Special Devotions
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Entering the Holy Tridium with Ardor
We are now entering Holy Week. Tomorrow is Holy Thursday: the day of the institution of the Holy Eucharist, the Last Supper, the day when the Passion of Our Jesus Christ begins, the day when Our Lord Jesus Christ washes the feet of the Apostles and thereby forgives them, the day when Judas breaks from the Apostolic College, and the Gospel quite expressively says: “And it was night.” (cf. John 13:30).
It was night… and what a night. Our Lord begins His Agony in the Garden and from there we have the whole sequence of events both sublime and dramatic which Catholic piety is pleased to meditate on every year.
On this occasion we must have a compassion for what happened to Our Lord. But we must not forget something else, something that I think should be the central consideration of Holy Week: Our Lord suffered on that occasion much more because of the sins of men than because of the physical sufferings that were inflicted on Him.
Let us imagine He were in a fire and thus suffering the torment of being burned alive for hours and hours. But let us also consider that in this suffering He knew that there was a contrite crowd kneeling around Him, that the very authors of this crime were repentant and sorrowful. Further, that throughout the centuries there would be no more sin because He had sacrificed His life. Even then, His suffering would be much less than what He endured!
The physical pain was tremendous. But His greatest suffering was moral: to see that despite the Divine Blood He shed for us, He would still be insulted for centuries and centuries. He saw the many sins that would be committed. And seeing these sins escalate He thus came to ask Himself: Quae utilitas in Sanguine Meo? Of what use is My Blood? Why am I suffering all this?
There is something of this question in that harrowing moment when He cried out: “Deus, Deus meus, quare me dereliquisti?” (Ps. 21; Mt. 27:46). My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me? As if to say: All this sacrifice, why, O My God, why? In fact, these words begin a prophetic Psalm of the Resurrection, which continues with the fact that He will resurrect, etc.
He saw our sins. He saw the sin of the Revolution. He suffered for all of this, for the Revolution throughout the world. And, in His suffering, Our Lord desires our reparation: He desires an act of love and an act of indignation!
If I have a father who is being unjustly beaten, if I look at those who beat him and do nothing, I am not loving my father! I must be indignant, I must protest, I must interpose myself between my father and the one attacking him. “Look here, mister, this is my concern! I take this situation upon myself! The one you are fighting is I!”
We must lament that the whole world is, so to speak, beating Our Lord. We must regret that we do not have a position of soul completely like this, an attitude of fidelity and gratitude demanded by those who have been given so many gifts.
So, we must ask forgiveness for our individual sins. We cannot just present the sins of mankind at the foot of the Cross, for we are part of mankind. But, at the same time, we present the Blood of Christ and the tears of Mary to the Eternal Father as a way of thanking Him for the inestimable benefit they have given us, that we number among those chosen by Our Lady and by Him, among those who said “yes”…
A strong “yes,” or a weaker one. A pure “yes,” or one less pure. A “yes” that is enduring, lively and filled with enthusiasm, or a “yes” perhaps more like that of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea – but, at any rate, still a “yes”! And so, here we are at the feet of the image of Our Lord Scourged, at the feet of Our Lady of Sorrow, here we are to pray, to ask and beg that He forgive our sins and make us those men of God of whom Dom Chautard rightly says that against them no man can resist.
If there were on Earth many men of God, many inner souls who sacrificed everything to be pure, to not sin through human respect, pride, vanity, envies, rivalries, etc., if we had a large number of men like these, the face of the earth would be renewed!
Let us ask to be one of those men. A thought that has always done me a lot of good and that I ask you to consider because it could eventually do you a good too is the following: For those who have our counter-revolutionary vocation, there is no alternative. One must either renounce self-love and what follows, renounce impurity and what follows, or be a buffoon! And the worst type of buffoon – a buffoon in my own eyes.
The words I am speaking to you here will only be able to do some good to the extent that I am a pure man, a man without self-love, without pride, etc. I will soon be going home. After a while, I will finally begin to take my rest. If I have spoken these words with an upright heart, if I am aware that I have fought impurity this day, that I have fought self-love and pride, then I can lay down my exhausted body and say:
"Lord, here I am. As the weariness releases from my body through rest, it is like a sacrifice that rises to Thee. May Thou receive it as an odor of sweetness before Thy sight. Most Holy Mary, Mediatrix of all men before God, give to my sacrifice what it does not have so that God may find it pleasing!"
I close my eyes and tranquilly sleep.
This prayer should be recited mentally, internally, by each of you. Then, when you sleep, you will be able to sleep in peace.
If not this, then what have I done?! I have given up so many comforts, so many pleasures, so many advantages in life, and I have not done the apostolate! I have led a hard and difficult life, but I have been vain and proud and, at the end of the day, I have spent the time that God gave me making a burlesque of the apostolate! What have I been? A buffoon! I ask that you take this into consideration.
Our situation is terrible. We have been given an admirable option, and we have set our steps along the right path. But on this right path, we must bring a right mind and a right heart. Let us ask Our Lady for this grace as we prepare for Holy Week with this prayer that is prayed at the beginning of all of the Stations of the Cross:
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because through Thy glorious Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.
And I add: Our Lady of Tears, Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!
Let us, then, enter Holy Week with great ardor!
The betrayal of Judas with a kiss after the Last Supper
On this occasion we must have a compassion for what happened to Our Lord. But we must not forget something else, something that I think should be the central consideration of Holy Week: Our Lord suffered on that occasion much more because of the sins of men than because of the physical sufferings that were inflicted on Him.
Let us imagine He were in a fire and thus suffering the torment of being burned alive for hours and hours. But let us also consider that in this suffering He knew that there was a contrite crowd kneeling around Him, that the very authors of this crime were repentant and sorrowful. Further, that throughout the centuries there would be no more sin because He had sacrificed His life. Even then, His suffering would be much less than what He endured!
The physical pain was tremendous. But His greatest suffering was moral: to see that despite the Divine Blood He shed for us, He would still be insulted for centuries and centuries. He saw the many sins that would be committed. And seeing these sins escalate He thus came to ask Himself: Quae utilitas in Sanguine Meo? Of what use is My Blood? Why am I suffering all this?
‘Deus, Deus Meus, quare Me dereliquisti?’
He saw our sins. He saw the sin of the Revolution. He suffered for all of this, for the Revolution throughout the world. And, in His suffering, Our Lord desires our reparation: He desires an act of love and an act of indignation!
If I have a father who is being unjustly beaten, if I look at those who beat him and do nothing, I am not loving my father! I must be indignant, I must protest, I must interpose myself between my father and the one attacking him. “Look here, mister, this is my concern! I take this situation upon myself! The one you are fighting is I!”
We must lament that the whole world is, so to speak, beating Our Lord. We must regret that we do not have a position of soul completely like this, an attitude of fidelity and gratitude demanded by those who have been given so many gifts.
Let us imitate Our Lady & comfort Him in His Passion
A strong “yes,” or a weaker one. A pure “yes,” or one less pure. A “yes” that is enduring, lively and filled with enthusiasm, or a “yes” perhaps more like that of Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea – but, at any rate, still a “yes”! And so, here we are at the feet of the image of Our Lord Scourged, at the feet of Our Lady of Sorrow, here we are to pray, to ask and beg that He forgive our sins and make us those men of God of whom Dom Chautard rightly says that against them no man can resist.
If there were on Earth many men of God, many inner souls who sacrificed everything to be pure, to not sin through human respect, pride, vanity, envies, rivalries, etc., if we had a large number of men like these, the face of the earth would be renewed!
Let us ask to be one of those men. A thought that has always done me a lot of good and that I ask you to consider because it could eventually do you a good too is the following: For those who have our counter-revolutionary vocation, there is no alternative. One must either renounce self-love and what follows, renounce impurity and what follows, or be a buffoon! And the worst type of buffoon – a buffoon in my own eyes.
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world
"Lord, here I am. As the weariness releases from my body through rest, it is like a sacrifice that rises to Thee. May Thou receive it as an odor of sweetness before Thy sight. Most Holy Mary, Mediatrix of all men before God, give to my sacrifice what it does not have so that God may find it pleasing!"
I close my eyes and tranquilly sleep.
This prayer should be recited mentally, internally, by each of you. Then, when you sleep, you will be able to sleep in peace.
If not this, then what have I done?! I have given up so many comforts, so many pleasures, so many advantages in life, and I have not done the apostolate! I have led a hard and difficult life, but I have been vain and proud and, at the end of the day, I have spent the time that God gave me making a burlesque of the apostolate! What have I been? A buffoon! I ask that you take this into consideration.
Our situation is terrible. We have been given an admirable option, and we have set our steps along the right path. But on this right path, we must bring a right mind and a right heart. Let us ask Our Lady for this grace as we prepare for Holy Week with this prayer that is prayed at the beginning of all of the Stations of the Cross:
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because through Thy glorious Cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we bless Thee, because by Thy Holy Cross thou hast redeemed the world.
And I add: Our Lady of Tears, Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!
Let us, then, enter Holy Week with great ardor!
February of 1976
Posted Arpil 16, 2025
Posted Arpil 16, 2025
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