Most Sacred Passion

All who see me deride me.
They curl their lips, they toss their heads.
‘He trusted in the Lord, let him save him;
let him release him if this is his friend.’
Many dogs have surrounded me,
A band of the wicked beset me.
They tear holes in my hands and my feet.
I can count every one of my bones.
They divide my clothing among them.

They cast lots for my robe.”

Psalm 22:7-8, 16-18

How can we hear the account of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ and not be moved by it? The Passion of Jesus Christ moves us deeply simply because Jesus suffered immensely. He suffered great physical and spiritual torment and he did so on our behalf.  We are sorrowful when we meditate on His Passion because it is our sin that inflicted the suffering on Jesus – The one who is innocent and all deserving of our love. 

A devotion to the Lord’s Passion shows us who we are as sinners and allows us to be healed. To meditate on His sacred Passion brings awareness, repentance, remorse, healing and gratitude.  

We are remorseful because it is our sin that has crucified Jesus – and in the sacrament of Reconciliation we turn to Jesus again and ask for His mercy. “through his wounds we are healed.”  Isaiah 53:5

When we are hurt by things in our own life and hurt by what we see happening in the world around us and need answers and healing and reassurance let us turn to meditating on the Passion of Jesus and find the answer there: “through his wounds we are healed.”

Spend time with Jesus meditating on His Passion. See what we have done to Jesus. Repent and seek His healing.

According to Leunig

I find Leunig's cartoons to be insightful and challenging. I have posted a few of my favourite here for you to muse upon. I haven't included my own interpretations, I thought you might appreciate the blank canvas for your own personal breakdowns and thoughts. Ponder away...

"...the history of happiness is as old as each of us. We just have to reach inside and find it."



"God help us to change. To change ourselves and to change our world. To know the need for it. To deal with the pain of it. To feel the joy of it. To undertake the journey without understanding the destination. The art of gentle revolution. Amen."



"At the very simplest, I think as Van Gogh said and St Francis would have said, we must find nature. Just to be in the presence of nature your feelings and 'little seedlings' start to awake. So if we disassociate ourselves from God we cut nature out, too. More and more we turn nature into a commodity, into eco-tourism. But we must integrate it into the way people live every day."

Seek God in Your Insecurity

Thomas Merton's prayer below is a favourite of mine. It is often distributed to those discerning their vocation, as it points to the uncertainty we feel when we cannot see the road ahead.

The prayer calls us to acknowledge our ignorance and have hope in our insecurities. We are ignorant because we cannot see what God can see and we cannot know what lies ahead of our choices. To acknowledge our own ignorance makes us vulnerable and insecure. But this is a beautiful thing because in our vulnerability, we seek the guidance and protection of God. And we know that through seeking Him, we will discover the path which He has set for us.

Our insecurity is a great hope. Do not fear it and worry that you are ignorant. Instead, ask for God's wisdom and grace to fill you. God will be pleased that you sought His guidance, whatever path you choose.

AMEN!

You Promised!

"I know you have your reasons for everything so I will  keep believing… I know that you can find a way to keep me from the pain but if not, I’ll trust you. No matter what."

Powerful words. Awesome song. Got me thinking, and thinking and then feeling guilty, and then thinking some more….

In the greater scheme of things, I trust God. I know that He has a plan for me and that He is by my side. Always. I know this, I really do. I tell people this all the time. But in the midst of my hardships and pain, some of these thoughts go out the window. I sometimes doubt God’s promises to me and sometimes I feel quite alone. I fail to recognise that the hand of God plays a part in my heartache (unless the direct purpose of God’s plan for my suffering hits me in right the face. Which, let’s face it, generally isn’t God’s way of working!)



Listen to the song above if you feel so inclined. It makes some really important points. Several actually. But these ones were important to me:
“I know that you can find a way to keep me from the pain but if not, I’ll trust you. No matter what.”

“Anything I don’t have You can give it to me, but it’s ok if You don’t… no matter what I still love You and I’m gonna need You.”

These lyrics point to something I needed to remind myself of – That even if God allows suffering and pain in my life, I’m still going to love Him. I’m still going to trust Him and continue to call upon Him. And I should because His promises never fail.  

I realised that if I pray to God to watch over me and keep me safe, and if I ask Him to help me to grow closer to Him, then why do I reject and question what comes next in my life just because it happens to be something I don’t like, something that hurts or is just too hard? Don’t I trust that what hand I’ve been dealt is the one that is going to answer all my prayers???? "Before a heartache can ever touch my life, it has to go through your hands." So if I trust your love for me, why do I keep questioning the purpose of my suffering? And why do I get angry when there is pain in my life? Surely, by your promises I should see that it is all in your plan to make me the wonderful person you truly want me to be.  

I suppose it’s about surrendering in the hard times and asking God’s light to shine in the midst of my pain. Without His light, it can be so lonely and so difficult to pull through.

So, like the songs says…

"I’m running back to your promises one more time. Lord, that’s all I can hold on to...."