... "His cross to bear..."

I grew up in an Irish Catholic family... attended Catholic school until I was in junior high school... I even taught my first year as the pioneer teacher for a new Catholic middle school in Great Bend, Kansas....

...I have spent many Lent-en seasons participating in the "stations of the cross."  Back in my childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood I will admit it was a "going through the motions" experience for me.

I had the privilege of spending my morning walking with Jesus.... at Shrine of Christ's Passion in St. John, Indiana

http://www.shrineofchristspassion.org/

It is a walk through the last supper, garden of Gethsemane, and stations of the cross with life sized bronze statues of Jesus, the Messiah.

Wow, what a power full expression of Jesus last days on this earth... His sorrow, His fear, how He joyfully took the cross, how He conquered the grave, how He washed away our sin with His blood...

I have spend a morning at the Shrine each Lent for the past two years.  My 6 year-old requested a stop there one scorching June afternoon after dropping his brother off at church camp, and my parents, devout Catholics spent an afternoon there with our family last fall.

The SCP has amazing landscaping, differing from season to season.  Last year Lent and Easter were early, the snow just having melted when I made my novice journey there.... in the mid-day summer sun the grasses seemed ablaze... in the fall God's vegetation prepared to slumber as the wind ripped through the trails.... and this spring, the time of year I remember the Easter season being as a child, the hyacinths, and daffodils were in bloom... the tulips are thinking about it, but will wait a few weeks... the lamb's ears growing their "fuzz."

This Easter season as Holy Week begins I challenge you to take some time to prepare your heart for Easter...

...to reflect on what that week was like for our Messiah as he rode into Jerusalem on a donkey for the Jewish holiday of Passover (prophesied in the book of Zechariah), while people threw palm branches on the road in front of him. (Matthew 21:1-11; Mark 11:1-11; Luke 19:29-44; John 12:12-19)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew%2021:1-11&version=NLT

...how Jesus broke bread with his friends, the disciples on Maundy Thursday at the Last Supper.
(Matthew 26:17;  Matthew 26:16-18; Mark 14:12;  Mark 14:11-13; Luke 22:7 ; Luke 22:6-8)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+26:17&version=NLT

...how He felt when He was nailed to the cross and asked the Lord to forgive us.... "for we know not what we do." (Luke 23:34)
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+23:34&version=NLT

I feel BLESSED to be redeemed by Jesus of Nazareth, the Emmanuel, the Messiah, the Prince of Peace, the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords ......


Photos Courtesy of SVK, thanks!!!