Although I'm on vacation, my Catholic duty to attend mass on Sunday doesn't cease. If anything, I'm even more excited about it. Due to some plans we had made for Sunday afternoon, my dad and I decided to attend Saturday evening mass. We ventured into what turned out to be an open-air sanctuary with a rather interesting look. You see, unlike any church I've ever been to, there was not a crucifix front and center. Instead, what took the main stage was a statue of the risen Lord Jesus. It completely threw me off guard. I'll admit, for a while, it even made me slightly uncomfortable. My thoughts were something along the lines of, "This is so wrong. We are completely overlooking the very core of our Christian faith by choosing not to highlight Jesus' sacrifice on the cross. It should be the focus of this very building."
Almost instantly, I realized just how wrong I was. I was completely 100% missing the point. The cross is not the end-all be-all of our faith. If the cross was it, there would be no Christianity. There would be nothing to believe in. Death would have won. However, by the very scenery of the church I was standing in, we know this isn't true. The true core of our Christian faith comes from the fact that Christ defeated death. He literally rose from the dead. The one part of life we know is guaranteed for our human selves, was overcome by Him. That's what the focus should be. This church got it right.
How often do we do this to ourselves? We lose perspective and believe that the core of our lives must be our crosses. Oh how foolish we are to allow ourselves to forget that God promises us moments of resurrection. We let the cross become our focus - and our perseverance merely ceases to exist. True perseverance can only come from a hope that there is something in store greater than the trial we currently find ourselves in. Never, not even for a moment, let yourself doubt that something greater is in store. God went to such great lengths as to sacrifice His own son for us in order that we may have a living example of this.
Through Christ's resurrection, the enemy was overcome. He hates this. Satan will do anything possible in order that you lose sight of the resurrection and instead become more focused on your cross. But you've got this. You have the spirit of the Lord within you, fighting for you ten times harder than the enemy ever could. Look up, friends. Look up and see the resurrection in front of you. Embrace the cross you're carrying with perseverance, for the prize at the end is far greater than its burden.
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