How deep is His love?

“Long have I waited for your coming, home to me and living, deeply our new life”-Hosea

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Day one in the Philippines. The heat is unlike any other, the food is in abundance, and the Lenten season alive in every cranny of the environment!

It was in a discussion of our Holy Week schedule that suddenly the Lord had me reflect on the immensity of His love. For Good Friday,our host will be taking us to the province to participate in a traditional procession that features…Flagellation, aka individuals who willingly whip themselves to experience the pain and suffering experienced by Jesus at His passion.

The idea of witnessing actual people physically hurting themselves is unsettling: the sight of blood, skin tearing, cries of anguish. What is also incredible is the story of those who chose to do this ritual every year…this devotion that I haven’t witnessed ever in my life.

I’ve participated in Good Friday processions back home in Canada where participants simply complained about the coldness of the weather, or the length of the route. It is very difficult to witness “selfless love” nowadays, the concept of Love being constantly being transformed by contemporary culture. A Love like the one demonstrated by Christ at His Passion, indeed, is truly out of this world. How He looked like when He prayed for us on His last night:

“In His anguish, He prayed for earnestly, and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground.” Luke 22:43

Lord, have I really loved you until every pore of my body is in tears? And what of your people, have I been moved with tears out of compassion? My personal response to these questions is what unsettles me the most, more than sight of flesh tearing from someone’s body. I will be to shame tomorrow as I experience “a love that bleeds”. However, it also gives me hope, in the sense that it is this same shame that Christ will take upon Himself on the Cross. There is no greater love than sacrificial love, none other than the one demonstrated by Jesus.

“A love exalted through sacrifice and Mission.” This is also an affirmation for me as a Missionary, that in His love for the Father, Jesus accepted this Mission of our redemption.

Lord, I pray for for the same obedience, and love to our Father. I also pray for tears, a deeper devotion to You, amen.