Day 39: Good Friday, March 21

At the suffering and death of Our Savior, Our Inspirer, what takes hold are those words, called out after darkness covered the land, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?"

In this tragedy, we find the tremendous love of God. Past all physical pain and injustice, beyond betrayal, lays the utter heartbreak of being abandoned. The depth of the possibilities of soul-suffering is not complete without feeling utterly alone. His own Son felt the desolation of being abandoned by God.

In this moment, Jesus has completely embraced human suffering. Christ is enduring all of the pain we could possibly face. In the darkness of the shadow of death, love and sorrow meet, and I am struck not only by the aching, but by the capacity of this pain to offer life to the suffering world. It is here I am overcome by what was done for us; by God subjecting His child to darkness in order to bring light to all of His children. Christ's human experience has finally totally encompassed life in such an imperfect place.

After His last breath, the curtain to the temple is torn and any barrier between God and His people is destroyed. In our own darkness, Lord help us embrace the gift of the cross, and know that the depth and breadth of our pain was suffered for us, that Christ withstood the deepest possible agony and was resurrected, and that our souls never need fear darkness again.

Sarah DiPier