It is a day that was exceedingly good for humanity because, on this day 2,000 years ago, Our Lord suffered for our sins by dying on the cross for us.
Yes, God--Who is Love Itself--mercifully sent His Son to save us from the wrath and death that our sins would cause.
As I was growing up, my mother would always encourage me to observe silence between the hours of 12 Noon and 3 PM, these being the hours that Jesus hung on the cross, suffering greatly and slowly dying.
I think about Him now, and I wonder what must have been on His mind and in his heart during this torturous, agonizing time. Since He was fully human (while also being fully divine), He must have had to keep at the forefront of His mind how much He loved you and me.
It is LOVE which makes us capable of doing otherwise impossible things. And it is LOVE which can give purpose to our sufferings. It is our God who has given us the ability to make our sufferings sanctified by uniting them to His Passion.
When Jesus carried that huge, heavy, and uncomfortable cross such a long distance, I can only imagine how much He loved you and me. We were not even standing before Him, and yet He had to have the FAITH to believe in us and our love even when He could not physically see us, for we had not been born yet!
Jesus had tremendous TRUST in God and tremendous FAITH in me and my potential to be able to do what He did, in spite of not seeing anything around Him that would make Him feel the love of God or the love of me.
And then, as He was crucified and hung there on the cross, waiting to die, suffering from exhaustion and dehydration and even suffocation (for breathing was difficult) with His Mother and fiends wailing and crying far below Him...He had such determination and love in His Body for me that no pain could stop Him from taking the responsibility of being the Redeemer who sacrificed Himself for me.
It is obvious how much He loved me and believed in me, even when my return love and faith in Him was not guaranteed. I had no ability to return that favor when He did the greatest of all favors for me! Jesus was, for all intensive purposes, living (and dying) on a prayer.
I sometimes wonder if God allowed Jesus to have visions of each of the persons that He would be saving with every subsequent step that He took on that walk to Calvary, carrying the heavy cross. Imagine the motivation of love that would inspire!
If I had something difficult to do but would get to see a glimpse of how it would benefit my friends and family with each step that I took, I would feel much more inspired. I believe that Jesus' love for us was so strong and motivating that He simply must have envisioned us.
May God's blessings reign down upon you on this Good Friday. And may all of our sufferings be united with His!
