Jesus Is Lifted Up

"And when I am lifted up from the earth, I shall draw all to myself." - John 12:32



When Jesus first said these words, He was referring to His death on the cross - when He was lifted up, crucified, He drew all people into His mercy by dying for us. If you're like me, there are people who you know and love that need to accept Jesus' mercy, but it's the last thing they'll ever pay attention to. Give them up to Jesus. During each sacrifice of the Mass, Jesus is lifted up again when the priest consecrates the bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ. At that moment when the body is raised into the air by the priest, offer the lives of those you love to Jesus, those you worry about and those who you know need God so much. It doesn't matter how lost they are, our God is so much bigger than their disbelief. When Jesus is lifted up, you have all the power of God right there before you.



Today's Prayer:

Lord Jesus, thank You for the ultimate sacrifice of dying on the cross for our sins. I ask that You keep Your promise of drawing all souls to You when You're lifted up above the earth and have mercy on those who need to believe in You. In Your Name we pray, amen.

The Crucifixion

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery:
The Crucifixion of Our Lord

"There they crucified him and divided his clothes among themselves, casting lots to decide what each should take. People passing by shook their heads and insulted him, saying, "Aha! So you will destroy the Temple and build it up again in three days. Now save yourself and come down from the cross, if you are Son of God." In the same way the chief priests, the elders and the teachers of the law mocked him. They said, "The man who saved others cannot save himself. He trusted in God; let God rescue him if God wants to, since he himself said: I am the son of God." From midday darkness fell over the whole land until mid-afternoon. At about three o'clock, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lamma sabbacthani?" which means: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? As soon as they heard this, some of the bystanders said, "He is calling for Elijah." And one of them went quickly, took a sponge and soaked it in vinegar and, putting it on a reed, gave him to drink. Others said, "Leave him alone, let us see whether Elijah comes to his rescue." Then Jesus cried out again in a loud voice and gave up his spirit." - Matthew 27:35,39-43,45-50

A friend of mine asked me why I have to make these messages so bloody. And yesterday, when I asked my 17 year old twin brothers to pray the rosary with me and meditate on how Jesus was beaten, they complained and said, "ugh! We don't want to think about that!" But we do have to think about it. We have to imagine each wound, each blister, each drop of blood and each tear Jesus shed because He shed them because of our sins. When the prophet Isaiah foretold of the coming of Jesus, he wrote: He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins… but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all (Isaiah 53:5,6). As bloody, horrible, and gruesome as it is, you must know that if our sins weren't that serious, such a violent death would not have been necessary! Because we constantly sin, do horrible things, and turn away from God, all that Jesus went through in His passion, all the blood shed, all the injuries sustained, was 100% necessary. That's how serious our sins are!

Upon the cross, Jesus cried out "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Do you think He said that because He felt God didn't care? No, the reason He said that was because even when He was being crucified, there were people who wouldn't acknowledge or have respect for what He has done for us. Still, while dying on the cross, after all the good that He did, people wanted signs in order to believe. What other signs could you possibly want at this point? Don't be like these people and demand more proof from God in order for you to believe and give your life to Him. The proof is the cross and the blood shed for you is enough reason!

Today's Prayer:
Mary, mother of our Lord, I know you watched in immense pain as they killed your son. I also know you watched Him die, praying that the price He paid would be enough for all to believe in Him. It hasn't been enough, Mary. Pray for us sinners so that we may never take the cross for granted and live our lives following Him.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

O, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls into Heaven, especially those most in need of Thy mercy. Amen.

The Scourging at the Pillar

The Second Sorrowful Mystery:
Our Lord is Scourged at the Pillar

"Then Pilate set Barabbas free, but had Jesus scourged, and handed Him over to be crucified." - Matthew 27:26

Just a few hours before this, Jesus was before the Jewish elders, questioned before the high priest Caiaphas. They demanded answers from Him, but all they were really looking for were reasons to hand Him over to the romans. They made fun of Him and spit at Him, while Jesus accepted what was happening. Then, He is before Pilate, who didn't really want to crucify Him, but had no choice since the crowds were asking for Jesus' death. So, they took our Lord and tied Him to a pillar. The roman soldiers took turns whipping His back. The whips had pieces of bone attached to the ends that were designed to rip away at pieces of flesh and bone upon contact. There was our Lord, an innocent man, our God, tied to a pillar while His body was mutilated. I can imagine that they missed His back a lot of times and instead, the whips ripped away at the sides of His ribs, probably His face, His arms, His legs. And He accepted all of this because at the end, you and I could ask God for forgiveness with a repented heart, and He will forgive us. No longer would we die, but we will have eternal life.

If He wanted to, Jesus could have resisted, ordered the angels to save Him, or made it so He didn't feel pain, but He didn't. You see, how could we ever serve a God who doesn't know what it is like to suffer the things we suffer? Jesus knew this and wanted to show His love by accepting this fate. We can't ever say God doesn't understand our hurt. Sometimes it can feel like people are killing us when we discover betrayal, deceit, or that someone has said horrible things behind our backs. It can feel like the air was sucked right out of us and pieces of our heart were torn out - well, each time Jesus was spit at, betrayed, with each lashing tearing away at His flesh and muscle, He is right there with you in your suffering… and not because He has to be, but because He wants to be.

Today's Prayer:
Mary, you watched in great sorrow as your son was beaten and put to death for our sins. Please pray for us so that this Holy Week does not pass without our fully realizing how much God loves us and how much we need Him every day of our lives.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou amongst women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

O, my Jesus, forgive us our sins, save us from the fires of hell; lead all souls to Heaven, especially those in most need of Thy mercy. Amen.

Holy Week

"He humbled Himself by being obedient to death, death on the cross. That is why God exalted Him and gave Him the Name which outshines all names, so that at the Name of Jesus all knees should bend." - Philippians 2:8-10

When we were younger, we attended Mass during Holy Week and it was an obligation. The dressing up, the sitting and standing, and the long readings were tedious. This week, as we begin to observe Holy Week, we must recognize that we are no longer children, and approach the upcoming days with reverence and adult faith. This week, we meditate on the fact that being God, Christ chose to lay down His life for our sins. This isn't just a story or something that happened a very long time ago, but it's the very core of our lives and our salvation. If as an adult, you have decided that you believe in Jesus Christ, then observe this week in respect and reverence. God always extends an invitation to follow Him, but use this week to meditate on our own lives, our own sinfulness and the way Jesus came to Earth to serve us. Don't go through this week following the routine, but ask the Lord to let this week come alive for you. Think about the way the Human Jesus must have felt entering Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, knowing He would be put to death. His peers were about to condemn Him and His friends about to betray Him. And at the end of all this, He would resurrect, breaking the hold death had on us for so long. For the price Jesus paid, we no longer need to fear dying because He gained for us a much bigger reward with the Father in Heaven.

As adults, I ask all of you to please let your faith come alive this week. Attend the Masses, go to confession and reconcile with God, read the bible, meditate on Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection. We are no longer children, but adults that should know that our salvation is a very personal matter. It is our duty to make the time to show respect to the Lord who has given us life.

Today's Prayer:
My God, in the Name of Your son, our Lord Jesus Christ, I ask You to reveal Yourself to us during this Holy Week. Let those most in need of Your mercy come to reverence the passion, death, and resurrection of Your son, so that we may never die. In Your Name we pray, amen.

The Cross of Christ

"For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with the wisdom of human eloquence, so that the cross of Christ might not be emptied of its meaning. The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." - 1st Corinthians 1:17-18


We live in a time where everything we say has to be measured. Obama, Clinton, and all the rest are saying the things they think people want to hear. They watch the polls, listen to their professional advisors and then speak. Religion and spirituality are the same nowadays. The majority of the population is so attached to their "freedom" that they only follow a religion that seems to fit what they are looking for. A religion or a belief that tells them that all they do is ok, they don't need to repent of anything or change their ways. Preachers and churches have to adapt just to keep the people coming. But this message from Paul fills me with so much conviction! It is not God that needs to change and cater to the morally decaying beliefs of our day, we are the ones that need to open our eyes and see that the truth is a bloody and violent one - Jesus Christ, our Lord, the Son of the Living God, was brutally beaten and killed to save us from the sins we would like to hold on to today! The truth of the cross, so that it is not emptied of its meaning, is that Jesus was handed over to death by His friends. He was spit on. He was laughed at. He was scourged with whips that had tied to them pieces of bone so that muscles and flesh would be ripped off in chunks with each lashing. On raw skin He was made to carry that cross to calvary and there He was nailed to it, gasping for air as the cool wind pierced His skin and the blood from the crown of thorns dripped down His face and pooled around His eyes. There He died so that you and I could be free… free of the hate, jealousy, addictions, gossip, and immoralities that we are so very attached to, as if what He did was not necessary.

We want to hear God loves us but not that we are called to holiness. We want to know that God listens to us when we need Him to, but don't want to listen to Him when He needs us to. Always, always remember the price Jesus paid for your life on the cross. The mystery of the cross is that it represents life and life is freedom from the pain and shame of the vices we hold on to. Freedom is NOT casual sex, occasional drug use, getting wasted and then covering up for those mistakes. The consequences of these things are what Jesus went to the cross for.

Today's Prayer:
Lord, forgive my arrogance in wanting to live my life in the way I see fit. You are my Creator and only You know how to give me what's best for me. Be with me as I struggle to keep Your cross before my eyes, and keep sin behind me. In Your Name we pray, amen.

Personal Property

"You belong no longer to yourselves. Remember at what price you have been bought and make your body serve the glory of God." - 1st Corinthians 6:19-20

This is a very strong message. With His death, Christ paid the price for you, your body and your soul. You have life because He offered up His own for yours. Therefore, you do not belong to yourself anymore. Jesus paid a price for you and you belong to Him. Think about this fact in everything you do. When you are considering a sin, remember that if you choose to fall, you are betraying what He did for you. If you let this sink in, not sinning can become easier. You wouldn't damage someone else's property, would you? You wouldn't break something that belonged to someone else, something that person sacrificed so much for? So don't do it to Jesus. Through the sacraments you have received, you bear His mark upon you - the mark of the Holy Spirit. Your life and His work in you have so much value. Don't treat it as if it has been acquired cheaply. Watch closely what you do, say, and think.

Also remember that since you belong to Him, He is taking care of you. He is watching over you. Paying the price that He did, He won't let any harm come upon you. When you live with this in your mind, it will be easier to accept what happens to you, and easier to choose between right and wrong. God has made you His property, learn to give all things up into His hands since you are not your own.

Today's Prayer:
Jesus, I'm sorry for thinking myself master of my own life and my own body. I forget that I belong to You and Your will needs to be my will. Forgive and help my ego, my pride, my selfishness, and my foolishness. In Your Name we pray, amen.

The Difference Between Jay-Z and Jesus Christ

"Then Jesus gave a loud cry, 'Father, into Your hands, I commend my spirit.' And saying that, He gave up His spirit." - Luke 23:46

Weird title, but here's what went through my mind - I was listening to Kanye West's tribute to Jay-Z, Big Brother, and I thought to myself, "wow, Jay's really accomplished a lot in his career." I thought of his line about selling out the garden in a day and imagined how proud and accomplished he must have felt standing at the front of the stage, spotlight on him, and multitudes of adoring fans calling out his name. And then my mind turned to Jesus, and how His most crowning achievement was death upon a cross, dubbed a king by a mocking crowd and a crown of thorns placed on His head. When I thought of Jay, I pictured what it would be like to be him and look out at the crowd, but to imagine what Jesus must have felt looking out is a harsh reality check stressing our own sinfulness.

Be Jesus for a moment, and picture yourself looking down from the height of the cross, hanging there as a spectacle for all to see. Before you are people laughing at you, making fun of you, some feel quite proud of themselves to see you dying, while others, like your own mother, are at the foot of your cross in tears…your best friends aren't there - they've left ashamed of you, denying they even know you. All this you're looking down at while you slowly die. They're all before you but the excrutiating pain running through your body can't let you think straight. Your body shakes, absolutely trembling after the fever that's kicked in from the whipping. Flesh, muscle, and bone ripped off in shreds. Now you hang crucified with large, rusty nails hammered into your hands and feet. The position your body's in doesn't let you draw in air, and you want to push yourself up to let the air come in, but the weight of your body on your wounded feet is too much to bear so you have to endure the struggle for air. The wind is strong and stings against your bleeding flesh and your head hurts from the thorns sticking into the side of your head; the blood coming from those puncture wounds pool up around your eyes, mixing with your own tears, and you can hardly see a thing. Regardless, you know they're all down there - the sinners, the hypocrites, the poor, the rich, those who love you and those that hate you, all those you are literally dying to save, those you love so much, all of them. Yet, as weak as you are, as much as you have been beaten, mocked, hated on, spit at, hurt, embarrassed, laughed at, made to cry, this is your biggest achievement, your triumph over sin and over death.

It's awesome to be praised and rooted for when you're on top of the world, but only our Lord Jesus Christ is strongest at His weakest and dying on a cross.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for conquering death so that I may have eternal life in You. I never want to forget what You went through for me and I am honored You went to the cross for me. In Your Name we pray, Amen.

Believe In The Blood and Wounds

"Then He said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here and see my hands; stretch out your hand and put it into my side. Doubt no longer but believe.' Thomas then said, 'You are my Lord and my God.' Jesus replied, 'You believe because you see me, don't you? Happy are those who believe although they do not see.'" - John 21:27-29

The apostle Thomas had not been there when Jesus appeared to the rest of the apostles after His resurrection. When he heard of Jesus appearing, he said, like many of us, that he will not believe until he sees and feels the wounds of the cross with his own eyes and hands. That's why when Jesus appeared again, and Thomas was there, He asked him to touch the wounds for himself.

There are so many of us who need to see and feel in order to believe. It isn't enough that Jesus, being holy and without blame, had to suffer a painful death on the cross for us, but we also need to see and feel. Jesus, in His infinite mercy never rebuked Thomas for His lack of faith, but answers his questions and asks Thomas to come forward. If you doubt, you need to take the example of Thomas and go before Jesus to witness the marks of the Passion for yourself. For when Thomas said he needed proof, Jesus called him forward, as you need to do to respond to the call of Jesus. No one who doubts will believe by staying away, but will see the Lord by getting up and moving towards Him to experience the fruits of the resurrection. You are not punished for your lack of faith; today Thomas is a Saint. You are punished for staying away when you know you should get closer to the many wounds Jesus endured for you. Whether you choose to believe it or not, Jesus did die for you.

And for you who believe without needing to see or feel His holy wounds, work so that all around you may also believe. Pray so that His most Holy blood was not shed in vain, but that the wonderful act of the crucifixion may bring all to Him in love and unity with God. If we don't do our part for this, we are letting the devil blot out and erase the memory of the Passion of the Christ. He did not endure death for nothing.

Today's Prayer:
My Lord Jesus, open our eyes so that we may forever have before us the blood You shed and the wounds You experienced for us. Set before my eyes the sores on Your back that were ripped open with pieces of bone tied to whips, the wounds around your head from Your crown of thorns that pierced Your pure skin, letting blood run into Your eyes not letting You see as You walked, the wounds and bruises on Your shoulders from carrying my cross, the horrible holes created in Your flesh from rusty nails piercing Your hands and feet, and the cut from a sword on Your side that we helped give You on the cross. My God, You endured so much for us, please don't ever let me forget the pain You bore willingly out of love. In Your Name, we pray.