Reflections of a beloved son

By our experiences, we know there are good times and bad times in life. There are moments when we feel we are on the top of the world, but also moments when we feel we are in the depths of a bottomless pit. Hardships are part of the human life. Hardships and difficulties allow us to enjoy and appreciate the good times all the more. Hardships and struggles instill in us a spirit of gratitude. It is the grace of God that transforms our human hardships and struggles into crosses that we will come to joyfully embrace. We will come to embrace those crosses joyfully because we know why we are carrying them. We carry them because Christ carried His for us. And we know we do not carry them alone. Christ carries them with us, and we must encourage one another for we are all journeying together. Just as His Cross brought about the salvation of the world, our crosses will enable us to share in the glory of the Cross. When we embrace our crosses and invite God to transform them, our crosses will b...

Standing before Pilate, Jesus is bleeding everywhere, struggling to breathe, and trying His best to stay standing.  Our Lord has been betrayed by His friend, tied up, led from the garden like a criminal, dragged around, spat upon, shoved and punched to the ground, denied by His trusted friend - treated like a victim fallen prey to a bunch of broken and wounded bullies.  "Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered." Our Lord did not rebel and shout, calling out "Unfair!"  Rather, He accepted and endured all that came to Him.  " Like a lamb led to slaughter or a sheep silent before his shearers he opened not his mouth."  Out of obedience to His Father and out of love for us, Jesus endured the unjust suffering.  Though unjust, it was redemptive.  It is truly wrong and unjust that Jesus was mistreated the way He was, but Our Lord saw the bigger picture and He chose to remain faithful to His Father and persevered in carrying out His wil...