The associated reading for this reflection can be found in your Every Sacred Sunday Mass journal or online here.
My favorite mysteries of the Rosary are the sorrowful mysteries. In part because they are the first mysteries I learned when I first picked up the beads, but also because I love being drawn into contemplation of Jesus’ last earthly hours.
I acknowledge my own Garden of Gethsemane; those places where my only prayer is “Father, I don’t want to do this. Please take it from me.” Yet not my will, but Yours, be done.
I reflect on carrying my own crosses and how Jesus models perfect patience in affliction. I fall down every day, yet with His Grace, I rise again and again.
I consider the self-emptying and surrender of the Crucifixion. Every day, Christ calls me to the cross to surrender to something greater than myself, my plans, or my desires. Lord, empty me. Fill me. Use me.
Every year on this day I am particularly moved—shaken, even—that Jesus’ sacrifice was for me. Me! Can I believe that, as He hung on the cross, He saw me? With all my sin and the innumerable ways I’ve fallen short of His glory? Can you believe it?
It’s not possible to understand this side of the veil, but there is no one Jesus didn’t go to the cross for.
Your coworker who thrives on office gossip.
The neighbor who struggles with addiction.
The politician you despise.
You.
Me.
Today, notice the seemingly ordinary people in your life. Ask God for the grace to see His face in them; to really notice them and recognize how deeply their life matters to God.
They were worth going to the cross for. What a quiet, seemingly ordinary miracle we encounter in each other every day.
The cross continues to be an active invitation: a call to empty ourselves so we can be filled with Him. Lord, empty me. Fill me. Use me.
Today is not a day to despair, but rather to gaze upon Love incarnate poured out for us and our salvation. There is no one Jesus didn’t go to the cross for. And that, dear friends, is very good news.
Carmen is a wife and mother of two in midwestern Iowa. She has an MA in Sacred Theology and enjoys writing about faith and motherhood. She enjoys exploring microbreweries with her husband, cooking, making Rosary bracelets, and adding to her collection of houseplants.
