Our Lady Of Perpetual Help

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Reflection -   Week of September 14, 2025

Question of the Week:

How can I imitate Christ by helping someone else carry their cross, as he helps me carry mine? 

     Nicodemus is a fascinating character. He comes to Jesus at night, suggesting that he was afraid of being seen. He was likely a member of the Sanhedrin and feared for his reputation. Later, when he defends Jesus before his peers, he is identified as one of the chief priests. After Jesus’ death, he anoints his body, then with Joseph of Arimathea—another secret disciple— carries his body to a tomb, perhaps also after nightfall. Through all this time, the people Nicodemus worked with, worshiped with, and even lived with may not have known the journey of faith he was making. In the same vein, we may not know the inner lives of those we think we know.

     By accepting his death and sacrificing his life, Jesus transforms the cross from an instrument of execution to one of triumph. When we were baptized and the sign of the cross was made over us, we were given a share in this triumph. We affirm this each time we trace the cross on ourselves. We are not given an exemption from the cross. But our crosses are not just instruments of suffering and hardship. Our crosses have been sanctified for they are shared by Christ, who carried his cross to the end. Our crosses too can transform death into life.