prismaticbleed | A Prayer for Remembering Jesus' Sacrifice (Reply)

God, thank You for Your amazing gift of grace, bestowed on us through Your loving Self-sacrifice in Jesus Christ!

Thank You for buying my freedom from sin's deadly power, and meriting for me forgiveness of the evil I have done under its tyranny.

Jesus, my Lord and my God, my heart is full to breaking in gratitude for all You have done. I cannot truly grasp the depth of Your Merciful Love for me... it is like trying to take the ocean into my hands. I cannot fully comprehend the extent of Your Humility, either... that sublime quality that moved You to become the Lamb of God, the Incarnate Son, the meek yet mighty Man willingly bleeding out on that central Cross.

Help me never forget Your death and resurrection. Help me to remember that You thought of me-- specifically, pointedly, and with tenderly steadfast devotion-- as You wept in the Garden and carried that chunk of tree. Help me to remember all that You sacrificed and suffered, willingly, for the sake of finally being in right relationship with me. You couldn't breathe, You couldn't eat or drink, You couldn't see from sheer exhaustion... Your Feet were raw and bloody, Your Face bruised and spat upon, Your Heart shattered and fluttering like a trapped dove. Your torture was excruciating in the truest sense. Your Body screamed with pain even as Your Soul did the same. Your anguish was physical, mental, emotional, spiritual. You took on the full power of Death and the devil, carrying every single sin on Your gored Shoulders, and Lord it would have killed any other creation in existence... but You are the Eternal King. You cannot be dethroned. You entered into death and in doing so, it became Your territory. Your Presence changed everything. Your Love transformed everything. Your Death revived everything. Your Resurrection recreated everything. It's all so mysteriously beautiful and achingly glorious to ponder... but what really makes it hit home is that fine print, handwritten in Blood and gold for each and every human soul that ever was or will be... ALL OF THIS IS MY LOVE FOR YOU.

Help me to remember that the Passion was just that-- ardent, honest, altruistic, all-consuming Love. Jesus went to His Death so that He could redefine both it and Life itself, and with open Arms, embrace us-- even me-- into that new and eternal hope.

Lord, in this most Sacred Triduum, empower me by Your Holy Spirit to enter into its Truth completely. I give You my whole mind, my entire heart, my collective soul, and even my battered body, to inundate with Grace & Fortitude, so that I may zealously yet humbly share Your Good News with others.

I pray this in Jesus' name, that all may be one in Him, united in and through and for His Love forever. Amen.