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Sunday Reflections - Aid to the Sunday Liturgy
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| 13-Apr-2006 Dear Friend, No one likes suffering, we avoid it all at cost. Though we all know that one day we all have to die, we prefer not to think or talk about it. From time to time we are shocked by the sudden death of someone close to us. Good Friday reminds us of a facet of God we would rather not look at; the powerlessness of God at the death of his Son; the price of loving passionately. Have an empowering 'Good' Friday! Fr. Jude Reflections:
Good Friday Unafraid to die, unafraid to live! 14-Apr-2006 The first reading from the prophet Isaiah speaks of the suffering and death of the servant of Yahweh. Of whom is the prophet speaking, of himself or of some other? Christian tradition believes that the prophet was speaking of Christ. Burdened by our sins he suffers silently, bent but not broken. He endures much because he loves much. He does not complain, he does not react but goes silently to the end. One could ask was it worth suffering so much for mankind? Do people appreciate all that he suffered for others? He risked his life, all he got back was.... One night a fisherman heard a loud splash. A man on a nearby yacht had been drinking and had fallen overboard. The fisherman leapt into the cold water and rescued the man and revived him with artificial respiration. Then he put the man to bed, and did everything he could to make the man comfortable. Finally, exhausted by the ordeal, the fisherman swam back to his own boat. The next morning the fisherman returned to the yacht to see how the man was doing. "It's none of your business," the man shouted defensively. The fisherman reminded the man that he had risked his life to save him. But instead of
thanking him, the man cursed the fisherman and told him that he never wanted to see him around again. Commenting on the episode, the fisherman said: "I rowed away from the yacht with tears in my eyes. But the experience was worth it, because it gave me an understanding of how Jesus felt when he was rejected by those he saved." Mark Link in 'Journey'The second reading from Hebrews tells us how very much human like us, Jesus was. Jesus had known suffering as we do: he cried out like us, wept the same tears as we do. Jesus was a high priest unlike the high priests
of old. He not only offered sacrifices for the people but he was the victim and sacrifice. He was not the distant detached high priest but one who felt and underwent all that makes us human beings. How did he cope with suffering? 'He offered up prayer and entreaty, aloud and in silent tears, to the one who had the power to save him. Although he was son he learnt obedience and became the source of salvation. Thy will, not mine... Robert Grant's short story "The Sign" concerns a young
man called Davidson. He wants to be a writer and has just mailed his first novel to a publishing house. Filled with fear about the publisher's decision, he goes outside and paces back and forth in an orchard. It was Holy Week. His thought went back and forth between Christ and himself, like a needle and thread: to Christ in the garden of Gethsemane, kneeling in prayer, and to himself in the orchard... to Christ preparing for the supreme agony of hanging by nails.... Back to himself and his book with Dow Press.... He stopped and said..."Thy will, not mine." But then "a bolt of awareness" struck him. He really didn't mean what he said. What he really meant was that he wanted God's will to be done "if it coincided with his own will and worked out 'right', to the joint glory of the pair of them, God and Davidson. And for the moment he was nauseated," Then he sat down and cried. Mark Link in 'Journey'The passion narrative from the gospel of St. John is not merely a historical account of a legal process. In his gospel account John contemplates Jesus in the light of his faith in the resurrection. The ambience of the passion is not one of misery, not one of fear, but of courage and majesty. Jesus knows that he is going to suffer; he knows that he is going to his death but he does so freely. With full clarity he is aware that by offering his life he is accomplishing His Father's will. The Cross then, does not become an instrument of torture but the stepping stone of his throne. The
Crucified one becomes the living one who gives life in abundance. "And I, when I am lifted up will draw all things to my self." Closed doorsIn the musical Sound of Music Sister Maria, when confronted with a momentous decision which was to change the entire course of her life, spoke the well-known line of assurance: "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." Millions of Christians who have faced many 'closed doors' (heartaches, trials and disappointments) in their lives will raise up a hearty 'Amen' to her confident _expression_ of faith. In fact, many of the
world's great have achieved their most heroic accomplishments in the face of 'closed doors'. John Milton wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained after having been afflicted with total blindness. Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music, including his Ninth Symphony, after he was almost completely deaf. Anthony Castle in 'More Quotes and Anecdotes'"The Roman Army had standard operating procedures for every duty including crucifixion. The condemned man would be first scourged as a sign of abasement. Then his arms would be stretched out and tied to a single
crosspiece, which he would have to bear to the place of execution. When the condemned man reached the site of his death, he would be hoisted to the top of the upright pole implanted in the ground. His arms remained tied to the cross piece or in the case of Jesus, nails would be driven through his wrists. Men would live for hours, sometimes days suspended from the cross. Jesus died relatively quickly because of the weight he bore to Calvary. Not the weight of the crosspiece, weighing thirty or forty pounds but the weight of the sins of mankind. It is impossible for us to understand the meaning of a statement like; "He took upon himself the guilt for us all." It literally means that Jesus was guilty of every sin ever committed. This is the burden of Calvary. This is the weight that crushed his soul. This is the weight that broke his heart." -Roger Swenson Ready to dieThe final sermon that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached before he was assassinated was the famous "I have been to the mountaintop" sermon. In it he declares, "I have seen the Promised Land, I am not afraid to die, I am ready to meet my Maker." He preached this sermon in the evening; he was killed the next day. Was it coincidence that he preached those words the day before he died? Or could he have had some mystic prevision of his death? It is said he preached that sermon very often, possibly a hundred times throughout the country. Andrew Young says: "The reason that he could preach that sermon so often was that he was always ready to die." He knew that death would
come any moment because of the challenge that he was continually presenting to the conscience of America. He lived life fully and fearlessly. He was convinced of the rightness and goodness of what he was doing that he wasn't afraid to die. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had found something worth dying for. And so he lived passionately. He had something worth living for. In the crucifixion Jesus did not especially teach us how to die. He taught us how to live -fearlessly and passionately. The great message of the passion of Jesus is to live passionately. We are children if we are consumed by a burning love; if we are on fire, with an unquenchable thirst to know...with an untiring desire for justice in our broken world. "Dive in -don't be afraid!" This is how Jesus invites us to live on the day of his passion. Through His Cross may we live life fearlessly and passionately! Fr. Jude Botelho PS. The stories, incidents and anecdotes used in the reflections have been collected over the years from books as well as from sources over the net and from e-mails received. Every effort is made to acknowledge authors whenever possible. If you send in stories or illustrations I would be grateful if you could quote the source as well so that they can be acknowledged if used in these reflections. These reflections are also available on my web site www.netforlife.net Thank you. |
Fr. Jude Botelho
www.NetForLife.net
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