“More tears for his sorrows, more pain at his grief” (“More Holiness Give Me”, Phillip Paul Bliss). One of the great blessings that we have in this life is that however awful we feel, whatever tragedies we must endure, however lost and lonely and bitterly sorrow we are, we have the consolation that Jesus is right there with us, suffering just as much as we suffer, shedding just as many tears as we shed, hoping just as fervently for a swift release from the pain. But what about Him? If He is there to suffer with us, are we there to suffer with Him? If He never leaves us alone, do we ever leave Him alone? Every week when we partake of the Sacrament, we promise to renew our baptismal vows, including the covenant to mourn with those who mourn. Is not Jesus among those who mourn? Is He not “a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief?” (Isaiah 53:3) Focusing even for a moment on the pain that Jesus Christ must have endured just to pay the price for our own sins - to say nothing of the pain He experienced to atone for all of the other billions of God's children - is incredibly hard for us to bear. It is much easier for us to hide “as it were our faces from him” (Isaiah 53:3), but if Christ can weep with us, then the least we can do is shed a few tears of grief for His sorrows and pains. Taking time each week to ponder the awful pain and the unconquerable love that Jesus carried inside His bleeding and broken body until His work was finished, even and especially if such meditations bring tears to our eyes and a heaviness to our heart, will not only deepen our love for the Savior and renew our commitment to strive to be the best possible version of ourselves so that we can do all we can to minimize the burden we place upon Him, but mingling our tears with His will make it that much easier for us to endure the trials that we must face and to graciously accept the enabling power of His presence and His empathy as He bears our burdens with us. I hope that we can all deepen our love for our Savior by pleading for the gift of the pure love of Christ, that we may truly mourn with He Who mourns and shed tears of our own for the sorrows that He endures and feel just a little bit of the grief of His pain, because we know that over and over He has done the same and more for us.
