Stational Church: Monday in Holy Week

Today's Stational Church is at the Church of St. Praxedes. Dom Gueranger writes, "The Station, at Rome, is in the church of Saint Praxedes. It is in this church that Pope Paschal I, in the ninth century, placed two thousand three hundred bodies of holy martyrs, which he had ordered to be taken out of the catacombs. The pillar to which our Saviour was tied during His scourging is also here."

For information on this devotion, see the Stational Churches of Lent Homepage. I will post on each Stational Church for Lent. Information is from the Canon Regulars of St. John Cantius:

The spirit of this second day of the holiest of all weeks may be summed up in four words: Jesus, a supper, a penitent and an impenitent.

Jesus — Holy Savior, You are the center of our thoughts and love. Accept our thanks for all that You have done for our salvation.

The Last Supper—A supper for Jesus! In a few days, Jesus will make a supper for us, a "sacred banquet in which Christ is eaten," "symbol of that One Body of which He is the Head and to which He willed that we should be united as members by the closest bonds of faith, hope and charity, so that we should all speak the same thing and that there should be no divisions among us," as the Council of Trent so beautifully said.

A Penitent — Mary, "took a pound of ointment of costly nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair."

An impenitent-traitor — An apostle of Christ is changed into a traitor because he loved not Christ, but thirty pieces of silver. "It were better, if this man had not been born."

We entrust ourselves today to St. Praxedes, the virgin who loved Jesus with her beautiful soul, who so often in her home prepared the table for the celebration of the Eucharistic Supper, and who anointed the "feet of Christ," that is, the "lowest members" of the Mystical Body, the poor, by gladly giving to them all she possessed.

Let us pray: Help us, holy virgin, to spend this second day of Holy Week in thy spirit. Through Christ, Our Lord. Amen.