The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery: The Crucifixion - Perseverance 
The Hail Mary - 9
~ In Hawaiian

Although He was dead, one of the soldiers stabbed Him in the side with his spear. Blood and water gushed out. ~John 19:34 

His body was taken down and placed in the arms of His mother.  As His mother, Mary offered up Jesus on Calvary, with faith that it was all God's purpose; that this horrible event was predestined for the salvation of the human race.

It was a day of lamentation, but also the most wonderful day in the history of the world.  He won for us sinners forgiveness, new life and salvation for eternity.

Hail Mary, full of grace, 
the Lord is with thee; 

Blessed are thou among women, 
and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, 
Jesus crucified.

Holy Mary, Mother of God, 
pray for us sinners, 
now and at the hour of our death. 

Amen.

>> MEL GIBSON'S FILM AS GOD'S INSTRUMENT

"As a matter of fact, we should not be surprised to learn that God is at work in pop culture. Consider these words of Celtic spiritual leader George McLeod:

"I simply argue that the Cross should be raised at the center of the marketplace as well as on the steeple of the church. I am recovering the claim that Jesus was not crucified in a cathedral between two candles; but on a cross between two thieves; on the towns’ garbage heap; at a crossroad, so cosmopolitan they had to write his title in Hebrew and Latin and Greek... at the kind of place where cynics talk smut, and thieves curse, and soldiers gamble. Because that is where He died. And that is what He died about. That is where church-men ought to be and what churchmen ought to be about."

The Passion of The Christ reminds us that God brings light to the darkness of the world. It reminds us of how God works within the garbage of our culture, and even within the garbage in our souls. To free us and make us whole.

Jesus said of his crucifixion on that garbage heap, "And I, as I am lifted up from the earth, will attract everyone to me and gather them around me." -John 12:32. With all the attention that Gibson's film is receiving one can see the truth of Jesus' words.

God is at work in the culture because everyone is precious to God. Everyone has value."

The cross is rough,
and it is deadly,
but it is effective.
--A. W. Tozer

 ~David Bruce

"The movie rescues Christ's sacrifice from the realm of cerebral information and secures its power in the holy place of our hearts.  Yes, the movie wounds us, but it also heals us by letting us see the demonstration of Christ's love for us." ~Frances Frangipane

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