SUFFERING AND INTIMACY
Suffering is inherent in intimacy...with Jesus Christ. It is the pivotal path to fully unite with his sacrificial love. I never understood that when I was younger. I felt removed from the image of my Lord hanging on a cross, bloody and bony and suffering. Intellectually I understood what he did for all of us, but there was a spiritual disconnect. I did’t know that the very image that has repulsed many, has been the one vision that would draw people closer to him...that would draw me-into that sacred place, "His" sacred heart. I imagine it takes most of us a lifetime to really get that. When we are suffering we are selfishly seeing only our own needs and desires. Because let’s face it, no one wants to suffer...really suffer and I doubt any of us would ask for the kind of suffering that Christ experienced-for us. That’s what happened. He loved us so much that he agreed to the ultimate suffering. He gave us the gift of his life so that we might have life and love...