As Catholic Christians we can do better at receiving the joy of our Lord; a joy he deeply desires us to experience both in this life and eternity. We Catholics love to focus on suffering; to pick up our cross and “suffer for the Lord.” While it is a tremendous gift, and some may even say joy to unite our suffering with the sufferings of Christ for the salvation of souls and an increased intimacy with our Lord, many of us look at the Way of the Cross thinking, “My poor Jesus, look what my sins have done to you!” While true, this perspective misses the entire point; so much so that too often it becomes ammunition for the enemy. We need to see Christ’s Passion (and ideally all things) from His perspective; “And over all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.”(Col. 3:14)
What is His perspective? “I am freely and purposefully allowing these horrible things to be done to me because this is how much I love you. This is how much I love the Father. This is how much I love. Do you want to know how much I love you? Look at the cross. Do you see it? Do you see me? And do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I did this and would do it again in a heartbeat to save you and set you free to be with me for all eternity. That’s how much I love you.”
This is a love that needs to be glorified: “Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name!”(Ps. 103:1) And when hard times come, as Jesus promised us they would remember that nothing changes who he is or what he has done for us. “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.” (Hab. 3:18)