The Holy Passion of Our Saviour begins today ...

Holy Monday

Matthew 21:14-43; Matthew 24:3-35

Do not neglect your talent:

"may [God] increase"

Joseph means may [God] increase.

Having realised, O my soul, the hour of the end, and remembering the cutting down of the fig tree, work therefore most diligently, O wretched soul, with the talent, which was given to you, in vigilance and crying aloud:

"May we not remain outside the Bridal Chamber of Christ".

Why are You heedless, O my miserable soul? All have received equal Grace from God; increase accordingly the talent given to you with the help of Christ, singing:

"All the works of the Lord, bless the Lord."

Oh my soul, you have heard the condemnation of him, who hid his talent; likewise, do not hide away the word of God. Proclaim his wonders, so that, abounding in grace, You may enter into the joy of Your Lord.

May thy lamp shine brightly, O my soul; and like the lamps of the five virgins, may it overflow with the oil of compassion; and so thou shalt find open before thee the door of Christ's bridal chamber.

Since I, 

O Bridegroom Christ, 

have permitted my soul to slumber in indolence, I do not possess the flaming lamp of virtues; and like the foolish virgins, I wander, when it is the time for work. 

O Master, 

do not close for me Your heart of compassion; but awaken me, shaking off my darkening sleep, and bringing me in with the prudent Virgins to Your Bridal Chamber, where there is the clarity of song, from those who feast, and unceasingly cry out:

"O Lord, Glory to You."

Make haste, my soul, thy Master shall be swift as the lightning that shines across the heaven. 

Make haste, then, and be ready.

Behold, O Nymfios ...

As the Lord was going to his voluntary passion,
He said to the apostles on the way:

Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, 

and the son of man shall be delivered up, 

as it is written of him.

Come, therefore, let us also go with him, purified in mind.
Let us be crucified with him and die through him
To the pleasures of this life.
Then we shall live with him and hear him say:

I go no more to the earthly Jerusalem to suffer,
But to my Father and your Father,
To my God and your God.
I shall raise you up to the Jerusalem on high, 
In the kingdom of heaven.

We have reached the saving passion of Christ our God.
Let us, the faithful, glorify his ineffable forbearance,
That in his compassion he may raise us up who were dead in sin, For he is good and loves mankind.

Going to your passion, o Lord,
You took your disciples aside and reassured them:

How have you forgotten the words that I once spoke?
Is it not written:
A prophet cannot be killed but in Jerusalem?
Now is the time of which I told you.
Behold, I am betrayed into the hands of sinners to be mocked.
They will nail me to the cross, and deliver me up to burial,
Regarding me, as a dead man, a thing of loathing.
Yet, take courage, for I will arise on the third day,
Giving to the faithful joy and life everlasting!