What was the most painful day of your life? On what day in your life so far did you suffer more than any other day in your life? Today is a day of suffering. Today is a day of suffering, is a day of meaning, is a day of differentiation. Great thinkers, philosophers, brilliant men and women, geniuses throughout history have all struggled to understand suffering. And one of the fundamental differences between our Christian faith and all other faiths is that we believe that suffering has value. And that is the lesson that we learn today, or one of the many lessons that we learn today. Today's reflection quote from John Paul II reads, "Good Friday is marked by the passion account and by contemplation of the cross, in which the Father's mercy is fully revealed. The liturgy has us pray in this way. When we were lost and could not find the way to you, you loved us more than ever. Jesus, your son, innocent and without sin, gave Himself into our hands and was nailed to the cross. Therefore, after proclaiming the Passion of the Lord, the church puts the adoration of the cross at the center of the Good Friday liturgy not as a symbol of death, but as a source of authentic life. On this day, charged with spiritual emotion, the cross of Christ is lifted up upon the world as a banner of hope, for all who in faith welcome its mystery into their lives."
Is there a word or a phrase or an idea that jumps out at you in this quote today? There are many for me. This is a day of unique relationship between Jesus and the Father. Throughout the life of Jesus in the Gospels, we read about Jesus relating with the Father, Jesus communicating with the Father, Jesus communing with the Father. And today, John Paul II draws attention to this relationship. The Father's mercy is fully revealed. It's a beautiful phrase, fully revealed. And what's interesting to me there is that even though the Father's mercy may be fully revealed on this day, we individually and collectively have not fully comprehended it. It was fully revealed 2,000 years ago, but humanity has not fully comprehended it. I have not fully comprehended it. We have not fully comprehended it. And I think it's important for us to recognize that, that the Father's mercy is vast our comprehension of it is likely quite small by comparison.
And so today is an invitation to invite God to expand our comprehension of Him, to expand our comprehension of His mercy, to expand our comprehension of His plan, His mystery, the cross, to expand our comprehension of the role, the reason, the meaning of suffering in our lives and in our world. The cross, he says, is a banner of hope. I think we do see a lot of hopelessness in our culture today. Again, we spoke about earlier in the week, it is an inevitable consequence of turning our backs on God, of rejecting God. And the more our culture turns its back on God, the more our culture rejects God, the more hopelessness we will see in our culture and in people's lives, because it is a consequence of rejecting God, and it is an inevitable consequence. This hopelessness that we see so many lives gripped with and even destroyed by. And if we say, "Oh, let's find a great banner of hope," probably, honestly, none of us probably picked the cross. But that is the genius of his wordsmithing today.
John Paul II writes, "The cross of Christ is lifted up upon the world as a banner of hope." It's a banner of hope. And so whatever hopelessness you have in your heart today, maybe you feel hopeless about a relationship, maybe you feel hopeless about a situation in your life, maybe you feel hopeless about the direction of the world, or I don't know. Whatever it is you feel hopeless about today, allow God to transform that hopelessness into hope, fire way of the cross.
Faustina writes, "Great love can turn small things into great things and only love endows our deeds with value. The purer our love, the less the fire of suffering will find in us to consume. And suffering will cease to be suffering for us. It will turn into bliss. By the grace of God, I have received a disposition of the heart such that I am never so happy as when I am suffering for the sake of Jesus, whom I love with every tremor of my heart."
What jumps out at you in that quote? Is there a word or a phrase or an idea that the Holy Spirit used to capture your attention, your imagination? Only love endows our deeds with value. It's a fascinating truth. You can do something twice. Once can be of infinite value because it's done with love. The other can lack all value because it isn't done with love. Only love endows our deeds with value. And so the great human mandate to love, to love God wholeheartedly, to love our neighbour. This great mandate is an invitation to meaning, an invitation to endower, to pour value into the activities of our lives, however ordinary. There's another fascinating phrase in this quote today. Fastine writes, "The pure our love, the less the fire of suffering will find in us to consume." Think about that. Imagine that, envision that. The pure our love, the less the fire of suffering will find in us to consume. And then what happens? She says, "Suffering will cease to be suffering. It will turn into bliss." I know it may seem unimaginable, right? May seem unimaginable.
But we hear the saints talk about it over and over again. And in very ordinary ways, I hear parents talk about it all the time. I hear parents talk about the bliss, the great joy they get from being able to give their child an opportunity or do something for their child. And they don't talk about it, but I know, as they talk about it, that they have suffered and in many cases suffered greatly to bring about those opportunities for their children. And that is what Faustina's talking about here. And suffering will cease to be suffering. It will turn into bliss. Let's pray today, asking God, pleading with God, begging God to expand our comprehension of the value of suffering in our lives. We are pilgrims of mercy.
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Eternal God.
In whom mercy is endless.
And the treasury of compassion inexhaustible.
Look kindly upon us.
And increase your mercy in us. That in difficult moments–
We might not despair.
Nor become despondent.
But with great confidence.
Submit ourselves to your holy will.
Which is love and mercy itself.
Amen.
Amen.
Amen.
