Via Crucis

Jésus-Christ Monte au Calvaire

Jésus-Christ monte au Calvaire,
Il y va pour y mourir.
Suivons-le, c'est notre frère,
Qui pour nous, voulut souffrir.
En mourant, il nous délivre
Du fardeau de nos péchés,
Et celui qui veut le suivre,
Sous la Croix devra marcher.

Chez Pilate, on le compare
Au dernier des scélérats.
Que dis-tu, peuple barbare?
Tu réclames Barabbas!
Quelle indigne préférence;
Le coupable est pardonné
Et malgré son innocence,
Jésus-Christ est condammé.

Mais voici que l'on présente
Une Croix au doux sauveur,
Sur sa chair encor sanglante,
Elle ajoute à ses douleurs.
Et pourtant il la désire,
Il la veut depuis toujours,
Depuis toujours elle attire
Son regard brûlant d'amour.

Ô Jésus, vos mains calleuses,
Ont manié bien d'autres bois.
Vos épaules laborieuses
Ont plié sous d'autres poids.
Il est donc bien redoutable
Ce fardeau, mon doux Jésus,
Puisque ce poids vous accable
Et que vous n'en pouvez plus.

Au chemin de la souffrance
Pour l'aider, Marie est là;
Elle veut par sa présence
Soutenir ses derniers pas.
Ô Vierge, en notre faiblesse,
Nous avons besoin de vous,
Puisque nous tombons sans cesse
Demeurez tout près de nous.

Quand Simon, l'un de mes frères
Est choisi pour te porter;
Ô Croix, tu parais légère,
Qui voudrait se dérober?
Pour la tâche, Ô divin maître,
S'il vous faut des ouvriers,
Me voilà, de tout mon être,
Je suis prêt à vous aider.

Tous vos traits, par la souffrance
Sont creusés de durs sillons;
Nos péchés et nos offenses
Sont gravés sur votre front.
Souvent, on déforme encore
Votre image autour de nous;
Au monde qui vous ignore
Nous saurons parler de vous.

Votre pied heurte la pierre:
Vous tombez sur le chemin;
Votre sang dans la poussière
La marque d'un sceau divin.
Ô Jésus, je vous adore
Étendu sous votre Croix;
Prosterné, je vous implore,
Moi qui tombe tant de fois.

"Vous pleurez sur mes souffrances,
Pleurez donc sur vos péchés.
Puisque c'est pour vos offenses
Que mon sang sera versé
Suivez-moi vers le calvaire
Avec moi, sachez offrir
Vos souffrances pour vos frères:
Après moi, il faut souffrir."

A quoi bon tant de souffrance,
A quoi bon verser son sang,
Quand Il voit la foule immense
De pécheurs impénitents.
Et pourtant, Il se relève,
Prend la Croix à pleines mains,
Il poursuit et Il achève
Jusqu'au bout le dur chemin.

On dépouille votre taille,
Et plus rien pour vous couvrir.
Né jadis nu sur la paille,
Vous voici, nu, pour mourir.
Enseignez à tous vos frères
L'amour de la pauvreté;
Que les biens de cette terre
Sont toujours à mépriser.

A grands coups, le marteau frappe
Dans la chair, rivant les clous;
Comme une divine grappe
Que l'on presse sous les coups.
De ses mains, le sang s'écoule,
De ses mains qui, si souvent.
Ont béni d'immenses foules
Et guéri tant de souffrants.

Voici donc l'instant suprême,
Qu'il attend depuis toujours
De prouver à ceux qu'il aime,
Jusqu'où va son grand amour.
Embrassant la terre entière,
Ses deux bras sont étendus;
Il appelle tous ses frères
Et Il meurt pour leur salut.

En vos bras, quand on vous livre
Votre Fils inanimé,
Vous lisez comme en un livre
Sur son corps tous nos péchés.
Dites-nous, ô tendre Mère,
Tout ce que vous avez vu;
Gravez en nos cœurs de pierre
Les blessures de Jésus.

L'ennemi de votre gloire
Peut sourire, il est vanqueur
Et pourtant votre victoire
Est certaine, Ô mon sauveur.
Malgrè la nuit de la tombe,
Le linceul sur votre Corps,
Aujourd'hui l'enfer succombre
Vous avez vaincu la mort.

The Apparition of Our Lady of Lourdes

... in its 150th anniversary.

Born Marie-Bernarde Soubirous to a humble and devout family in the little town of Lourdes, France, St Bernadette is the eldest of the six children of Monsieur François Soubirous and Madame Louise (née Castérot) Soubirous. The Catholic Faith forms an integral part of their life, and it is the Holy Faith, and their love and support for one another, that sustained them even though they lived in extreme poverty.

St Bernadette, being the eldest of the children in the family, took on the responsibility of herding the sheep. She prays the Rosary each time she brings her sheep to graze.

On 11 February 1858, while the fourteen-year-old Bernadette was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend near the grotto at Massabielle just outside Lourdes, she had a vision of 'a small young Lady' standing at a niche in the rocks. The Lady asked that she returned to the grotto every day for fifteen consecutive days. This was the first of eighteen Apparitions of a Lady that Saint Bernadette had seen in the grotto. No one else could see the beautiful Lady.

On the ninth vision of St Bernadette, the Lady told the young seer to drink the water that flowed under the rock and eat the plants that grew there freely. The ground was hard and dry, and there was no known spring at the reported location. However, St Bernadette did as was instructed, but there was no springwater that came forth. Many people became sceptical of the Apparitions that St Bernadette claimed to have seen - but not for long.

During the sixteenth of the Lady at the grotto, St Bernadette asked the Lady what her name was. The Lady only replied by smiling lovingly back at the young girl. St Bernadette had to ask the same question three times before she got the answer from the Lady: 'Que soi er'immaculada concepcion.' ('I am the Immaculate Conception.' It is in Occitan, the dialect used in Lourdes.) This confirmed the doubts of Saint Bernadette - the Lady she had been seeing in the Apparitions was the Queen of Heaven and Earth, the Blessed Virgin Mary

These apparitions of our Blessed Mother in Lourdes was a sure sign that our Lady is well pleased with the definition and promulgation of the dogma of her Immaculate Conception by Pope Pius IX just four years ago, on 8 December 1854.

On January 18, 1862, Bishop Laurence, the Bishop of Tarbes, gave the solemn declaration: "We are inspired by the Commission comprising wise, holy, learned and experienced priests who questioned the child, studied the facts, examined everything and weighed all the evidence. We have also called on science, and we remain convinced that the Apparitions are supernatural and divine, and that by consequence, what Bernadette saw was the Most Blessed Virgin. Our convictions are based on the testimony of Bernadette, but above all on the things that have happened, things which can be nothing other than divine intervention".

After the series of Apparitions as seen by St Bernadette was declared to be worthy of belief by the Church, the grotto where the Apparitions took place soon became the largest Marian Shrine in the Roman Catholic Church and a major site for pilgrimage, attracting millions of Catholics each year. A beautiful statue of Our Lady of Lourdes placed in the niche of the rock, marking the sacred site of the Apparitions. When St Bernadette saw the statue, she was, however, utterly disappointed by the representation of the glorious Lady she saw in her visions.

Many people claimed to receive miraculous cure at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, but only 68 have been certified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau and the Catholic Church as medically inexplicable. Some were healed of their illness by drinking from the spring at the grotto, some by merely praying piously at the sanctified spot, and others, during the visits of our Blessed Lord in the Holy Eucharist to the Sanctuary.

Processions were held at the famous Marine Shrine of Lourdes each year, with the thousands, nay, millions of pilgrims uniting their voices to pray and sing praises to the Most Holy Virgin.

Immaculate Mary

Immaculate Mary!
Our hearts are on fire,
That title so wondrous
Fills all our desire.

Refrain Ave, ave, ave, Maria!Ave, ave, ave, Maria!

We pray for God's glory,
May His Kingdom come!
We pray for His Vicar,
Our Father, and Rome.

Refrain

We pray for our Mother
The Church upon earth,
And bless, sweetest Lady,
The land of our birth.

Refrain

For poor, sick, afflicted
Thy mercy we crave;
And comfort the dying
Thou light of the grave.

Refrain

There is no need, Mary,
Nor ever has been,
Which thou canst not succour,
Immaculate Queen.

Refrain

In grief and temptation,
In joy or in pain,
We'll ask thee, our Mother,
Nor seek thee in vain.

Refrain

O bless us, dear Lady,
With blessings from heaven.
And to our petitions
Let answer be given.

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And crown thy sweet mercy
With this special grace,
To behold soon in heaven
God's ravishing face.

Refrain

Now to God be all glory
And worship for aye,
And to God's virgin Mother
An endless Ave.

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In death's solemn moment,
Our Mother, be nigh;
As children of Mary
O teach us to die.

Refrain

Hail, Three Kings!

As the Holy Mother Church celebrates the blessed Feast of the Epiphany this day, we also commemorate the arrival of the Three Kings, or Magi, from the Far East, to the humble manger where the Sweet Infant of Bethlehem laid. Here, they bowed down before their Creator, adoring Him, offering Him their gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh.

It would be interesting to note that each of these three gifts are symbolic of our disposition and the spiritual gifts that we ought to offer and present to our Lord God this day, nay, daily for all our lives.

Our material possessions in our earthly course ought not to be a hindrance to prevent us from attaining our spiritual perfection, so that we may come at last to the Happy Home where we have, through the sin of our First Parents, denied ourselves. Hence, all our material goods and belongings, which the gold represents, should all help us and direct us to our Last End, that is, the glory and eternal bliss of Heaven, and the beatific vision of God.

The frankincense is a symbol of our prayers. For if our prayers are sincere and truthful, they shall ascend and penetrate, like a sweet odour, through the clouds to reach the Throne of the Most High.

Our Lord did not promise us riches and joy in this our earthly pilgrimage. Instead, He called, and continues to call us, to penance every single day. Myrrh, a bitter substance, is a symbol of the self-denial and mortification of our passions that we must still practised daily, in order for us to attain to the best of our abiliites the spiritual perfection that God requires of us, so that we may deserve to enter His Kingdom.

During the Holy Mass this day, the Church reminds us of the three-fold Epiphany, which is the Greek word for Manifestation, of Christ: to the Magi, that is, to the Gentiles; in His Baptism at Jordan, when the Voice from Heaven declared: This is My Beloved Son; and the first miracle of our Lord, through the intercession of our Blessed Lady, at Cana, where He changed water into wine.

Here is a picture of my very own Crèche I had at home, a gift fresh from France.

The kangaroo thinks it is an Angel and climbs to the top of the roof, using some form of grapple, and sings the Gloria and to get a better view of the Infant King. And there certainly are some unwelcomed guests visiting the manger... See if you spot them.

We Three Kings of Orient Are

We three kings of Orient are;
Bearing gifts we traverse afar,
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

Refrain
O star of wonder, star of light,
Star with royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

(Gaspard)
Born a King on Bethlehem’s plain
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never,
Over us all to reign.

Refrain

(Melchior)
Frankincense to offer have I;
Incense owns a Deity nigh;
Prayer and praising, voices raising,
Worshipping God on high.

Refrain

(Balthazar)
Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume
Breathes a life of gathering gloom;
Sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in the stone cold tomb.

Refrain

Glorious now behold Him arise;
King and God and sacrifice;
Alleluia, Alleluia,
Sounds through the earth and skies.

Refrain