This is the 3rd of four presentations given at a Parish Mission on March 9-12, 2015 for Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church in Green Valley, Arizona.

Carrying his Cross for the salvation of the world, the Lord reveals two key insights for Christians:

• Sacrifice
• Support

SACRIFICE - giving up something for the sake of something more important - becomes self evident as the Lord offers his life as a perfect offering.  Innocent and without sin, he takes our place and helps us to recognize our own sacrifices as a participation in his Cross.

SUPPORT appears when we look at two familiar figures in the Stations of the Cross - Simon of Cyrene and Veronica.  We read about Simon in the Scriptures, and Veronica has been a part of the tradition of this devotional prayer for centuries; both of them show that even the smallest of actions proclaims the value of human life in our relationships with one another.  Running toward suffering and sacrifice, we can (like a Firefighter) be agents in great and small ways for compassion, mercy, and tenderness.

March 11, 2015 - Our Lady of the Valley Catholic Church - Green Valley, AZ

Fr. Andrew Ricci

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