The Via Dolorosa

The dogwood, is a simple white flower that bears a cross shape and the four wounds of Christ. At the center of this flower is a "crown of thorns". The white represents the purity of the lamb of God.

As the legend goes, Jesus' cross was made from dogwood, but the Lord promised that no dogwood would ever be used for such a things ever again. Since then, according to the legend, the dogwood does not grow to be very large and the branches stay thin and winding. The flowers take their shape to ever remind us of the great sacrifice of love that Jesus Christ made for us.

God became man that He might live among us and share our sufferings. He was so good and humble that He allowed Himself to be put to death in the most humiliating manner of that time. Crucifixion was the death for criminals.

God is the author of love. He created each of us. As the late great Pope John Paul II said in his Theology of the Body, man was created by Love for love. We are told in the Gospel according to St. John, the apostle, that "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." (Jn 15:13) How is it that we are so blessed?

We are so unworthy. We are so broken, yet this does not matter. He has already paid the price for us and constantly offers to us forgiveness and love. We are washed clean in the blood of the Lamb of God. It was for us that He bore the pain, the humiliation, and the heartbreak.

How beautiful and wonderful it is that we are loved by God! My heart rejoices to have such love bestowed upon me even as it grieves to see my precious Lord so tortured. My heart is overwhelmed by the tender love of God. He is so close to me always. Knowing that it is not at all by my own merit, but by His grace, I cannot express my deep gratitude and love.

It is for you and I that He bore these sufferings. How great His love is! Let us never forget Him in any moment of our lives.