Palms

From Palm Sunday on becomes a week that bears great reflection. It is the witnessing of Jesus' suffering and death. Trials that he endured for us. Those trials also enable me to go through my day with a better understanding of the trials others suffer as well. I have often tried to place myself in anothers shoes when they relate their woes.

There was something my mom said to me the other day about pain. Nobody can actually say they know what depth of pain another endures unless their pain is exactly the same in order for them to say they understand. So when I say I try to place myself in their shoes, it's a far cry from their reality. Jesus on the other hand, does know of the pain we go through and suffer from. He went through so very much, not just physically, but emotionally as well. He gave us himself in such a total way to find rejection from the elders, the pharisees, and even the many people who witnessed his healings. The evil that came from one of his own disciples must have caused him much heartache and to be turned over by many of those who followed him.

Jesus, the very one who loves beyond all measure still suffers rejection and misunderstanding as well as his Father in heaven. We do it so very often in our daily lives when we fail to see the gift of his love through others. We fail when we are selective in who we know and associate with. We fail when we turn our backs on others as if we don't know them, when we reject our neighbor. What do we do each day that echoes the passion of our Lord in the way he was handed over and rejected by the followers of the Gospel. I've often asked myself numerous questions throughout my day, have I done this or that to live my life in conformance of God's love and love of neighbor. When situations arise, I would ask, in thought, if I did right by God in how I dealt with them. It is always in keeping the Cross in focus and what Jesus had undergone that has kept me in focus of his suffering for humanity, not just for me. And even though I know personally he would die for me, I would not ask it of him, but would prefer to see his smiling face full of love.