VOICES of Lent - Part Ten

We continue with this series of postings entitled, VOICES of Lent. I present these posts in the form, as it were, of a dialogue between the soul at prayer, and the guiding Spirit. It ends with a footnote section with additional suggestion.

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Good Spirit: Come with me now dear Soul, for we are about to enter the WEEK of DECISION. 

Soul: Good Spirit, why do you call this week the WEEK of DECISION?

Good Spirit: This is the final week before you enter Holy Week. Listen carefully to the Voice of Jesus as he lays down this challenge.

"Then he said to them all: "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me." Lk. 9:23

Soul: Does this me that the Christian life is a life of daily suffering? Is there no hope of healing, of joy and happiness? Does Jesus mean for us a life of misery and suffering?

Good Spirit: The Cross and the Christian Life are one and inseparable. This is a great mystery, deep in meaning. To understand this mystery, first you must have a fuller understanding of the word, "suffer". To suffer is derived from ancient words that mean, to bear-up-under, to support a weight, having the strength to carry. When your Father created you, a soul, he formed you in a human body, and placed you in this physical world. From the moment of your birth, you felt the weight of your physical existence, with its countless needs and imperfections. You cried out for comforting, and so began your life.

Soul: Do we know why the Father created us in this way? Could the world not have been made a more perfect place to live in?

Good Spirit: When God created the angels, they were glorious beyond imagining. But soon pride in their glorious nature caused some to consider themselves equal to God. They rebelled against God, and so were banished from God's presence. When the Father came to create human kind, it was his intention that they too would share in his glory. But before they were to enter the Father's glorious presence, they must fully understand their own humble nature, lest they too fall into the same pride that caused the fall of the angels.  They must come to realize that this glorious existence, to which they are destined, is pure gift, that their glory to come is but a reflection of the Father's glory, given to them out of the Father's love for them. 

And so dear soul, as you make this short journey through your life in this world, you wear the imperfection of your life now, as one clothed in humble attire, while you wait to put on the glorious attire that the Father has planned for you. You wear, you accept, you bear-up-under, you carry your humanity, justly, peacefully, truthfully, faithfully; rejecting every prideful thought, you surrendering your will, your only true possession, to the will of the Father, giving it back as an act of love. This is what it means, "to take up your cross daily".

There are many causes of human suffering. People may find themselves in conflict with the natural order itself. A simple misstep can lead to a fall, resulting in injury and thus causing human suffering. A chance encounter with a predator, could bring harm, even death. There are great things falling from the ski, or a mishap in the ordering of cells in the human body that can cause suffering. 

But perhaps, the greatest human suffering is caused by man himself. Motivated by selfish pride, people inflict great harm on one another. The cross itself is an invention of men to cause suffering and death. Even though there are any number of remedies available to alleviate suffering in the world, people fail to employ them. Suffering has caused people to be confused about God, questioning, is there even a God at all. How can there be a kind and loving God in the light of so much suffering? 

It is into this imperfect and confused world that the Father sends his Son. In Jesus is revealed the answer to these great mysteries. The miracles of Jesus show that there is a God who is greater than creation's imperfection. He teaches that life in this world is a schooling in humility, preparing people for a glorious life of perfection, in the Fathers presence, for all eternity. By embracing fully, the vulnerable, human condition, even the evil brought against him by the pride of others, Jesus teaches,"The Way", the Way of the Cross, the way that leads to man's glorious destiny, the Way of humble obedience to the will of the Father.  When you take up your cross, you forsake every deviation from the Father's purpose, no matter what the cost, so as not to loose the glory that awaits you.

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PRAYER FOR THE GRACE TO WALK THE WAY OF THE CROSS

         My Lord Jesus, the night before you took up your Glorious Cross to carry on your shoulders the full weight of my sins, you entered the garden to pray.  This is the garden from which Adam and Eve were banished because of their sin and so we have all been banished with them.  Now the Heavenly Garden of Paradise will be opened for us   by the merits of your passion.

          On this night, you invite us to come with you to watch and pray. You warn us as you did your disciples, that Satan desires to sift us like grains of sand through his fingers. We must stay awake in prayerful vigilance, lest we too fall into the sleep of unbelief as so many have done.

          Jesus, our loving savior, grant us now to walk in prayerful meditation along the Way of your Cross.  Help us to understand that it is our sins that you carry, that it is our guilt which merits this punishment, this passion that you so loving suffer in our place. Satan is now ready to carry us off in the chains of our guilt, to cast us into the fires of Hell for all eternity.  

          But your suffering and death on the Cross merits for us the forgiveness of our sins, and the removal of all our guilt. You alone, the innocent and pure One, could carry such a Cross.  May we be inspired to take up our crosses and walk with you now the way of humble obedience, the way of perfect love, the Way of your Glorious Cross, which leads from this garden into paradise. by Fr. Curtin