O God, come to my assistance. O Lord, make haste to help me.
In the 12th century lived a remarkable woman, abbess, composer, herbalist, essayist, visionary, writer of many letters, outspoken critic of popes and others. Her name was Hildegard of Bingen. In days when people more often than not died young, she lived into her 80s. One of the visions she had, and which others since have recorded, was of our times. She saw apostasy and heresy. I read a quote of hers the other day in one of the books I purchased to learn more about her.
"Later, worse times will come, when the Catholic throne will be shaken by heresy. And the last times will be times of blasphemy. The grief of these times blacks up the Lord's vineyard like smoke." from her Letters, vol. 3.
This was in the so-called Dark Ages, the time between the fall of the roman Empire and the Renaissance in the 1400s. On the contrary, much was discovered in science, and that mostly through learned monks and friars. Music and art flourished. All was not "dark."
Satan has indeed been busy within the Church. His time is short, and he is, for the moment, successful in leading many, many souls to Hell, among them shepherds of the flock, even to the highest levels of the Church hierarchy. The human side of the Church has always struggled to one degree or another. There have been times as bad as or worse than today. The Holy Spirit will prevail and the divine side of the Church will go on, chastened at some point, as we see now in persecutions around the world. Before the end of time, all will be put right. Those of us who live through the perils of our time will do so with an even firmer resolve to work and pray for the salvation of souls entrusted to us and to be more aware of the need to prepare our own souls.
As Christ's garments are torn from Him before being nailed to the cross, the Church will be stripped and the her wayward shepherds and the charges they have led astray will be seen bare and empty. We pray for the Church now, as a new Pope is to be elected. We pray for a holy shepherd who will overcome the "wolves" as Pope Benedict XVI called them, and bring all sheep back to the warm, loving fold of the Good Shepherd.
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The Tenth Station: Jesus is stripped of His Garments
We adore Thee, O Christ, and we praise Thee,
Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world.
Consider the violence with which the executioners stripped Jesus. His inner garments adhered to His torn flesh, and they dragged them off so roughly that the skin came with them. Compassionate your Savior thus cruelly treated, and say to Him:
My innocent Jesus, by the merits of the torment which Thou has felt, help me to strip myself of all affection to things of earth, in order that I may place all my love in Thee, Who art so worthy of my love. I love Thee, O Jesus, with my whole heart. I repent of having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always, and then do with me what Thou wilt.
Our Father....Hail Mary.... Glory Be....
Lord Jesus, crucified,
Have mercy on us!
Make me feel as thou hast felt;
Make my soul to glow and melt
With the love of Christ, my Lord.
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