Praise be Jesus Christ, now and forever. Praise be His most holy Name. All glory be to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Glory and honor to Him, who is, who was, and always will be. Praise be to Him who bore our sufferings due to our sins. His mercy endures forever and ever and ever and ever and ever.
Thank You, God, for Your sacrifice on the Cross. Thank You, that it is re-presented each Mass. Thank You for the holy reminders this season of Lent presents to us. Thank You for permitting us to take part in Your suffering.
We are sorry, Lord, for the times we do not love You perfectly enough to desire to lessen Your suffering by displaying love and mercy to all around us. We are sorry for the times we actively avoid participating in Your sacrifice, or complain while we carry our daily cross. We are sorry for being forgetful, growing easily distracted, and failing to love You as we should.
Recently, during my daily rosary, I have found myself being drawn to ponder the scourging of Our Lord. Repeatedly, I have imagined Jesus as his back is turned to those who are performing this horrific duty; those that are scourging Him represent us, sinners, for whose sake He endured this suffering. I have been prompted to contemplate that His back is turned to “us”, yet He has not turned His back on us. He willingly submitted to the Father’s Holy Will and gave His back for us. What a difference in perspective this has given me!
I am obviously still “chewing” on this, but it is a powerful contradiction. I find myself reaching to find examples in my life that demonstrate the difference between “turning my back” and “giving my back,” rejecting and submitting. I can think of a scene in a movie with an Amish community shunning a couple of wrong-doers. That is an example of turning your back. I can think in my own life that I do try NOT to turn my back to others when they are speaking to me. I often witness parishioners walking backwards from Adoration so as NOT to turn their backs on Jesus present in the Blessed Sacrament. I can only think of a few examples of “giving my back” although I am unsure if they are acts of submission, but are acts of helping. I am thinking of the times I have asked my hubby to clasp a necklace for me. The most significant time of “giving my back”, though, is when we were at the beach many years ago for a football tournament. We had not brought chairs with us. Hubby and I sat back to back to support each other and allow us to sit in the sand more comfortably. A wonderful friend of mine snapped a picture of it, and it is one of my favorites. I am sure she was prompted to snap that picture because it is a wonderful visual of the way spouses support each other. We willingly “give our backs” for each other.
I thank God for these times of contemplation that draw me deeper into the mystery of who He is and all that He has done, is doing, and will do for me, a sinner.
To what has God drawn you to contemplate? How have the mysteries of our faith become real to you? Do you have examples of “turning your back” and “giving your back” that will help you understand and live this mystery more fully? Share your examples; share your stories! You never know who might need to hear it.
