REFLECTION ON THE LAST SEVEN WORDS OF JESUS ON THE CROSS

"I thirst." (In 19:28)

 

From the wood of a cross sanctified by his blood, God's own Son expresses the purpose of his becoming man. Jesus, one like us in all things but sin, thirsts for the souls of those he came to save. That is, every person on earth, beginning with Adam. Jesus wants to love us, and wants us to love him in return. So he thirsts. The thirst that Jesus experiences at his death endures throughout the ages. This last word of Jesus provides a first word for every Christian. No one should begin a day without remembering before all else that Jesus thirsts for his or her soul. "We love because he first loved us" (1 Jn 4:19). The priority of the divine initiative takes on human expression in the words of a thirsty, dying man.

 

"Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." (Lk 23:34)

 

Only God can forgive sins. We hear the primordial prayer of Christian forgiveness from the lips of the crucified Saviour of the world. This word creates an expectation. Now, every human being is called to fulfil the command of Jesus: "But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you..." (Lk 6:27). The only alternative to forgiveness is destruction: the end of oneself and of the other. Everyday occurrences throughout the world bear startling testimony to what happens when brother remains set unforgivingly against brother. To forgive every offence characterises the saint. We can take a first step toward this holiness by loving the heavenly Father, who makes his sun rise on the bad and the good and who causes rain to fall on the just and unjust.

 

"Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Lk 23:43)

 

The "today" that Jesus addresses to the repentant criminal whom we know as the Good Thief, belongs to every age. Whenever a person tums to Jesus, and says with love, "Jesus, remember me" (Lk 23:42), he or she begins a new "today". Jesus so much wants us to be with him in Paradise that he confides to his priests a ministry of forgiveness. The Sacrament of Penance and Reconciliation provides a unique experience of the "today". The Catholic whom sin has separated from communion with God and the Church is reconciled to the company of those who await with hopeful confidence the reward of Paradise. No one knows the sins that the Good Thief had committed. No one should care. All that matters in life is that we discover our own "today" of divine forgiveness.

 

"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." (Lk 23:46)

 

Loving communion with the Blessed Trinity is the destiny to which each creature made in the divine image is called. Those on earth who receive, with faith and baptism, the Gospel of Christ accept this word as a prayer to make their own. Each circumstance of life requires on the part of the human person an act of submission to God's will. This personal surrender is sanctifying only when joined to the cry of God's Son. The Saviour of the human race points us toward our true end. Those who commend themselves to God in union with Jesus share in his own act of filial love and obedience. Then they understand the mystery: "Amen, I say to you, unless you tum and become like children, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3).

 

"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mk 15:34)

 

"We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity" (CCC 526). Intense sufferings accompany Jesus' acceptance of the redemptive will of his heavenly Father. These sufferings include the human cry of abandonment that crystallises Jesus' acceptance of his death as redemptive. "My Father, if it is not possible that this cup pass without my drinking it, your will be done!" (Mt 26:42). The cry of abandonment from the cross expresses a human sentiment that Jesus felt but not a reasoned conviction that he held. Like everything that the Son of God did or said, he uttered these words of abandonment for our sakes. Jesus wants us to believe that whatever dark sentiments may envelop our hearts and minds, nothing can "separate us from the love of God'' (Rm 8:39).

 

"It is finished." (Jn 19:30)

 

What is finished? Jesus announces that the once-and-for all sacrifice for our sins has been completed. This sacrifice of forgiveness and reconciliation is a gift. It comes from both the Father, who so loved the world that he sent his Only Begotten Son, and from the Son of God, who so loved us that he offered his life in reparation for our disobedience. This last word that Jesus speaks captures the love and obedience which he enacted throughout his whole life. Death marks the final moment of Jesus' obedience. Death, however, does not bring his love to an end. The risen and exalted Saviour continues to love us: "For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ your life appears, then you too will appear with him in glory" (Col 3:3-4).

 

"Woman, behold your son.... Behold, your mother." (In 19:26, 27)

 

1 will not leave you orphans: I will come to you" (Jn 14:18). From the cross, Jesus fulfills the promise that he made at the Last Supper to his disciples. He confides his Mother Mary to the care of the beloved disciple Saint John in tum takes her into his home. This word that Jesus speaks from the cross announces Mary's unique participation in the saving work of her Son. When Mary receives John, she also embraces each of us. We become in the order of grace her own beloved sons and daughters. Mary's maternal mediation is coextensive with the Church. No grace reaches any person on earth apart from Mary's personal love for the brothers and sisters of her only Son. This is why the saints encourage us to come to Jesus through Mary.

 

CLOSING PRAYER 

 

Ad Iesum per Mariam. To Jesus through Mary. To learn well the divine truths that Jesus speaks to us from the cross, join the company of the Virgin Mother of God, Mary Immaculate. Let Mary open your hearts to hear whatever Jesus would tell you to do. As she herself instructs us, "Do whatever he tells you" (Jn 2:5).