“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
Not long ago I could say that every time I looked in the mirror I saw a wretched creature. Mired in sin and wrapped in darkness, how could God forgive me, let alone love me. But, the cross hangs over those fears and that self-pity. The cross is the bridge that spans the darkness. The cross.
Every time I look into His eyes or gaze upon the cross upon which He hangs, I tremble and cry in my unworthiness – but Jesus still calls us and the Father desires us more than all the galaxies ever spun in the universe. The cross was not some last minute thing thrown on Jesus by the Romans. It was conceived by Jesus long before Rome.
In the beginning, the Word was looking forward to that moment. When Adam took the Apple from his wife, when Eve listened to the serpent, when they hid from God in shame – the Word was looking to the cross.
And, that darkness that once hung over my being as I looked into the mirror, that hid my true self behind a veil of wretchedness does not overcome the Light that is the Word.
“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” The fullness of Divine Mercy is revealed in the sword from the beginning of John’s Gospel. No matter have dark and vile your sin has made you, the rays of red and white stream from the Sacred Heart of Jesus and overcome all darkness within, if accepted.
“These two rays issued forth from the very depths of My tender mercy when my agonized Heart was opened by a lance on the Cross.” Divine Mercy in My Soul # 299
Do you see a wretched, sinful creature when you gaze upon the mirror of your soul? Jesus doesn’t. Do you see nothing but darkness in your heart as a result of past (or current) sins? The Father doesn’t. His see His beloved son or daughter. God sees the one person for whom He conceived the Passion of the cross.
“What has come into being in him was life” – ““I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live,” John 11:25