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April 7, 2020“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”
Think about this exchange between Christ and St. Peter. The two were incredibly close friends, and at dinner that night Christ tells all of his disciples that one of them will betray Him. Peter was eager to know who it is and was eager to defend himself. We know that it was Judas Iscariot who would ultimately be known as the betrayer, but in a sense, you could say that He knew that Peter would betray His friendship.
At this moment, you can say Christ is starting His passion, his suffering for our sake. He was not just betrayed by Judas, Peter, his best friend and the man who he made leader of the Church for eternity, denied even knowing him three times. When we look at a crucifix, we see the external wounds of Christ, but in the Gospel, we can see the emotional wounds that were inflicted upon Christ.
In taking on the sin of all of humanity to redeem us, He took on the suffering that those sins cause. Not just being scourged at the pillar, or crowned with thorns, Christ was humiliated and betrayed by the people whom He loved and trusted most.
What does this mean for us? We are called to unite our sufferings with His. To offer our sufferings to Him. When we do this, we have the full knowledge that He has experienced them as well. He is there in our sufferings, in the moments when we have felt betrayed by our friends, in the moments when we are treated unwell, insulted or put down, Christ is there.
We have only to unite our sufferings to His. Right now is a perfect time to do so. This lent we all had to give up much more than we expected to. We are now in the holiest time of the Church’s year. Try and unite and relate your past and current sufferings to the God who loved you so much He suffered and died for you.
St. Paul of the Cross, in one of his letters to a spiritual director he says:
Suppose that you had fallen into the river, and that a charitable person threw himself into the water to save you. What would you say to such kindness? Moreover, suppose that, hardly drawn from the water, you had been attacked by assassins, and that your rescuer again came to your assistance, and saved your life at the risk of his own. What would you do in return for such friendship?
It is certain that you would do all in your power to heal the bruises he received on your account. So, ought we to act towards Christ: we must contemplate Him engulfed in an ocean of sorrows to save us from the eternal abyss; consider Him all covered with wounds and bruises to purchase for us eternal life. Then let us make His pains our own, sympathize with His sorrows, and consecrate to Him all our affections.
God Bless, Wash your Hands Tom
