As I gazed upon the open and empty tabernacle today, initially a great sadness filled my heart as I thought about how dark the world would be if the tabernacles were always empty...if the Eucharist never came to be...if Jesus never took on the weight of our sin and died to make us whole. The thought made my world feel very dark and meaningless. My heart felt as empty as the tabernacle I was looking at. But I know the end of the story, and that feeling was replaced with the glorious hope of our faith - the joy of the resurrection. The tabernacle would not be empty for long and our Lord has defeated death! Life is not dark and meaningless - the sacrifice of Jesus fills the empty places in our lives with light and love! The price of the cross has been paid so that we can be consumed by that love...we must never forget the cost.
The Good Friday service brings the magnitude of Christ's love for us into the very front of our minds. As the Passion story is read, I am reminded that it is the burden of my sin that placed my beloved Jesus on the road to Golgotha. He loved us so much that He endured the horrors of the scourging and crucifixion so that we might know the fullness of life in the Father. We deserve nothing, yet Jesus dies to give us everything. Love...it gets not greater than the cross.
After venerating the cross myself, I watched as others walked forward to do the same. It was beautiful to watch at least 100 people kiss the wood of the cross, but I was struck most deeply when I watched the children come forward with their parents. They approached the cross, kneeling as their parents did, looking to their mom or dad for guidance...mom and dad gently explaining what to do...the children showing their beautiful, innocent love in whatever way they had been told. It made me smile, knowing the little ones were being shown the beauty of the Lord's love.
Again, looking at the empty tabernacle, I begin to realize the fullness and importance of the Church's truth greater than I had known before. Without Her, the light of the Eucharist would not be brought into the world. Without Her, the little ones would not know the story of their Savior...the love of their Savior. But without the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ, She would not exist, and without His sacrifice, I cannot even imagine how dark and empty the world would be.
As we are reminded of the darkness of the tomb, may we never forget the love of God that brought us out of the tomb and into the light. May we be selfless like our Lord, truly and deeply loving everyone we encounter, suffering ourselves when we are called to that. May we always be grateful for what Jesus has won for us. And In times of difficulty, when we struggle to cling to the crosses we have been asked to carry, may we take strength in our Lord and comfort knowing that one day we will be with Him in paradise.
In His Love,
Lindsey
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