The death of Jesus Christ, on which we contemplate and reflect today, in the gospel, can be a hard reality to face. Jesus, the Son of God, is mocked and scorned, alienated and abandoned, executed like a common criminal, ALL FOR US.

But WHY?

We can stand today, along with the mother of our Lord, the mother of the Church, at the foot of the cross. If we do stand here, with purity of heart, we open ourselves to enter into this mystery of love, a love that goes beyond anything this world can offer. Standing here we see the cross, we see the innocent and kind Son of God hanging there, battered and bloodied, fastened to the tree in such a cruel way.

Our loving Lord willingly choosing that brutal death in order that we might be saved, BECAUSE he loves us. Through his Passion and Death on the cross our God rescues us from ourselves!

Today, let us ask ourselves and meditate on, “What is my response to this?”

And let us open ourselves, our hearts, to receiving His deep and life-shaking love for us; His love that says, “I do this all for you. I choose YOU”, as he stretches out His arms to embrace us and free us.