Jesus, you have come to mind many, many times in my 58 years of priesthood. Not only during Mass or during prayer times, but also when driving down the road or in quiet moments in my recliner.

As I look upon my statue of you, dead in the arms of your mother, the “Pieta,” it’s hard for me to measure, or imagine how great is your love for us.  It evidently is higher than the mountains and deeper than the seas.  I guess it’s like trying to figure out how old God, your Father, is.  I have seen and experienced human love in many forms but I have never seen a love that can be compared to yours.         

Jesus, I owe you a lot. I am your debtor.   I have to weep when I think that my sins contributed to the pain you suffered during your Passion and Crucifixion.  As I say the Sorrowful Mysteries of the Rosary I am inclined to tears thinking of what you went through.

Yes, the Sorrowful Mysteries

You suffer an agony in the Garden of Getsemani so horrific

that you shed tears of blood.

You are tied to a stone post and beaten with iron tipped rods.

You are crowned with a crown of thorns which cut into the
delicate flesh of your head.

You carry a cross to Calvary so heavy that you fall to the
ground three times.

You are nailed to a cross and suffer for three hours before you die

Your Mother stands beneath the cross and her soul suffers
unimaginable pain.
 

Dear God, loving Father, maker of heaven and earth and of all things seen and unseen, what were you thinking when you were seeing your beloved Son being treated this way?  After all, you once said: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.”  (Matthew 3:17)

Heavenly Father, Were you inclined to wipe out all the executioners? Or did your great love for us make you withhold all action and let Jesus go on to death? I think it was your great love for us that made you let Jesus suffer so much. “Greater love than this no man hath, that a man lay down his life for his friend.” (John 15:13)

O good and gracious God when I look at the cross and try to imagine the pain your Son is going through, the one single thought breaks in upon me.  The thought: this is what divine love is all about.  Yes, I know ‘how great thou art. I see the stars and hear the roaring thunder, thy power throughout the universe displayed.’  But none of those mighty creations are as great as the mountains and oceans of love you have for us.  Your Son, Jesus is absolute proof of that love.

My good and loving Jesus, we owe you all that we have and all that we are. It’s easy to see why martyrs gave their lives for you. They were trying to return some of the love you shared with them. So thank you Jesus. I am your debtor and am happy to be so.  Thank you, Jesus.”

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