Source: L’obéissance – Association Saint François de Sales (saint-francois-de-sales.com)
Palm Sunday
He humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death, and the death of the cross. (Phil 2:8)
See if your sufferings, both in number and intensity, are comparable to his. What you will suffer for him is nothing compared to what he suffered for you. (IDL III,3)
Jesus, symbol of humility, of abandonment until the cross. I decide on an act of humility and I do it with a good heart. I can also read “the act of humility of Francis de Sales” before Holy Communion
Monday of Holy Week
Hope in the Lord, be strong and take courage; hope in the Lord. (Ps 26:14)
The sweet Savior has led you in ways only he knows. Therefore, raise your courage high to carefully and holyly follow its attractions, and while true meekness and humility of heart reign among you, do not fear being deceived. (To the Mother of Blonay, August 18, 1614) Saint Francis says: “the most cowardly of all temptations is that of discouragement. »
With your help, Lord, I will take courageous actions until the end of Lent. I believe in you.
Tuesday of Holy Week
And he said: “It is too little that you are my servant […] I will make you the light of the nations, so that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth. » (Is 49, 6) […]
[His divine Majesty] chose to create men and Angels, as if to keep company with his Son, to participate in his graces and his glory, and to adore and praise him eternally. (TLG II, 4)
As the prophet Isaiah refers to the essential “there is only one God to serve”, that I strive to be a little light for someone, that I act in a way to bring together and not to divide or dismiss.
Wed of Holy Week
It is for you that I endure insult, that shame covers my face: I am a stranger to my brothers, a stranger to my mother’s sons. (Ps 68:8-9)
Exact obedience in difficult things, deep humility in the face of contempt and invincible patience in pain: these are the three virtues and touchstones by which charity is tested. (Interviews II, OAS VI, 402)
The psalmist is attacked, rejected, insulted, but he deeply loves the Lord. Allow, Lord, when I feel abandoned or despised, that I always come back to you, that I never forget that you are my Father. I pray for everyone who feels rejected.
Holy Thursday
If then I, the Lord and the Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet. This is an example that I gave you so that you too might do as I did for you. (Jn 13:14-15)
Humility brings to perfection our relationship with God; and gentleness, to our neighbor. (IDL III, 8)
Following the example of Jesus, I put myself at the service of someone with all my heart, even if it is difficult for me.
Good Friday
Although he was the Son, he learned obedience through his sufferings and, led to his perfection, he became the cause of eternal salvation for all those who obey him. (Heb 5:8-9)
It is always better not to desire anything, but to be ready to receive [the burdens] that obedience will impose on us; and whether they are honorable or abject, I will take and receive them humbly without saying a single word about them […]. (Interview XXI Ask Nothing, OEA VI 384)
I will remain collected this Friday, I will fast or perform an act of penance remembering the passion of Jesus. I will relive, according to my possibilities, the way of the cross while thinking of this supreme act of love that the death of Christ represents.
Holy Saturday
What profusion in your works, Lord! Your wisdom has done all this; the earth is filled with your goods. (Ps 103, 24)
Just as a shrub cannot take root nor consequently reach maturity nor give the expected fruits if it is constantly transplanted, so the soul which transplants its heart from project to project cannot develop its spiritual life, nor benefit from anything, since perfection does not consist of beginnings followed by beginnings, but of a beginning carried to completion. (TLG VIII, 11)
I will watch in this time of mourning, of solitude which will give way this night to joy because, from the death of Jesus comes life. I let myself be upset. Then, I hear the call to new life of this Easter joy.