Lift high the cross
The love of Christ proclaim,
Till all the world
Adore His sacred name.
What do you live for, the world or God?
Seeking joy in the current world is like a dog chasing its tail. Around and around it goes, never catching its prey. Or, for me, it’s like golf. Hit the ball, chase it, hit it again, chase it and then finally reach the goal – the ball drops in the hole, success. Then, pick it up and hit it again. I’m not putting down golf. Just an analogy of the endless cycle this world tries to count as joy. A soul can never find true joy here. Joy is found only in Jesus Christ.
When the world throws a curveball at you, it tears away all veils of joy. When cancer is diagnosed or a loved one dies, what does the world offer but sorrow.
In Christ Jesus though, we can lay claim to a Joy that transcends pleasure or happiness. The joy offered by Jesus makes the crosses of life bearable and even joyful. Receiving that horrible diagnosis doesn’t bring happiness but the peace of Christ can still reign supreme.
This is not the truth that the enemy wants the people of this world to hear. He would prefer everyone to get caught up in anger against society and learn to hate their brother man. He would prefer fear to reign in the heart at the prospect of death. He prefers the endless seeking of hedonistic pleasure that never fulfills and the consumption of life chasing money and fame.
Jesus gives so much more. To take up the cross and lift it high, we need to follow Jesus’ lead and do the Father’s Divine Will, living for eternity. We are not 85 or however many years, we are eternal souls. If we live as eternal souls, the cross takes on a new manner, the weight drops and the fear falls away. Replaced by the dawn of eternal love in the Holy Trinity.
“My life at present flows on in peaceful awareness of God. My silent soul lives on Him and this conscious life of God in my soul is for me a source of happiness and strength. I do not look for happiness outside the depths of my soul in which God dwells; of this I am aware. I feel a certain need to share myself with others. I have discovered a fountain of happiness in my soul, and it is God. O my God, I see that everything that surrounds me is filled with God, and most of all my own soul, which is adorned with the grace of God. Already now, I will begin to live on that on which I shall live for all eternity.” Divine Mercy in my soul # 887