"It is finished!"

What is finished is Jesus’ suffering. He suffered the rejection of the people in Nazareth. He suffered the verbal abuse and rejection of the religious leaders. He suffered the misunderstanding and limited vision of his disciples and their abandonment. He suffered the agony of the Garden, arrest, mistreatment by the guards, unjust condemnation by the High Priest. He suffered being scourged and crowned with thorns and being mocked. He suffered by being treated as a criminal while Barabas, a true criminal is released. He suffered the weight of the cross on the way to crucifixion. He suffered being stripped naked, nailed to a cross and hung to dye. He suffered the thirst that comes from dehydration, the pains in his arms and legs from hanging from the cross for hours, the struggle to breath. Now, it is finished. There will be no more pain or crying out, no more dying, no more suffering.

In the words of Pope Leo the Great: “There is nothing more to endure from these raging people. He has endured all that he foretold he should suffer. The mysteries of weakness are completed.”