A holy man once bethought himself how painful it must have been to God to have been seen by his enemies when he was taken prisoner. Our Lord answered him: “My enemies appeared unto Me in my presence as friends, who wished to help me in carrying out the sweetest and most desirable work that I ever worked in my life.”Johannes Tauler: Sermons. Every man plays his part in the Drama of the Crucifixion. It is all good and necessary. That we should repent of the work is wrong; Jesus allows us to sin against Him until our eyes are opened to what we are doing. This is the way back to God through Him. But, to be sure, we must repent of the spiritual motivation behind it. We did it out of pursuit for a lesser love -i.e. ourselves. But the work itself is always good. The Lord allows us to crucify Him because in and through it He still desires us with perfect love and uninterrupted passion. Nothing is removed from His desire for us. Everything affects Him. We kill Him on Good Friday because that the Word should be made flesh is threatening to us, not Him. But He prays that as we torture and kill Him, our eyes might be opened to the real murder we are committing. In killing Him, we are killing ourselves. When we awaken to it, the work of His Love kills what is left of us, and, behold we begin to be born again. My Lord, what Love thou hast for me/In thy Good Work on Calvary.
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