EASTER PREPARATION

FOR THE

ORDER OF SAINT CHARBEL

BY THE MODERATOR

Dear Members,

I wish to introduce a "Fifteen-Day Novena" of special reparation to Jesus and Mary for our sins and the sins of the world; also, to pray for the Pope - and for all of our intentions, which I want you to write down and place in the box provided before the Altar.

During this Novena we are going to console Jesus and Mary, to atone for all the insults They received during the Passion. We will recall all the sufferings Jesus and Mary endured for us. At the end of the Novena on Easter Sunday, with the burning of the wood to welcome Christ Jesus with the Light, the intentions will be burned with incense as an offering to God.

We will start with the most sublime day, the 25th March, being the Feast of the Annunciation, when the Divine Word became Flesh in the Conception. It was through Our Lady’s Fiat and Offerings that led to Our Mother’s offering of Her Divine Son through the Passion and Death of Christ Jesus.

We will thank Our Lady, at 3pm on this day, with the Holy Rosary and Benediction, and at 8pm a solemn High Mass; remembering Our Holy Mother was only fourteen or fifteen – a teenager – when She made such a solemn Profession of Faith.

At 3pm, beginning on the 26th March and all following days, we recite the following prayers. The fifteen days will be to honour the fifteen Secret Sufferings of Jesus - the particular sufferings of the Passion and Crucifixion.

PRAYER

My Lord and My God: it is my unchangeable will to honour You in these Fifteen Secret Torments, when You shed Your Precious Blood:

§ as many times as there are grains of sand around the seas;

§ as grains of wheat in the fields;

§ as blades of grass in the meadows;

§ as fruit in the orchards;

§ as leaves on the trees;

§ as flowers in the gardens;

§ as stars in the sky;

§ as Angels in Heaven;

§ as creatures on Earth:

so many thousands of times may You be Glorified, praised and honoured.

O Most love-worthy Lord Jesus Christ – Your Holiest Heart, Your Precious Blood, Your Divine Sacrifice for mankind, the Holiest Sacrament of the Altar. The Most Holy Virgin Mary, the nine glorious Choirs of Angels and the Blessed Phalanx of the Saints, from myself and everyone, now and forever, and in the eternal ages.

26th March

1. Secret Suffering:

They fastened My Feet with a rope and dragged Me over the stepping-stones of the staircase, down into the filthy, nauseating cellar.

Passion:

The executioners of justice were eighty-three.

27th March

2. Secret Suffering:

They took off My clothing and stung My Body with iron joints.

Passion:

The blows received on My Head were one-hundred-and-fifty.

28th March

3. Secret Suffering:

They attached a rope around My Body and pulled Me along the ground, from end to end.

Passion:

Blows on My Stomach were one-hundred-and-eight

29th March

4. Secret Suffering:

They hanged Me on a wooden piece with a slip-knot until I slipped out and fell down. Overwhelmed by this torture I wept bloody Tears.

Passion:

The number of kicks upon my shoulders: eighty.

30th March

5. Secret Suffering:

They tied me to a post and pierced My Body with various arms.

Passion:

I was led, bound with cord, by the Hair, twenty-four times.

31st March

6. Secret Suffering:

They struck Me with stones and burned Me with blazing embers and torches.

Passion:

Spits in the face - a hundred-and-eighty times.

1st April

7. Secret Suffering:

They pierced Me with awls; sharp spears tore My Skin, Flesh and Arteries out of My Body.

Passion:

I was beaten on the body six-thousand-six-hundred-and-sixty-six times.

2nd April

8. Secret Suffering:

They tied Me to a post and made Me stand, barefoot, on an incandescent metal sheet.

Passion:

I was beaten on the Head one-hundred-and-ten times.

3rd April

9. Secret Suffering:

They crowned Me with an iron crown and wrapped My Eyes with the dirtiest possible rags.

Passion:

I was roughly pushed, and at 12 o’clock was lifted up by the hair, pricked with thorns, and pulled by the beard twenty-three times.

4th April

10. Secret Suffering:

They made Me sit on a chair covered with sharp-pointed nails, causing deep wounds in My Body.

Passion:

I received twenty wounds on the Head.

5th April

11. Secret Suffering:

They poured on My Wounds liquid lead and resin, and after this torture, they pressed Me on the nailed chair so the nails went deeper and deeper into My Flesh.

Passion:

Thorns of marine junks were seventy-two.

6th April

12. Secret Suffering:

For shame, and affliction, they drove needles into the holes of My uprooted Beard. Then they tied My Hands behind My Back and led Me walking out of prison with strikes and blows.

Passion:

Pricks of thorns in My Head - a hundred-and-ten times.

7th April

13. Secret Suffering:

They threw Me upon a cross and attached Me so tightly that I could hardly breathe any more.

Passion:

Mortal thorns in the forehead were three.

8th April HOLY THURSDAY

Adoration will commence after the 8pm Mass of the Last Supper until 3pm Good Friday, where we will accompany Jesus in Gethsemane, and the various trials on the Way of the Cross.

14. Secret Suffering:

They threw (objects) at My Head as I lay on the earth, and they stepped on Me, hurting My Breast.

Passion:

I was afterwards flogged and dressed as a mocked King; wounds in the Body were one-thousand.

9th April GOOD FRIDAY

15. Secret Sufferings:

They poured into My Mouth the most immodest excretions, as they uttered the most infamous expressions about Me.

Passion:

The soldiers who led Me to Calvary were six-hundred-and-eight; those who watched Me were three; and those who mocked Me were one-thousand-and eight; the drops of Blood which I lost were twenty-eight-thousand-four-hundred-and-thirty.

§ The Shoulder Wound from carrying the cross;

§ The falls on the rocks;

§ The thirst

§ The Agony in the Garden;

§ Fear

§ The suffering of Mary;

§ The mocking of the thief on the Cross;

§ The Crucifixion

This will be done at 10am during the Stations.

From 5pm on Good Friday to 5am Sunday, the lamentations of Our Holy Mother will be conducted. There will be a roster for Holy Thursday to Good Friday, and Good Friday to Easter Sunday morning. You may put your name down freely, however, if the time frames cannot be filled, it does not matter as all can only be done as best as can be.

10th April HOLY SATURDAY

On Saturday evening, in the Recreation Room provided we have available time, we will be showing the movie: "The Passion of the Christ", which has been showing in the theatres these past weeks.

11th April EASTER SUNDAY

After the Easter dawn Mass, which will commence at 5am Sunday morning, there will be breakfast served: bacon, eggs and pancakes.

* * *

On Palm Sunday the Mass Procession will be a little different. Our Lord will be taken throughout the whole Community with all holding palms. All the homes will be Blessed.

I wish you all a Blessed Easter. The Resurrection comes not long after for us all.

William Kamm

Moderator

 

Send mail to mwoa@shoal.net.au with questions or comments about this web site.
The Order of Saint Charbel Copyright © 2001 MWOA Pty. Ltd.
Last modified: January 25, 2003