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There are some
statements that, while they might be true, certainly don’t
tell you the whole story about a given thing. For example,
you can say that the Mona Lisa is a painting. And
that’s true, but it is something much, much more. It is a
work of art. It is a masterpiece. It is a historical
artifact. You could say that the Grand Canyon is a big hole
in the ground. And again, that’s true. But that’s hardly
an apt description of the Grand Canyon. You could say that
Fettuccine Alfredo is just macaroni and cheese, and
technically, you’d be correct. There’s just a little more
to the story than that. Sometimes, you’ve got to know more.
We just read together one
of the greatest testimonials of true love that we will ever
here. We even call this story, The Passion. Sometimes, some
people like to remind us that God so loved us, that He gave His
only Son to die for us. And that’s true. It’s right out of
John 3:16, one of the most famous verses in the Bible. But
that’s really only part of the story, isn’t it? There’s a whole
lot more to the story than Jesus closing His eyes and going home
to His Father. This is NOT a nice story. Jesus isn’t in some
hospital bed, surrounded by family and friends, with them
praying for His soul to have a safe passage home. Jesus is
nailed to a cross. He’s beat up. He’s got a crown of very
painful thorns stuck on top of head. They have mocked Him.
They have taken everything from Him. They have tortured Him.
Crucifixion was truly one of the worst forms of torture and
death in the history of mankind. And believe me, we’ve come up
with some pretty sick and painful and humiliating forms of death
down through the ages. Jesus didn’t just die. Dying is way too
nice of a word for what’s going on here. And we’ve got to
remember that. God went to the extreme to show His love and
concern for His people. I don’t think that most of us have the
slightest inkling of just how extreme this was. Certainly our
reading the Gospel passage together doesn’t do it justice. They
say that even the violence of Mel Gibson’s movie, The Passion of
the Christ, only begins to tell us of just what Jesus went
through, out of love for us.
Jesus’ extreme love and
sacrifice challenges all of us to love Him in return and to also
make sacrifices. We can never forget this story. It’s way too
important. That’s one of the reasons why we as Catholics keep
the Body of Jesus, The Corpus, on our Crosses. It’s why we have
crucifixes! Because if we forget what happened on that Cross,
it becomes just another decoration, or another piece of jewelry,
or another piece of wood. Jesus didn’t just die for us. Jesus
was crucified for us. Now the only question that really remains
is what are WE going to do for Him? How extreme, how
passionate, can our love be?
May God bless us this Holy
Week, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit…AMEN !!!
St. Maria Goretti…Pray for us
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