When I left Assumption this past Sunday, I gave out my priestly ordination holy card, which is a memento of special occasions and also serves as a picture for our prayer.

I choose this image because Jesus is the most important person in my life. He’s everything to me. He doesn’t just lead me to happiness, He is my happiness.

Here we see Jesus on Holy Thursday night, taking on all of our sins, all the sins that have been and ever will be committed, and He’s exhausted, weighed down by the evil. He was so overcome with fear that He sweated blood. He prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me; still, not my will but yours be done.” But the Father didn’t take away the cross. Instead, He sent an angel to strengthen Him, so that He could fulfill His Father’s will. We should pray in the same way. When we pray for something (e.g. health, work, finances, relationships), we always have to add at the end of our prayer, “Not my will, but Yours be done” because God can bring good out of evil. Whenever He allows suffering or difficulties, it’s because He wants to draw a greater good from it. So, for example, sickness quite often turns people to God, makes them question their life and priorities. The death of a loved one can make us think seriously about heaven and hell. Failure can force us to not find our self-worth in our accomplishments, but in our identity as children of God. Just like Jesus, we all have to go through the cross to reach the resurrection.

This painting shows the humanity of Jesus, in that He was just like us: He suffered so much, He knows what it’s like to be betrayed by friends, to be afraid, and to be tortured to death. And so He always helps us in our suffering. At the same time, it shows His divinity, because only God could take on all our sins, only God loves us this much. Despite all of our constant rejection, He still loves us unconditionally, and that’s how we’re supposed to love each other.

There’s a beautiful pious meditation that suggests, when Jesus was overwhelmed and not wanting to go to the cross, the angel next to Him whispered something in His ear that gave Him strength to go on. What did He whisper? Your name. In other words, the thought of saving you and me gave Him the motivation to continue. I’ve always found it easier to suffer for someone else, knowing that my sufferings are really helping someone I love. When we have a reason and purpose, we can endure any suffering.

Finally, I added the sentence, “Behold, I make all things new,” which is actually from Revelation 21:5 and not from the Gospels. I decided to add this phrase because of this scene from The Passion of the Christ.

(Warning: this scene could be graphic for young children.)

Putting this phrase on Jesus’ lips while He’s carrying the cross gives it another rich meaning: He can take the worst possible situation and make it life-giving; He turned His suffering and death into proof of His love, into our salvation. He always makes good come out of evil.