Alchemy Of The Cross

My Creator gathers up the tears of humanity and transforms them into the waters of life by the alchemy of the cross, where suffering and death are changed into joy and life by the self-gift of love.

How Far?

“The patient and humble endurance of the cross
—whatever nature it may be—
is the highest work we have to do.”

Oh, how far I am at 84 years of age from
being an image of Jesus in his sacred life on earth!”

Saint Katharine Drexel

Taking Up The Cross

Life is never without its crosses, but there is a difference betweek taking up the cross and just being weighed down by it.
If I take up the crosses in my life in union with Jesus Christ, he helps along he way.
If I refuse his help, I am simply crushed under their weight.

Lord, uphold me in your love.

When the weight of my cross seems too much to bear,

-- and I feel myself falling.

When I am tempted to abandon the cross,

-- and seek the easy way out.

When I am overwhelmed with guilt,

-- and are tempted to depair.

Olive Tree

One traditin holds that the olive tree was the tree of life planted in Eden.
Christian sentiments thinks of the cross as the tree of life that awaits us in paradise restored.
From it flows the grace of the Spirit that reaches us through God's word and all the Scaraments.
Those who sink their roots into the stream of grace bear, like the tree, life-giving fruit in prayer and in deeds of kindness, justice, and mercy for all.

Remember that if we wish anything from God
we must ask, seek, and knock.

-- Blessed Peter Favre