Jesus had to carry Himself the instrument upon which He was
going to be put to death.
Crucifixion was the sentence imposed on the worst criminals;
apart from the indescribable physical pain, it was also chosen
for reasons of wanting to strip the dignity of the condemned;
for the public shame and humiliation.
Jesus; God Himself, was spat on, they threw stones at Him,
as He dragged the heavy cross and they laughed when they
saw how He struggled.
When He came into the world as a new born baby there was
no room available in the Inn; He was born in a cave or a stable:
shelter for animals, and at the end of His life He was
nailed to a Cross until death.
This is the Person who changed the whole world by His
Birth, Life, Death and Resurrection, when we look at this,
we see a distinct lack of worldly glory.
On the way to the place of His execution; Golgotha; a hill
on the outskirts of Jerusalem, there were also some kind
people.
Apart from His Mother Mary who never left His side, there
was Veronica who showed her love and support by wiping
His face with her linen cloth, upon which Jesus left the
imprint of Himself, there was Simon of Cyrene who helped
to carry the heavy Cross, and there were the women of
Jerusalem who felt very sad and sorry for Him. And what
did Jesus say to the women?
He said to not worry about Him, but rather about themselves
and their children, because if they could treat Him in this way,
He who was innocent, what would happen to them, who were
sinners?
This journey carrying His Cross is full of meaning for us;
Jesus went through it willingly, but His Cross was our sins,
we caused it. We are still causing it today.
We need to examine ourselves every day, see ourselves as we
really are, see our faults, stop being self defensive and make
excuses for our bad behavior, and confess our sins to a priest.
And our sins are thus forgiven, by Jesus Himself, because He
gave the power and authority to forgive sins to His priests.
So in Confession it is not the priest who forgives, he is only an
instrument, it is Jesus Himself.
Jesus also said that anyone who wanted to follow Him,
had to pick up their own cross and carry it.
Crosses are not in short supply in our world; they come in
all forms.
None of us want them, but very few avoid them.
What we do when they arrive, is what shows how
great our desire for Him is, how much we put Him first,
and how much we trust Him.
We can unite our sufferings to those of Jesus, in that way
we use our suffering in a productive way, we can offer them
up for someone else's healing, for example. In this way,
suffering becomes not only bearable, but fruitful.
Because we arrive at the Resurrection through the way of
the Cross.
Fruit of this Mystery:
Patience and gentleness during adversity, affliction and
suffering of any kind.
May the grace of this Mystery come into our souls.
No comments:
Post a Comment