The Power of the Cross - Through His Wounds: Poetry and Reflections on the Cross

By J A Russell

God wants us whole and healed no matter what the circumstances of our lives. Some of the most whole people are those whom God has put back together after suffering. God wants to be with us in our sorrows as in our joys and the Cross is the way He gave to be present at all times. Sometimes it might seem easier to shirk the Cross rather than stay facing it, but by joining our trials and difficulties to the redemptive Cross of Christ we experience grace and healing, for the Cross is where He is truly to be found.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse UK
• Release date: Oct 30, 2014
• ISBN: 9781496993298

J A Russell

With the coming of Vatican ll in the 1960s, the author, as a Catholic mother of young children, welcomed the invitation to become a catechist involved with preparation for the sacraments of first confession and holy communion. She found that the more she expressed her faith, the more her faith was strengthened. It was certainty in God’s presence in the sacraments that enabled her to continue practicing her faith in times of adversity, with constant awareness of living in the light of God’s presence on the journey back to him. It is through a deep and continuous relationship as daughter of a loving father who is here with us in every aspect of our lives—whether serving him at home in the kitchen or at the altar in church, suffering in illness, or running freely along a beach—that the author wishes to encourage the reader to also seek a personal encounter with the Holy Spirit of God, holding on to the promises Jesus gives in the gospels. As a young person, the author found a great sense of God’s omnipresence through traveling widely and attending mass in foreign countries (mass still being said in Latin), being greatly influenced by the beauty and wonder of creation. Throughout a time of suffering, it was a great comfort to her to experience this same God present in her difficulties—still loving, still guiding, and patiently leading her into a deep experience of his powerful healing and grace. The author has great devotion to the mother of God and over the years has found immense joy as a Eucharistic minister. As a Catholic, she has seen the coming together of Christians in shared services. She has love of prayer, singing, and composing sacred music and is author of several inspiring books on God’s powerful presence, having a long-held desire to share the wonder of God’s life and healing light, which remain with us throughout even the simplest of things in our everyday life.

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© 2014 J A Russell. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked NJB are from The New Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1985 by Darton, Longman & Todd, Ltd. and Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.  Reprinted by Permission.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 10/30/2014

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9328-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4969-9329-8 (e)

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Bless the Lord, O my soul

and all that is within me

bless His holy name.

Bless the Lord, O my soul

and do not forget all His blessings.

The Lord has established His throne in the heavens

and His kingdom rules over all.

Bless the Lord, O you His angels

you mighty ones who do His bidding,

obedient to His spoken word.

Ps.103:1-2; 19-20

CONTENTS

The Power of The Cross

Through His Wounds We Are Healed

O Sacrament Most Holy

He is There

Upon the Wings of Grace

Such Mystery!

The New and Everlasting Covenant

The Power of the Most Precious Blood

‘This is My Body’

‘Never Will I Abandon You’ Is.49:15

Because Your Love Came Down

Every Word

‘Come, Follow Me’

The Blood of Christ

Faith in Christ

Beloved of God

Jesus, God and Man

‘Remain in Me’

Through the Cross

Our Healing

At the Cross

Saviour of the World

‘I Am With You Always’

‘Follow My Son’

A Pilgrim’s Prayer

Our Mother Too

In His Presence

He Was Working With Them

Through The Son

He Is Coming

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This is the victory that has

overcome the world – our faith.

Who can overcome the world

but the one who believes that

Jesus is the Son of God?

He it is who came by water and blood,

Jesus Christ,

not with water alone

but with water and blood,

and it is the Spirit that bears witness

since the Spirit is Truth. 1 Jn.5:1-6

Through His Wounds We Are Healed

In His life Jesus surrendered to His Father’s will so perfectly that with confidence He was able to meet the Cross. Jesus was free for His Father, trusting Him. For our sake Jesus surrendered His every thought, word, deed, His very ‘Self’, giving Himself in bread, in wine, making with us a new and eternal Covenant through the shedding of His blood. To be pruned is to be cut off from something or to have something taken away; if we are joined as branches onto the Vine, as we remain in Jesus we can expect some pain, some discomfort, some loss. He is Saviour of the world.

Christ suffered for you and left an example for you

to follow in His steps. 1 Pt.2:21

Jesus had nothing so that we might have everything; Jesus takes and we receive, healing our sorrows, knowing our hearts, making us free. As His Beloved children, following the Way, we know we are