the only thing

 "We need the light of prayer to see our way in crossbearing. Prayer enables us to transcend not only the natural reluctance that all of us have when it comes to putting up with difficulties but also the very good reasons that suggest themselves as to why this particular cross was not really meant for us by God.....

The Passion is described as the mystery of Christ's suffering. It was a mystery at the time because people could not reconcile it with what they had expected. In the sense that we can never fully understand the idea of God suffering, the Passion is still a mystery. Now if our sufferings are somehow or other to fit into the Passion of Christ - and this is no fiction because this is where they belong - there will surely be an element of mystery about them........

Pain, if it is going to be purifying, is going to be puzzling....We have a preconceived notion as to what the cross is like, and when it comes we cannot reconcile the reality with the image. If there was darkness at Christ's crucifixion, we should not expect broad daylight at our own....Darkness cannot be fought: hitting out at darkness gets you no result. ...  The only thing that helps is prayer."

                                              - Dom Hubert van Zeller, from Magnificat, September 2026