How to Enter Into the Stations of the Cross in a Life-Changing Way

One of the great practices of Lent is praying the Stations of the Cross.

I knew his spiritual director had been Padre Pio when he was young, and I knew he’d served as a confessor to Mother Teresa and lots of other well-known figures in the Church, but I couldn’t help but wonder if I was getting mixed up with some wackiness. Nobody ever told me I am Jesus. To think such a thing without an assembly line of qualifications seemed at least mis-guided, if not heretical. I took comfort when I found the Catechism quoting Saint Augus-tine to make the same point: “[W]e have become not only Christians, but Christ him-self.” And Joan of Arc insisted, “About Je-sus Christ and the Church, I simply know they’re just one thing and we shouldn’t complicate the matter” (CCC 795).

This is where the spousal mystery of our faith takes us: truly, the two – Christ and his Church – have become one. It’s a unity so profound that, in a very real way, our life experiences are Jesus’ life experiences. Our sorrows and joys are his sorrows and joys. Our life sto-ry is his life story – and his life story is our life story. That’s the background for praying the Stations of the Cross in a whole new way.

More than once while on retreat with the good Monsignor, he has invited me to walk through each of the Stations of the Cross as Jesus – to insert my life story into the journey to Calvary, recognizing that Jesus relives his passion, death, and resurrection in and through each person’s unique life story. When was I “condemned to death”? When had I “fallen” for the first time? Where did I encounter Mary on my journey? Who was “Veronica” in my life? Who was “Simon” helping me to carry my cross? When was I “stripped,” etc.?

Between now and Easter Sunday, place yourself in each of the Stations of the Cross. Maybe you’ll have a memory of being “condemned” when you were mocked as a child by kids in the neighborhood. Maybe you’ll see yourself falling under the weight of your cross when you learned of your spouse’s pornography addiction or your father’s cancer. Maybe Simon was your 10th-grade teacher who pulled you aside after class because he could tell you were going through a really hard time and needed a shoulder to cry on.

The good news is this: not only does Jesus relive his passion and death in us. He also relives his glorious Resurrection and Ascension into heaven! This is the hope we celebrate as Lent comes to a close and the great celebration of Easter begins: whatever we have suffered, whatever we have endured will be transformed into glory. If that’s real, let me in! (Chris West, Cor Project)

Mass Times

Easter Sunday: - 9:30am & 5:30pm Monday - 8am Tuesday - 8am Wednesday - 8am Holy Thursday- 7pm, Mass of the Lord’s Supper Good Friday - No mass Holy Saturday - Easter Vigil 7pm

Sacraments and Devotions

Adoration - Fr i 8:30am to 10:30am Rosaries - Thurs 6:30pm and Sun 9am Reconciliation - Thursday after Novena Sat after 8am Mass & 5:30 to 5:50pm Sun 9 to 9.20am & 5.00 to 5:20pm Baptism and Marriage - By appointment Legion of Mary Praesidia Mon 9:30am - Mystical Rose Tues 7.30pm - Mother of Divine Grace Wed 8:30am - Mary Immaculate

Parish Priest: Fr John Fowles Pastoral Associate: Br Denis Devcich | Acolyte: Denis Golden Phone: 02 6043 2222 | thurgoonacatholicpar ish@hotmail.com Fax: 02 6043 2224 | PO Box 110, Lavington 2641 | www.thurgoonacatholicpar ish.com

Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish

Thurgoona

Show me your faith apart from your works and I by my works will show you my faith. James 2:18

20 Hartigan St, Thurgoona 2640

~ Parish Notices ~ Altar Service Practice for Holy Weeks services - 5pm Thursday, Pizza & drinks provided

Holy Week Choir practice - Tuesday 6:30pm - For all who participate it is an occasion of immense grace to accompany Our Lord in song and praise. The Good Friday Collection for the Holy Land, is not only for the Holy Places but above all for those pastoral, charitable, and educational needs which the Church supports for the welfare of these Christian communities."

Please bring in your Project Compassion Boxes and Envelopes so the funds can be transferred without delay.

Easter Triduum Holy Thursday: 7pm, Mass of the Lord’s Supper.

Good Friday: Stations of the Cross at 10am Commemoration Service of our Lord’s Passion at 3pm

Holy Saturday: Reconciliation at 10-10:30am Easter Vigil (Saturday) at 7pm

Palm Sunday 9th April 2017: The Lord’s Entrance into Jerusalem Gospel Matthew 21:1-11 When they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, ‘Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find an ass tied, and a colt with her: untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, “The Lord has need of them,” and he will send them immediately.’ This took place to fulfil what was spoken by the prophet, saying, ‘Tell the daughter of Sion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an ass.’ The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them; they brought the

ass and the colt, and put their garments on them, and he sat thereon. Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him shouted, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’ And when he entered Jerusalem, all the city was stirred, saying, ‘Who is this?’ And the crowds said, ‘This is the prophet Jesus from Nazareth of Galilee.’

Collect: Almighty ever -living God, who as an example of humility for the human race to follow caused our Saviour to take flesh and submit to the Cross, graciously grant that we may heed his lesson of patient suffering and so merit a share in his Resurrection. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

First reading Isaiah 50:4-7 The Lord has given me a disciple’s tongue. So that I may know how to reply to the wearied he provides me with speech. Each morning he wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple. The Lord has opened my ear. For my part, I made no resistance, neither did I turn away. I offered my back to those who struck me, my cheeks to those who tore at my beard; I did not cover my face against insult and spittle. The Lord comes to my help, so that I am untouched by the insults. So, too, I set my face like flint; I know I shall not be shamed.

Responsorial Psalm Ps 21 (22):8-9. 17-20. 23-24. R. v.2 My God, my God, why have your abandoned me?

Second Reading Philippians 2:6-11 His state was divine, yet Christ Jesus did not cling to his equality with God but emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are, he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Gospel Acclamation Philippians 2:8-9 Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory! Christ became obedient for us even to death, dying on the cross. Therefore God raised him on high and gave him a name above all other names. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ, king of endless glory!

Gospel Passion of the Lord according to Matthew

Communion Antiphon Father, if this chalice cannot pass without my drinking it, your will be done

Lord hear our prayers for the: Sick: Fr Con Croese, Enid Doherty, John Mahoni, Theresa McCooke, Kieran Clifford Departed: Darcy Young, John Stack, Bill Clark

Readers This week: Sat 6pm - Damien Tocher Sun 9.30am - Jorgetta Hudson

Weekend Readers & Cleaning Roster 15/16 April 2017

Readers: Sat: 6.00 pm - Lucy Findlay Sun: 9.30 am - Mark Mannering Cleaning: Group 5 - Kathleen Horsfall

Financial Report: Please make cheques payable to “Thurgoona Catholic Parish” or Direct Debit: BSB 012-708: Ac No. 3546 39223. Please include name on transfer. First Collection: $260.25 Envelope: $355.00 + Direct Debit $220.00 Loose: $102.80

All Is Fulfilled: Scott Hahn

We have reached the climax of the liturgical year, the highest peak of salvation history, when all that has been anticipated and promised is to be fulfilled. By the close of today's long Gospel, the work of our redemption will have been accomplished, the new covenant will be written in the blood of His broken body hanging on the cross at the place called the Skull.

In His Passion, Jesus is "counted among the wicked.” He is revealed definitively as the Suffering Servant, the long-awaited Messiah. The taunts and torments we hear punctuate the Gospel as Jesus is beaten and mocked, as His hands and feet are pierced, as enemies gamble for His clothes, and as his enemies dare Him to prove His divinity by saving Himself from suffering. He remains faithful to God's will to the end, does not turn back in His trial. He gives Himself freely to His torturers, confident that, as He speaks in today's First Reading: "The Lord God is My help...I shall not be put to shame."

Destined to sin and death as children of Adam's disobedience, we have been set free for holiness and life by Christ's perfect obedience to the Father's will.This is why God greatly exalted Him. This is why we have salvation in His Name. Following His example of humble obedience in the trials and crosses of our lives, we know we will never be forsaken. We know, as the centurion today, that truly this is the Son of God.