We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another. 1 John 3:16.
Readers, as you enter the Triduum, some of you are tired. You’ve been laying down your life for weeks or months or years, and the sacrifices you make for others are ignored, disdained, maybe even mocked.
Jesus has been there.
It’s not an easy road.
Our Lord knew that the ultimate laying down of His life, with all its torturous suffering, was the very best gift He could give to us — and He knew that in His agony He would be nearly bereft of friends.
And yet He chose this road because it is the road. It is the path.
So much of the Christian life is simply not the same as the path to comfort and admiration in this life.
So if we measure our progress by the world’s standards, we will fall short. It’s the wrong measure. You notice you aren’t on a “successful” road because you are checking against a map to the wrong place.
The place you are headed is the place Jesus went.
So if you’re sure you’ve discerned correctly, if you have measured your life against the values and commandments of the Lord, if you have been faithful to your vows and steadfast in answering your actual calling . . . sometimes it’s going to look like these next three days.
It’ll look something like the dread loneliness and misunderstanding of Holy Thursday, the bitter, mind-destroying suffering of Good Friday, or the silence in the tomb of Holy Saturday.
Don’t give up! There’s a lot still to go between here and there, but Eternal Sunday is just around the corner.
Artwork: Entombment of Christ by Juan de Flandes, detail from the Palencia altarpiece, circa 1510-1518. Public domain.