Blood

I am getting labwork done tomorrow (hopefully) I hate everything about getting labwork, mostly because I hate blood. I hate it. When I was little, I screamed if I thought I had blood on me. (Quite often it was just squashed cherries from our tree.) It really doesn't have to do with pain, obviously.
As I was praying about it though, I remembered the clips from the Passion of the Christ that I recently watched, especially the crucifixion. There was a lot of blood. That scene is perpetually etched in my memory, because the sight of that much blood scarred me. But as much as I hate thinking of that sight, imagine being there. Imagine seeing someone spill that much blood. Imagine seeing someone you love spill that much blood. Imagine someone spilling that much blood for you. Sometimes the reality of our faith gets lost because we hear it too often. Jesus died on the cross for you. I've heard that phrase so many times. Yes I believe it is true, but do I even know what it means?
The Passion movie attempts to portray that reality. While I myself, might never be able to sit through the whole movie I'm trying to think about that reality during this season of lent. I'm trying to make the phrase "Jesus died on the cross for me" a real idea of pain, suffering, death and glory. And part of focusing on that is getting my blood drawn. I don't think I'll like it anymore, but thinking about the Reason I'm getting it done will hopefully make the experience a little less painful.

Pax Christi!