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The preface for the Mass at the start of Lent refers to
this “Joyful Season.” Many of us are startled by this reference. For
most, Lent has always been a season of giving up, of penance, a time
when we focus on the Cross.
As you look at the Cross, did you ever ask yourself the question, “Why did Jesus die like this?” If He had been a mere man, it would have made sense. He could not avoid it. He was up against impossible odds, and the cards were stacked against Him. But, it is different for the Son of God. He did not have to become like us and be born into our world. He did not have to get tired and thirsty or dusty and angry. He did not have to take insults from His own creatures. He did not have to sweat blood in a garden and beg his Father, “Don’t let me die.” He did not have to be condemned like a common criminal. He did not have to die. Why then did he die? A clue comes from God’s own book from the Gospel of John –“God so loved the world that he gave His only Son and that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” St. Paul says in amazement, “He loved me and gave Himself for me.” Yes, Jesus did it all because He loved you. If you were the only person in the world, He would have died for you. But then you might say, “Couldn’t God have discovered a different way, a way less difficult than death on Calvary?” Couldn’t God have simply forgiven us and asked only that we be sorry for having offended Him? If this were not enough for Divine Justice and if God’s son had to somehow touch our earth in person, why didn’t He come as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Why did He have to become human like us? Why did he have to experience meekness, fear and weakness? If God, the Father, wanted Him to die, why couldn’t He have died in bed and died with dignity? Why ask Him to die in a bloody disgrace, mocked by the world for which he was dying and the world He created? Frankly, I do not know. I suspect no one knows, save the God who invented the Passion. One fact rings loud and clear from Calvary. Where God’s love is concerned, we mortals are ignorant and very uncomprehending. We often experience what men and women will do for love. We find it strange to think that way about God, perhaps, because we think of God as the stern judge, impassive, unmoving and hard as a rock. If that is the way we see our God, then we do not know Him. We have not grasped the truth that St. John tells us when he says, “This is love –not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins.” You see, God was not content with some sort of legal redemption or a calm and cool formal pardon for the sins of the world. He wanted to experience what we experience and live out our human condition. He wanted to learn as we learn. He wanted to love as we love, often surrounded by hate and lust. He wanted to experience at firsthand what it feels like to grow and to hurt, to laugh and to cry, to grow angry and to be afraid. He was sinless, but he wanted to be where sin is. He wanted to know what makes us do the things we do. He wanted not only to heal you, but to lay hands of compassion on the scarred, lonely and unloved. He wanted to feel the kind of pain that we feel. He wanted to feel what it is like to die. God’s Son wanted to be one of us, and one with us. For Him, love was stronger than death. Greater love than this no one has that He would lay down His life for you. He did not simply die. He died for you. If He loves you that much, you must be quite extraordinary and very special. The least you can do –no, I should say, the best you can do—in return is to not simply live. Live for Him. Then you will experience a joyful Lent. |
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