When I was a child, my mom maintained few maxims she repetitiously taught me.  The most prominent was, “I love you but not as much as God loves you.”  She reminded me that a mother’s love is strong but God’s love is stronger.  It left a mark on my heart and at six I turned to her and said, “Mom, labor and child birth must be comparable to Jesus’ death on the crucifix.”  In my six year old mind, I could see Jesus’ sacrifice having a similarity to a mother in labor. 

Today, I am convicted by my mother’s words.  God loves me more than she does, God loves my own children more than I do, and furthermore, God’s sacrifice is more than a mother’s.  Jesus abandons all to the Father not just for me, but every single person from the beginning of time through eternity.  Henri  De Lubac writes: “Christ from the very first moment of his existence virtually bears all men within himself—erat in Christo Jesu omnis homo.”[i]  It is why Jesus says, “It is finished.” JN 19:30.  For only Jesus’ decision could maintain eternal ramifications and a consummation of the human race for all eternity to the Father in Heaven. 

Romano Guardini wrote, “Only Christ’s love is certain.  We cannot even say God’s love; for that God loves us we also know, ultimately through Christ... Only through Christ do we know that God’s love is forgiving.  Certain is only that which manifested itself on the cross.  What has been said so inadequately is true: the heart of Jesus Christ is the beginning and end of all things.”[ii] 

As we remember the sacrifice of Jesus today, consider these words from Galatians:
“Yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.” Gal 2:20

[i] What is divided is united, discord becomes peace. Henri De Lubac, Catholicism, pg. 37. 

[ii] Romano Guardini, The Lord, pg. 468.