“I accept joy or suffering, praise or humiliation with the same disposition. I remember that one and the other are passing. What does it matter to me what people say about me: I have long ago given up everything that concerns my person. My name is host — or sacrifice, not in words but in deeds, in the emptying of myself and in becoming like You on the Cross, O good Jesus, my Master!”(Diary 485)
How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
As we enter into the Triduum, we accompany Jesus on His journey to the cross and our salvation. It is a deep suffering, but at the same time, a comfort, knowing that He shared so much of what we have suffered in life in a much deeper way, because He was without sin. He willingly took on this suffering to pay the price for our sins.
For three years the apostles had been with Jesus. They had witnessed many miracles, listened for hours to His teachings, and shared intimately with Him. Yet, we have the betrayal of Judas, the denial of Peter, and the scattering of all the rest, with the exception of John.
I cannot help but think of the broken heart Jesus must have had, as His closest friends betrayed, denied, and abandoned Him. Relationships in which I am sure he hoped to see the love He had shown them manifested. Yet, He knew they were weak even imploring them in the garden, "Pray that you will not fall into temptation."
They were human, with human weaknesses. Their fear, pride, anxiety, etc., would cause them to act in ways as if they had not known Him at all. As if of their own strength, they could do good. The story of man; the heart break of Jesus.
We can relate on some level. At one time or another in life we all suffer from a broken heart. Those we love and trust fail us in some way. Perhaps it is with our abortion, if someone who we thought loved us coerced us into abortion, or maybe it is with close friends or family who seem to have no regard for our feelings, or use us for their own means. We are left with a "broken heart" because we truly believed in their love and cannot understand how they can hurt us so deeply.
But we are all human.
As we contemplate the agony of Jesus, let us remember there is a way to mend a broken heart. It may take time, and we may have to choose to be healed from the deep hurt over and over again, but Christ gives us a way. The way is Him. By keeping our eyes on Christ and making the decision to heal no matter how painful it is.
By knowing in our broken hearts, that He understands our pain. By trusting Him, and then trusting Him some more, and more, even when we feel no trust, and then deciding to trust in Him again and His love for us, knowing He is always there and He healed our deep pain by His.
God's promises are true. His mercy is real. Yes, we may need to change behaviors and learn the psychological implications of abortion, or any other wound we have in order to heal, but as we do that, we need to hand over our broken hearts to God, who never fails to mend them through His suffering, death, and resurrection.
“I see the church as a field hospital after battle. It is useless to ask a seriously injured person if he has high cholesterol and about the level of his blood sugars. You have to heal his wounds. Then we can talk about everything else.” Pope Francis
