the friday that changed the world

 (I ask before you start reading this, click here and listen to this song as you read.)

 

"Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world." John 1:29

 

Today is Good Friday, the most important day in the history of mankind. Because without this day, without Jesus' terrible suffering and death, we would not be here. Nor would we be in Heaven.
Because this Friday is the Friday that changed the world.

 

 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, to that everyone who believes in Him ma not perish, but may have eternal life." John 3:16

 

I don't think we realize how much Jesus really did suffer for us. Not only the unbearable pain of being whipped, shoved around, and having the heavy weight of a wooden cross on your bleeding shoulders, but having to know that He would die. Because His entire life, he knew that His crucifixion was coming. How would you act if you knew every day that passed was one day closer to your painful death? How do you tell your friends, your followers, your people?

 

 

"Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them." John 18:5

 

Think of your best friend, right now. What do you love most about him/her? Their humor, their empathy, their loyalty? One of Jesus' best friends betrayed Him. It's not like it was some follower who went to all of Jesus' sermons, or a Pharisee even. Jesus had thousands of followers, but only 12 apostles and the one who betrayed Jesus was one of them.

 

"At the cross her sorrow sharing

Torn with grief and torment bearing

Bitter sorrow pierced her heart"

 

And in the midst of all this, is Mary. Mary, Jesus' beautiful mother, who also knew from the moment of His birth that He would be crucified. Mary understood that it needed to happen, but it didn't change the sorrow that "like a sharp sword, pierced her heart". Mother Mary, pray for us.

 

"Truly, this man was the Son of God." Mark 15:19

But why should it matter today? Of course, Jesus died, but that was 2,000 years ago. But along with the soldiers and the Jews, we nailed Jesus to the cross. Because of our sin, our selfishness and our shame, we were right along with the Romans as they pierced his flesh with a nail. Every time we sin, we are pounding that hammer. Think about it. Think about our loving, sweet, beautiful Jesus who had as much innocence when He was 33 years old that He did when he was born, to be nailed to a cross and left there to suffocate and die. Because of our fallen nature, we helped. O Loving Jesus, have mercy on us.

Map of scars

A crown of thorns

Through all this pain was Heaven born

 A wooden cross

Stood on that hill

Our Savior was dying

Even still

 He saw you.

 



But the most important thing in, Jesus doesn't care. He just loves. He loves you so, so SO much that if you were the only person in existence, he would die the same death as He did for billions of people . How does that make you feel? That a perfect, loved human being would undergo humiliation, scourging and crucifixion just for you? 

As he was hanging on that cross, HE SAW YOU. He really did, he saw you right now, he saw your birth, and he sees your death. But most importantly, he sees you with Him in Heaven and that makes Him smile because that is the very reason of  why He died! So we could be with Him in Heaven.  And to Him, all that suffering was worth it. To us, it should be too.

"Therefore we, before him bending,
This great Sacrament revere;
Types and shadows have their ending,
For the newer rite is here;
Faith, our outward sense befriending,
Makes the inward vision clear."

Pange Lingua

 

So today, I encourage you to stop everything. Stop your work, stop your social life, stop electronics.
Give up everything and spend some time with Jesus. If there is any Stations of the Cross or reflective hours at your church, go to it. Lock yourself in your room for an hour and sit and listen to Jesus. If gore doesn't bother you too much, I highly recommend watching either The Passion or the crucifixion of Jesus from The Bible Miniseries. When you see these actions come to life, you can really understand why and how Jesus did it.

Crack open your Bible, read some prayers. Light a candle and let God come to you. Because if Jesus could die for us, then I think we owe Him a little quality time.

Good Friday is the most beautiful day of the year. Make the most of it. :)

Have a blessed rest of your Triduum, and a very happy Easter!

All through Christ,

Maddie



 

/journal entry I / cast your anxiety on Him

The blue is information that I didn't write in my journal, but I added so you guys wouldn't be confused. Other than that, this all comes straight out of my journal. Have a blessed, and stress free week, and don't forget to cast your anxiety upon Christ.

-----

Sunday, March 8th, 2015
6:30 PM
Weary (I always write down one word that describes my emotions at the end of the day.)

God,

It's been a lonnng week, and I am sorry for neglecting to write. This whole play thing (I helped direct a 7th grade play at my school, and it was show week when I was writing this entry.) was beyond stressful and that's just another package on top of 8th grade, high school, driving, relationships, etc. It's getting hard to juggle God. Some of the packages are falling off, and everyday it's getting harder to pick them back up. I don't know if I can bear this much weight for the rest of my

life.

But I know what to do. When I was anxious about Tekakwitha (an overnight camp, I get stomach anxiety sometimes) last year, I remember giving it all to You, and look how it turned out. (very well indeed.)

So here God, take away my tired, weary soul. Fix the cracks in my heart, help me be excited for graduation, not stressed out about high school. Help me look forward to our talks, not dreading to get up early. let me have an open heart to change. Help me find time throughout this every-busy week and life to seek You, to rest in You... Here I am LORD, take it away and make something beautiful out of my hurt, and my heart because that is what you love to do: make the broken beautiful.

(This is one of my favorite worship songs, and I just felt called to write it down in my journal.)

I lean not on my own understanding

My life is in the hands of the Maker of Heaven

 

I give it all to You GOD
trusting that You'll make something

beautiful out of me

 

I give it all to You GOD

trusting that You'll make something

beautiful out of me

 

So I will climb this mountain

with my hands wide open

 

I will climb this mountain

with my hands wide open

 

I will climb this mountain

with my hands wide open

 

There's nothing I hold on to

Nothing I hold on to

Nothing I hold on to

 

Nothing I hold on to

Nothing I hold on to

Nothing I hold on to

 

 

"Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you."

1 Peter 5:7

 

"Come to Me, all you who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yolk upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest in your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light. " Matthew 11: 28-30

 

 

I think what this means is that You aren't going to take our sins, our faults, and our burdens and make them vanish. We are always going to have to carry a yolk, for we are sinners. But it's YOUR yolk that is easy and light. We will still be carrying burdens, yes, but You are right along besides me, whistling a happy tune, encouraging me when the road gets bumpy.

 

6:55 PM

I don't know if I feel peace yet or not, but that felt good. :) The writer/metaphorical person in me came out. Thank you God for being my coat holder.

 

-Madeline

 

Trial and Triumph- Lenten Style

So far, this Lent has actually been going pretty well. And by pretty, I don't mean all sugar and rainbows, and by well I mean the-best-Lent-that-I-have-had-yet-in-my-short-time-on-Earth.

Day One of Lent, my promises consisted of giving up all sweets and writing in my journal. A week or so in, things were going well except I was complaining more about sweets than school (which you know is a big deal). My mom and I had a chat, and she told me how she heard numerous homilies about how giving up sweets won't necessarily get you closer to God. And as I thought about it, I was like..."yes, that makes sense, because I have been more focused on how miserable I am than how to get closer to God." Don't get me wrong, there may be people out there who use that torture as a sacrifice to God, and they feel like it is helping them with their relationship. If that is you, kudos, and keep going!

So now I am really focusing on my journal, and it is a-mazing. I may actually do a "journal tour" so you all can see the messy spiritual-ness of my diary.

I have never really been a journal person though. I am someone who if I have a routine, I need to stick with it and have a schedule, otherwise it will fall apart. So the idea of journaling every day about randomness made no sense to me, until I saw some journal-spiration on Pinterest.

The cool calligraphy and pictures, and just overall organized chaos of the simple journal really intrigued me. And I realized it's kind of like writing a mini-blog post every day.. minus the readers and it's not all advice. So I set out on a quest to find the perfect journal. I didn't want it to be cheap, I wanted a quality diary that would make me feel good to write in. I wanted it to be ringed so I could turn the pages easier. I wanted a quote to be on it, I wanted it to be in a certain color.

I want
I want
I want.

After a week or so of searching, I realized that once again, I was caught up in the "making it perfect"

than focusing on God. So I went to Walmart, got a small, simple 5-Star book and started using it.

The things you learn from overachieving- God doesn't want perfect. He wants you no matter what shape, color or form you come in. So my writing may not lie in a 20 dollar Kate Spade journal, it lies humbly in some college-ruled lines, but God doesn't care.

And to tell you the truth- I love it because I can make it my own! I have already put my own quotes in there, I even made a college of Papa Francis (boredom=Papa Francis, don't ask :D) and I love it more and more each day, and I actually look forward to writing in it!

Here's to one Lenten post, look forward to many more in the near future. :)

All through Christ,

Maddie