Thank you for this Father. I line from the A.A. handbook someone shared with me many years ago has stuck with me and speaks to my sense of this, "At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg you to be fearless and thorough from the very start." It's always the Cross, there is no other 'easier, softer way". Your post also brings to mind a quote I recently read from Fr. Constantine Galeriu, one of Romania's great priests who suffered in the Communist gulags,
“Before He gave you your cross to bear, God looked at it with His most beautiful eyes, examined it with His divine reason, checked it with His right hand, warmed it in His heart full of love, and weighed it with His hands full of affection, so that it wouldn't be heavier than you could bear. And, after He measured your courage, He blessed your cross and put it on your shoulders. So you are able to carry it! Hold on tightly to it and climb Golgotha to the Resurrection!”
Father Gabriel, you have a gift for getting inside of scripture and revealing its great depth. Thank you for this profound homily; it has given me much to contemplate.
Thank you for this Father. I line from the A.A. handbook someone shared with me many years ago has stuck with me and speaks to my sense of this, "At some of these we balked. We thought we could find an easier, softer way. But we could not. With all the earnestness at our command, we beg you to be fearless and thorough from the very start." It's always the Cross, there is no other 'easier, softer way". Your post also brings to mind a quote I recently read from Fr. Constantine Galeriu, one of Romania's great priests who suffered in the Communist gulags,
“Before He gave you your cross to bear, God looked at it with His most beautiful eyes, examined it with His divine reason, checked it with His right hand, warmed it in His heart full of love, and weighed it with His hands full of affection, so that it wouldn't be heavier than you could bear. And, after He measured your courage, He blessed your cross and put it on your shoulders. So you are able to carry it! Hold on tightly to it and climb Golgotha to the Resurrection!”
Beautiful!!
Father Gabriel, you have a gift for getting inside of scripture and revealing its great depth. Thank you for this profound homily; it has given me much to contemplate.