True God and True Man 

   Jesus is true God, the second Person of the Trinity.  He existed before all time and will continue to exist throughout eternity.  But He was also a man.  I know that to be true as well, but it is harder for me to look at Him as a man such as me. 

   He not only chose to become man but to do so in the manner of all men; He was born of woman.  Jesus, God Himself, placed Himself, as an infant, in the care our Blessed Mother and St. Joseph.  I marvel that He so wanted to be like us in all ways except sin that He chose to experience our life from birth to death.

   He hungered, laughed with His friends, and loved His mother and father.  He lived His life as any other man of His time.  He knew pain, He knew joy.  His life was one of hardship as an Israelite in Roman occupied territory. 

   I consider the pain of His scourging and the crowning with thorns.  The agony of carrying His cross as He was led as an object of shame and humiliation through the streets of Jerusalem while those He came to redeem mocked Him.  He was nailed to the cross between two thieves and gave up His life to offer me eternal life.

   I contemplate the pain and sorrow He suffered, and I realize that He did it all because He loves me.

 

You suffered so greatly.

I am unworthy of You.

You died that I might have eternal life.

Make me Yours, now and forever.

 

Amen