JESUS COMPELLED TO BEAR HIS CROSS
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.
Outside the city, to the north-west of Jerusalem, there is a little hill: Golgotha is its name in Aramaic, meaning the place of skulls. Offering no resistance, Jesus gives himself up and faces his sentence. He is to be spared nothing, and upon his shoulders falls the weight of the humiliating cross.
Meditation:
How Jesus embraces the wood which is to bring him to death with obedience and love!
Jesus said, “If anyone wishes to come after me, let him take up his cross daily and follow me.” He also said: “Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Because my yoke is freedom, my yoke is love, my yoke is unity, my yoke is life, my yoke is fruitfulness.
In the Passion, the Cross ceased to be a symbol of punishment and became instead a sign of victory. The Cross is the emblem of the Redeemer, our Redeemer and salvation.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, help me to take up my cross with joyfulness and humility as you did for all of us. Help me to accept the Father’s Will, no matter how difficult and challenging it may be, so that I can repay you love for love. Amen.
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