One of the topics that frequently comes up when people site reasons for not believing in God is the suffering that we see around us every day in this world.It’s almost as if we want to believe that God is like Santa Claus and that if we’re good enough we’ll make the “nice” list and everything will be peachy and nothing bad will ever happen and we’ll have everything we need. But if we think of God in this way we’ll be almost immediately disappointed. God isn’t Santa Claus. Jesus didn’t come to bring us possessions or to improve our material quality of life.
And that is one of the things that it may be easier to remember on Good Friday.
The road towards God is often paved with suffering. God did not spare His Son that. And we will not be spared it either.
But we might be able to bear it a bit better if we remember that He who is our Savior suffered before us and if we unite our sufferings, however small or great they are, with His (this is something I always remind myself of when in labor…).
To arrive at Easter Sunday in a handful of days, we must pass through Good Friday.
Before I converted I heard quite a few people say that Catholics shouldn’t wear crucifixes, but should join non-Catholics in wearing plain old crosses, because Christ was risen.
He is risen. But first he was crucified. And as Catholics we remember that when we wear our crucifixes and pray the rosary (and of course at other times too... particularly on Good Friday).
You can’t have Easter Sunday without Good Friday.
So true, Cam, so true. I just came in from Stations of the Cross presented by the students from my church's school. I'm always moved when I think of that journey Jesus took for my sins and yours. Easter Blessings to you and your family.
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to stop by and say hi! I love your blog. I've been reading it for a little while now and this is the first time I'm commenting. :)
ReplyDeleteHi Cam, This is boijombe from CAF. I've really enjoyed reading your blog and found it inspirational since finding the forum.
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