Sunday Meditation: To be united to Christ means union with the Cross.

Mary Magdalene
embracing the cross.

Regular readers of the blog know how much I like the Benedictus prayer companion. I usually do the daily devotions including the meditation. Yesterday's entry was on the Mystery of Failure by Dom Benedict Baur from Light of the World. What a reminder that to be truly united to Christ means to be united to the cross. Suffering is not a curse, but a true sharing in the life of Christ. And, since suffering is unavoidable, why not make the best of it and allow the Lord to draw us close to Himself. This meditation truly called to me to change my attitude toward any suffering -- the big ones and the petty annoyances. Help me, Lord, to embrace all of them cheerfully! 

How great are the trials that beset the Christian, from the cradle to the gave! Sometimes those who are least deserving of pain suffer the most.  Te nearer they approach God, the more thoroughly they are purified by the fire of suffering. The more earnestly they strive to serve God, the more they are misunderstood, despised, repudiated, and persecuted by the world.  Sometimes they receive like treatment even from their friends."Because...I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you" (John 15:19). Even those who are nearest to us and whom we justly hold in high esteem desert us. Even those in whom we trusted consider themselves justified in deserting d rejecting us. These sufferings are certainly the deepest and most bitter.

Sometimes God Himself seems to have taken the side of our enemies.

Pray for Michael Voris in his Magdalene Moment

The two Mary's weep at the foot of the cross.

I can't say I was especially surprised by the revelation that Michael Voris' past sins involved living an active homosexual lifestyle. He's candid about being a terrible sinner before he reverted to the faith, and that, had he died during that period of his life, he would have spent eternity in hell. He's also expressed great love and appreciation for his mother and her willingness, like Our Blessed Mother, to suffer anything to rescue her sinful children. Like Mary, Michael's mom was willing to experience her own personal crucifixion for the salvation of one specific beloved sinner.

In one sense, this revelation is just. Michael dishes it out and those who hate him, his "tone", and his targeting of higher-ups in the Church are probably chortling. They obviously want to discredit him as a liar and hypocrite. But this doesn't do it. I myself have many sins of my youth. Like Michael, I repented and perhaps those sins made me "love much" more than I would have if I'd never strayed from God's laws.