|
Take Up Your Cross&
I was born into a very Catholic family and was raised Catholic. I attended St. John's grade school and continued to grow in my knowledge and faith in God throughout young adulthood. I attended Mass every Sunday, even when I had to walk all the way across campus in the freezing cold, alone. I continued to trust and believe in God and appreciate what Jesus had done for us. Life was great and it didn't seem it could get better. I graduated and started working, fell in love and got married. This was the day my cross became evident. This marriage lasted only five weeks, the subtle pre-marriage verbal and psychological abuse had become physical and obvious. I left. I knew God was with me, and that this was not what he wanted for me. I decided that if I could not bring children into that environment, than in the eyes of God it could not be what he wanted for me. I'm still not sure to this day why I needed to go through it, but I did. I survived. My only hope is that maybe somehow, in some way, maybe it saved someone else. I don't know, I may never know. Thankfully loving God helped me bear my cross. The Catholic Church supported my grief, granted me an annulment and when I was ready to remarry, helped ensure that the same situation did not occur again.
Life is a series of sorrows and joys. Some peoples' joys are much greater than others and others sorrows are deeper. Some don't appreciate their joys until they are gone, and some never see them at all. I view the sorrows we all have to bear as our own personal crosses. I really believe God does not give us more than we can handle. Sometimes the pain can be so great that we feel we can not go on& but God is there, loving us, holding us, coaching us, catching us.
I feel a strong closeness each time I make the sign of the Cross. I try to think about the words and what they mean. In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. I silently traced a cross on the forehead of each of my three children when they were born and asked God to watch over them, protect them and bless them. I still do this. God's sacrifice has seemed to much more real to me now that I have children of my own. I would rather die myself then to even think about them suffering the way Jesus did. I can't imagine how much it must have hurt for God to have allowed Jesus to suffer and die the way he did. I can't imagine how much it must have hurt for God to have allowed Jesus to suffer and die the way he did. God could have intervened. He didn't. He didn't because it was the only way all of us could be saved.
I think we all need to look at the crosses we bear and put them in perspective. Are they really so terrible? Do we really need to complain so much? Are there ways we can help others with their crosses? Wouldn't the world be a wonderful place if we did? Next time we see a cross or bless ourselves, let's think of what we can do for another& prayers count!
|
|
