I needed to read this post this morning. Life is tough. Families are made up of people... sinners, some trying and some not. Suffering is just part of it. Are you choosing to sin? Are the sins of others causing your suffering. What are you doing with it? Are you offering it up? Are you holding on to it to let it fester and work against you? Have you chosen to repent, or live in denial?
The truth is, you know the answer within you. Walk the Stations if you have the least bit of doubt.
It's hard to walk the Stations, it's supposed to be hard. It is supposed to be reflective... it's supposed to be a visual reminder of what we are uniting our sufferings too. It's what HE came for, and we are who HE came for, and that is what HE had to do for us! It's the heart of our faith. He SUFFERED and DIED for us... so that we might LIVE!
That last part, might live... I didn't really get that until I was a grown up and really came to grips with the reality of sin... every sin is DEATH, a little bit of death to your soul... yes He died for us, but are we really choosing LIFE, the life He died to give us? Or are we a slave to sin, hoping that He will look the other way at the end of days...
Being a grown up is tough, sometimes it really isn't a whole heap of FUN, and easy is rarely part of the package. It's about the choices we make. It can feel simple to make the immediate gratification choice, but in the long run is that really the decision that will allow your soul to be free and alive in Christ?
As people of God, we must take the long view... the big picture if you will! Our reward is not here, and it's not now... for our treasure awaits us in heaven, and our happiness is in Christ!
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1 comment:
I've heard this same idea expounded on in a parish mission many years ago. I tried to leave a comment over there, but it sounded wrong when I reread it. Anyway, the priest given this mission (Father of Mercy, I think) asked why would the cruel Roman guards who had abused Him in every way offer Him help to carry His cross? How did St. Veronica make it through the crowds and then why was she allowed to offer this sign of compassion by the Roman guards who were surely keeping watch over Christ? The visiting priest said that those two stations always perplexed him until he saw them as an answer to what must have been the Blessed Mother's silent prayers. "Help him, please!" and there is Simon the Cyrene. "Let me see His beautiful face!" and there is St. Veronica. It's truly an example of how much the Blessed Mother is loved by Our Lord and how powerful her intercession is.
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