As we commemorate the Passion and death of Jesus, Christians often sing the old hymn, “Were you there when they crucified my Lord?” At first glance, the answer to the question seems obvious: Of course I wasn’t there when Jesus was crucified! That was two thousand years ago!

At a deeper level, though, every human person without exception was at the Crucifixion, carried within the Sacred Heart of Jesus himself. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states:

478 Jesus knew and loved us each and all during his life, his agony and his Passion, and gave himself up for each one of us: “The Son of God. . . loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20). He has loved us all with a human heart. For this reason, the Sacred Heart of Jesus, pierced by our sins and for our salvation, “is quite rightly considered the chief sign and symbol of that. . . love with which the divine Redeemer continually loves the eternal Father and all human beings” (Pope Pius XII, Haurietis aquas, 54) without exception.

This is an extraordinary mystery! Two thousand years ago, Jesus knew and loved each one of us as he layed down his life on the Cross. He died not for anonymous, faceless “humanity,” but for you, for me, and for every person in human history. How amazing to know that Jesus was thinking of each of us when he endured his scourging, the weight of the Cross, the piercing of the nails, and his eventual death.

To understand this mystery a bit more, we must understand that Jesus is both true God and true man (CCC 464-469). He had not only a divine intellect and will, but also a distinct human intellect and will (CCC 470-471). While the knowledge of Christ’s divine intellect is infinite and outside of time, the knowledge of his human intellect was limited, exercised in space and time (CCC 472). Because his human mind was perfectly attuned to his divine mind, however, Jesus was able to intimately know the Father, his plan of salvation, and even each one of us (cf. CCC 473-474).

Many Catholic mystics have had a keen awareness that each of us was, in some sense, in the mind and heart of Jesus two thousand years ago. The Diary of St. Maria Faustina Kowalska, for example, includes numerous passages about this mystery. According to the diary, Jesus told St. Faustina that the souls of priests, religious, devout souls, and little children brought him consolation during his Passion, but the souls of the lukewarm, heretics, and schismatics brought him greater suffering (Diary no. 1209-1229).

How extraordinary it is to imagine that Jesus was aware of both our sins and our acts of charity when he endured his Passion! Each act of rejection of God and neighbor today was felt by Jesus two millennia ago on Calvary. Each act of love of God and neighbor today was similarly felt by Jesus on the Cross. I don’t pretend to understand this mystery, but it seems well-established in Scripture and Catholic Tradition. “The Son of God. . . loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).

As we approach the Sacred Triduum, then, let us participate in each liturgy with great devotion, confident that Jesus knew and loved each one of us throughout the events of Holy Week. He instituted the Eucharist for you. He suffered and died for you. He rose again for you. You were indeed there when they crucified my Lord.