Good Friday

the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Good Friday is the only day of the year when there is no Mass anywhere in the world.  We follow Jesus in the Stations of the Cross and recollect His passion and death. As we follow in procession, we reflect upon our sins and ask forgiveness for being the cause of his suffering and death on the cross.  At the same time, we are filled with a great hope because we understand this had to be and it is the means of our salvation.  Here is the Son of God making the ultimate sacrifice for us!  The Stations of the Cross remind us of the price He paid and they fill us with anticipation. In the midst of our sorrow, we promise to live our lives for Him.  In just two days we will rejoice and say, "the Lord is Risen." "He is risen indeed!" 

Dungeon in the house of Caiphas where Jesus was scourged

Following the Way of the Cross in Jerusalem

Sacrifice

I walked into a shop the other day to buy a gift for a friend and ended up buying something for myself too. The salesperson pointed out a St. Benedict bracelet, suggesting it would make a nice gift. "But my friend isn't Catholic," I said.

" Neither am I" she replied, holding up her wrist to show me an identical bracelet.  "They have become very popular."

Feeling a little self-righteous, I asked whether she even knew who St. Benedict was. Yes, it turns out she did. Pointing to the information on the package, she noted that St. Benedict had lived during the fifth century. He wrote the prayer on the medal to be reminded of Christ's sacrifice on the cross for the sins of humanity.  "The Holy Cross be my Light," is found on one side of the medal. She continued reading, " The wearer of the medal is reminded that each of us has the chance to make the world a better place, to choose good and avoid evil."

I bought the bracelet and have been wearing it since, and I was more than a little embarrassed that it took a non-Catholic to remind me of one of the primary reasons we Catholics wear our beautiful sacramentals.  It is not in wearing them that we are protected but in remembering the sacrifice of our Lord that we become strong.  May the Holy Cross be my Light! 

The Flood

I love a rainy day, but whenever it rains continuously for several days, I find myself thinking enough already. Give me cool fresh breezes and sunny days. Yet, there is no denying that the rewards of rainy days are beautiful gardens and verdant pastures, especially in Texas where you see miles and miles of wildflowers growing along our highways in every direction in the spring after a rainy winter.

As we read about Noah, we are struck by the faith of this righteous man.  God gives him specific directions for building the ark, and Genesis simply says, This Noah did; he carried out all the commands God gave him. Gn. 6:22  Then God commands him to get into the ark together with his family and a menagerie of animals, and this he obeys as well.  God says, for you alone in this age, I have found to be truly just. Gn. 7:1

How  sad then and now that only one man was found to be truly just.  We know the story. God destroys the earth, but Noah the righteous man survives, and through him God renews his covenant with mankind. 

After a hard rain, we see the rainbow, the sign of God's covenant with Noah and with us. There will be wildflowers in the spring. We have only to believe.

In the Beginning

Genesis: Chapters 1-5

We began our study in January, and it is now April.  We are still in Genesis. We've had a number of interruptions, to be sure.  Life goes on and things get in our way, but we have managed to find the time to meet if not weekly, then bi-monthly during this early part of the year.  It is now the week before Holy Week, and yesterday, we agreed not to meet again until Easter Monday.

So what have we learned thus far in our study, that we can apply to our daily lives at this point in time? I for one have been reminded of the faithfulness of God. Since Adam and Eve, the human propensity for sin continues. Man, chief among creatures, resorts to violence, hatred, injustice, manipulation, and deceit, yet God is ever loving and ever constant. Like a good parent, he gives us freedom to choose to obey or to suffer the consequences of our actions. The choice to believe is ours. We are not forced to love.  There is so much to be learned and reflected upon in Genesis.

Through the study of Genesis, we are introduced to God's covenants. We are given models of faith in Noah and Abraham.  The standard is high but there is redemption on the other side of failure if we turn back to Him.

In Genesis God makes His first covenant with us, the marriage covenant, one holy couple in Adam and Eve.  Of course, it is broken as so many marriage covenants are today. Adam and Eve break the covenant with God, lose paradise and gain death.  The relationship they destroy is the family relationship with God and the consequence is suffering.  Some things we never learn.

As we read, we discuss, we question, and we reflect.  There is so much to learn! Someone comments on God's organization!  We are awestruck at the Creation event and as Catholics we have no quarrel with science.  God's day is not the same as our 24 hour day.  Still we are amazed!  We talk about his Covenant sign, the Sabbath, and lament that we live in a world so fast and furious that it no longer fully observes it.

Of course, we eat!  This Lent we've had delicious meals, not all meatless since we meet on Mondays and not Fridays.

Introductions

Who we Are

We are a group of Catholic women who meet once a week to study the Bible and to learn more about our Catholic faith.  We've attempted different approaches through the years, reading through one or more of the gospels one year, focusing on the Blessed Mother and praying the rosary, and studying the Catechism of the Catholic Church as we go along.  Our group is never static.  Those who cannot attend one week are sure to attend the next.  We get new members every week, and some of our old members sometimes take a break during the summer months but return to us at the start of September. We welcome all to join us in acquiring the food for our soul, the Word of God as we journey through life.

We always meet at my farm, La Vivibella, in a small house that sits on two and a half acres.  On the farm live four cats, overseers in my absence. A number of chickens belonging to the neighbors roam around, and several horses keep the pasture clipped. My dogs visit when they can. The farm is our retreat, and it is perfect for reading and contemplating the Word of God.

We meet early and share breakfast or brunch, which is always delicious.  No one plans what to bring, and we always have leftovers to take home. This year we have decided to read the Bible from the beginning, a daunting task were it not for the scripture studies of Jeff Cavins and the sermons of Father Barron to help us along the way.