            <div id="father_cummings_title">Father Cummings Homilies</div>
            <div id="father_cummings_excerpts">Excerpts</div><br/><br/>
            <div id="father_cummings_homily_title">The Passion</div>  

            <div class="frcummings_content_paragraph">
                 <p>Jesus Christ 
                    bears the new law of love, not inscribed in stone, but in his Sacred Heart. 
                    The Heart of Jesus, so full of love for us, is to be rent by a lance, 
                    even as the curtain guarding the Holy of Holies will be torn. In that 
                    same moment, the temple of Heaven is also opened; the gates of Paradise, 
                    closed since the dawn of human history, will admit the brothers and sisters 
                    of Jesus Christ. He has preceded us gloriously, but all those who follow 
                    Him on the way of the Cross, will follow also into glory. Yet, for a time, 
                    the Heart of Jesus must still grieve. Before He comes to the gates of 
                    Jerusalem, He pauses on a hill overlooking the city to weep. The Heart 
                    of Jesus grieves at the thought of all those who will not rejoice, who 
                    will not welcome Him. He knows all hearts of every time and place; He 
                    can see us and our infidelities and He weeps. He certainly does not weep 
                    for Himself but for us, as He will tell the women of Jerusalem: <i>Weep 
                    not for me, but for your children</i>. </p>
                  <p>We have 
                    yet another week left. A week to look at oneself long and hard. Use whatever 
                    time you can to prepare your heart. When we meditate upon the Passion 
                    we melt our hearts, we learn to love. "O wounds that wound stony hearts 
                    and set frozen minds on fire!" (St. Bonaventure) We have learned of God's 
                    infinite love for us by his willingness to die for us. Shall we expect 
                    Him to take our word that we love Him back, without willingness to die 
                    for Him? We participate in Christ's cross by self denial. "Do not be self-willed, 
                    but try on the contrary always to do what others wish rather than what 
                    you yourself wish. Thus you will find that Our Lord is close to you and 
                    that your hardness of heart will melt away." (St. Claude de la Colombiere) 
                    We cannot claim to love the Lord, or even to want to love Him, if we do 
                    not wish to sacrifice. The Lord knows the human heart well. He knows that 
                    we must overcome self-love before we can love Him. Not surprisingly, we 
                    describe the most fervent love as "passionate" because it makes us suffer, 
                    <i>I am sick with love. (Cant. 2.5)</i>. We are willing to suffer a great 
                    deal for the object of true love; this is passionate love. In this life, 
                    there is no genuine love without suffering. "We must sacrifice ourselves 
                    to God, each day and in everything we do, accepting all that happens to 
                    us for the sake of the Word, imitating his passion by our sufferings, 
                    and honoring his blood by shedding our own. We must be ready to be crucified." 
                    (St. Gregory Nazianzen) </p> 
    
    

    
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