The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery- Jesus Dies on the Cross

The Fifth Sorrowful Mystery- Jesus Dies on the Cross

When my youngest daughter was 3 1/2, we attended a Mass at Historic St Patrick's in Toledo, OH.

We sat in the pew before Mass began, and she gazed at the large crucifix which hung quite near us. It was a beautiful perspective that made me feel as though I was at the foot of the cross.... as though I was at Calvary.

Already rather precocious in her faith, my daughter gazed at the crucifix as I watched her. Without taking her eyes from it, she asked, "Mommy, why did Jesus have to die?"

Well, there's the $64 thousand-dollar question. Holy cow!

Why did Jesus have to die? How do you answer that for anyone, let alone a three-year-old??

And in one of those moments in which you know the Holy Spirit is right there with you, I put my arm around her and was able to give her an answer:

"Jesus had to die because we forget how to love one another."

After a brief "hey-that-wasn't-a-bad answer" gloat, I thought about it....it really is the answer, isn't it?

We forget how to love each other, and that is where a good chunk of the misery in the world originates.

We don't stop and think how deeply a wise-crack can cut.
We forget that to truly love a person, we must always make our choices for that person's benefit, not based on what we want for ourselves.
We forget that people we see every day carry hidden hurts that affect how they present themselves, and we judge them based on what we see.

We refuse to give up the sinful pride that goes all the way back to Adam and Eve- the pride that was the original sin that has reached through the ages and led to a little girl's question.

Why did Jesus have to die? ...Because we forget how to love one another.....The lesson of the Fifth Sorrowful Mystery.