Praying and Running

John 19:16-17 Then he handed him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and carrying the cross himself he went out to what is called the Place of the Skull, in Hebrew, Golgotha. In the 4th Sorrowful Mystery we pray for the grace to bear our trials with patients. The 4th Sorrowful Mystery has, as I find many times, obliterated what I thought was just a cliche and through the contemplation of this mystery I have seen the truth in the old saying "everyone has their cross to bear". First of all I am brought back to Mark 8:34 where our LORD says "Whoever wishes to come after me must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me." As a Christian my only goal in life should be to be a disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ. In order to do that I don't need a bunch of stuff. My goal shouldn't be a better job, a bigger house, a "picture perfect" family. If I somehow end up with these things, then so be it. But my purpose should be to be a di...

I would very much like to encourage Protestants to take up the practice of praying the Holy Rosary and also to strengthen Catholics in the prayer. The Rosary is a very rich prayer that can be prayed by the Christian who is very young in the faith as a way to growing in the prayer traditions of Orthodox Christianity. The Rosary can also be prayed by those who have already developed a deep prayer life as a way of nurturing the life of faith. I know, however, that there are some major obstacles for Protestants to begin this prayer. I believe that these obstacles are the result of a gross misrepresentation of the prayer and/or simple misunderstanding. First and foremost, I know that most Protestants have an aversion to the Hail Mary. I have covered that in a separate post . Following that, the three most common objections to the Rosary that I know of are that it is mistaken as a form of worship of Mary. Second is that it is a direct violation of our LORD'S command to not "babb...

Matthew 27:27-31 Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him. The 3rd Sorrowful Mystery is the "Crowning with Thorns". This Mystery recalls the time after Christ was scourged at the pillar. The roman soldiers mock Jesus by calling Him "King of the Jews" and then treating Him badly. The soldiers give Him all of the symbols of a King in a way that hurts Him. In other words they are just making sport of Him. The soldiers call Christ King and then go on to ...