Marian Helper • Spring 2022 • marian.org 9 Every year in Lent, we set out with the Church along the Paschal Path, along the road with Jesus to Calvary, and beyond — to Resurrection, to Ascension, to triumph. But the path to victory comes through the Cross. If we try to remain faithful to Jesus and Mary, there’s something unavoidable about the Paschal Path. Jesus said as much in the Scriptures. “Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:24-25). We are called as Christians to be like Jesus, to live and love as He did and does. Donna-Marie Cooper O’Boyle explores what that looks like in her piece on sharing the wounds of Jesus. This embrace of penitential suffering (also called “mortification”) is true to the spirit and spirituality of the Marian Founder, St. Stanislaus of Jesus and Mary Papczynski (16311701), as Br. Stephen, MIC, will explain. Welcome Jesus into our hearts All our lives here below are Lent, and so even as we carry the Cross, we will celebrate Sundays and solemnities, feasts and times where the triumph of grace and God is glimpsed through this present darkness. We will receive the Eucharistic Lord, welcoming Jesus into our hearts and our lives, loving the Bread that came down from Heaven, as Dr. Bryan Thatcher explains. But in order to receive the Eucharistic Lord well and with hearts open to being made new, we need to have prepared ourselves through sacramental Confession, prayer, and studying our faith. As Scripture tells us, “faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ” (Rom 10:17). Dr. Veronica Szczygiel explores how the Marian Fathers are transmitting our faith through their podcasts, offering you some sources of Lenten spiritual listening. “Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect” (Rom 12:2). A great model for us This Lent, we also celebrate the March 19 Solemnity of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The Year of St. Joseph came to a close on Dec. 8, 2021, but our relationship with our spiritual father, the Universal Patron of the Church, will continue into eternity. We are told by Scripture that St. Joseph was a righteous (or just) man, meaning he’s a great model for us during Lent, just as he was a model for Jesus as the Son of God grew up, according to the ways of human nature. In the coming pages, we’ll learn more about devotion to St. Joseph from Dr. Joan Kelly. We’ll also celebrate the Solemnity of the Annunciation on March 25, one of the great Marian feast days of the year. Our Lady is constantly there for us, even during Lent, even in the times of desolation and trial, just as she was for her Son. Our Lady accompanied Jesus along His Paschal Path, as you can see in the cover image, a shot of the Fourth Station of the Cross from our life-size Stations of the Cross at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy. She was there for Jesus, and she is there for you, now and at the hour of our death, Amen. May God bless you this Lent, and may these articles help make this season a fruitful, holy time in preparation for the glory of Easter and the celebration of Divine Mercy Sunday. We are all on pilgrimage through the valley of tears in this life, a journey with its joys and sorrows, lights and glories, but all of it in the shadow of the Cross, of the limits and weaknesses that mar our human nature since the fall. That makes Lent the Christian life in miniature. We must mortify our appetites, give up sinful habits, and ensure we are well-trained to share in the Passion, death, and Resurrection of our Lord. We prepare throughout this life, knowing that no matter how well we do, there still awaits the sorrow of death in the end. The Congregation of Marian Fathers has placed that Paschal Path at the heart of their jubilee celebrations this year.
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