As Jesus approached John the Baptist, John called out, "'Look, there is the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." (Jn 1:29) The evangelist John directs our attention to the Lord's Passion, where Jesus fulfilled the Father's plan, in obedience to the Father's will, as the lamb of sacrifice. The Suffering Servant of Isaiah details the way of someone who suffered and died, not for his failure and crime, but for our sorrows, sufferings and faults. Jesus was one of us, except in sin, living and feeling as we do. We remember how He loved us; humble and unashamed, an itinerant preacher and healer. He prayed that "they may all be one" with Him and the Father in His farewell to us. This is what Christ was sent to accomplish on earth.

What more has the Passion of the Lord Jesus Christ to do with me? What is the Way of the Cross for me? Importantly, we come back to be with Jesus, unlike His closest friends who abandoned Him. We pray that we will always seek Him and remain with Him. We pray for those who are going through unending, sometimes torturous, suffering in the world. We remember all the holy men and women who have suffered and died. Martyrs who have hung for our Christian faith. Pope Francis said, "The Cross isn't an ornament, a mere symbol. It's the mystery of God's love, that He died for our sins."