Presider: We adore You O Christ, and we praise You. (genuflect)
All: Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.
REFLECTION:
Think about hanging from the cross, and how truly agonizing that must have been. What would it be like to be impaled and hung by your hands and your feet? Wouldn’t you be doing anything and everything in your power to come down? Fighting, squirming, clawing, straining, yelling? But this is not what Jesus did. He simply hung there in his painful agony. He did not fight. He hung there - limp and obedient – until the very end.
MEDITATION:
Remember, it was never the nails that kept Jesus on the cross. He’s the Son of God. In a split second He could’ve summoned legions of angels to free Him from this horrific suffering! It was love that kept Jesus on the cross. It was His conscious, continuous decision to stay up on that cross through the end. It was His desire to grant us, sinners, His mercy, that kept Him on the cross.
When we experience suffering in this life, most of the time we seek immediate relief. We look for the fastest way to get through. But what does the cross teach us about suffering? So, where am I suffering in my life right now? Who is really in control? And how does the Father call me to suffer as Jesus did?
SUGGESTED ACTION STEPS:
Do not be afraid to share your sufferings with one another. Even Jesus had Simon to help Him carry His cross. He even had Mary and John at the foot of the cross. Take some time, as a family, and talk about each of your personal struggles and sufferings. Children: listen to your parents. Parents: listen to your children. Bear your sufferings together and help and pray for each other along the way.
PRAYER:
Father, we will never fully understand the true depth and beauty of your Son’s death on the cross. But we see that His motivation is one of pure love and devotion to us, undeserving sinners. Help us to recognize and be truly thankful for your mercy in our lives. Help us to remember the cross as we suffer in our daily lives. And give us the hearts to love both friends and strangers through their sufferings. Amen.
BY: Dane Hamilton, Young Adult Ministry
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