Jesus did not need to suffer to save us from our sins but he chose to in order to impart to us His infinite love for souls. The following excerpt was taken from The Road to Calvary and reflects upon the principal end of the Passion.
To Show His Love for Mankind
Saint John Chrysostom says that the principal end Jesus had in His passion was to discover to us His love, and thus to draw our hearts to Himself by the remembrance of the pains that He endured for us: “This was the principal cause of the passion of our Lord; He wished it to be known how great was the love of God for man—of God, who would rather be loved than feared.” Saint Thomas adds that we may, through the passion of Jesus, know the greatness of the love that God bears to man: “By this man understands the greatness of the love of God to man.” And Saint John had said before, In this we have known the charity of God, because He has laid down His life for us.
O my Jesus, Immaculate Lamb sacrificed on the cross for me, let not all that You have suffered for me be lost, but accomplish in me the object of Your great sufferings! Oh, bind me entirely with the sweet chains of Your love in order that I may not leave You and that I may nevermore be separated from You: “Most sweet Jesus, suffer me not to be separated from You; suffer me not to be separated from You.”
An Excess of Love
Saint Luke relates that Moses and Elias on Mount Tabor, speaking of the passion of Jesus Christ, called it an excess: And they spoke of His excess that He should accomplish in Jerusalem. “Yes,” says Saint Bonaventure, and rightly was the passion of Jesus called an excess; for “it was an excess of suffering and an excess of love.” And a devout author adds, “What more could He suffer that He has not endured? The excess of His love reached the highest point.” Yes, indeed; for the divine law imposes on men no other obligation than that of loving their neighbors as themselves, but Jesus has loved man more than Himself: “He loved these more than Himself,” says Saint Cyril.
You, then, O my beloved Redeemer—I will say to You with Saint Augustine—loved me more than Yourself since to save me You would lose Your divine life—a life infinitely more precious than the lives of all men and angels put together. You loved me more than Yourself because You were willing to die for me.
O infinite God, exclaims the Abbot Guerric, You have for the love of men (if it is lawful to say so) become prodigal of Yourself. “Yes, indeed,” he adds, “since You have not been satisfied with bestowing Your gifts, but You have also given Yourself to recover lost man.” O prodigy, O excess of love, worthy only of infinite goodness!
“And who,” says Saint Thomas of Villanova, “will ever be able, Lord, to understand even in the slightest degree the immensity of Your love in having loved us miserable worms so much that You chose to die, even upon a cross, for us?” “Oh, how this love,” continues the same saint, “exceeds all measure, all understanding!”
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This article is taken from a chapter in The Road to Calvary by Saint Alphonsus Liguori which is available from TAN Books.
