“And Jesus going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart, and said to them: ‘Behold we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of man shall be betrayed to the chief priests and the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death. And shall deliver him to the Gentiles to be mocked, and scourged, and crucified, and the third day he shall rise again.’”
Much had happened since Jesus had last told the disciples of His passion, with miracles, refuting the Pharisees, and the laying out of the three evangelical counsels all taking place, but now He turns to them to tell them what love really looks like: “[Love] beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things” (1 Corinthians 13:7). Your salvation, Theophila, hangs entirely on the death of Christ; His public ministry draws you to Him, but His passion and death was the expiation of all your sin: “Christ died for our sins, according to the scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3). Thus, meditation on the Incarnation and public life brings joy to the heart and familiarity with your Beloved, but meditation on the passion pierces the heart like nothing else: "They shall look upon me, whom they have pierced: and they shall mourn for him as one mourneth for an only son, and they shall grieve over him, as the manner is to grieve for the death of the firstborn” (Zacharias 12:10). The passion is the great treasure of the faith: “For both the Jews requires signs, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews indeed a stumblingblock, and unto the Gentiles foolishness” (1 Corinthians 1:22-23), and the mystery thereof was thus given to those closest to Him. He knew what was waiting for Him, yet He goes freely, of His own volition: “Therefore doth the Father love me: because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No man taketh it away from me: but I lay it down of myself, and I have power to lay it down: and I have power to take it up again” (John 10:17-18). It prepares His strongest warriors for the harshest trial, that they may not think Him to be only a man in hanging upon the cross, or that His death was outside of His plan, for He died as a man, but being willing to go to such a horrifying death for His beloved is divine: “God is love” (1 John 4:16). Thus, He lightens the burden of His death for them, that they may not be caught off guard when the events of the passion take place; to those who knew such difficult lives, He places emotional cushions, that their hearts may not bear a burden that leads to a break: “Neither do they put new wine into old bottles. Otherwise the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish” (Matthew 9:17). Now, because you and Jesus are intertwined by love and grace: “If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and will make our abode with him” (John 14:23), His life is your life, and your life is His life, and as He speaks to His Apostles that they may not be scandalized, it is also spoken to you, that you may know that love’s demands are great: “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me” (Luke 9:23), with the devil cursing your love story and many warring against the truth, thus “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” (Job 7:1), with true love’s image being that of the crucified Christ. His announcing His resurrection, then, is a call to hope for His Apostles, and encouragement for you, that if you hold fast to love and truth, you will not be without reward: “He that shall overcome, shall thus be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, and I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Apocalypse 3:5). Finally, Theophila, there is a call to love your Savior intimately, because many are those that claim to know Christ, but scourge Him by unkind words to others: “Whosoever shall say, ‘Thou fool,’ shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22), and crucify His image in them by sin: “For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have moreover tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, and are fallen away: to be renewed again to penance, crucifying again to themselves the Son of God, and making him a mockery” (Hebrews 6:4-6). Thus, it is your call to console His Most Sacred Heart, returning the love that is so ungratefully spurned in the world, and then hoping that in those that crucify Him, He may rise again, His love never failing, and draw them into love of Him: “The Lord leayeth not his promise, as some imagine, but dealeth patiently for your sake, not willing that any should perish, but that all should return to penance” (2 Peter 3:9).