in devotional service.
They started at God’s tomb. At the beginning of the 16th century, some pilgrims walk backward: from the Pilate house to God’s tomb. Today’s form of the Cross’s Stations, which has 14 stable stops, originated in the 17th century in Spain. From there,  the Capuchin, in particular, spread to Italy, later to France and elsewhere. Much credit for this was due to the sermons of St. Leonardo of Porto Maurizio (t 1751) and the granting of those from the deserts that went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. Initially, it was allowed to set up cross travel only to where the Franciscans’ house, the guardians of their cities in Palestine, was. Other Pius IX. abolished this restriction.
The Way of the Cross is an easy and popular devotion. It connects there is a natural movement with imagination and reflection. It will make it’s easy to think about your life. We learn here to endure difficulties, and we decide for the good. It’s a kind of shortened pilgrimage.
Dr. Hannotel (17th century) schematically summarizes the utility from the Cross’s Way to five points. 1. It is the strengthening of faith in Christ. We see that he alone reconciled us to the Father is the only mediator between people and God. 2. Clarifies the feeling of sin. Jesus falls on the road because we fall. We learn to understand the meaning of the cross, our accidents, and suffering. 4. We know what devotion to God’s will means. 5. Christ carrying the cross is an example of all real virtues, a challenge to follow. In the decree of Pius IX. (May 14, 1871) we read that “contemplation, not of the torture and death of the Redeemer has great power; it strengthens faith, heals the wounds of conscience, purifies the sense and ignites a love of God. 
In our churches, the Stations of the Cross pray together. The way from stop to stop is sung, then a short reflection is read and ends with a common prayer. Prayer books tend to instructions for modest devotion, usually in the form of short meditations. Of course, we do not have to be bound by the texts. The harder we pray the Way of the Cross, the nicer we are a stand.
According to Ignatius excerpts, he writes about the departure of the Stations of the Cross. To become monotonous, it is good to go through it with a different perspective each time. One day, we can think about how much the torture has brought The Good Lord, the second time about the evil of sin, who is thus punished. Other times we see an example of our perseverance or a guarantee that the eternal Barrel will be kind to us. Most who benefit most from prayer can understand each stop’s meaning directly reflected in his daily life. In condemning Christ, he thinks, e.g., a righteous opinion on them, which he has to endure, he thinks of his failures and failures on from Cyrene he sees his friends helping him, and after he prays for them, at the fourth stop, he asks for help Virgin Mary and the like. Such private piety may be longer or even short, depending on the circumstances. It is possible to slowly go through the building and pray the “painful” rosary. Abbot C. Marion of Marabous, Belgium, a known writer who himself often prepared for Mass by way of the Cross, told the monks of his monastery, “I have such a name that there is no more useful piety for the soul except the sacrament and liturgy than the well-executed Way of the Cross.”

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