Receiving the Cross as Gift

Reflecting on Matthew 16:21-27, Zac recounts getting sick right before his friend Vince's funeral, forcing him to skip singing in the choir he'd hoped to honor Vince with, and how his frustration at being sidelined mirrored Peter's rebuke of Jesus for embracing suffering. Recognizing himself in Peter's "Get behind me, Satan" moment, Zac realized he had been treating his illness as an obstacle to be resisted rather than a cross to be received as a gift from God. The episode closes with an Ignatian-style Examen guiding listeners to reflect on their own recent crosses, how they reacted to them, and one small resolution to receive suffering differently going forward. Reflection Questions: Where in your life have you said, in effect, "Get behind me" to a suffering or inconvenience God may be using to draw you closer to Him? Zac says most spiritual lessons have to be "relearned in different contexts." What's a lesson you thought you'd already learned that God is asking you to go deeper into? What's one small, concrete resolve you can make tomorrow to receive God's gift of the cross more readily? ⁠Here's a link⁠ to the text of the Examen we prayed this week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mrcgTAxB7UKCKMb0R8VnetvtNUiWw1-vRoaw5JUmIMc/edit?usp=sharing _____ Learn more about the mission of Paradisus Dei and its life-changing parish programs ⁠here⁠. The World English Bible is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations. Intro music: "My Life (Main)” by Good B Music Meditation Music: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A