In Paradise

This Sunday's Gospel reading is taken from Luke 23:35-43 and contains this scene from the crucifixion of Jesus,

And the people stood by, watching; but the leaders scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself if he is the Messiah of God, his chosen one!’ The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine, and saying, ‘If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!’ There was also an inscription over him, ‘This is the King of the Jews.’
One of the criminals who were hanged there kept deriding him and saying, ‘Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed have been condemned justly, for we are getting what we deserve for our deeds, but this man has done nothing wrong.’ Then he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ 

He replied, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.’

Those words should give everyone of us encouragement to endure whatever tortures, diseases, aging, or our many sins throw at us, for we will be with Jesus in Paradise.

That gives us goose bumps.