By: Sister Teresa Christine, O.C.D.
It’s incredible to think that at any given moment, the entire human story is being told: at this moment, somewhere in the world, a woman is giving birth to her first child, a young couple is falling in love, children are playing in the sand by the ocean. Somewhere, right now, there is someone sitting at the bedside of a dying loved one. Today, someone’s life will change in the doctor’s office as they hear an unexpected diagnosis. Birth, growth, illness, despair, betrayal, hope, reconciliation. The entire spectrum of the human experience is playing out somewhere. And in the midst of this story, God’s grace is breaking through stony hearts. Every story line is a mystery, and the end of the story hasn’t been told.
At every moment, as that story is being told around the world, Christ is offering the world to the Father through the hands of his priest at mass. From the rising of the sun to its setting, the fullness of the human condition is united to the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. In the extravagant place of the mass, Christ gathers together the whole human story – every drop of it – and holds it to His heart, pierced for us on the Cross. Within that embrace of the Savior’s heart, nothing escapes His notice – every broken heart, every prayer spoken into the darkness, every mother’s tear. Taken up in that one Great Sacrifice, every storyline is moving toward resolution in that Heart of Mercy. He is holding the whole world in His gentle, pierced hands.
Whether our own story seems like a comedy, a tragedy or something in between, if it’s given over to Jesus, it will be taken up in to the great adventure of love, sacrifice and find the happy denouement that all our hearts are hoping for.
