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This is a blatant copy from the current issue of Catholic Family News, in hopes that readers might re-consider getting their subscription renewed.  The articles and content of CFN are improving, and this is a prime example.  

Please Note:  Normally CFN provides some background or a footnote or something regarding obscure authors, but in this case there is none.  I did a quick search on the 'net and found no mention of any F.G. Tangue, but was asked if I perhaps meant "Rev. F.G. Tongue."  Okay, I'll bite:  woops, there is no "F.G. Tongue" found, either.  So much for the-Internet-knows-all urban legend.  After all that, this is a great article and if any of our readers can provide some bio for the author, it would be appreciated -- such as, when did he live?  I suspect he is from a century ago, round figures.  It seems some of his references are to St. A. de Liguori, but he wasn't yet canonized, it sounds like, so that would be prior to his 1816 beatification.  Plus, he speaks of St. Colette several times with a familiarity and freshness of a newly canonized saint, and that happened in 1807 under Pope Pius VII, the same one who suffered under the monster, Napoleon.  I would estimate then, this was published in 1807 to 1810, when that monster was raising havoc in France and elsewhere, holding the Pope for ransom and mocking the Church.  If it came from America it would likely have mentioned the 1806 earthquake in San Francisco, which "ranks among the most significant earthquakes of all time," so for this and other reasons, it likely comes out of England, which is far enough away from California and earthquakes in general, so as to 'fuggeddaboudit' for one sermon, okay?  It nonetheless has a very modern flair to it, so the author, if that long ago, must have been very well-inclined to write in a vernacular style, instead of being stuck in dusty old volumes of antiquity.  He is obviously a preacher, and this appears to be a short and powerful sermon, so he has learned how to speak to crowds and keep their attention.  

There is much to think about here, as we step into Passion Sunday, today, and combined with the OTHER THREAD ON HOLY WEEK readers on CI can really take a fresh look at the central importance of the Passion of Our Lord, and how it has the power to make us into saints, if we would only give it a chance.

Overall, I think this is a great find, and I thank John Vennari for printing it for everyone to see like this.



     These touching words of Lamentations express truly the feeling and pious object of our Holy Mother the Church on this day, on which we begin that week called the Great of Holy Week, during which She commemorates the accomplishment of man's salvation, and by Her preaching and ceremonies sets before our eyes the sufferings and death of the Son of God, the Savior of the world.  By these words, which the Church puts in the mouth of Her divine Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, She exhorts us to meditate, especially during this week, on His sufferings and death upon the cross.
     This exhortation was formerly addressed to the newly converted Hebrews by the Apostle, when like a father he admonished them to "...think diligently upon Him who endureth such opposition from sinners against Himself" (Heb. xii. 3).  In his letter to the Corinthians, He teaches them to meditate on the Passion of the Lord each time they assist at the Holy Sacrifice of Mass and receive Holy Communion. (Cf. I Cor. xi. 26).
     The prince of the Apostles, St, Peter, was equally solicitous to impress this salutary practice upon the hearts of the faithful.  He urges them to arm themselves with this great thought as with a shield.  "Christ therefore, having suffered in the flesh be ye also armed with the same thoughts" (I Pet. iv. 1).  No wonder, then, that the Church, in commemorating the sufferings of Her divine Spouse, complains bitterly that He, who is justice itself, suffers and dies, whilst no one takes it to heart.  (Brev. Rom.)
     St. Augustine tells us there is nothing more profitable than to meditate daily on the Passion of the God-man. (Serm. 52 ad frat. in Erem.)  In fact, what is there more powerful to convert sinners?  At the death of Christ the very rocks split, and the most hardened sinners were brought to repentance.  St. Peter's first sermon, which was a meditation on the bitter sufferings of Christ, converted three thousand souls.  We read of St. Pelagia that whilst still separated from the true faith, she heard a sermon on the Passion of our Divine Lord.  So struck was she, that she addressed herself to the preacher and asked him if it were really true that Jesus Christ had endured all those pains which he had described.  On receiving from the mouth of the apostolic man the confirmation of these sufferings, she was so touched that she was converted at once, and asked to be baptized.   After receiving holy baptism she quitted the world, and went to live in the solitude of a wilderness, where she spent the remainder of her life in penance and mortification.  Her food was bread and water, she slept on the ground, and prayed day and night, without speaking to anyone.
     Meditation on the Passion is no less profitable for pious souls;  for it is, according to St. Leonard of Port Maurice [Doctor of the Church], more advantageous and more meritorious to meditate for a short time on the Passion of our Savior, than to fast on bread and water, to chastise one's body, and to read all the Psalms of David.  The reason of this is, that we cannot seriously reflect on these cruel sufferings without being inflamed with love of Him who endured them.
     This is the opinion, too, of Blessed Albert the Great, who assures us that we merit more by thinking on the Passion of the Lord, than by fasting every Friday on bread and water.  Cat we suggest anything more profitable?  It is a most excellent preservative against relapsing into sin.  It was by this devotion that an endless number of Saints -- such as St. Colette, St. Teresa [of Avila, D], St. Francis [of Assisi, C] and St. Bernard [of Clairvaux, DC] -- made extraordinary progress in the way of perfection.  It is certain, says a spiritual and learned writer, that those who meditate daily on the Passion of our Lord will die a happy death. [St. Alphonsus?]
     We can understand, then, why the Apostle of India and Japan, St. Francis Xavier [C], recommended all preachers to make mention in each sermon of the bitter sufferings of the Son of God.  We read of St. Rose of Lima, the illustrious Saint of South America, that whenever she met a priest she besought him to exhort every class of people, rich and poor, ecclesiastical and lay, to meditate on the Passion of our Lord, as being the most powerful and most efficacious means to obtain eternal salvation.  This, surely, should move you frequently to accompany your Divine Savior in thought from the Garden of Olives to Mount Calvary.
     Meditate, then, constantly on the bitter Passion, especially in time of temptation, and you will gain the victory over your enemies, the devil, the world, and the flesh.  When you are tempted to sin, remember the intense sufferings of your Divine Lord;  reflect that by sinning mortally you will frustrate the Precious Blood which He has shed for you, yes, that you will crucify Him afresh.  Armed in this way, you will successfully resist the temptation to sin.
     If the world seeks to lead you astray, if men endeavor to bring you to sin, and tempt you to impurity, take up your defense, call to mind the painful scourging endured by Jesus Christ to atone for sensual pleasures;  and you will not fall under the temptation.
     Do your passions rise within you, do you feel motions of anger, are you on the point of taking revenge for some injury done to you?  Consider the meekness of Jesus towards Judas the traitor, His love for His enemies, His judges and executioners, for whom He besought pardon:  consider all this attentively, and you will at once banish your anger and your spirit of revenge.
     Is your tongue about to curse, swear, or blaspheme, to calumniate, or backbite your neighbor?  Remember the divine silence which Jesus maintained to expiate your sinful words and to teach you to bridle your tongue, and you will restrain yourself.
     Are your lips on the point of ridiculing devout people, or religion, or things belonging to God and His holy religion?  Think of the mockeries and insults with which the Jєωιѕн people loaded Jesus, and you will realize how unbecoming it is on your part to imitate them, and carefully guard yourself from it.
     When a craving for another's property enters your soul, when you are on the point of writing or of extending your hand to do an injustice to another, let the eyes of your mind fall on the abject poverty of Jesus, who, though He was King of Heaven and earth, had nothing whereon to lay His head;  and was even deprived of His garments.
     Do you feel the longing for drinks, are you given to excess in eating, do you shrink from observing the fast enjoined by the Church?  Think of the agonizing thirst of your Divine Lord, and the bitter draught of gall and vinegar offered to Him to quench His thirst:  call to mind His fast of forty days and forty nights, and by this you will be strengthened to practice Christian temperance, and to observe the law of fasting.
     In a word, at every moment, in every circuмstance, when you are in danger of sinning, think repeatedly on the bitter Passion, and you will abstain from sin;  for, according to St. Augustine, this medicine is powerful above all conception.  (De agon. Christi)
     How was it that the early Christians were enabled to live such blameless lives, lives that gained them the honor, esteem, and praise of all?  They meditated constantly on the sufferings of the Redeemer, and their lives, in consequence, were so edifying, that we read in the Acts of the Apostles:   "...the people magnified them" (v. 13).  It is as though they often beheld our Lord, at the beginning of His Passion, bidding His Apostles to watch and pray that they might not fall into temptation;  and this admonition kept them constantly on their guard against all incitements to sin.
     They kept in mind that Jesus, having begun His Passion in prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, concluded it in prayer;  likewise, on Mount Calvary;  and this example of the God-man was sufficient in itself to kindle in them the holy fervor of perseverance in prayer.  The painful recollection of Jesus bound fast to a pillar, bathed in blood, crowned with thorns, and covered with wounds from head to foot, gave them courage to preserve their bodies in honor, purity and sanctity.  
     It was for them a true joy to suffer contempt for Jesus, when they thought of the mockeries and insults with which He had been assailed on the part of the Jєωs.  In a word, at the sight of the sufferings of Jesus, Who, after He had carried His own cross, was nailed to it, hands and feet, they bore with patience all the crossed and miseries of life.  The testament of the seven words of the Savior on His Cross was for them a Christian school, which trained them to the practice of all kinds of virtues.
     Thus is was that the first Christians lived, and the same odor of sanctity would also be common at the present day if men did but meditate on the bitter sufferings of Our Lord.  Pope Benedict XIV charged St. Leonard of Port Maurice to preach the Jubilee of the Holy year, 1750, to the people of Rome;  and the result was a perfect reform of the morals of the city.  But how, by what means did he bring about this salutary change?  By his preaching on Jesus crucified, and by his constant efforts to induce the faithful to meditate on the sufferings and death of Christ.
     Let me urge you also, then, to think often of the Passion of Jesus.  Why is the whole world so corrupted at the present day?  -- "With desolation is all the land made desolate;  because there is none that considereth in the heart" (Jer. xii. 2).  The wholesome practice of meditating on the Sacred Passion has so fallen off that it is observed only in cloisters and convents, amongst priests, and in the world by a small number of pious souls.  What is the result?  What do we hear and see at present in the world?  All the disorders and looseness of the heathens have begun to reign again amongst Christians.  Discord and differences have banished union and peace of families;  and the well-being of Church and State is almost ruined.
     Let us, at least, my brethren, meditate on the bitter Passion, that the fire of divine love may not be extinguished in our heart.  "In my meditation a fire shall flame out" (Ps. xxxviii. 4).  St. Colette spent every Friday from six in the morning till six at night in this meditation.
     Certainly it is not everyone that can follow this example;  and this is only given to privileged souls;  nevertheless, it is possible for everyone to spend some little time in this practice.  All good Christians make it a point during the forty days of Lent, to assist at the Devotions of the Passion, such as the Stations of the Cross and the sermons which are preached during that holy season.
     And now, my brethren, that we have entered upon the great week during which we shall commemorate the painful sufferings and cruel death which our Divine Savior has endured for us, we confidently hope that you will, during this holy week, as far as possible, imitate the fervor of those great Saints, those ardent lovers and sympathizers with Jesus' suffering and of Jesus' death on the Cross.
     Show this fervor by practicing the devotions of the Stations of the Cross during the week, as often as possible;  yes, daily, by your assistance of the Holy Week services, and keeping your suffering and dying Lord constantly in your mind, and cry out to Him:  "Have pity on me, O God, according to Thy great mercy!"  Amen.  


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I made a mistake in the title of this thread -- it should say "Palm Sunday" and not "Passion Sunday."


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