catholicsoul

[catholicsoul]

Alleluia! Christ is truly risen! We can make absolutely no qualification of this fact whatever. Christ has really, truly, and substantially risen, Body and Blood, Soul and Divinity, from the dead. The whole Christ has risen indeed for the completion of the work of our redemption. St. Thomas Aquinas

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You, O Jesus, are the resurrection and the life, and even in Sheol I will not cease to give You praise:  Jesus, hope of those sentenced to death!  Jesus, resurrection of those who believe in Your word!  Jesus, song that no fear can silence!  Jesus, tranquility that no horror can shake!  Jesus, raise my eyes from death to see Your unfading Kingdom!  Jesus, fill my heart with the promise of Your unending life!  Jesus, radiant glory of those facing death!  Jesus, timeless boast of the martyrs!  Jesus, courage in the face of mortal danger!  Jesus, constancy before continual trial!  Jesus, divine glory, transfiguring the wounded hearts!  Jesus, victory of God, bringing the embattled home!  Jesus, light to those in darkness, glory to You!

[catholicsoul]

Easter Sunday. Meditation. St Alphonsus Liguori.

Let us rejoice at seeing in His risen glory our Saviour, our Father, the best Friend we possess. Let us rejoice, too, for our own sakes, because the Resurrection of Jesus Christ is for us a sure pledge of our own resurrection and of the glory we hope one day to have in Heaven in our soul and body.

O my Jesus, I beseech Thee by Thy Resurrection, make me rise glorious with Thee on the last day, to be always united with Thee in Heaven, to praise Thee and to love Thee for ever.

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Víctimæ Pascháli

Christians! to the Paschal Victim offer your thankful praises. The Lamb the sheep redeemeth: Christ, who only is sinless, reconcileth sinners to the Father. Death and life contended in that conflict stupendous: the Prince of Life, who died, deathless reigneth. Speak, Mary, declaring what thou sawest wayfaring. “The tomb of Christ who now liveth: and likewise the glory of the Risen. Bright Angels attesting, the shroud and napkin resting. Yea, Christ my hope is arisen: to Galilee He goeth before you.” We know that Christ is risen, henceforth ever living: Have mercy, Victor King, pardon giving. Amen. Alleluia.

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Gaude et lætare, Virgo Maria, alleluia! Quia surrexit Dominus vere, alleluia!

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Meditation XV: Holy Saturday: Mary Present on Calvary at the Death of Jesus.

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Mulier, ecce filius tuus... Ecce Mater tua. Woman, behold thy son... Behold thy mother.

All antiquity asserts that St. John was ever a virgin, and specially on this account he was given as a son to Mary, and honored in being made to occupy the place of Jesus Christ; on which account the holy Church sings, "To him a virgin He commended his Virgin Mother." And from the moment of the Lord's death, as it is written, St. John received Mary into his own house, and assisted and obeyed her throughout her life, as if she had been his own mother.

Jesus said to her, Woman, behold thy son! It is doubted by none that this woman was the Blessed Virgin Mary, who, by means of her Son, would crush the head of Satan. Naturally was Mary the enemy of the serpent, because Lucifer was haughty, ungrateful, and disobedient, while she was humble, grateful, and obedient. It is said, She shall crush thy head, because Mary, by means of her Son, beat down the pride of Lucifer.

God said to the serpent, I will put enmities between- thy seed and the woman. This shows that after the fall of man, through sin, notwithstanding all that would be done by the redemption of Jesus Christ, there would be two families and two posterities in the world, the seed of Satan signifying the family of sinners, his children corrupted by him, and the seed of Mary signifying the holy family, which includes all the just, with their head Jesus Christ. Hence Mary was destined to be the mother both of the head and of the members, namely, the faithful. Therefore, St. John was not called John, but the disciple beloved by the Lord, that we might understand that Mary is the mother of every good Christian who is beloved by Jesus Christ, and in whom Jesus Christ lives by his Spirit.

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The pain which the Holy Virgin endured in the Passion of her Son exceeded all the pains which a human heart can endure; but the grief of Mary was not a barren grief, like that of other mothers who behold the sufferings of their children; it was a fruitful grief, since through the merits of her so great grief, and through her love (according to the opinion of St. Augustine), as she was the natural mother of our head Jesus Christ,' so she then became the spiritual mother of us who are his faithful members, in co-operating with him by her love in causing us to be born, and to be the children of the Church.

[catholicsoul]

They who would describe her fainting at the foot of the cross dishonor the constancy of Mary. She was the strong woman, who neither fainted nor wept, as St. Ambrose writes: I read of her standing, but not of her weeping.

St. Alphonsus Liguori

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Today a tomb holds Him who holds the creation in the hollow of His hand; a stone covers Him who covered the heavens with glory. Life sleeps and hell trembles, and Adam is set free from his bonds. Glory to Thy dispensation, whereby Thou hast accomplished all things, granting us an eternal Sabbath, Thy most holy Resurrection from the dead.

[catholicsoul]

O happy tomb! It received within itself the Creator, as one asleep, and it was made a divine treasury of life, for our salvation who sing: O God our Deliverer, blessed art Thou.  

The Life of all submits to be laid in the tomb, according to the law of the dead, and He makes it a source of awakening, for our salvation who sing: O God our Deliverer, blessed art Thou.

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Ah, my Son, Thou art dead! He is dead! Ah, who is dead? It is the King of heaven; the Creator of the world, a God, who wished to die for us poor sinners.

See, if there be any sorrow like to my sorrow.

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Sweet Heart of Mary, be my Salvation!

Oh Holy Mother, imprint deep upon my heart the wounds of Jesus Crucified.

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The seven Aves, IN HONOUR OF MARY MOTHER OF DOLOURS

Any one who will recite, with a contrite heart, seven Aves, Maria, adding, after each one of them, this invocation: Holy mother, engrave the wounds of my Saviour in my innermost heart, will gain:

1stly an indulgence of 300 days, once a day;

2dly a plenary indulgence, once a month, if recited every day.

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Plenary indulgence, to all who from three o’clock on Good Friday until mid-day on Holy Saturday, either in public or private, spend one hour, or at least half an hour, in honour of our Lady sorrowing, in meditation or vocal prayer having reference to her sorrows, the Indulgence to be gained when the Paschal precept is fulfilled.

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My Jesus, Mercy! (100 days indulgence)

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Stations of the Cross