"I have a baptism wherewith I am to be baptized; and how am I
straitened until it be accomplished." (St. Luke XII, 50.)
How strange that the Saviour should sigh for the culmination of
His agony--seek in death His triumph! Our human nature shrinks
from pain. Yet if our lives are to be Christ-like, we must
rather seek to suffer as Christ has taught us by His life of
sorrow.
Trials must surely enter into our lives. 'Tis well we accept
them as coming from the chastening hand of God to purify our
lives and bring us nearer to Himself. Our night of crucifixion
will pass, and then will dawn the glorious morning of our
resurrection in God.
O Mary, who stood beneath the Cross of thy Son and sorrowed in
union with Him, teach us to love the Cross!