“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” These words from Psalm 22, which Jesus cried out to his Father as he died on the Cross, are some of the most haunting words in the entire Bible. How could Jesus, the Son of God, feel abandoned by God? How did it come to this? And if Jesus felt abandoned, how much more must we feel abandoned, especially during our own crises and trials?
The fact that all of his friends and followers had fled could not have helped. Jesus was, in a sense, also left only with his household: his mother, St. John, and St. Mary Magdalene. If anyone can relate to the isolation and abandonment that we all are feeling right now, it is Jesus on the Cross.
I hope we can use our isolation and abandonment to grow closer to him. I hope all of these pent up, negative emotions we are feeling after so many weeks inside, with so many weeks left to go, can be used to bring us closer to the Cross. We know that the Cross leads to the Resurrection, sure, but we are not there yet. The next few days are all about the Cross, and as Christians we are called to embrace it.
May it please God, we will never have to be apart for our high holy days ever again. But this year, this unique, once-in-a-century year, we will know the isolation and abandonment that Jesus felt. We will be next to our Lord in his suffering. I am not courageous or holy enough to choose the sufferings of Jesus voluntarily, but this year, when they are offered to me, I hope to be humble enough to accept them as a gift. There is nothing I desire more than to be close to the Lord, and he will use even this to fulfill that desire.
Fr. Moore 