What is the relationship between the pain that the saints went through and were grateful for and happy about, and that of our Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross?
The answer
The Holy Cross was a symbol of degradation, humiliation, pain and death. Through the Lord Jesus Christ's passion, death, and Glorious Resurrection, the Holy Cross was transformed into a symbol of love and true triumph.
"Then Jesus told His disciples, 'If any want to become My followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24).
The saints whose hearts had been filled with true love, denied the earthly, took up their cross and followed the Lord Jesus Christ. They were not interested anymore in their life on earth, but were looking forward to be one with our Lrod Jesus Christ which they could not get hold of except through suffering and martyrdom.
