The love that Christ manifests for us in his suffering and death is majestic and glorious.

We have seen that at the beginning of these most holy days, he proffered a new commandment

to love one another as He has loved us.

From there, we proceeded with him to the upper room

in which he gave us of his Eucharistic body,

in which he fed us on love incarnate.

Then we can think of the love which is evident

in the great trials, the tortures, the torments

that he endured throughout the course of his passion.

For love of us, he suffered buffets and spitting, rejection and betrayal, abandonment by his closest

friends, mocking, all kinds of unconscionable harms. For love of us, he endures the most bitter

passion, the greatest agony, as he slowly

dies of his fixation on the cross.

For Love of Us, he puts himself into the hands of sinful men.

For Love of Us, he descends into hell for its harrowing, calling to himself all of the patriarchs of old, completing the proclamation

of the gospel, and bringing them up with him. But the question remains, what does love matter

if it dies with him? How is his love significant if it fails? Many have suffered before, and many have suffered before in a way that

is generous. We can think here of another first century Palestinian, a kind of Messiah of his time,

Barcockeb. Barcocca was hailed by his contemporaries as one who would deliver the people from

their oppression, who would overthrow their Romanaries as one who would deliver the people from their oppression,

who would overthrow their Roman overlords, who would bring about a new and perfect messianic age.

And yet, before hearing his name now, which of you had given a care in the world for Barcoqa?

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