I'm happy that I went to mass this afternoon. The reason that I'm glad is that the homily helped shed some light on a question that I've been asking Christ for some time now, namely, "Why did You choose to die on the cross?"
I remember around two years ago while I was contemplating Christ's Suffering and Death, I told Christ (accompanied with tears, anguish, and all that stuff) , "You didn't have to let yourself be crucified just to show me that you love me! There are other ways to show me your love. You're so stupid! Stupid!" What was the sense of letting Himself be abused, humiliated, tortured, and murdered?
I got a speck of the answer this afternoon. During mass, the priest asked the question, "When someone has been abused, mistreated, oppressed, exploited... amidst all this injustice and suffering, where is God?" He said that the answer lied in Christ's suffering and death.
Christ became human to share in all our human situations, such as growing up, weddings, having friends, etc. Part of this was sharing in our experiences of suffering. And He allowed himself to experience the most horrific of sufferings --- to show us that even in the worst instances, He will still be there with us. He won't just watch from the clouds using his telescope. He'll be here hurting as we are hurting. He isn't just an observer in our life. He actively participates in it.
Maybe, just maybe, there really wasn't a better way to show us how much He loves us. I guess (and this I've seen in my own life), sometimes we gotta do drastic things for others to get the message.
I think I'm getting the message, little by little.
Hey Dude, thanks for sticking around.
