April 2, 2006

At this point in Lent we begin focusing on Jesus’ Passion, Death and Resurrection.  Although we do not enjoy remembering the difficult and painful passion and often make an effort to fast forward to Easter, we are bitterly reminded throughout this week that Jesus did indeed suffer a very painful and torturous death.  Perhaps we do not want to remember this road of tears  because we are often told that he did this for us.  There is a bit of a guilt factor here.

Perhaps it would be a little easier to bear if we re-adjusted our perspective on this matter.  One of the major reasons for the passion and death of Christ was to give us a living model of the way of the Cross.  This is the way that human beings walk every day of their lifetime.  At times we are going along quite well but every now and then we are painfully reminded that we are on a journey and the way is not easy.  We are often told that being a disciple means to picking up our Cross and following Christ.  This is a sentence in the gospel that we often try to push to the back burner.  We like to believe that our cross will be much lighter and much less painful.  Perhaps this is why we have such difficulty understanding our plight when it comes.  We do not make the association. It is precisely in those times that we can honestly say, Christ died in vain.  If we learned nothing from him then truly we are guilty and we should feel guilty.

Let us take a few minutes to make the connection between our own lives and the Way of the Cross which is our salvation. We begin at the 1st Station.  Like Jesus we are given a cross that we don’t really “deserve”.  It is simply our calling and our mission.  Like him we have no choice but to accept the way if we are to go on to new life.  We move on, often feeling as though our cross is too heavy.  We have family problems, financial difficulties, marital strife.  Our children are sick.  We don’t know where to turn.  We are not strong enough to bear the burden so we fall.  Very often there are people in our lives that help us get up.  Most often we have people in our lives that love us and show us compassion and through their support we are strengthened to continue.  It may even happen that we receive unexpected assistance like Jesus received from a passer-by named Simon.  As we continue through our struggles we weaken again and perhaps fall again.   It is becoming more and more difficult to resist the pain and the struggle.  

As our struggle continues, we begin feeling as though our vision is blurred.  It seems as though we are walking on a path that is all uphill.  We think, “Can God ask any more of me?  Why can’t he see that I am only human and I don’t have the strength to bear this burden?  But again we meet some friends that give us encouragement.  They help us to realize that we are not alone in your pain.  Others are suffering with us.  Yes, we are loved and we are being held in their heart.  Life is not easy however and we fall again.  This time we feel like we cannot go on. But we look around and begin seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.  Maybe we will make it.

Just when we think that all is useless we receive a small bit of energy that sees us through.  It is here that we must make a decision.  We must give it up.  We need to surrender our will and Trust that God’s will will see you through to a better more exalted life.
          
 What is your cross in life?  Perhaps we can take some time to reflect on it this week.
Just remember that there is always New Life associated with our Cross.