Reflections on the Cross
Good Friday 2012 is over. It is 1:20 am and the truth is - I should be in bed. But I am not. I am instead sitting here once again so amazed and in awe of the love of Christ for humanity, a love that allowed the son of God to be degraded, to be assaulted, to be tortured and to be killed so long ago.
Today's world does not seem to care about this event. Not surprising. The world does not seem to care about anything that is transcendent. Indeed one is hard pressed to find a time when it did.
And in the continuous 24/7 news cycle that only focuses on the tawdry and the superficial, it can be depressing.
Hence the cross.
Christ knew this was the world's mindset. He knows that we are going to be distracted. He understands us better than we understand ourselves. So He gives us the ritual of a meal to remind us of this eternal sacrifice that he offered to redeem us. He calls us to participate with Him by remembering what happened and why it happened. He calls us to real conversion by forcing us to consider the real wounds He suffered and the real pain He endured. He tells us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him.
Our cross.
We all have difficulties, challenges, pains, problems, that confront us every day. Sometimes they are major issues; sometimes they are petty annoyances. Yet they pose a threat to our relationships with people and with God. So Christ tells us to offer these problems to the Father in union with His sacrifice on the cross. Join your pain to His and find the meaning of redemptive suffering. Embrace the cross and find peace amidst the pain.
Christ dies for my sins. He loved me that much. and so I am reminded that I must in turn love my neighbor. The message applies to every member of the human race since the dawn of time. He died for all of us, to restore us to the Father, to offer us a means to live in communion with Him for eternity. Thus we must live our lives ordered to his end. We must reach out and respect the dignity of every human person. We must honor and respect the bonds that connect us all. Then we can approach the altar of our God and offer ourselves to Him.
His passion tells the entire story of the Human race. It is time for us to once again listen and understand. Only then can we truly find the good, the true and the beautiful that will give us lasting peace.
Today's world does not seem to care about this event. Not surprising. The world does not seem to care about anything that is transcendent. Indeed one is hard pressed to find a time when it did.
And in the continuous 24/7 news cycle that only focuses on the tawdry and the superficial, it can be depressing.
Hence the cross.
Christ knew this was the world's mindset. He knows that we are going to be distracted. He understands us better than we understand ourselves. So He gives us the ritual of a meal to remind us of this eternal sacrifice that he offered to redeem us. He calls us to participate with Him by remembering what happened and why it happened. He calls us to real conversion by forcing us to consider the real wounds He suffered and the real pain He endured. He tells us to pick up our cross daily and follow Him.
Our cross.
We all have difficulties, challenges, pains, problems, that confront us every day. Sometimes they are major issues; sometimes they are petty annoyances. Yet they pose a threat to our relationships with people and with God. So Christ tells us to offer these problems to the Father in union with His sacrifice on the cross. Join your pain to His and find the meaning of redemptive suffering. Embrace the cross and find peace amidst the pain.
Christ dies for my sins. He loved me that much. and so I am reminded that I must in turn love my neighbor. The message applies to every member of the human race since the dawn of time. He died for all of us, to restore us to the Father, to offer us a means to live in communion with Him for eternity. Thus we must live our lives ordered to his end. We must reach out and respect the dignity of every human person. We must honor and respect the bonds that connect us all. Then we can approach the altar of our God and offer ourselves to Him.
His passion tells the entire story of the Human race. It is time for us to once again listen and understand. Only then can we truly find the good, the true and the beautiful that will give us lasting peace.
posted by Jakubczyk on Life | 1:52 AM
