Today, Jesus speaks to us indirectly of the cross: He will give us the peace, but at the cost of His painful “departure” from this world. Today, we read those words He said before the sacrifice on the Cross but that were written after His Resurrection. With His death on the Cross, He defeats both death and fear. He gives the peace “Not as the world gives” (Jn 14:27), inasmuch as He does it by going through the most excruciating pain and humiliation: this is how He proved His merciful love for man.

From the moment sin entered the world, suffering in our lives has been unavoidable. There are times when it is a physical pain; other times, it is a moral suffering; and then, there are times when it is a matter of a spiritual pain… and we all have to die. But God in His infinite love has given us the remedy to have peace amidst the pain: He has accepted “to leave” this world with a painful “departure” surrounded by serenity.

Why did He do it in such a way? Because thus, human pain —together with Christ's suffering— becomes a sacrifice that saves us from sin. “In the Cross of Christ… human suffering has been redeemed” (Saint John Paul II). Jesus Christ quietly suffered to please the Heavenly Father with an act of costly obedience, through which He willingly offered Himself for our salvation.

An unknown author of the 2nd century attributes these words to Jesus: “See the spits over my face, which I received from you, to restore the original breath of life I had blown on your face. See my cheeks, which were slapped so I could reshape your damaged appearance according to my new image. See my back, which was lashed to remove the weight of your sins from your shoulders. See my hands, so strongly nailed to the cross for you, who, in times ago, fatally stretched out one of your hands towards the forbidden tree.”