We all reach a time in our lives at which some of us realize things are beginning to change.
Those of us who have been blessed with the relatively happy constancy of life with our family and friends, begin to realize that constancy is not the norm.
It's the exception.
We begin to realize that our lives will be marked by suffering - saying goodbye to those we love, whether through death or some other kind of separation. We begin to realize that, not only because we are human, but because we are followers of Christ, we are a people marked to suffer - though not despair. He suffered. So must we. He also loved, and so must we. It's impossible to fathom the intense love that led Jesus to accept that cross. I think it's also impossible to fathom the intense love he bore for those he loved in his time on this earth - far more than any of us will ever love those whom we love. After all, even in his humanity, his heart was still divine, the heart of God.
We can hardly comprehend the pain he would have felt seeing the sicknesses and sorrows of his family and friends; we can imagine that motivated some of the miracles of healing he performed. After all, don't we always wish we could bring healing to those we love when they are sick, or enduring some kind of sorrow?
We can also hardly imagine the pain Jesus would have felt, knowing that he would be rejected by his own people, betrayed by a friend, who valued his life at a mere thirty pieces of silver... and knowing that after that betrayal, and abandoned by nearly everyone who had followed him in life, he would suffer a terrible death.
Yet, because of his great love, he gave his life so that we could be brought to true life. He loved and suffered so that we, too, could learn how to love and suffer, and bring his life and light to a world that still walks in darkness.
+Blessings and peace in your remembrances of our Lord's passion and death.
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