Wednesday of Holy Week

We pray through Wednesday of Holy Week and offer our day to Jesus through the Immaculate Heart of Mary for mercy, repentance, and the intentions of the Church. We reflect on Scripture’s call to perfect love and the Eucharist’s demand that we love as Christ loves, even to the point of sacrifice. 
• opening Holy Week prayers and daily offering united to the Mass 
• moving from Sinai’s fearsome glory to Zion’s heavenly city 
• defining perfect love as laying down our lives for others 
• reading Proverbs as a Eucharistic challenge to humility and devotion 
• distinguishing Christ’s saving sacrifice from the witness of the martyrs 
• praying for grace through the cross toward 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 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

From Sinai To Heavenly Zion

Perfect Love Means Sacrifice

The Lord’s Table And Humility

Closing Prayers And Next Steps

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Wednesday 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. You heard God speaking from the darkness, and saw Mount Sinai ablaze with fire. You came to Moses crying, See how the Lord our God has shown us his greatness and his glory. Now you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. See how the Lord our God has shown us his greatness and his glory. The perfection of love. Dear brethren, the Lord has marked out for us the fullness of love that we ought to have for each other. He tells us, no one has greater love than the man who lays down his life for his friends. In these words, the Lord tells us what the perfect love we should have for one another involves. John, the evangelist, who recorded them, draws the conclusion in one of his letters, as Christ laid down his life for us, so we too ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. We should indeed love one another as he loved us, he who laid down his life for us. This is surely what we read in the Proverbs of Solomon. If you sit down to eat at the table of a ruler, observe carefully what is set before you, then stretch out your hand, knowing that you must provide the same kind of meal yourself. What is this ruler's table, if not the one at which we receive the body and blood of Him who laid down His life for us? What does it mean to sit at this table, if not to approach it with humility? What does it mean to observe carefully what is set before you, if not to meditate devoutly on so great a gift? What does it mean to stretch out one's hand, knowing that one must provide the same kind of meal oneself, if not what I have just said, as Christ laid down his life for us, so we in our turn ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. This is what the Apostle Paul said Christ suffered for us, leaving us an example, that we might follow in his footsteps. Finally, even if brothers die for brothers, yet no martyr by shedding his blood brings forgiveness for the sins of his brothers, as Christ brought forgiveness to us. In this he gave us not an example to imitate, but a reason for rejoicing. Inasmuch then as they shed their blood for their brothers, the martyrs provided the same kind of meal as they had received at the Lord's table. Let us then love one another as Christ also loved us, and gave himself up for us. God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world to give us life through him. Since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. God loved us first and sent his own son to be the sacrifice that takes away our sin. Since God has loved us so much, we too should love one another. O God, who willed your Son to submit for our sake to the yoke of the cross, so that you might drive from us the power of the enemy. Grant us your servants to attain the grace of the resurrection 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 Cristeros and purchasing our publications now available on Amazon.com. The Crusaros app is available on the Apple app and Google Play Store. More information on the Cristeros can be found at theChristeros.org.