Roman soldiers may have nailed Jesus to the cross, but what held Him there was His own conviction that it was necessary for Him to '...become sin so that...we could become right with God.' (2 Corinthians 5:21 NCV). The reason Jesus didn't call an army of angels to save Him was because He would rather give up His life, than give up on you.

W. A. Criswell writes: "In a dream I saw the Saviour. His back was bare and there was a soldier lifting up his hand and bringing down that awful cat-o'-nine-tails...I rose and grasped his arm to hold it back. When I did, the soldier turned in astonishment and looked at me. And when I looked back at him, I recognised myself.' 

In Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ, multitudes were moved to tears by the graphic nature of the crucifixion. But underlying it all was the clear message 

a) this was the price required to redeem each of us 

b) this is what we need to keep before us each time we're tempted to sin by 'doing our own thing.'

We struggle to comprehend God's love for us because we've nothing to measure it by; nobody has ever loved us like He does, and nobody ever will. The cross made it possible for us, '...to enter the Most Holy Place...' [walk into God's presence] (Hebrews 10:19 NIV). No matter what you've done or how far you've fallen, you can receive God's love and mercy. What makes you a Christian isn't perfection - it's God's forgiveness.

".....Do not withhold your mercy from me, O LORD; may your love and your truth always protect me. For troubles without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, and I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails within me. Be pleased, O LORD , to save me; O LORD, come quickly to help me. May all who seek to take my life be put to shame and confusion; may all who desire my ruin be turned back in disgrace. May those who say to me, "Aha! Aha!" be appalled at their own shame. But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation always say, "The LORD be exalted!" Yet I am poor and needy; may the Lord think of me. You are my help and my deliverer; O my God, do not delay. "

(Many of the reflections on each page are used with the kind permission of United Christian Broadcastors (UCB) from their FREE daily devotional - The Word for Today. They allow the publication of 52 of their passages per year and I find their messages apt and though-provoking for the times we live in.)

A Circle of Prayer around the world praying for and with each other, for peace and for a world in crisis. Please read more about it and perhaps join us, prayer was never more needed than it is in these times!

Praying all year round for the souls of our deceased relatives and friends, for the souls of those most in need of prayer and for those souls in purgatory who have nobody to pray for them.