Siete Palabras

Lent. One of the ecclesiastical seasons when I feel that my soul is full not hungry. With the words of my Redeemer, my soul escapes famine. With His death on the pulpit of the cross, I live. Saying forever grateful for your unconditional love, we commemorate your triumph and never fading words...

Father, forgive them for they know not what they do.

It was uttered as the Cross shook in its socket and as the heads of scoffers shook in derision and disbelief. These words are plaintively spoken as blasphemies, ridicule and worse were shouted at the Savior. These words were murmured as the sea of humanity beneath the cross roared its defiance, its hatred for the Lamb of God. He Who is all good had been accused of all things bad. They tortured Him with their mockery, their ridicule, their scoffing. In spite of this storm of calumny, he said those compassionate words.

Christ taught us to pray:…Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

To love when we are loved is easy; to love when we meet no opposition is acceptable. But to love when we are hated and to love those who hate us, ah, that is Christian!

This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise.

Christ heard those terrible oaths from the sodden mouths of inveterate criminals who had been guilty of heinous crime and who were being crucified.

Beside him were thieves. Both of them were begging for life. One wanted to hold onto his life on earth. A life that is sinful and temporary. The other begged for eternal life. Endless and blissful.

Christ listened. He was silent. It was the silence that concealed the violent rumbling of His grace. And from His Sacred Heart flowed a stream of grace that touched one of the thieves at His side. From his lips came those words, begging, pleading: “Lord, remember me when Thou shalt come into Thy kingdom.

Christ gave His reply instantly. The words were so sure, so consoling. “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise. It was a promise made to a thief. It was a pledge to a robber on the brink of eternal damnation. And his sins matter no more. He was safe with God.

Woman, behold thy son.

This was the hour of His all-giving; to us He would give even His most precious possession – His Blessed Mother. Addressing her, and indicating the apostle St. John, He said, “Woman, behold thy son.” Then to John He said, “Behold thy Mother.”

In John we are all represented; it is to each of us that Jesus says, “Behold thy mother.” From the cross He announces that she is to be the Mother of all men. He entrusted to Mary this new motherhood which she is prepared by suffering and love: “Be it done unto me according to Thy word.”

Calling Mary woman is not a degradation but to give dignity to women. In a milieu where women and children are treated second-class citizens, therefore not counted in assemblies, Christ addresses His mother and entrusted to her a new motherhood.

My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?

There must be a shameful cross on which the spotless Son of God should hang as a criminal, and worse than a criminal. His hands and feet should be pierced with large nails, His sole support as He was hanging from the Cross. His head would be pierced by a crushing crown of thorns; every sense would suffer, His ears from blasphemy, His tongue from thirst. It was a terrible picture which our imaginations are feeble to depict.

The physical torture was excessive. The depths of the pain cannot be appreciated. His human nature cried “My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?”

I thirst.

He thirsts. He suffers physical thirst and more deeply, the thirst of soul. He shall save His people from their sins. That is the reason of the bloody scene on the Hill of Skulls. Since the sin of the first man, the whole human race has been caught and held in the slavery of sin. And no mere man could pay the price. The solution rested only with God.

He was wounded for our iniquities. He was bruised for our sins; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him, and by His bruises we are healed, by His death we lived. We are thirsty and only He can quench our thirst. He quenched it.

But He is also thirsty. He thirst our repentance. He thirst our love.

It is finished.

It is all a deep mystery of love that Christ should suffer so acutely, so bitterly, so excruciatingly. Christ’s mission had been successful, that the plan had been accomplished, that Christ’s advent to this world had reached its last chapter. His work was finished. He was ready to die. The task of redemption was completed.

Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit.

Those were the last words to escape from the parched and bleeding lips of the Savior. His first thought was of His heavenly Father, His last gasp would be a prayer to His Father above. He had appeared on earth as man which He was; but so many had missed the more important fact that He was also God. It is this factor that explains all, that gives the solution to all.

He said He is God. He proved it. He is God for all eternity. That is the wonderful mystery of redemption.


[Inspired by today’s Siete Palabras]