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Martyrology - 29th of March
Upon the 29th day of March, were born into the better life:
In Persia, under King Sapor, [in the year 326,] the holy martyrs Jonah and Barachisius. Jonah was pressed under a screw until his bones were broken, and cut through the middle.
Barachisius was choked, by pouring boiling pitch into his mouth.
At Balbec, in the Lebanon, [in the year 362,] the holy martyr Cyril the Deacon. The savage Gentiles, under the Emperor Julian the Apostate, cut open his belly, tore out his liver, and ate it.
At Nicomedia, [in the year 303,] suffered the holy martyrs Pastor, Victorinus, and their Companions.
In Africa, [about the year 461,] the holy Confessors Count Armogastes, Masculus the chief player, and Saturus, steward of the king's house, who suffered many and grievous pains and insults for confessing the truth, at the time of the Vandal persecution under the Arian King Genseric, and so finished a course of glorious contention.
In the city of Asti, [in the second century,] the holy martyr Secundus.
In the monastery of Luxeuil, [diocese of Besancon, in the year 625,] the holy Abbot Eustacius, a disciple of holy Columbanus. He was the father of nearly six hundred monks, and was famous not only for the holiness of his life, but also for miracles.
And elsewhere many other Holy Martyrs, Confessors and Holy virgins.
R. Thanks be to God
Morning Prayer
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Place Yourself in the Presence of God, and adore His holy Name.
Most holy and adorable Trinity, one God in three Persons, I believe that Thou art here present: I adore Thee with the deepest humility, and render to Thee, with my whole heart, the homage which is due to Thy sovereign majesty.
An Act of Faith
O my God, I firmly believe that Thou art one God in three divine Persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; I believe that Thy divine Son became man, and died for our sins, and that He will come to judge the living and the dead. I believe these and all the truths which the holy Catholic Church teaches, because Thou hast revealed them, who canst neither deceive nor be deceived.
An Act of Hope
O my God, relying on Thy infinite goodness and promises, I hope to obtain pardon of my sins, the help of Thy grace, and life everlasting, through the merits of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Redeemer.
An Act of Love
O my God, I love Thee above all things, with my whole heart and soul, because Thou art all-good and worthy of all my love. I love my neighbour as myself for the love of Thee. I forgive all who have injured me, and ask pardon of all whom I have injured.
Thank God for All Favours and Offer Yourself to Him.
O my God, I most humbly thank Thee for all the favours Thou hast bestowed upon me up to the present moment. I give Thee thanks from the bottom of my heart that Thou hast created me after Thine own image and likeness, that Thou hast redeemed me by the precious blood of Thy dear Son, and that Thou hast preserved me and brought me safe to the beginning of another day. I offer to Thee, O Lord, my whole being, and in particular all my thoughts, words, actions, and sufferings of this day. I consecrate them all to the glory of Thy name, beseeching Thee that through the infinite merits of Jesus Christ my Saviour they may all find acceptance in Thy sight. May Thy divine love animate them, and may they all tend to Thy greater glory.
Resolve to Avoid Sin and to Practice Virtue.
Adorable Jesus, my Saviour and Master, model of all perfection, I resolve and will endeavour this day to imitate Thy example, to be, like Thee, mild, humble, chaste, zealous, charitable, and resigned. I will redouble my efforts that I may not fall this day into any of those sins which I have heretofore committed (here name any besetting sin), and which I sincerely desire to forsake.
Ask God for the Necessary Graces.
O my God, Thou knowest my poverty and weakness, and that I am unable to do anything good without Thee; deny me not, O God, the help of Thy grace; proportion it to my necessities; give me strength to avoid anything evil which Thou forbiddest, and to practise the good which Thou hast commanded; and enable me to bear patiently all the trials which it may please Thee to send me.
The Lord’s Prayer...
The Hail Mary...
The Apostles’ Creed...
At this point, please go to the relevant text of Fr Hamon’s Meditation. Once I have read and meditated on the text, and its various points . I complete my meditation by saying:
Evening Prayer
Wednesday in Passion Week: The Cross the Strength and Glory of the Christian
Summary of the Morrow’s Meditation
We will consider tomorrow that we ought to love the cross, because we find in it: first, our strength; second, our glory. Our resolution shall be: first, to remember the cross in our seasons of weakness or discouragement, in order to revive our courage; second, no longer to have any care for the vain glory of the world, and to attach ourselves solely to the solid glory of the cross. Our spiritual nosegay shall be the words of St Paul: “God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ” (Gal. vi:14).
Meditation for the Morning
Let us prostrate ourselves in spirit before the cross of the Saviour, and let us offer to it the homage of our most fervent piety, of our adoration, love, and praise (Ps. xciv:6).
We ought to love the cross because it is our strength
Man is feeble of himself, and, on the other side, he is in such critical positions, he has faults and passions which are so difficult to overcome, virtues which are so painful to practise, that it is necessary that a super- natural strength should come to the succour of human weakness. Now, it is in the cross that this strength is to be found. We find in it an example which puts to shame our pusillanimity and excites our courage; a guarantee of our immortal hopes which, raising our heart to heaven, renders it stronger than the whole earth; a grace which sustains, a love which provokes our love and inspires devotedness; lastly, the seal of the elect, which invites us to walk in the same path as they did in order to reach the goal which they have attained. St Paul attached himself to the cross (Gal. ii:19), and leaning upon it he esteemed himself to be stronger than all kinds of temptations and trials (Rom. viii:37). The martyrs and the confessors in their torments thought of the cross, and found therein a strength which rendered them invincible. I suffer greatly, said one of them, but what is it compared with what Jesus suffered on the cross? Let us imitate these beautiful examples. Are we tried by reverses of fortune, even to the extent of suffering the most extreme poverty, the nakedness of Jesus on the cross will render privation dear to us, and will make us exclaim courageously with St Jerome: I will follow naked Jesus Christ naked. Are we afflicted in our body by infirmity and suffering, the wounds of Jesus Christ on the cross will make us cherish suffering, and enable us to say with St Bonaventure: “Twill not live without suffering when I see Thee suffering;” or with St Teresa: “Either suffering or death!” I have a horror, said this great saint, of enjoyment and comfort, of sensuality and effeminacy. Are we a butt for calumny, to want of consideration, to contempt; the opprobrium suffered by Jesus on the cross will destroy our illusions in respect to the love of esteem and of praise. We henceforth have no longer any desire for them; for how can we have any respect for the esteem of a world which has so ill appreciated eternal wisdom? How can we desire to be treated better and to be more honoured than a God? Lastly, have we interior troubles to suffer, a character to reform, self-will to overcome, the meekness and obedience of Jesus on the cross will render us meek and docile, simple and obedient. Thus, in whatever position we may be, whatever may be the troubles in us or around us, the cross will be our strength; with it we shall triumph over all difficulties, with it we shall be happy in the midst of suffering, rich in poverty, content amidst contradictions.
We ought to love the cross because it is our glory
The cross and sufferings are so great an honour that our sins deserve that we should be deprived of them, and that we should be condemned to the riches, the honours, and the pleasures of the world, against which Our Lord pronounced this terrible anathema, “Woe to you that are rich, for you have your consolation” (Luke vi:24). The soul on which God bestows these false positions ought to be humiliated and confounded, and ought to fear condemnation at the day of judgment. The soul, on the contrary, that is favoured by God with the gift of the cross ought to be afraid of indulging in pride, because then it is treated like a God, assimilated to Jesus Christ, the true God, and, like Him, fed with sufferings, opprobrium, and poverty. The world, which entertains false ideas respecting glory, does not at all understand this language; nevertheless what is there which is clearer? According to the world, glory consists in the nobility of an illustrious blood; but the cross gives to the Christian a nobility higher than all earthly nobility; by means of it the Christian is a child of God, with a right to say to God: Our Father, who art in heaven; he is the brother of Jesus Christ and co-heir of the heavenly kingdom. According to the world, glory consists in the possession of vast domains; but the cross assures to me heaven for my inheritance, a throne on which I shall judge the world (Eph. ii:6), and infinite benefits compared with which the whole world is as nothing. According to the world, glory consists in the superiority of mind by which so many sages of past days were distinguished; but in comparison with the hidden mystery of the cross all the wisdom of the world is nothing but folly (I Cor. i:20). According to the world, glory consists in heroic courage; but what greater heroes are there than those disciples of the cross who are called apostles and martyrs and saints? Lastly, according to the world, glory consists in being admitted into the intimacy of the great and of monarchs; but the cross admits me into the intimacy of God, of Jesus Christ His Son, of all the angels and all the saints. So is it not incomparably more glorious? Honour, then, to the cross! May it be welcome every time that it presents itself. Honour to crucified souls! They are the favourites of God, His special friends, who wear the liveries of the great King Jesus. Is it thus that we appreciate the cross? Do we not perhaps entertain quite different sentiments, even to the extent of murmuring and complaining when we see it approach?
Resolutions and spiritual nosegay as above.
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