I know you have plenty to read and do today, so I’m going to keep this very brief.
It’s Good Friday, emphasis on that first word “Good.” Today is the day–the day of days. Our Lord has triumphed over sin! He will continue to triumph over sin.
Praise Him for that. Thank Him for that. To God–and Jesus–be all the glory.
Yet too often I think that I must earn His love. I got 
some negative feedback on my last post, when I wrote about feeling guilty over not giving up screens for Lent. I wasn’t really being serious, but if you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, you know that Lent can be hard for me.
That’s why 33 Days to Merciful Love has been a game changer for me this Lent. Father Gaitley contrasts the God of Justice with the God of Love (i.e. mercy), and people like me (i.e. prone to guilt) do much MUCH better dwelling on love than justice.
Why? Because I stink at penance, but I’m kinda sorta good at love. It’s a friendly extrovert thing! Like, when my family gifted with a free cleaning yesterday and I took a picture for my upcoming review:
Well, naturally I put my arm around sweet Sarah on my right.
(She was like, “Stranger danger!”)
(And they were all like, “Whoa, she’s really short!”
(And I was like, “Help! Save me from the alien light fixture that’s swooping down to suck me up!”)
Anyway.
I promised a post that is brief and this isn’t. Sorry! The truth is, I could never do enough for Him but He doesn’t expect me to lay down on His cross. Rather, I’m asked to embrace my small ones, and the truth is? Sometimes they are not that small.
Sometimes someone very close to you is hurting, and no matter what, you can’t take away their pain.
Sometimes they need more help than you can give, and as a wife/mom/sister/friend, this is a heavy cross to bear.
This is the “grief” of this blog post’s title–a grief that I can’t really write about yet, because at this point it’s not my story to tell, but I will say that this day (and my mother’s cross) has taken on a very new meaning. In the end, it’s all about love and trust.
In the end, it’s always been about love and trust.
Blessed Good Friday, everyone! For God has loved us so very much that He gave His only Son to us…
But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. Galations 6:14
my prayers…
This is really the way I thought the verse read, and in the RSV version it does! “But far be it from me to glory except in the cross…”
Prayers Margaret for your family and Mom.
From Fr. Groeschel’s book The Rosary Chain of Hope. The Resurrection: “Lift up our hearts when we contemplate this beautiful mystery of the Resurrection that we may be guided through life’s difficulties and challenges by the light of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”