When the chief priests and officers cried out, “Crucify him, crucify him” (Jn 19:6), they called for Jesus to die the most abhorrent type of death known to the world at that time. Over the years, Romans crucified thousands of men. Each “miserable procedure,” as Josephus called it, was as terrifying and brutal as the next.
cross of Christ
Cross, Crucifix and Resurrection
Thinking of all the crosses I’d borne throughout the years, along with those I’d watched friends and family carry, it occurred to me that one can’t enjoy blessings without having known something of suffering.
St. Peter and Redeeming Qualities
I think I have been channeling my inner St. Peter recently. St. Peter was a very determined, almost stubborn fellow, who was quick to jump to extremes with Jesus. Most notably, St. Peter liked to speak by using a lot of “never”s.
A Lenten Reflection On Repentance
The most profound call to repentance is experienced as we go before the Cross this Lenten season, as we kneel there along with our Blessed Mother, as we gaze upon our loving Savior who gave entirely of himself for love of us—even though we are sinners.
St. John of the Cross: “Do Not Seek Christ Without The Cross”
Caught in a dispute between the Carmelites of the Mitigated Observance and the Carmelites of the Reform, St. John of the Cross was accused of monastic disobedience and imprisoned in December of 1577 at the Monastery of Toledo. For the next nine months, he was locked in a six-by-ten-foot cell, with only meager light filtering in from a small slit high up on one wall.