Receiving the Cross as Gift

<p>Reflecting on Matthew 16:21-27, Zac recounts getting sick right before his friend Vince&#39;s funeral, forcing him to skip singing in the choir he&#39;d hoped to honor Vince with, and how his frustration at being sidelined mirrored Peter&#39;s rebuke of Jesus for embracing suffering. Recognizing himself in Peter&#39;s &quot;Get behind me, Satan&quot; 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.</p><p><br></p><p><strong>Reflection Questions</strong>:</p><ol><li>Where in your life have you said, in effect, &quot;Get behind me&quot; to a suffering or inconvenience God may be using to draw you closer to Him?</li><li>Zac says most spiritual lessons have to be &quot;relearned in different contexts.&quot; What&#39;s a lesson you thought you&#39;d already learned that God is asking you to go deeper into?</li><li>What&#39;s one small, concrete resolve you can make tomorrow to receive God&#39;s gift of the cross more readily?</li></ol><p><br></p><p><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mrcgTAxB7UKCKMb0R8VnetvtNUiWw1-vRoaw5JUmIMc/edit?usp=sharing">⁠Here&#39;s a link⁠</a> to the text of the Examen we prayed this week: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1mrcgTAxB7UKCKMb0R8VnetvtNUiWw1-vRoaw5JUmIMc/edit?usp=sharing</p><p>_____</p><p>Learn more about the mission of <strong>Paradisus Dei</strong> and its life-changing parish programs <a href="https://paradisusdei.org/">⁠<u>here</u>⁠</a>.</p><p>The <strong>World English Bible</strong> is in the public domain and was used for all scripture quotations.</p><p><strong>Intro music</strong>: &quot;My Life (Main)” by Good B Music</p><p><strong>Meditation Music</strong>: Reawaken Hymns Worship Pads - foundations in the key of A</p>