Passiontide opens up a period for us to reflect on all that Our Lord Jesus Christ has done for us, including above all His Passion. We have two sources to meditate upon: the Gospel accounts of Christ’s suffering and His holy relic, the Shroud of Turin. It is the Shroud that reveals the extent of Our Lord’s physical suffering—suffering that He undertook for the salvation of our souls.

Lent, as we know, is a time of preparation for Our Lord’s Resurrection. However, what good are our sacrificial acts during this time unless we first have charity? And while this charity must begin in the home, it must extend outward to all those around us in our churches and wider community, even even it is difficult.

God works through human instruments. And unlike the everyday instruments we use, be it a pen or a paintbrush, human beings have the capacity to be willing instruments of Our Lord and therefore give glory back to Him. Moreover, by using us as His willing instruments, particularly in the context of the Church, God demonstrates His love for us through the Church’s ministry.

At every moment we can discover how the Church guides us to find joy in every moment and situation. By sharing in God’s divine nature, embrace authentic happiness and rejoice in His presence.

Our Lord provides us the grace to persevere in this life, though too often we fail to recognize it. Even during His earthly ministry, He revealed Himself to the Apostles and those He ministered to and they also did not realize it. While Christ does not owe us another chance to realize this great gift of salvation He has bestowed upon us, through His love and the ministry the Church and the sacraments, we are able to come back into a state of grace.

We can go through our time on earth performing every act we are called to do, be it reciting prayers and refraining from sin, and yet do so lifelessly. Unless we act out of love for God and a sincere desire to live in His presence, our efforts, including those we make during the penitential season of Lent, will be wasted while leaving us susceptible to succumb to our faults.

Our daily duty of state requires a series of “little martyrdoms.” Although these duties differ from person to person, and circumstance to circumstance, none can be accomplished without renouncing ourselves and submitting to God’s will for us.

If we are to define progress in the spiritual life, we often think of it in terms of avoiding sin. A better way to conceive of spiritual progress is the act of growing in virtue. But to grow in virtue, to become truly holy, we must open ourselves to God’s grace so that we may become partakers in divine reality.

Although devotion to any particular saint is optional, devotion to Our Blessed Lady and St. Joseph is not. For St. Joseph presents to us a model for holiness and happiness. For as St. Joseph’s life demonstrates, perfect happiness comes from embracing the perfect good, which is God.

Even a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, not to mention the myriad of other elements and infrastructure that must be in place so that we may walk forward. What is true in the practical realm is true as well of the spiritual realm. This is why Our Lord, through the Church, supplies a supernatural infrastructure comprised of the sacraments and prayer to allow us to achieve our eternal end with God.