by Prince Mathew
Preface for Meditation:
How marvelous the power of the cross; how great beyond all telling the glory of
the passion. Here is the judgment-seat of the Lord, the condemnation of the
world, the supremacy of Christ crucified. Through the cross the faithful receive
strength from weakness, glory from dishonor, life from death.
The different sacrifices of animals are no more: the one offering of your body
and blood is the fulfillment of all the different sacrificial offerings, for you
are the true Lamb of God: you take away the sins of the world. In yourself you
bring to perfection all mysteries, so that, as there is one sacrifice in place
of all other sacrificial offerings, there is also one kingdom gathered from all
peoples.
Let us acknowledge what Saint Paul, acknowledged so exultantly: This is a saying
worthy of trust, worthy of complete acceptance: Christ Jesus came into this
world to save sinners.
God's compassion for us is all the more wonderful because Christ died, not for
the righteous or the holy but for the wicked and the sinful, and, though the
divine nature could not be touched by the sting of death, he took to himself,
through his birth as one of us, something he could offer on our behalf.
The power of his death once confronted our death. In the words of Hosea the
prophet: Death, I shall be your death; grave, I shall swallow you up. By dying
he submitted to the laws of the underworld; by rising again he destroyed them.
He did away with the everlasting character of death so as to make death a thing
of time, not of eternity. As all die in Adam, so all will be brought to life in
Christ.
Bible Reading Passages:
Evening:
Morning:
Bible Verse of the day:
"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not
be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " St. Luke 16:31
Fourth Friday of The Holy Lent
* St. Luke 16: 19-31
* Leviticus 19: 9 - 18
* Daniel 9:1-11
* Acts 16: 1-7
* II Corinthians 12: 19-13: 13
* St. Luke 17: 1-10
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