Try to picture yourself at Calvary, near the cross that Jesus is hanging on.
Maybe you can even hear some of His words. How about these three words—“It is finished”.
You think to yourself, “what is finished”? When Jesus said those now famous words
—it is finished—was it simply just a sigh of relief that there would be no pain any more?
Was it a sigh of gratitude to God, the Father,
that He successfully finished His mission on Earth?
So, what exactly is finished? The sin of the Garden of Eden has been swallowed up
at Calvary—that’s what is finished. The original disobedience has been replaced
with perfect obedience. Satan has been driven out of this world. Jesus’ mission is now complete.
The most incredible love story in the history of the world is consummated
in the most horrible of crimes—the crucifixion.
OK, so what are we supposed to understand with all of this?
Well, for one thing, we never have to fear that we are walking our path on Earth all alone.
We realize that, after all that Jesus went through for us, He completely understands
everything that we are going through in our struggles. When He tells us to ‘take up our cross’,
He knows just how difficult that can be. He is our Simon of Cyrene—helping us carry our own crosses.
This Good Friday, we have to make a resolution that, if we aren’t actually called on to die
for our brothers and sisters and our beliefs, we can at least, live for them.
A Sufi mystic once asked God why He didn’t do something for the poor of the world.
God is supposed to have answered, “I did. I made you”. So, we have to live for
(i.e. be aware of) the needs of our fellow human beings.
We have to be the images of the crucified Christ to others.
I compare this idea to humanity being like a spider web. If you touch a spider web anywhere,
the whole web begins to move. As we act towards our fellow human beings,
we, too, are setting this great web in motion. The lives that we touch, whether for good or for bad,
will touch another life, and that life, in turn, will touch another life and so on.
Who knows where or when this motion will be felt? Maybe one kind word or deed
15 centuries ago brought you here today.
Let’s even deepen that thought. Catholic belief in the ‘communion of saints’ is absolutely thrilling,
if one thinks about it. The Church on earth and the Church in heaven and the Church in purgatory
shows us that we are not alone—isolated. What a comforting thought to know that people from all ages
are linked to each other and praying for each other. Just imagine the inexhaustible grace
that flows from Christ through the communion of saints.
You and I can do absolutely nothing that is not felt or doesn’t resonate
with someone else in the body of Christ—perhaps even throughout the whole body of Christ.
Try to remember that before you sin again.
On our death beds, when we say, “It is finished”, will we be proud of that statement?
Will we look back on our lives and feel good about what we did to help
our brothers and sisters—which is the work that Jesus gave us?
Or, will we be ashamed of ourselves? The choice is ours and ours alone.
(Comments to Mike at MMEADG@AOL.COM.)
