Like Jesus in the gospel, when it is our time to be called, we will be called. The Jews wanted to stone Jesus because he claimed to be God. He calmed them and they dropped the stones which were in their hands. It was not then His time. As God protected St. Clare when it was not her time, our hour will come. We want to see the events in our lives ordained by divine providence. When our hour comes, it is Thy will be done, not our will be done. We must pray for total abandonment to His will. 

The mass is the primary teaching time of the church. We need a deeper understanding of the mass. In the Old Testament, God said He would gather the Israelites from all nations into one nation. The Israelites would no longer do foolish things such as worshipping idols, and He would forgive them their sins. They will be My people and I will be their God, the Lord said. The son of David will be their God; he will be their king forever; I will make a covenant with them. The New Testament must be understood in light of the Old Testament. The Jewish leaders were afraid of Jesus. The people were split over Jesus. The Sanhedrin decided Jesus must die to save the nation. Jesus died for the nation, but Jesus died for the whole world. By dying, Jesus gathered all the nations into one. 

We must join ourselves with Jesus in His passion and death during Holy Week. All of the saints had a great devotion to the passion of Jesus. To grow in holiness - meditate on the passion of Jesus. If you shed one tear over the passion of Jesus, that is more than fasting one year on bread and water. Jesus suffered so much that we might see the depth of His love for us. He waits for us to respond. He was extravagant in His love for us. Jesus told St. Francis to rebuild My church. Francis thought this meant buildings, and he began doing that. He then realized that it was the spiritual rebuilding.

Jesus was humble in the manger and on the cross. It was on the cross that it was completed - He died.

When we encounter the cross in our lives, the inner man is being sanctified and transformed into the likeness of God through the Holy Spirit, Who is at work in us. As we get older, we start to have problems on the outside (physically), but our inner self is being renewed. We must persevere in faith, in hope, in love, and reach the threshold of death, then jump into Jesus’ arms. 

We should find strength in our crosses in life through Jesus’ cross.

We are to do the will of the Father, not just when it is convenient or simple or pleasant, but at all times. We come to new crosses and we are tested again. Do we put our trust in God or do we put it into something else? Throughout our life our faith and trust are being expanded and stretched.

God had a reason He made us. He made us not like the rest of creation, for a few short years, and not to be able to respond, but to respond to His love with our hearts, ourselves. Also, we must respond not just for our time on earth, but for all eternity. As a free person, we are free to love God or to not love God. As on the cross Jesus cried out, "I thirst". He still thirsts. He thirsts for our love. He still cries out, will you respond to Me with your love as I loved you. 

The life of prayer helps us: 1) feed our deepest hunger for beauty, truth and love; 2) discern what is lasting or trivial. We must lead others to life with God. Each of us has a part to play. We are each unique and have a special part to play. We are here to assist one another on the road to God. We are not here to straighten each other out, but to lift each other up. 

A list of how we grow in life with prayer:

• live the gospel totally - do more than keep the commandments, love your neighbor as you would love yourself;
• live in a loving community - reconcile with one another before offering your gift at the altar;
• quiet prayer - shut out the exterior and find a quiet place to pray. The quiet allows God to come into us; the noise keeps Him out.
• detachment from selfish clinging - do not selfishly cling to material things.
• spend ample time in prayer - not just five minutes before bedtime. Make time for prayer.
• connection between suffering and prayer - it is how we suffer. Pick up your cross and follow Me. How do we handle our sufferings?
• be unworldly - rejoice in the Lord always.

Pope John Paul II lays out the path for us to travel to the year 2000. Repentance, reform and conversion are important. They temper the just anger of God. Mary’s apparitions lead us along the same path.

The eventual illumination will show us the path. In Poland, the Holy Father said the Church is built of "living stones". These "living stones" are those who keep the commandments and commitments to God. It is suggested that only 3% of the Catholics would remain faithful to their Catholic faith. To remain so, we must be informed; we must listen with both ears.

Do not take for granted, it cannot happen here in the U.S. Be prepared to render your account.

John Paul II says we need to make informed decisions. We must find out what the Church teaches. President Clinton’s reception of Holy Communion while in Africa is a good example of why we should keep informed.

It is only by the grace of God that we can follow in the footsteps of Jesus.

As much as the Holy Father has to do each day with all of his responsibilities and as much time as he spends in prayer each day, there is no excuse for us not to spend more time in prayer. We must pray and fast.

Change your lives and then seek reconciliation. 

St. Paul says the message of the resurrection is that there will be no more pain, no more crying, no more suffering, etc. One day we will all be healed. St. Paul compares the human body to a seed. The seed must be placed in the ground and die. But our spiritual bodies will be different; they will not suffer.

The pain we endure today is a healing. The purpose of suffering is to keep us from getting proud. It keeps our pride in check. Suffering can be redemptive. We should offer our suffering for others - our sons, daughters, brother, sisters, etc. who may be living in sin, as an example.

Suffering is permitted for the good of our salvation. Suffering is only temporary; eternity is forever, and ever, and ever.

We hate sin because it causes suffering. God is not the cause of suffering. God wants to walk in our midst and heal us.

Of the four gospels, each writer presents his story of Jesus’ passion.

In the passion we learn:

• Jesus must suffer - 
• Jesus must be rejected -
• Jesus is handed over to the priests -
• Jesus is handed over to the Gentiles -
• Jesus is handed over to mankind -
• Jesus is crucified -
• Jesus is killed.

Devotion developed to the stations of the cross in Europe. Some of the stations of the cross are not found in the Bible. The way of the cross is not in all gospels.

Where to find the last seven words on the cross:

• "Father forgive them for they know not what they do." Luke 23:34.
• "Today you will be with me in paradise." Luke 23:43.
• "Woman, behold your son. Behold your mother." John 18:26 & 27.
• "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani. (My God, my God, why did you abandon me)." Matt. 27:46 and Mark 15:34.
• "Into your hands I commend my spirit." Luke 23:46.
• "I am thirsty." John 19:28.
• "It is finished." John 19:30.

Jesus begins Hold Week by His triumphant entry in Jerusalem. Before this entry, Jesus had avoided the acclaim of the crowd, now He accepts it. If the disciples keep silent, the stones would cry out. Before he imposed silence as to His works, now He does not. He arrives on a donkey to fulfil Zechariah’s prophecy. He comes on a donkey not a horse, a war animal, because He comes to His kingdom not by war.

Today we relive the Palm Sunday event. This week we relive the passion. We are freed from sin because of His death.

Every knee should bend at the name of Jesus. We join Him in His passion and death. Let us go with Him and bear our crosses with Him on the way to Calvary.