April 06, 2007

The Seven Last Words of Jesus~ A Good Friday Meditation

St Francis'vision of Christ on the Cross. original art at the Little Portion Retreat Center near Eureka Springs AR

By the wounds of Your sacred passion;
Lord Jesus heal me.
By the wood of Your holy cross;
Lord Jesus strengthen me.
By the sorrow of You Blessed Mother;
Lord Jesus comfort me.
By Your dying and by Your rising,
give me new life.....

"I thirst" John 19:28

From the wood of a cross sanctified by His blood, God's own Son expresses the purpose of His becomming man. Jesus, one like us in all things except 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. That 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 the day without remembering before all else that Jesus thirsts for his or her soul." We love Him because he first loved us." 1jn 4:19. The priority of the Divine Initiative takes on human expression in the words of a thirsty dying man.

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!" St Alphonse Liguori

"Father,forgive them for they know not what they do" Luke 23:34

Only God can forgive sins. We hear the primordial prayer of Christian forgivness from the lips of the crucified Saviour of the world. This word creates an expectation. Now, every human being is called to fufill the command of Jesus:"But to you who hear I say, love your enemies, do good the those that hate you..."Luke 6:27 The only alternative to forgiveness is destruction: the end of oneself and of the other. Everyday occurances throughout the world bear startling testimony to what happens when brother remains set unforgivingly against brother. To forgive every offense characterizes the saint. We can take the 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 the unjust...

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!" St Alphonse Liguori

"Amen,I say to you, Today you shall be with me in Paradise" Luke 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 turns to Jesus, and says with love "Jesus, remember me..."(Lk23:42) he or she begins a new "today" Jesus so much wants to be with him in Paradise that he confides to His followers a ministry of forgiveness. "When we confess our sins, He is faithful to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness" (1john 1:9)We are reconciled to the company of those who await with hopefull confidence the reward of Paradise. No one knows what were the sins that the Good Thief committed. No one should care. All that matters in life is that we discover our own "today" of divine forgiveness..

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!" St Alphonse Liguori


"Woman,behold your son,...behold your mother..." John 19:26-27


"I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you." (john 14:18) From the cross, Jesus fufills the promise that he made at the Last Supper to his disciples. He confides his mother, Mary to the care of the Beloved Disciple, John. John in turn takes her into his home. This word that Jesus speaks form the cross announces Mary's unique role. As she receives John so she embraces each of us. We become in the order of grace her own beloved sons and daughters. For if God is our spiritual Father and Jesus is our spiritual brother, then it follows to reason that Mary is our spiritual mother. And as she sits among the "great cloud of witnesses" (Hb 12:1)near to the throne of God that we have both and earthly and spiritual mother that embraces us both now and in the world to come...

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!" St Alphonse Liguori


"My God My God, Why have You forsaken Me?" Mark 15:34

"We have been made sharers in the divinity of Christ who humbled himself to share our humanity" (CCC526) Intense suffereings accompany Jesus' acceptance of the redemptive will of His Heavenly Father. These sufferings include the human cry of abandonment that cystallizes Jesus' accptance 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 those words for our sakes. Jesus wants us to believe that whatever dark sentiments may envelope our hearts and minds, "nothing can separate us from the love of God"( Rom 8:39)

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!" St Alphonse Liguori


"Father, into Your hands I commend My Spirit Luke 23:46

Loving communionwith 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 santifying only when joined to the cry of God's Son. the Savior of the world points humanity toward our true end. Those who commend themselves to God in union with Jesus share in his own acts of love and obedience. Then they begin to understand the mystery:"Amen I say to you unless you repent and becomes like children you will not enter the kingdom of heaven" (Mt 18:3)

"We adore You, O Christ, and we bless You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world!" St Alphonse Liguori

"It is finished..." John 19:30

What is finished? Jesus announces that the once and for all scrifice for our sins has been completed. This sacrifice of forgiveness ans reconcilliation is a gift.It comes from both The Father, Who so loved the world that He sent His only begotton Son, and from The Son of God, Who so loved us that He offered His life in reparation for our disobedience. This final word that Jesus spoke from the cross captures the love and obedience whic 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 Savior continues to love us. "For you have died and your life is hidden with Crhist in God. When Christ you life apperes, then you too will appear with Him in glory" Col 3:3-4

By the wounds of Your sacred passion;
Lord Jesus heal me.
By the wood of Your holy cross;
Lord Jesus strengthen me.
By the sorrow of You Blessed Mother;
Lord Jesus comfort me.
By Your dying and by Your rising,
give me new life..... unknown author


Meditations based on the Writings of Fr Francis Cessario OP

Labels: Faith, Little Portion, Prayers, scripture