Read: John 19:16-30
“Remember the overflowing blood of God’s Son. Christ bathed us in it when He opened His body up and drained Himself with holy fire and blazing love on the wood of the cross. Love held Jesus there fast. As the saints say, neither cross nor nails could have held God, had it not been for the cement of divine love. That’s why you should always be looking on that wood. Let the eye of your understanding rest on the Cross always. Here you’ll discover true virtue and fall in love with it.”
–Catherine of Siena (d. 1380)
How deep is the Father’s love for us?
I am inspired by the image from Catherine of Siena (above) of God’s love
as cement. The cement of divine love was
the strength that held Jesus through his suffering and death. The cement of divine love is so strong that
nothing – nothing you can do or think or
say, no powers on earth or in heaven, no heights or depths – nothing can separate you from God’s love (Romans
8:38-39). The cross is proof of that.
Today we mourn. We mourn that our beloved Lord, who loves us more than we can imagine, suffered so greatly because we couldn’t love him as he loved us. We mourn that scoffers mocked Jesus as he bled and died for them. We mourn that the disciples fled and left Jesus to die alone. We mourn that – despite God’s calling to live a holy life – we submit to the temptations to sin and hurt one another. We, too, are guilty for the cross.
But today we also give thanks.
We give thanks because Christ died for us while we
were yet sinners. Jesus
suffered the cross so that we could be reconciled to God, so that we could know
the true depths of God’s love for us.
Today, I invite you to remember the overflowing blood of Jesus with heavy, grateful hearts. Jesus died for you. Today, I invite you to let these words sink in, let them speak deep into your heart so you can know the power and goodness of God’s divine cement-like love for you – yes, even you.
~ Laura Johnson
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