Stations of Love - Who does Jesus love in each station of the cross?

Stations of Love

The Passion of Jesus is not so much a story about SUFFERING as it is about His LOVE. He loves and gives His life for each of us not simply as a group of people but each individually. He loves us wherever we are at and in whatever we are going through. As I contemplated the traditional 14 stations of the cross this lent, I asked myself the question, “Who is Jesus reaching out in love to in each station? Who does Jesus love?”

 

Station 1: Jesus is condemned to death.

Jesus loves the one who doesn’t believe in truth.

Pilot sees there is something special about Jesus but when Jesus tells him, “I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice,” Pilot responds with, “What is truth?” He’s a politician and sees truth as fairy tale. Or maybe he wants to believe in truth but has been jaded by his experiences with the world around him. When we are like Pilot and struggle to understand or accept truth, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 2: Jesus is made to bear his cross.

Jesus loves the one who profits at others' suffering.

Some of the soldiers who made Jesus take up His cross were likely simply doing their job. Others took the opportunity to bully and make fun of our Lord, mocking Him with a purple cloak and a crown of thorns. Regardless they all were profiting in the suffering of others. When we are like the soldiers and our jobs and actions unintentionally or intentionally hurt others, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 3: Jesus falls the first time.

Jesus loves the one whose faith is lukewarm or doesn’t exist.

When Jesus falls, He is entering fully into our humanity. First our God comes to earth and becomes one of us. Then He takes on the weight of our sins and falls even lower to the lowest place we can be. Here He meets those who have no faith or whose faith is in that dangerous place of indifference. When we are not willing to turn our eyes up to Him, Jesus stoops down to meet us where we are at and loves us.

 

Station 4: Jesus meets his mother.

Jesus loves the one whose pain is in watching others suffer.

Parents know how hard it is to watch their child suffer. Even though Jesus was enduring the physical torments, no doubt when He meets His mother Mary on the way of the cross, she bears an unspeakable pain. When hearts are close to each other, they share in each other’s joys and sorrows. To be the one looking on and unable to help is a unique suffering of love. When we are like Mary and feel the pain of those suffering around us with no way for us to comfort them, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 5: Simon of Cyrene is made to bear the cross.

Jesus loves the one who is too busy to get involved.

More than likely Simon was a good man and perhaps even on his way to do something good that seemed to be important. Many of the people walking the streets of Jerusalem as Jesus carried His cross, were good people who had no clue what was going on in their midst. They were busy with their day. But Jesus invited Simon to step out of his business and embrace in love the situation and cross in the moment before him. When we are like Simon and too busy to love those around us in the moment, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 6: Veronica wipes Jesus’ face.

Jesus loves the one who is overwhelmed.

Veronica was obviously deeply moved at the site of the beaten Jesus carrying His cross down the street. She likely knew something about Jesus previously and like many, had hopes and expectations that were now coming crashing down. Her head must have been spinning and feeling overwhelmed with everything going on around her that she couldn’t control. Still in this moment she reaches out to the Lord with all she has to offer Him, giving Him her veil to wipe His face on. Such a small gesture but as with our simple offerings, Jesus blesses it and works through it leaving His image on her actions. When we are like Veronica and overwhelmed with life and things we can’t control, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 7: Jesus falls the second time.

Jesus loves the one who continues to struggle and fall into serious sin.

Why does Jesus fall again? Because He falls for us… and we fall again and again. Even with the best intentions and when we are truly sorry, our human nature is weak and we find ourselves typically dealing with the same sins time after time. What’s important to focus on isn’t the fact that Jesus falls again, but that He gets back up again. No sin is beyond His mercy. When we continue to fall into sin, Jesus calls us to rise up, pick up our cross once again, and Jesus loves us.

 

Station 8: The women of Jerusalem weep over Jesus.

Jesus loves the one who is annoying.

The women of Jerusalem who wept in the streets for Jesus were likely doing so not because of who Jesus was, but because of the fact He was being executed. This was not a bad practice in general, but they were missing the point and Jesus tells them plainly that they shouldn’t be weeping for Him but for themselves and their children. This had to be annoying to Jesus that here they were face to face with God in His greatest act of Love and they were missing what was going on. When we are like the women weeping and our voices or actions are like the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 9: Jesus falls the third time.

Jesus loves the one who is exhausted and can’t go on.

In this third fall is Jesus emptying Himself for us. He gives every last drop of energy and has nothing left. Still embracing the cross that should be ours, He holds tightly to it as He collapses at the end of His journey. It’s not just that He has fallen again, but rather that He has given it His all of His Own free will to the end. When we have given everything and have no energy left to fight the good fight, Jesus is there with us and loves us.

 

Station 10: Jesus is stripped of his garments.

Jesus loves the one who is empty and ashamed.

When Jesus is stripped naked, He is fully exposed in humiliating fashion.  He knows what it is like to be abused and to feel like everything is taken from you. That place of shame He allows Himself to enter into. And if God Himself takes on this terrible kind of pain and redeems it, then we can have confidence that He can make us new as well. When we are feeling ashamed, emptied, used up and helpless, Jesus stands with us, gives us back our dignity that comes from Him and loves us.

 

Station 11: Jesus is nailed to the cross.

Jesus loves the one who is in great pain and physical suffering.

The excruciating pain of the large nails driving through the nerves in Jesus’ wrists and feet is hard to imagine. And then He hangs there fixed like a mere object on those nails and pushes on them to take every painful breath on the cross He freely embraces. There is much suffering in the world and everyday many people endure torture, sickness and accidents. Even for those of us not going through such pains, we scream out the question, “Why do You allow this God?” But there He hangs and simply invites us to unite our sufferings to His. If God can take the ultimate item of torture in the cross, and the death of His Innocent Son and use it to bring about the greatest good the world has ever known, then He can give our pain purpose and will bring good out of it as well when we offer it to Him. When we are truly suffering, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 12: Jesus dies on the cross.

Jesus loves the one who is dying.

Our God has united Himself to us even in our death. Jesus truly died and experienced what we will all experience at the end of our lives. Even at the end, Jesus cries out, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” Even His death is an act of unity and obedience to the Father’s will. This isn’t something He only mustered the courage to embrace in His last moments, but was the way He lived His daily life. He didn’t have to die to save us but He went there because He loves us. With His arms outstretched, He looks down into our eyes from that cross and with them says, I love you this much.” When we are taking our last breath, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 13: Jesus is taken down from the cross and laid in His mother’s arms.

Jesus loves the one who has lost a loved one.

When someone we love dies, part of us dies with them. Those left behind experience grief in many different ways. As Mary holds for a few moments the lifeless body of her little boy…our God, we clearly see that sword of sorrow that had been prophesied would pierce her heart. What a terrible pain for a parent to hold their child for the last time and yet Mary must have clung to her Son’s own words repeating in her head…“I am the resurrection and the life.” When we are grieving the loss of a loved one like Mary did at the foot of the cross, Jesus loves us.

 

Station 14: Jesus is placed in the sepulcher. 

Jesus loves the one who has lost hope.

The followers of Jesus wrapped His body and laid it in a tomb. These disciples had seen Jesus do amazing and supernatural things and perhaps a few of them had held out hope even in the final moments of His life, that He would come down from the cross and make the world seemingly right again. But when you bury something or someone there is a finality to it. There is a closing of a door that one doesn’t return through again. Hope completely evaporated as they rolled that stone across the tomb’s entrance. Everything they had hoped for and devoted their entire lives to was now flipped on its head. They clearly felt lost and had no clue where to turn next. Jesus allowed them to experience this hopelessness before the resurrection. Will we trust our Lord, in those moments when our world ceases to make sense? When we have lost hope like His closest friends did and we don’t know where to turn, Jesus loves us.

 

 

Closing Prayer...

Jesus... In each station of the cross— each moment of your passion—- you loved me… you loved us all. Yes…. We are loved intimately by the maker of the universe, our God, and our brother. And we return His love when we love those around us like He does.

To love perfectly is to love like God.
To love is to be like and one with God.
We were made to love perfectly. Anything less leaves us hungry.

Each one of us is “the disciple whom He loved.” In receiving His body in the Eucharist we rest closer to Him then the Apostle John who at the Last Supper had the privilege of “lying close to the breast of Jesus.”

Oh to be so loved!
Oh to be loved so perfectly!

 

 

Giving thanks to God for His mysterious ways

This morning my wife and I awoke to find a message on our answering machine telling us that her uncle Dan was getting a new heart. He's been waiting for a heart transplant for quite some time now and we had been told that there was a good chance it would happen over the holidays. I can imagine the emotions that he must be feeling this morning as he goes in to receive a new heart. It is definitely a scary thing, as no one knows how his body will handle a new heart. Still this news is an answer to prayer.

The strange thing is that someone's life had to end tragically for Dan to receive this new heart. One person's bad news is another person's good news. Life is definitely not fair, but what an awesome gift he has received. As I say a prayer for Dan this morning that the surgery goes well, I also offer a little prayer for the person who is giving Dan this gift and that person's family who must be grieving right now.

Listening to this morning's daily Scripture readings, I thought it was appropriate that they dealt with giving thanks to God. The Psalm talked about this directly, and the Gospel reading was actually about the woman named Anna who had waited for years to see the promised Messiah. Upon meeting the baby Jesus, it says she gave glory to God. I'm sure it was not easy waiting for eight years just like it hasn't been easy for Dan to wait for this new heart. I do see a difference in Dan however as he has found a new zeal for life. Uncertainty and practicing patience is never fun, but God does use it to help us grow. Amazingly God always finds a way to take our pain and suffering and bring something good out of it.

Voting for Life

You know what’s great about our country is that when this election is over in a couple days we’ll all still be friends. Obviously there are some very differing opinions on who the best candidate is to lead our country and I’m glad people feel open enough to share there views with everyone. With that being said and having read many of your emails, I’d like to add my thoughts to conversation.

I’ve always considered myself pro-life since my early upbringing and I think much of that can be attributed to growing up in a family that cherishes and loves life so much. A year ago when the campaigns were just getting started, I questioned many of the same social justice issues that have been brought up by some of you and wondered if these could out way the importance of the abortion issue. Then my wife and I conceived our first child and I saw his heart beating in an ultrasound when he was only three weeks old. As the pregnancy continued my wife and I got to see and feel him kicking and waving….hiccuping and definitely growing inside her. Then the morning of September 8 we got to hold our baby boy for very first time. I know many of you have experienced this feeling before but what an amazing moment that was. It was at this moment and in countless others since then as I’ve stared into the eyes of my child, that I knew without a doubt that the greatest cruelty or injustice possible was that we as a society would turn our heads and let millions of innocent children die.

Think about it this way….You see two people on the street. One is a child being brutally murdered. The other can be a person facing whatever other evil or social justice issue you can think of. If you can only save one which would save? Looking at it this way makes the answer blatantly obvious to me.

Recently Dr. Alveda C. King, niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, stated that, “The fight against abortion is a new frontier in the Civil Rights Movement…We are not following Martin’s dream if we do not stand up for the voiceless.” I wholeheartedly agree with her and truly feel that abortion is the civil rights issue or out times. There are many issues that affect us more directly as individuals and perhaps that is why many people choose to give more importance to them. As a society though, there can be nothing more terrible then the thousands of babies who are legally slaughtered each day. Whatever struggles and injustices my son will face in this life at least he will get to experience them. Friends and family, the way I see it the war overseas is terrible and our economy is a problem, but let’s not forget that there is a bigger war taking place right here in our own nation. Sacrifices need to be made but innocent children should never be the price.

So I guess you can probably guess who I’ll be voting for tomorrow. Obama and McCain are so far apart on the abortion issue that it’s not even close decision. I’ll gladly cast my vote for the millions like my son who don’t get a say in the matter. I’m voting for life.

"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so that you may live as you wish."
-- Mother Teresa

Baptism and Original Sin

Recently my wife and I took a Baptism class through our local church and unfortunately we left wondering just how much we could trust the deacon who lead it. He helps with most of the Masses and activities in the parish and listening to his homilies he's always seemed like he knows his stuff, but as he lead the class he laid out a very different view of Baptism and Original Sin then what I was familiar with. He said that Vatican II changed the way we understand Original Sin and that we needed to get the idea of our child's sole being stained with it, as portrayed in the old Baltimore Catechism, out of our head. To quote the handout material he gave us....

Modern theology defines original sin as follows;
"Original sin is the condition of being born into a sin filled world."
A. It is not a stain on the innocent child's soul.
B. The following can counteract the negative things in our world.
FAMILY
LOVE
CHURCH/FAITH

He expounded on this saying that Baptism is mostly about starting a faith journey and said that there was a big long document on Baptism that came out of Vatican II and goes into detail on this. To a degree this makes sense to me, but if this is the new official definition of original sin then what does it really mean when we say that Mary was conceived Immaculately (without Original Sin)? She most definitely was born into "a sin filled world." Also if original sin is diminished this way it also seems to diminish the whole sacrament of Baptism and ultimately the concept of our redemptions.

What really made me question the authenticity of what this deacon was saying though was that when one woman at the class asked the deacon what would happen to a baby who died without being Baptized, he told her that the churches "official stance" is that the child is completely innocent and would go straight to heaven. It may seem like nitpicking but salvation is a pretty important matter and what he said seemed to fly directly in the face of what I've read in the Catechism of the Catholic Church so I looked it up and it pretty clearly states in so many words that we have every reason to hope in God's Mercy for such a child but we can't know for sure.

This all lead me to our main concern which was how soon we need to have our child Baptized. We did ask the deacon and he said there is no rush or recommended time table. In fact they only do Baptisms twice a month at our church due to the size of the parish. This sounded like good news to us as we've asked my brother to be the Godfather but he is going to be studying in Europe this August through December so will most likely be gone for the first few months of our baby's life. We would love for him to be able to participate in the Baptism and think it would mean a lot to him so it would be great to have the baby Baptized in December when he gets back. At the same time we want to make sure we are putting our baby's salvation ahead of what would be nice for us.

With all this confusion I turned to my Great Aunt who is Notre Dame Sister and has been involved in Catholic education for many years. She was the perfect person to talk to as she teaches a similar class at her parish every month and has dealt with all of these issues. She told me that she always explains Original Sin this way; She takes off her glasses and tells people that she has poor vision and that this poor vision is something she inherited from her parents. She didn’t do anything wrong to merit her poor eyesight but it’s just something she was born with. Now she says thanks to modern wonders she can use eyeglasses and which help her see clearly. She still has the same genes but thanks to the glasses she doesn’t have to suffer the effects of bad eyesight that were passed down to her.

This analogy made a lot of sense to me as it’s easy to see relate her inherited poor vision to the original sin and her glasses to Baptism. My aunt went on to tell me that our deacon was partially correct in that we are born into a sinful world and baptism helps us counter that, but she said a better definition for Original Sin is that it is simply our inherited tendency towards sin. While we are all born good and innocent we do inherit this tendency from our first parents’ sin. In a way we our soul is stained though not in an evil way. Through Baptism we receive grace to counter this tendency towards sin and become a child of God.

Now as far as when we should Baptize our child, my great aunt explained to me that while the Catholic Church can’t declare for a fact what happens to a child that dies prior to being Baptized, the Church does teach that there are three ways we can be Baptized. The most common is by water but lesser known ways include Baptism by blood (as when someone is martyred) and Baptism by desire (which is when a person wishes to be Baptized but dies prior before they can be). It would only make sense that this Baptism by desire would apply if a child passes away who’s parents desired Baptism for that child. With that in mind she didn’t see any reason why waiting for my brother to be there would be a problem as long as our baby is healthy.

All this has really made me look long and hard at something I’ve taken for granted most of my life. I’ve always seen Baptism as something that was important but never really stopped to ponder what it really theologically speaking was about. It makes so much more sense now and I’m glad I’ve had the opportunity to learn more about my Faith. Hopefully as our child grows up my understanding about my Faith can also continue to grow.

Meaning of Suffering

“Why does God allow pain and suffering?”

This is a question that a lot of people have been asking for quite some time. Both people who believe in God and those who don’t have a hard time comprehending how a god who is all good and loving could allow his people to suffer.

First of all lets be honest; nobody enjoys suffering and I’m no exception. So saying that because it is not enjoyable is a poor argument so to say it has no value. There are many things that I don’t enjoy but that I can see are good such as getting my flu shot or having my teeth cleaned at the dentists. I view suffering as being similar in that of course I don’t want to experience it, but it can produce a greater good for myself or others. This has been obvious so many times in my life as I can see how not getting one job has opened up the door for another. I’ve even seen things such as the tragedy of a sudden death, bring people closer together. In fact if I could go back in my life I wouldn’t want to avoid all the pain and hard times I’ve experienced as I can see that they have definitely made me the man I am today.

But this still doesn’t excuse God from allowing suffering. After all he is all powerful and surely could find a way to accomplish the same thing in a more pleasant manner. This is true to the extent that God can do whatever He desires as He’s the one setting up the rules. What is important to note here that God doesn’t will that anyone should suffer but rather He “allows” suffering to be part of our lives as a result of our freewill. Our freewill is an incredible gift as it allows us to choose between loving and hating God and each other. God didn’t want us to be robots that did good and worshiped him only because they had too. That wouldn’t really be love as we would have no choice in the matter. True love is something that can only be given if there is a choice not to love as well and this is why freewill is necessary.

God loves us unconditionally and yet our freewill let’s us accept or reject this love. It was our first parents, Adam and Eve, who chose to reject God’s love and brought death and suffering to this world we now live in. In a sense we continue this rejection of God’s love in our own lives in the times that we fail to love our neighbor and make ourselves more important then God. So suffering then is part of the human condition but it never was something that God desired for us.

The amazing thing is that God takes the ugliness of our pain and suffering and somehow finds a way to bring good out of it. Just as the pain we feel in the gym can make our bodies stronger, our suffering can often help us grow. In many ways it is how we approach our suffering that determines how much good it can do in our lives and those around us. Even a person bedridden with a serious illness can offer their suffering up in prayer to God and He will use it for wonderful things.

Jesus Christ himself suffered an excruciating death so that our souls could be saved. It’s a mystery that God would allow His Son to undergo this suffering but once again it all goes back to love. He didn’t want there to be any doubt how much He loves us and the cross of Christ definitely shows us that. In the end suffering is still a mystery but it is not one that has to be feared when seen through the eyes of faith. It can be the path that leads us and other to holiness, so whatever our suffering is, weather large or small, lets embrace our cross like Christ trusting that God’s love will overpower it.

Chalk it up to God's Mercy

The other night my wife and I attended a Lenten mission put on by our local parish. The priest who was leading it was talking about God's mercy and started off by telling about a dream he had the night before. He dreamt he was standing at the pearly gates with St Peter. Beside him he saw the top of a spiral staircase which went all the way down to hell. St Peter gave the priest a piece of chalk and told him that getting into Heaven was really quite simple. He simply needed to take the chalk and write down each one of his sins on a separate step. If he ran out of sins before reaching the bottom, then he could come back up to Heaven. So the priest started writing down his sins on each step and after a while he saw our parish priest heading toward him up the stairs. "Don't worry, I'm just going up for more chalk," our parish priest said. At this everyone broke into laughter.

Becoming Simon

No not Simon Cowell. I’m talking about a different Simon, more commonly known as Simon of Cyrene. The Bible tells us that he was the one forced into helping Jesus carry his cross. When I was younger I didn’t view Simon as that great of a guy. After all it’s not like he volunteered to help Christ or even wanted to. Someone else made that decision for him and he never really had a choice. So why do I now want to become like him?

I guess I started to rethink my opinion of Simon while back in high school. I had the opportunity to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land during Lent and there’s just something about visiting the places that Jesus walked that makes it so much more real. These events didn’t happen in some universe light years away from ours; it’s not just a nice story in a book. The people in the gospels were actual people like you and me and experienced similar emotions, struggles and joys. They had families, they laughed, and they had real problems. Without a doubt the most moving experience that I had on this trip was walking the Via Delarosa, the very same street that Christ carried his cross some 2000 years ago. We stopped and read meditations along the way of this narrow crowded stone path where at certain points the events of the Stations of the Cross took place. I was asked to read the meditation for the 5th station: Simon Helps Jesus Carry the Cross, and it got me thinking about myself in Simon’s shoes.

“Simon of Cyrene, called upon to carry the cross, doubtless had no wish to do so. When the condemned man’s shoulders became too weak, he lent him his. He moved along very close to Jesus, closer than Mary, closer than John who – though he too was a man – was not called upon to help. They called on him, Simon of Cyrene, father of Alexander and Rufus. They summoned him, they compelled him.

How long did he go on resenting being forced into this?

We do not know. St. Mark simply records the names of the Cyrenian’s sons, and tradition has it that they were members of the Christian community close to St. Peter.” –Pope John Paul II

Recently I was thinking about this meditation as I watched the movie The Passion of the Christ. The last few years I’ve made a tradition of watching this film during Holy Week and it always seems to move me. As I watched it once again the other night I found myself tearing up at parts as I contemplated just how much God loves me and how I take that love for granted everyday. Sure I try to love God and my neighbor, but in the end I usually find my universe rotating not around Him but around me. Much like Simon my heart just isn’t in the right place.

Like Simon each one of us is given the opportunity to walk side by side with Jesus. Our Lord’s face can be seen everyday in people we meet and it’s our call whether we’ll embrace them with love. It’s no easy task. As Mel Gibson makes clear in his movie, Simon is just an ordinary man who has a good heart. He’s hesitant to let go of himself and embraces Christ but gradually he does. Each moment we are called to do the same and become a little more like Simon.

walking in the footsteps of Christ's Passion (May 1997)

Making More Time

One of my friends wrote me the other day saying that he has been crazy busy lately and everything seems like it is going in fast forward. “I need to slow down the time/space continuum,” he said and asked if I had any ideas. Of course he new better then to ask me for help but I think he new what he was getting into so I offered him the following “advice.”

“As for slowing down time, that might be a tall order. Of course in "my world" time doesn't exist (and it's hard to change something that doesn't exist). Actually this line of thinking might work in our favor...when you speak of time going too fast, you really mean that your perception of time is going too fast. What we need to do is alter your perception. If we could find a way to change the rate at which you perceive time to be passing we could trick your brain into thinking that more time had been processed and thus you would seem less busy. Let me explain:

Let's compare your busy day to a digital image. This image has a native resolution of 800x600 pixels. Now the monitor you’re looking at this image on is like your brain. If your monitor display resolution is also set to 800x600 then that picture is going to fill the entire screen and take up %100 of the pixel on it leaving no room for anything else. The effect is even worse if your screens resolution is smaller like say 640x480. Now the image, or your busy day if you will, doesn't even fully display on the screen. So what I'm saying is we need to increase your monitor/brain's resolution to 1024x768 and then you will not only be able to see the entire picture but you'll also perceive extra pixels around it thus making you feel like you have more time.

Well in reality I haven't found a way to naturally (without drugs) change my brain's resolution but I have found something else that seems to help. I have found that when I'm busy, forcing myself to take a few minutes of quite time to pray each day can really make a big difference in how busy I feel. It seems illogical that taking time to do nothing would help make my busy schedule less hectic but for some reason it really makes a difference. I think it helps me put everything in perspective and realize that there is meaning in my life beyond all the chaos. My theory on why this helps is that when you take time for something (in this case prayer) you're forcing yourself to not use all your
pixels on that picture that's making you feel so busy. In effect, instead of increasing your resolution as in my above example your shrinking the picture's resolution so that it's no longer consuming your whole monitor. Maybe I'm crazy but it definitely seems to help. Of course my hectic day is like a cake walk compared to even a slow day for my wife so what do I know (Obviously I've had time to rant here for quite while now).

Wow this got a little long. And to think I was trying to figure out how to give you more time when the answer is right in front of me...Don't read super long emails that go on and on about theories. To late for that I guess."

Joyful Mysteries

Years ago I new a priest named Father Conrad (CFR) who always was filled with joy. I asked him one time how how come problems never seemed to bother him. "Everyone's got problems," he said. "I used to get stressed out all the time, but now I've learned to just say a prayer and trust God with them. They're his problems then so there is no no need for me to worry about them."

I've been thinking a lot about joy lately. What exactly is it and how do we obtain it? As my wife and I prayed the Joyful Mysteries of the Rosary together the other day it struck me that each of the five mysteries relates difficult circumstances in which the people involved undoubtedly experienced hardships. These include problems like dealing with a pregnancy outside of marriage to loosing Jesus when he was 12 years old in the big city of Jerusalem. And yet these are called Joyful Mysteries. Sure, in the end everything works out but I know that if I was in these situations they wouldn't be causing me to leap for joy. So how did these people find joy? The common denominator is that just like Father Conrad, these people trusted God and His will for their lives. In doing this their problems didn't magically disappear but they were able to find true joy by experiencing a peace that only God can give.

I also recently read a short article on Finding Joy Through Suffering. The part that really hit me was when the author wrote that "The crosses in our own lives are not ends, but means." I think in the end, the reason joy and pain are often found together is that it is only in surrendering what we cannot control, that we really will find true joy.