Brothers and sisters in Christ,
I am going to speak about the Passion of Jesus Christ.
I honestly have to say that I am very attached to the passion. I like to meditate on it.
The sorrowful mysteries touch my heart very deeply. Because of Our Lady and her gift of the Rosary to us, I have found myself growing in knowledge and love towards the life of Jesus.
I often find myself in adoration, praying, and I just begin to wonder: "how?"
Not in doubt, but in awe.
How could He die for ME when MY sins crucified Him?!
How could Jesus survive the whippings?
How did Jesus deal with the emotional/spiritual pain?
He was humiliated, rejected, hated, and put to death.
I've found that adoration is kind of like my "pit stop" in my spiritual journey.
I can't carry my cross without it. It's through adoration I feel the strength and peace to keep moving. When I'm there, every wound doesn't seem to hurt when He's right there.
I focus on his passion, and that's when all pain begins to subside (temporarily, of course).
Uniting our sufferings and troubles with His is what we should all strive to do.
He is the greatest example of love & suffering that we have. When Jesus was suffering, He turned to God the Father. Now we are in the world, carrying our own crosses, and we must turn to God for strength. Our sufferings can be a fragrent offering, if we give it over to Him.
Do you think the enterance into heaven is easy? Do you think the only way to get there is by living a good and joyful life? No. Life won't always be joyful, and our good works won't be the only thing getting us to heaven. We need to suffer and accept it all. The thorns in our sides can save many souls. The thorns in our sides can take off our time in purgatory. We need to take our sufferings to God! It's through suffering we can experience love.
One thing Jesus said before He died was this:
"I thirst." And it's LOVE that will quench our Lord's thirst, not water. It's LOVE that He desires. He desires to be loved by all. His love & mercy is so great that He WANTS to share it. He wants everyone to experience His greatness. It displeases Him when there are those that choose not to follow Him. In His mind, I bet He's thinking: "If only you knew the greatness!"
During this season of Lent, let us work on taking these thorns, our every day sufferings, and really try our best to accept them for the greater good.
Let us take the time to pray the Rosary, and focus on the passion, so that we may grow in LOVE for You, Lord!
Behold me, my beloved Jesus,weighed down under
the burden of my trials and sufferings,I cast myself at Your feet,that You may
renew my strength and my
courage,while I rest here in Your Presence.Permit me to lay down my cross in
Your Sacred Heart,for only Your infinite goodness can sustain me;only Your love
can help me bear my cross;only Your powerful hand can lighten its weight.O
Divine King, Jesus,whose heart is so compassionate to the afflicted,I wish to
live in You;suffer and die in You.During my life be to me
my model and my support;At the hour of my death,be my hope and my
refuge. Amen.
3 comments:
Who painted this picture? I would love to own it. This little girl looks JUST like me!!! Especially when i was 12. Do you know who painted this?
I apologize for a late reply. I just now saw this comment.
I do know who painted this.
Morgan Weistling. You can buy the painting here:
https://www.artifactsgallery.com/art.asp?!=A&ID=651
It's pricy, but what do you expect? :)
Thank you! You would not believe how MUCH that girl in the pic looks like me. Especially when i was 12 because my hair looked EXACTLY like that too. I wonder if he painted that from an image in his head, or if he used a reference or something? If it was just from his head, maybe it really is me. LOL just kidding. It's so cool though!
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