Christian Obedience, By Its Very Nature, Has

Hence The Importance Of Patience In The New Testament, Which Becomes The Basic Constituent Of Christianity, More Central Even Than Humility: The Power To Wait, To Persevere, To Hold Out, To Endure To The End, Not To Transcend One's Own Limitations, Not To Force Issues By Playing The Hero Or The Titan, But To Practice The Virtue That Lies Beyond Heroism, The Meekness Of The Lamb Which Is Led.

Above All We Must Not Wish To Cling To Our Suffering. Suffering Surely Deepens Us And Enhances Our Person, But We Must Not Desire To Become A Deeper Self Than God Wills. To Suffer No Longer Can Be A Beautiful, Perhaps The Ultimate Sacrifice.

Without Easter, Good Friday Would Have No Meaning. Without Easter, There Would Be No Hope That Suffering And Abandonment Might Be Tolerable. But With Easter, A Way Out Becomes Visible For Human Sorrows, An Absolute Future: More Than A Hope, A Divine Expectation.

Prior To An Individual's Encounter With The Love Of God At A Particular Time In History, However, There Has To Be Another, More Fundamental And Archetypal Encounter, Which Belongs To The Conditions Of Possibility Of The Appearance Of Divine Love To Man.

Her (mary's) Son First Had To Be The Child Of The Father In Order Then To Become Man And Be Capable Of Taking Up On His Shoulders The Burden Of A Guilty World.