Pondering on the Cross.

The Philippines is a Catholic country and celebrates Easter in a very different way than I do. I have heard stories of people flogging themselves and beating their own bodies until the point to near death. On Maundy Thursday, thousands and thousands of people walk miles and miles up to a city called Antipolo to the oldest Catholic Church in the PI to participate in a series of rituals surrounding the death of Christ. There is so much commotion and customs that the Filipinos practice on Maundy Thursday, but that is it. They miss the celebration. They forget about the fact that HE ROSE AGAIN ON THE THIRD DAY! Many don’t even understand the impact of His resurrection. I have read a poem that puts together the emotions and thoughts of the events surrounding Easter. I pray that the people of the Philippines and even those at home who miss the beauty of the third day will grasp the impact of His resurrection.

How awesome is that day to me-
O day of hallowed history!
Set time in God’s determined plan
To sacrifice the Son of Man.
What famous work that day was done
By Jesus Christ, His Perfect Son!
The Second Adam, sent to save,
Humbly obeying to the grave!

How savage is that day to me-
O day of pure brutality!
When Christ, the Son of God Most High,
Was fiercely whipped and hung to die.
And O the horror of my sin,
Seen there in His appalling skin!
For God struck down- as meant for me-
The sinless One, at Calvary.

How precious is that day to me-
O day of purchased liberty!
In Him, a freeman now I live;
My sins, through death, did God forgive.
No wrath at length looms o’er my head,
But loving-kindness there instead.
His righteousness, my guilt replaced,
And Love, this ransomed soul embraced!

O awesome, savage, precious day-
‘Tis God the Savior on display!
What peerless, holy, gracious Mind
Would fashion such a Grand Design?