One day, forty years ago, in the novitiate, a holy card came into my hands with a phrase from Saint Teresa of Jesus that not only made my day, but also marked my life:
“Look at the crucified one, and everything will seem too little to you.”

This statement has always stayed with me. When someone comes up to me and says,  “You don’t know what they did to me,” my first thought is to ask them:  Have they done worse things to you than to Christ?

Historically, there has been debate about whether Christ’s Passion was the worst of all. His physical martyrdom lasted from the night of Holy Thursday until three o’clock in the afternoon on Good Friday. He was beaten, spat upon, humiliated, scourged, crowned with thorns, and forced to carry the cross to Calvary. Perhaps others have suffered more prolonged or sophisticated physical torments—thirteen years in prison, torture, mutilation—but there is something unique about Christ’s Passion:

• He was completely innocent.

• I didn’t owe anyone anything.

• He took upon himself all the sins of humanity, of all time.

• He even experienced the abandonment of God the Father.

In Gethsemane, before receiving a blow, he sweated blood because of the moral and spiritual weight he was bearing: pride, violence, lust, abuse of power, broken marriages, abandonment, illness… everything entered his chalice.

On a physical level, the description is shocking: the most unfair trial in history, dozens against one, beatings, insults, humiliation, a brutal scourging, the crown of thorns, the painful climb to Calvary and, finally, the crucifixion, three hours of hanging, wounded and assaulted until his last breath.

Could anyone suffer more than that? Perhaps some saints, but all of them had the grace to cling to Christ. Jesus, on the other hand, carried his cross alone, even abandoned by his own people.

Therefore, when people tell me about offenses, betrayals, or wounds that seem unforgivable, I remember these words:
Fix your eyes on the crucified one, and everything will seem too little to you.

Jesus’s passion wasn’t just physical: in it, he bore the sins of all humanity. He is the source of the strength to forgive, to move forward, to help, and to understand. As Saint Paul said, it’s about overcoming evil with good, doing all the good we can.