Station of the Cross

" Say the Rosary every day...Pray, pray a lot and offer sacrifices for sinners...I'm Our Lady of the Rosary. Only I will be able to help you. ...In the end My Immaculate Heart will triumph." Our Lady at Fatima "Pray! Pray very much! Offer prayers and sacrifices constantly to the Most High." "Make everything you can a sacrifice, and offer it to God as an act of reparation for the sins by which He is offended..." These were the words at the Angel's second appearance to the three children of Fatima. The faithful receive abundant grace of God. Lent is a special time of prayer, penance, sacrifice and good works in preparation of the celebration of Easter. If you gave something up for the Lord performing spiritual works, like attending the Stations of the Cross, attending Mass, making a weekly holy hour before the Blessed Sacrament, taking time for personal prayer and spiritual reading and most especially making a good confession and receiving sacramental absolution. Historically Christians meditated on the scenes portraying the Passion narrative as penance. Although the practices may have evolved over the centuries, the focus remains the same: to repent of sin, to renew our faith and to prepare to celebrate joyfully the mysteries of our salvation. The word Lent itself is derived from the Anglo-Saxon words lencten, meaning "Spring," and lenctentid, which literally means not only "Springtide" but also was the word for "March," the month in which the majority of Lent falls. May your Lenten journey be blessed. The two great commandments that contain the whole law of God are: 1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind, and with thy whole strength; 2. Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. And one of them, a doctor of the Law, putting him to the test, asked him, "Master, which is the great commandment in the Law?" Jesus said to him, "'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind.' This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:35-40)