For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, 

so that everyone who believes in Him might not perish but might have eternal life.” 

John 3:16

John 3:16 is frequently quoted and, in its familiarity, can drift unremarkably past my ears. But as I meditated on the Gospel this week, the verse leapt off the page and pierced my heart. Out of love and into a broken world filled with people wounded by sin and pain and separation, God sent His only Son to redeem our suffering and even our deaths so that we could be reunited with Him for all of eternity. 

This week is a significant one for our family, as it marks the eighth anniversary of our first miscarriage. I remember acutely the excitement of joyful expectation replaced suddenly by shock, uncertainty, and a very lonely grief as the world bustled around us, unaware of the tiny life that had briefly found a home in my body and in our family. 

In that period of intense darkness, Christ drew close to me in the form of those people who, acting as His hands and feet, ministered to the spiritual and material needs of my family.  I found great consolation in the Church’s teaching that God’s great mercy and desire for all men to be saved, and Jesus’s tenderness towards children, offer us hope that even those children who have died without baptism might be saved. (CCC, No. 1261). As we commended our little one to the tender mercy of God, sadness remained but gratitude and hope took root.

Four years to the day after that first miscarriage, our family gathered around the baptismal font at Holy Cross to welcome a new infant daughter into the Church with great joy. Unintentional in its overlap with the anniversary of the miscarriage, the timing of that baptism now seems providential.  It points to a greater truth alluded to in this week’s Gospel: that the entirety of each life, however brief, is called to the same end – an eternity of life and love with the triune God and the communion of saints and angels. 

Thanks be to God for the gift of everlasting life! Wherever we find ourselves this Lent and whatever crosses we bear, let us walk with one another, commend our joys and suffering to the mercy of Christ, and allow Him to draw close to us. He wants so much to bring us all home.  

To anyone who has experienced miscarriage or infant loss, please know that you do not need to bear the grief alone, and there are ways that we at Holy Cross can support you and honor the life of your child. For more information, email me at laura@ourholycross.org.