“Preparing for Holy Week” has been so much on my mind and I’m quite sure on many who might be reading this blog right now. Tomorrow is already the Fifth Sunday of Lent – and in one more week “Palm Sunday” arrives with our entry into “Holy Week!”
I would imagine that we all wanted this to be the most prayerful Lent that we experienced. We were called to pray, fast and to give alms. Were we successful in those categories? Did we find ourselves moving closer to Christ as we groped blindly through the desert sand? Or did we find that the days flew by and “life happened!”
Life happens with surprises such as diagnosis of a serious illness for a loved one, the loss of a job or a home, the sickness of a child or the death of a family member. The list is endless. We are thrown off track and try to understand it all. They are all “doors” that we must walk through and not stand at the door paralyzed! And now – we find ourselves at the “door of Holy Week!”
Closer to Our ChristTo find the answer to the question above, I found something that resonated with my heart and I hope with yours as well. I found “His” answer in my go-to book – “He and I” as Jesus spoke to Gabrielle’s heart as well as my own.
Gabrielle had thanked him for a great temporal blessing in this particular passage. His reply was as follows:
“You know how much I love My little children’s thanks. You know, too, that what is so simple and sincere goes straight to My heart, and during these days preceding “Holy Week” I’m trying to bring you closer to your Christ who will be overwhelmed with suffering. I would like you to be with Me there. Would you like to remain with Me, like Magdalene, with My Mother? I want you to think only of Me, suffering for you, and I want you to seek ways of consoling Me.
Jesus explains to Gabrielle what He is asking for. . .
He tells her the following:
“Today may I express a desire – you’re listening? I should like you to acquire the habit of seeing Me in everyone, in the daily incidents too. To see Me everywhere would be to think of your Savior always. Make an effort to do this as you commemorate the last fortnight of My life. And do this as tenderly as you can. Your rapport with others will be changed in a way that will charm them. Oh, don’t be afraid of having too much unction. This is the way the good touches.
Evil seeks to seduce, doesn’t it? So charm, Gabrielle. It will be I through you who charm. Since you offer Me your humanity, I’ll know how to use it. You often attribute something to yourself when it is I expressing Myself in you. The other day, you remember, you said something to X that touched her so deeply that she hid her tears, and you thought, “That wasn’t from me.”
It’s clear that we’re together, isn’t it?”
The image above is a perfect “depiction” of what “being together” means.
We have Our Blessed Mother to look to and follow – She stayed with Him always – in ways we could never imagine.
Jesus goes on to speak with Gabrielle about the disciples of Emmaus who eagerly asked Him to stay with them.
He tells Gabrielle: “Now it is I who say to you, “Stay with Me. Stay with Me, My little child (in a beseeching voice.)
Jesus is pleading with us to enter into “His distress” this coming Holy Week…but not alone. Look once again at the picture above and “Who” walks with Him! Stay with Me – Jesus pleads with Gabrielle but also to us. How do we do that?
Our Blessed Mother is the “dispenser of Graces.” In Her second apparition to St. Catherine of Laboure, the Blessed Mother explained why the “rays of light” streamed from rings on Her fingers. They were “graces” that Mother Mary obtains for those who ask for them. However, some of the gems on the rings were dark! She further explained to St. Catherine that the “rays of graces” were available but did not come forth because no one had asked for them!!!
Can you imagine? We must ask! To ask for the “graces” from our beloved Mother Mary is to ask for Her help that only She can give Her children.
In obtaining those graces for our souls, we can fulfill the desires of Jesus by consoling not only Him during Holy Week but others that He wants to be present to. He tells Gabrielle above that “we are together” when we act as one to others that are in need of the presence of Jesus.
Mother Mary went in “haste” from the moment She conceived in Her womb Jesus Christ. She went in “haste” to Her cousin Elizabeth to help – She went in “haste” with St. Joseph to Egypt to flee – She went in “haste” to present Jesus in the Temple. The list is endless how She went in “haste” doing the Will of God but did not go alone. She never went alone. . .and neither do we.
I see so many of my dear friends ministering to others – one in particular is always visiting the sick in hospitals. Another takes an elderly person food shopping or to Church on Sundays. There is another who is very ill herself and going through her own health situations, yet she is always texting me a love message or checking on how I am doing. Another dear friend is home praying, praying, praying for family, friends and those she does not even know – interceding for “graces” for them.
There are so many friends, family members, neighbors who are at the “foot of the Cross” and Jesus in His suffering wants to come with us and minister to them.
That is how we can console Him not only during Holy Week but all the weeks of the year.
But. . .we need to “ask for the Graces” to be able to listen and be sent!
Then miracles will then happen and grateful tears will flow from the eyes of the “others” whom we are sent to.
Jesus tells Gabrielle the way to go onward and forward after Holy Week –
“The grace for this Easter: In future, you will live by Me and in Me alone.”
If we do this, then we will console Jesus for the rest of our days on earth and not have to worry about entering into another Holy Week again.
May you all have a blessed one and grace filled. . .and to all those you will be sent to.
He tells Gabrielle above that “we are together” when we act as one to others that are in need of the presence of Jesus.
©2025 Anita Guariglia
All Photo Credits/ Pinterest and Instagram
He and I – Gabrielle Passage – March 27, 1947/ Easter 1947
4 Responses
Thank you, Anita, for making it clear that we need to ask for graces which Our Blessed Mother wants to give to us from Her Son. So many poor souls don’t know to ask…we must do it for them.
Beautiful!
The Holy Spirit speaks through you!
“There are so many friends, family members, neighbors who are at the “foot of the Cross” and Jesus in His suffering wants to come with us and minister to them.” – Anita Guariglia
I am one who is dealing with sickness right now and I thank the Blessed Mother for the grace to stay focused on prayers and stay close to Her Immaculate Heart. She is the one who leads me to the Sacred Heart of Jesus…especially as we are preparing to enter Holy Week.
I read today in the Handbook of the Legion of Mary that as St. Bonaventure says, “In intensity of union with her, who is the dispenser of our Lord’s Blood, lie marvels of sanctification and the incredible source of power over the souls of others.”
May we walk with Mary and all the faithful through this very important journey of our faith and love in Christ our Redeemer.
Our Lady of All Graces, pray for us!