Genuine, no-holds-barred passion (Pope Francis / Sr. Melinda Adrienne Pellerin)

It was a heavy Cross,
like night experienced by abandoned people,
heavy like the death of loved ones,
heavy because it carries all the ugliness of evil.
However, the Cross is also glorious
like the dawn after a long night,
for it represents all the love of God,
which is greater than our iniquities and our betrayals. 

 –Pope Francis 

    What is the cost of true love? A question asked on this Good Friday. What is genuine, no-holds-barred passion? Authentic love holds relationships together, love binds those relationships up for the long haul; it is eternal. Love that will cost everything is The Passion of the Cross. 

    Jesus, our hope, our redeemer stood speechless; sometimes, love has no words in the midst of infirmities and suffering, love endures. Love withstands chastisement, it pardons, it forgives. Love embraces the light of truth and often requires sacrifices. The Passion of Jesus reminds us that true, enduring, everlasting love will cost everything! On this Good Friday, Jesus gives everything. 

    Good Friday reminds us again to bear witness and to ask: Were we there? We place ourselves into the experience: The arrest, the trial, the conviction, and the Crucifixion of Jesus. “Were You There when they crucified my Lord? Tremble! Tremble! Tremble!" 

   Love is a gift, love withstands the pain of death. At the foot of the Cross, in the presence of loved ones, in the thirst of the moment, love’s power transcends the blood, the sadness, and the piercing pain of rejection. Sacrificial love transforms. And when it is finished, love prevails. We remember, and we tremble because we have been saved. Transformative love costs everything to save us! 

 --Sr. Melinda Adrienne Pellerin, SSJ 

Image source: Gustav Klimt, Country Garden with Crucifix (1911), https://www.gustav-klimt.com/Country-Garden-with-Crucifix.jsp
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