“Jesus, Remember Me. . .”
Very early this beautiful Friday morning as I said my morning prayers, I saw in my mind’s eye the three crosses on Golgotha, our Dear Lord, Jesus, hanging on the cross in the middle, and the two criminals on each side of Him. I could not get this out of my mind.
In Luke 23:39-43, the evangelist tells us:
Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise”.
This criminal has been referred to as “The Good Thief,” and is known as St. Dismas, whose Feast Day is celebrated on March 25th.
How inconceivable God’s Divine Mercy and love is to say this to the criminal who defended Him while He was suffering horribly on the cross! We can always come to Jesus! And, I have learned from this passage never to be afraid to defend and acknowledge Jesus, to defend what He said to us and to defend what He taught us, to defend our Faith! We may be betrayed for His sake by family, by people we thought were friends, but there is nothing greater than to know He is with us and He will remember us.
“JESUS, REMEMBER ME. . .”
~Joan
