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Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion
“When they had come to the place called the Skull, they crucified him.” Found in Luke 22:14-23:56
It is a good time of the year to pray with one or all the Passion accounts (for Luke’s account, read the above scripture verses). As we approach the glory of Easter, we remember that there is no crown of glory without first going through the cross of suffering. Think of all the humiliation, betrayal, pain, and rejection Jesus went through before he could experience the power and glory of the resurrection. Jesus asks us to follow him through that same journey.
Growing up we learn how to do things like read, write, compete, and succeed on various levels. But what about suffering? What do we learn about it and from it? None of us likes to suffer and our tendency can be to run from it. The society our popular media portrays is people who are young and healthy. But we all know we are getting older, and we will die. Some suffering is happening in our lives now and it there will be suffering in the future. In other words, to be alive is to experience suffering.
Mother Theresa says that suffering is the kiss of Christ. It is the place where we can come into our greatest experiential knowledge of Christ. It is in the depths of our suffering that we can experience the depth of how much Jesus really loves us. Suffering, then, is the perfect opportunity to personally know the power of God’s infinite love. In our suffering we can cry out to Christ for strength and healing, and he will embrace us. But if we run from our suffering we are, in effect, running from giving Christ a chance to pour out his love in our pain.
There is no beauty in our suffering other than the compassion that surrounds it. Jesus relied on that compassion on the cross and look what our Father did for him. Jesus wants to do the same for us. Let us face our suffering and invite the Risen Christ and others to lift us up as he was lifted up. Smaller ways of being lifted up happen for now but one day it will be the full meal deal!
He waits for you to share your suffering with Him,
+Fr. John
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