For only the second time in my adult life, I missed Holy Thursday Mass. However, I am going into a silent retreat tonight which will end Easter morning. Not the same as being with my people, but....
When I ponder on the reasons why I could not get to church today, one thing stuck in my mind.
As usual, I experience something harsh before my fellow brothers and sisters in order to warn them.
In the not too distant future, many of us, perhaps the majority, may not have access to the Triduum. If you do now, take advantage of this great grace.
Many enemies both outside and inside the Church bear upon our daily lives, but this situation will come to a crisis soon.
No priests, or only disobedient ones, no bishops, or only disobedient ones, no sacraments...and so on, will be the norm in many dioceses.
So, tonight, as I begin a time of solitary prayer, I am reminded of the recusants in my beloved England, who did not have the Mass or sacraments except on rare occasions.
Pray for yourselves...Christ's warning to the Women of Jerusalem echo tonight. The Jews and Romans used the green wood to fashion Jesus' Cross...when things are going well, this is how some people act. What will happen in times of great tribulation?
Luke 23
26 As they led him away, they seized a man, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming from the country, and they laid the cross on him, and made him carry it behind Jesus. 27 A great number of the people followed him, and among them were women who were beating their breasts and wailing for him. 28 But Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and for your children. 29 For the days are surely coming when they will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bore, and the breasts that never nursed.’ 30 Then they will begin to say to the mountains, ‘Fall on us’; and to the hills, ‘Cover us.’ 31 For if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?”
