By Sr. Janelle Buettner, M.S.
Marian Sisters, Diocese of Lincoln
“As we have shared much in the sufferings of Christ, so through Christ do we share abundantly in His consolation” 2 Cor. 1:5.
This Scripture passage is one of my favorites.
Several years ago, I was praying and talking to Jesus about many of my struggles in life. I was thinking I had reached a dead end. I had been asking Jesus to help me, but I was working hard to control the situation. I wanted to be free of the trials I was facing, but I didn’t know what to do. I kept reading 2 Cor. 1:5 and thinking, if I am sharing in the suffering of Christ through my suffering, then why am I not sharing in His consolation? I was not sure how to get out of the pit of struggle.
Every time I prayed, I felt the Lord was calling me to “put on the crown of thorns.” That sounded scary to me, and I knew words like that were something I needed help to discern. I brought it up to my spiritual director, and he asked me if I had asked Jesus what it meant. Of course, I did… not do such a logical thing. That said, he encouraged me to do so and to let Jesus put on the crown of thorns, if that’s what it seemed like He wanted. That advice seemed ludicrous, as it seemed I was asking for more suffering, while I wanted less suffering, or at least some consolation.
I decided to allow Jesus to show me what He was saying to me. In that prayer, it became clear that my suffering was the crown of thorns on my head. It wasn’t new suffering He was asking me to endure, but rather, He was showing me my suffering was like a crown of thorns. This suffering was affecting many aspects of my life and encroaching on my ability to think clearly. The crown of thorns needed to be removed. I needed to surrender.
This began a beautiful journey of surrender that led to that point of finding the consolation for which I was searching. The control I was trying to exert was paralyzing Jesus from bringing me consolation, and I never realized it. As I continued to surrender and allowed the prayer to unfold, He gave me the image of Him removing the crown of thorns from my head. He pulled the crown to His chest and at that moment, His heart began to emerge. He placed the crown of thorns on His heart, and I began to see the heart become inflamed with love for me. He was showing me that the crown of thorns I was suffering with was contained in His Most Sacred Heart.
This was one of the most profound experiences I have had in prayer. I can go back to it many times, and I am always consoled by the reality of it. It was this prayer experience that has led my heart to know and love the Sacred Heart of Jesus in a new and more profound way in my life.
The month of June is the month of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. I feel so blessed that during this entire month, I can reflect on the many aspects of His Sacred Heart. I can always find more information about the promises of the Sacred Heart, the nine first Fridays, or about St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, the “Disciple of the Sacred Heart,” but I find that these exercises just fill my head with information. I love to allow my heart to be present in the prayer. In doing so, I am always drawn to the images involved in the artwork of the Sacred Heart.
I personally love to pray with the drops of blood that exist on the Sacred Heart images. I love seeing that they are there. It’s a constant reminder that He knows everything. He even knows what it means to suffer, and all I need to do is surrender in order to fully engage my heart in His loving presence.
Christ’s understanding of suffering is something I hope you can find as a source of consolation in your own heart. As we continue through this month of June, pray that you can surrender your struggles to Him and allow Him to remove your personal crown of thorns. Don’t be afraid of what He will do; I promise it will be amazing. And you, too, will find out what it means not only to share in the sufferings of Christ, but also how to share in His consolation.
