R. Because by Thy holy Cross, Thou hast redeemed the world.
When Nietzsche wrote, "God is dead," doubtless he intended it to be a startling statement, but surely it is far more startling to say that "God has died." Even more powerful is to say: "God has died the most excruciating death to show you how much He loves you and wants you to live with Him forever, freed from the pain and suffering you inflict upon yourself by your sins."
Death cleaves soul from body, but also destroys all earthly hopes for glory and power. In the light of death none of these paltry things to which we cling so strongly mean more than the dust that covers the earth.
Our Beloved Savior knew better than we what truly matters. He knew that in the end all that remains is love.
It was love that carried Him through the torturous journey that brought Him to the place of execution. It was love that filled His heart with every breath He took—every painful breath to draw in voice to speak His last words of love upon His enemies and those close to Him alike.
O my dying Jesus, I kiss devoutly the Cross on which Thou didst die for love of me. I have merited by my sins to die a miserable death; but Thy death is my hope. Ah, by the merits of Thy death, give me grace to die, embracing Thy feet, and burning with love for Thee. I yield my soul into Thy hands. I love Thee with my whole heart; I repent of ever having offended Thee. Never permit me to offend Thee again. Grant that I may love Thee always; and then do with me what Thou wilt. (From the Stations of the Cross according to Saint Alphonsus Liguori.)
And every word He spoke while He hung upon that cross carries such a weight of love:
"Father, forgive them, for they know not what we do." For we never know what we do: we never know how deeply we offend Him not just by our sinning, but by failing to turn to Him with the loving tenderness in each moment that He deserves for His goodness to us.
"Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." All it took to gain Saint Dismas this promise was one act of love. How overwhelmingly our Lord responds to any act made for love of Him!
"Woman, behold your son. Son, behold your mother." He wanted even to share His Mother with us, to share her pure and loving heart with us, knowing that she would intercede for us with all the power of her being.
"My God, My God, why hast Thou abandoned Me?" Crying out in union with our torment, He shows us that He too knows the depths of despair that sometimes threatens our hearts' peace.
"I thirst." How greatly He thirsts for our love!
"It is finished." When He had reached the end of His strength, He knew that His sacrifice was complete, ready as if a gift to be wrapped and handed to those He loves.
"Into Thy hands, I commend My spirit." In the end He gave Himself back into the hands of His Father whose Providence had guided each moment of His earthly life and which directs also each moment of ours.
Three hours of agony it cost Him before He had expended all the strength of His mortal body in an outpouring of love. Even then He had more to give: when the soldiers pierced His side, blood and water flowed forth like an ocean of mercy for the whole world, preparing the way for the most beautiful prayer given to Saint Faustina and known as the Divine Mercy chaplet and which begins thus:
You expired, Jesus, but the source of life gushed forth for souls, and the ocean of mercy opened up for the whole world. O Fount of Life, unfathomable Divine Mercy, envelop the whole world and empty Yourself out upon us.
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