Lent: April 10th
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Other Commemorations: St. Fulbert, Priest (RM)
MASS READINGS
April 10, 2025 (Readings on USCCB website)
PROPERS [Show]
COLLECT PRAYER
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent: Be near, O Lord, to those who plead before you, and look kindly on those who place their hope in your mercy, that, cleansed from the stain of their sins, they may persevere in holy living and be made full heirs of your promise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.
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The weekday Masses towards the end of Lent are like a Passion Play. The Gospels, as one scene after the other, show the mounting hatred and growing tension. This is the “Abraham Mass,” telling of the inheritance received through Abraham. The Opening Prayer reminds us of our great inheritance received from Christ.
St. Benedict, "Father of Western Monasticism," twin brother of St. Scholastica feast day was moved from this date to July 11, so as to not "eclipsed" with the liturgy of Lent. Benedictine communities still honor St. Benedict on both dates.
The Roman Martyrology commemorates St. Fulbert (960-1029), Bishop of Chartres, France, and a poet and scholar who aided the Cluniac Reform. Born in Italy circa 952 or 960, Fulbert studied at Rheims, France, under future Pope Sylvester II. In 1003 he returned to France, becoming the bishop of Chartres in 1007. Fulbert rebuilt the cathedral there when it burned down and defended monasticism and orthodoxy. His hymns, treatises, and letter have survived.
Meditation for Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent—The Custom of Meditating on Our Lord’s Passion
My people! What have I done, in what way have I offended you? Answer me. I gave you the water of salvation which flowed from my sorrow to drink and you gave me honey and vinegar. My people, what have I done to you? (Liturgy, Good Friday).
The liturgy of these days during Lent brings us closer to the fundamental mystery of our Faith—the Resurrection of the Lord. If the liturgical year is centered upon Easter then this period demands an even greater devotion on our part, given its proximity to the sublime mysteries of divine mercy (St. Leo the Great, Sermon 47). But we should not tread this path too hastily, lest we lose sight of a very simple fact which we might easily overlook. We will not be able to share in Our Lord’s Resurrection unless we unite ourselves with him in his Passion and death (cf. Rom 8:17). If we are to accompany Christ in his glory at the end of Holy Week, we must first enter into his holocaust and be truly united to him as he lies dead on Calvary (St. Josemaria Escriva, Christ is Passing By, 95). So during these days let us accompany Jesus, in our prayers, along his painful way to Calvary and his death on the cross. As we keep him company let us not forget that we too were protagonists in all those horrors, for Jesus bore the burden of our sins (cf 1 Pet 2:24), each and every one of them. We were freed from the hands of the devil and from eternal death at a great price (cf 1 Cor 6:20), that of the Blood of Christ.
The custom of meditating on the Passion began in the very earliest days of Christianity. Many of the faithful in Jerusalem had themselves been present as Christ passed through the streets of the city on the eve of the Pasch. They would never forget Jesus’ sufferings as he made his way to Calvary. The Evangelists dedicated a good part of their writings to the detailed account of those events. We should read our Lord’s Passion constantly, said St. John Chrysostom, what great benefit we will gain by doing so. Even if you are as hard as stone, when you contemplate that He was sarcastically adorned, then ridiculed, beaten and subjected to the final agonies, you will be moved to cast all pride form your soul. How many people have been converted by careful meditation on the Passion!
St. Thomas Aquinas said that the Passion of Christ is enough to serve as a guide and model throughout our lives (St. Thomas, About the Creed). One day while he was visiting St. Bonaventure, St Thomas asked him where he had acquired such good doctrine as the one that he set out in his works. It is said that St. Bonaventure showed him a crucifix, which was blackened from all the kisses he had given it, and explained This is the book that tells me what I should write; the little I know I have learned from it (St. Alphonsus Liguouri, Meditations on Christ’s Passion). From the crucifix the saints learned how to suffer and truly love Christ. We too should learn from it. Your crucifix…As a Christian, you should always carry your crucifix with you. And place it on your desk. And kiss it before going to bed and when you wake up; and when your poor body rebels against your soul, kiss it again (St. Josemaria Escriva, The Way, 302).
Our Lord’s Passion should be a frequent theme in our prayer, but especially so in these days leading up to the central mystery of our redemption.
—Francis Fernandez, In Conversation with God
Thursday of the Fifth Week of Lent
Station with Sant'Apollinare in Campo Marzio or Sant'Apollinare alle Terme (St. Apollinaris at the Baths):
The Station in Rome is in the church of St. Apollinaris, who was a disciple of St. Peter, and afterwards bishop of Ravenna. He was martyred. The church was founded in the early Middle Ages, probably in the 7th century. Since 1990, the basilica has been the chapel of the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross, entrusted to Opus Dei.
For more on Sant'Apollinare in Campo Marzio, see:
For further information on the Station Churches, see The Stational Church.
St. Fulbert
Bishop, b. between 952 and 962; d. 10 April, 1028 or 1029. Mabillon and others think that he was born in Italy, probably at Rome; but Pfister, his latest biographer, designates as his birthplace the Diocese of Laudun in the present department of Gard in France. He was of humble parentage and received his education at the school of Reims, where he had as teacher the famous Gerbert who in 999 ascended the papal throne as Sylvester II. In 990 Fulbert opened a school at Chartres which soon became the most famous seat of learning in France and drew scholars not only from the remotest parts of France, but also from Italy, Germany, and England. Fulbert was also chancellor of the church of Chartres and treasurer of St. Hilary's at Poitiers. So highly was he esteemed as a teacher that his pupils were wont to style him "venerable Socrates". He was a strong opponent of the rationalistic tendencies which had infected some dialecticians of his times, and often warned his pupils against such as extol their dialectics above the teachings of the Church and the testimony of the Bible. Still it was one of Fulbert's pupils, Berengarius of Tours, who went farthest in subjecting faith to reason. In 1007 Fulbert succeeded the deceased Rudolph as Bishop of Chartres and was consecrated by his metropolitan, Archbishop Leutheric of Sens. He owed the episcopal dignity chiefly to the influence of King Robert of France, who had been his fellow student at Reims. As bishop he continued to teach in his school and also retained the treasurership of St. Hilary. When, about 1020, the cathedral of Chartres burned down, Fulbert at once began to rebuild it in greater splendour. In this undertaking he was financially assisted by King Canute of England, Duke William of Aquitaine, and other European sovereigns. Though Fulbert was neither abbot nor monk, as has been wrongly asserted by some historians, still he stood in friendly relation with Odilo of Cluny, Richard of St. Vannes, Abbo of Fleury, and other monastic celebrities of his times. He advocated a reform of the clergy, severely rebuked those bishops who spent much of their time in warlike expeditions, and inveighed against the practice of granting ecclesiastical benefices to laymen.
Fulbert's literary productions include 140 epistles, 2 treatises, 27 hymns, and parts of the ecclesiastical Office. His epistles are of great historical value, especially on account of the light they throw on the liturgy and discipline of the Church in the eleventh century. His two treatises are in the form of homilies. The first has as its subject: Misit Herodes rex manus, ut affligeret quosdam de ecclesia, etc. (Acts 12:50); the second is entitled "Tractatus contra Judaeos" and proves that the prophecy of Jacob, "Non auferetur sceptrumde Juda", etc. (Genesis 49:10), had been fulfilled in Christ. Five of his nine extant sermons are on the blessed Virgin Mary towards whom he had a great devotion. The life of St. Aubert, bishop of Cambrai (d. 667), which is sometimes ascribed to Fulbert, was probably not written by him. Fulbert's epistles were first edited by Papire le Masson (Paris, 1585). His complete works were edited by Charles de Villiers (Paris, 1608), then inserted in "Bibl. magna Patrum" (Cologne, 1618) XI, in "Bibl. maxima Patri." (Lyons, 1677), XVIII, and with additions, in Migne, P.L., CXLI, 189-368.
—Excerpted from The Catholic Encyclopedia
Patronage: Chartres, France
Symbols and Representation: preaching monk; in his sick bed with the Virgin Mary nearby
Highlights and Things to Do:
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