Tuesday of Holy Week

We pray through Tuesday of Holy Week and fix our attention on Christ’s obedience, the Cross, and the joy set before him. We reflect on how baptism joins us to Christ’s death and resurrection so we can make a clean break with sin and begin a new life.
• opening prayers and offering through the Immaculate Heart of Mary 
• Christ’s humility and obedience even unto death 
• God’s plan to restore friendship after disobedience 
• holiness as imitating Christ in life and in death 
• baptism as burial that ends the old way of life 
• conversion as a turning point and a pause before change 
• cleansing from worldly thoughts and inclinations 
• one baptism because there is one saving death and resurrection 
If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristeros and purchasing our publications is now available on Amazon.com. The Cristeros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theCristeros.org.

Transcript

Christ’s Obedience And The Cross

Salvation Plan And Imitating Christ

Baptism As Burial And New Life

Closing Collect And Final Devotions

Invitation To Cristuros Resources

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Tuesday of Holy Week. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be. World without end. Amen. O Jesus, through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys, and sufferings of this day, in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world, for the remission of my sins, for the intentions of my family and friends, and in particular for the intentions of the Holy Father. Amen. Jesus, the beginning and end of our faith, endured the cross, heedless of the shame, for the sake of the joy that would follow it. He is seated now at the right hand of the throne of God. He humbled himself by showing obedience, even when this meant death. He is seated now at the right hand of the throne of God. By one death and resurrection, the world was saved. When mankind was estranged from him by disobedience, God, our Savior, made a plan for raising us from our fall and restoring us to friendship with Himself. According to this plan, Christ came in the flesh. He showed us the gospel way of life. He suffered, died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the dead. He did this so that we could be saved by imitation of him and recover our original status as sons of God by adoption. To attain holiness, then, we must not only pattern our lives on Christ's by being gentle, humble, and patient, we must also imitate him in his death. Taking Christ for his model, Paul said that he wanted to become like him in his death in the hope that he too would be raised from death to life. We imitate Christ's death by being buried with him in baptism. If we ask what this kind of burial means and what benefit we may hope to derive from it, it means, first of all, making a complete break with our former way of life. And our Lord Himself said that this cannot be done unless a man is born again. In other words, we have to begin a new life, and we cannot do so until our previous life has been brought to an end. When runners reach the turning point on a race course, they have to pause briefly before they can go back in the opposite direction. So also, when we wish to reverse the direction of our lives, there must be a pause or a death to mark the end of one life and the beginning of another. Our descent into hell takes place when we imitate the burial of Christ by our baptism. The bodies of the baptized are, in a sense, buried in the water as a symbol of their renunciation of the sins of their unregenerate nature. As the Apostle says, the circumcision you have undergone is not an operation performed by human hands, but the complete stripping away of your unregenerate nature. This is the circumcision that Christ gave us, and it is accomplished by our burial with Him in baptism. Baptism cleanses the soul from the pollution of worldly thoughts and inclinations. You will wash me, says the psalmist, and I shall be whiter than snow. We received this saving baptism only once, because there was only one death and one resurrection for the salvation of the world, and baptism is its symbol. By being baptized into Christ Jesus, we have all shared in his death. We became one with him by dying as he did. Therefore, we shall be one with him also in rising to new life. By our baptism, we were buried with him. We shared in his death. We became one with him by dying as he did. Therefore, we shall be one with him also in rising to new life. Almighty, ever-living God, grant us so to celebrate the mysteries of the Lord's Passion, that we may merit to receive your pardon. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, forever and ever. Amen. All that I have and all that I am, I give to your hands, Jesus, through the heart of Mary, your blessed mother. Amen. Sacred heart of Jesus, have mercy on us. Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. If you found this time of prayer and reflection fruitful and would like more opportunities to grow in your faith, consider joining the Cristuros and purchasing our publications is now available on Amazon.com. The Cristuros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristuros can be found at theCristuros.org.