The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part VII

Seventh Word

Father, into your hands

I commend my spirit.

Like Christ, some day I will need to say these words.  Death is the envitable part of every life.  I cannot remember the source, however the saying sticks in my mind, "We are all born to die." 

Yet, we are called to die each day -- to our sinfulness, to our pride, to all those things that separate us from union with God.  Each "death" is a handing over of ourselves to a loving and merciful God.  And yes, each death can be scary.  It's entering into the unknown.  Yet, we have a wonderful example in Jesus.  We can try to mirror his love when we die to ourselves and our sinfulness.

Lord Jesus, help us to learn how to die to our sinful tendencies so that we can live a new life in union with You always.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part VI

Sixth Word

It is finished.

Of all the words one would "expect" to hear, these don't seem to fit.  Yet, they do.  What is finished?  Christ's work of redeeming sinful man given to him by his Father. 

Being no Latin scholar, I am always grateful when the text in Latin is easily "see-able" in the English.  The Latin text reads, Consummatum est (all is consummated).  Christ's death on the cross completes the Father's plan for our forgiveness and reconciliation.  The love so great that it could not be satisfied until humankind was once again in union with God.  A gift so priceless, that we could never do anything so as to deserve it. 

May we ever be mindful of this tremendous gift that our loving God has bestowed upon us.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part V

Fifth Word

I thirst.

Jesus' thirst could very well have been extreme.  He had suffered in the Garden of Gesthemene while he prayed.  He had been arrested, condemned to death, mercilessly scourged, and made to carry a heavy cross before he had been crucified.  It doesn't seem very likely that He would have been given much in the way of food and water during those times.  The loss of blood alone would have caused dehydration to his body.

Yes, Jesus’ real thirst is for souls.  St. Thomas Aquinas says this thirst expresses Christ’s “ardent desire for the salvation of the human race.”  Jesus is thirsting for our souls to be in union with Him.  Let us pray to Him for the grace to open our hearts and souls to Him so that we each may in a small, yet wonderful way, help satisfy His thirst for us - and more especially the thirst we have for Him.



The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part IV

Fourth Word

Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?

(My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?)

At first glance, these words seem so totally out of place coming from the lips of Jesus.  Yet, upon further reflection, one begins to realize, that it was in His humanity that Christ suffered this abandonment.  His divine union with the Father never ceased.  It remained firm, constant.  We proclaim this mystery at every Mass:  May we come to share in the divinity of Christ, who humbled himself to share in our humanity. 

On the cross, Christ embraced his own sufferings.  St. Robert Bellarmine opined that Christ gave witness to his feelings of abandonment "so that all might understand the great price of our Redemption."   The price Christ paid for our redemption was indeed costly.  It shows the depth of his great love for each of us. 

I can remember someone once saying, "How much does Jesus love us?  He stretched out his arms on the cross, and died for you and me." 

May we be aware of this great love Jesus has for us -- and pass this love on to those we encounter each day.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part III

Third Word

Woman, behold, your son.

Behold, your mother.

I cannot even begin to imagine what must have run through Mary and John's minds when they heard these words from Jesus.  From a practical point of view, it would seem that Jesus was taking care that Mary was provided for.  Yet, it goes beyond that. 

John receives Mary for each and every one of us.  John represents each of us to Mary to be taken into her motherly care.  

The woman who as a young maiden had the grace and wisdom to say fiat to the Lord's invitation to be the mother of the Savior, again says fiat in accepting us as her very dear children.  Mary, the new Eve, truly is the mother of all humankind.

Let us pray to Mary and John to accompany us on our Lenten journey so that we who seek to be open to Christ's working in our hearts may be attentive to His word sounding in our ears.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part II

Second Word

Amen, I say to you,

today you will be with me

in Paradise.

Tradition has given the name Dismas to the man who rebukes his fellow criminal who reviles Jesus while hanging on the cross and requests from Jesus a remembrance when He comes into his kingdom.  I can remember hearing as a child that in life Dismas stole as a means of supporting himself and in death he stole heaven as well.

While yesterday's word made me uncomfortable, today's word is very consoling.  Jesus knew what type of life Dismas lead up until that point.  Yet, Jesus also knew Dismas' heart. 

By acknowledging that he was receiving a just punishment for his actions and by standing up to his companion in crime when he reviles Jesus, Dismas showed that there was another Dismas inside who wanted to begin to live anew.  One that was done with his old way of life and ready to being a life of faith.  In other words, Dismas had a real conversion of heart.

That's what Lent is meant to do.  It's a time for us to turn our hearts back to Jesus.  To allow Him access to our lives and allow Him to live and work in us.  During these days of Lent, let us pray to Dismas to help us to have that same conversion of heart that he did so that we can live a fuller life in and through Christ.

The Seven Last Words of Jesus - Part I

The Seven Last Words of Jesus are a powerful way of meditating on our Lord's Passion.  Based on my own experience of praying these "words", I would like to share with you during the next days on how my own thoughts and prayer have questioned, looked at and deepened based on my own growing understanding of my faith.

Father, forgive them,

they know not what they do.

Of all the words spoken by Christ during his Passion, this one probably makes me the most uncomfortable.  It's a challenge.  It's a radical call to imitate my Lord in a way that on a lot of days I wish I didn't have to.  I might even venture to say that it's even worse than the words we pray in the Our Father.  There at least we pray forgive us as we forgive.

St. Thomas Aquinas explains this first word this way:  "To show the abundance of the love which led him to suffer, Christ on the cross sought pardon for his persecutors.  He wished to suffer at the hands of both Jews and gentiles so that the fruit of his petition might reach them both."  Looked at this way, then Christ's first word is a plea to His Father for forgiveness for me, for you.  That is a consolation.

Let us pray to Christ for the grace and the courage to be able to pray this first word of His as our own, so that we, too, are able to love everyone with that same love with which He loves us.