Revelation of Suffering
I have a wooden desk in my room that was made by my grandfather in high school shop class. It was given to me when I was, oh, I don't know, probably eleven or twelve. Nowadays it functions as my prayer altar. I keep a cross, a Bible, and some candles on it. It's sandwiched between my bookshelf and the bunk bed Sammy and I share, so it feels secluded enough.
Anyway, when I pray I like to light candles to put me in the mood. For safety, I get those votive candles with high glass holders that you can often buy at stores that cater to Hispanics, with the plastic wrappings with pictures of Our Lord, His Mother, and the Saints and Angels. I usually have at least one with an image of the Lord Jesus on it. Today, I lit that candle as usual, and this is what it looked like:
(Sorry about the quality- my camera is broken so I used my phone. Also, Google Sites isn't letting me upload anything, so I used imageshack. Apologies if the picture has gone offline by the time you look at it.)
The plastic had gotten so old and worn from the heat that the picture had started to decay, and Jesus had little pockmarks all over his face that let the candlelight shine through very brightly (never thought I'd use "Jesus" and "pockmarks" in the same sentence). It looked like Jesus' face was on fire, or like he was burning from the inside!
So my first thought was, "Oh no, time for another trip to the store to get more candles!" But then I looked again and realized that the candle was depicting Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, and this is exactly what happened at the Lord's Crucifixion: as Jesus' suffering wore away His Humanity, His Divinity became more and more obvious. To those who have faith, His Death proves that He is God, because only infinitely glorious God could have the utter humility to humble Himself and die for sinners.
Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.
Anyway, when I pray I like to light candles to put me in the mood. For safety, I get those votive candles with high glass holders that you can often buy at stores that cater to Hispanics, with the plastic wrappings with pictures of Our Lord, His Mother, and the Saints and Angels. I usually have at least one with an image of the Lord Jesus on it. Today, I lit that candle as usual, and this is what it looked like:
(Sorry about the quality- my camera is broken so I used my phone. Also, Google Sites isn't letting me upload anything, so I used imageshack. Apologies if the picture has gone offline by the time you look at it.)
The plastic had gotten so old and worn from the heat that the picture had started to decay, and Jesus had little pockmarks all over his face that let the candlelight shine through very brightly (never thought I'd use "Jesus" and "pockmarks" in the same sentence). It looked like Jesus' face was on fire, or like he was burning from the inside!
So my first thought was, "Oh no, time for another trip to the store to get more candles!" But then I looked again and realized that the candle was depicting Jesus wearing the crown of thorns, and this is exactly what happened at the Lord's Crucifixion: as Jesus' suffering wore away His Humanity, His Divinity became more and more obvious. To those who have faith, His Death proves that He is God, because only infinitely glorious God could have the utter humility to humble Himself and die for sinners.
Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself.