Tre Ore - The Last Seven Words of Christ

praise be Jesus Christ remanence thank you so much for that kind welcome and thank you for inviting me to give these some talks on this very important moment of Prayer you know yesterday I flew into New York it was day much like today really bright beautiful clear and the plane was flying into LaGuardia so I came right up Manhattan Island and looking down to the buildings and all standing out with such clarity I would occurred to me was you know many people say New York is the capital of modern secularism and that's true to some degree I suppose but whenever I looked down on New York I think of holy New York I think for example of Thomas Merton whose conversion commands when he was just down Fifth Avenue at the old Scribner bookstore and he saw a book by the French philosopher Etienne geo song Merton bought that book and it started the process by which he became a Catholic he was of course baptized up in Morningside Heights up at Corpus Christi Church I think to of Rose Hawthorne the daughter of the great Nathaniel Hawthorne the American novelist she began her saintly work among victims of cancer here in New York I think two of Dorothy day who founded the first of the Catholic Worker houses down in the Lower East Side and of course I think of one of my great heroes it's my privilege to be standing in his pulpit now I'm talking about Archbishop Fulton sheen buried just a few yards from where I'm standing and so it's really a privilege your eminence thank you again for inviting me to this holy city of New York well friends we're gonna be here for some time and that to me is one of the great virtues of the traoré prayer we are such a gogo society we're always moving somewhere restless uneasy it's now time to sit and in real time to watch with the Lord Jesus Christ as he suffers and dies on the cross so maybe put aside your restless thoughts put aside your preoccupations your worries and let's spend this good quality time with the Lord what's going to happen of course is some preaching some proclamation of the scripture some beautiful music Thomas Aquinas said that God's providence extends to particulars a fancy way of saying that God is providentially present to every one of us here and now God has brought everyone here to this place for a purpose maybe here's something from my sermons maybe just to hear a word from Scripture maybe something from one of the hymns let that wash over you during these three hours set aside your cares anxieties preoccupations let the Lord speak Christ was high priest he reconciled us to God and that's why his cross is a great altar were a sacrifice to close Christ is king the one who guides us to the Father and that's why his cross is a great throne from which he reigns but Christ was also prophet the speaker of the divine truth and that's why his cross is a pulpit from which a last great sermon went for the seven last words constitute that sermon let's now prayerfully attend to it we invite you now to stand and join in singing so love my Savior [Music] the first word when they came to the place called the skull they crucified Him and the criminals there one on his right the other on his left and Jesus said Father forgive them they know not what they do [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Father forgive them they know not what they do friends how central to the life and ministry of jesus was forgiveness he's worse than a paralyzed man who symbolizes all of us paralyzed by sin my son your sins are forgiven to the woman caught in adultery neither do i condemn you go and sin no more at the very heart of the great prayer he taught us forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us forgiveness was central to Jesus preaching and ministry here's the one thing I want you to take from this particular sermon forgiveness is not primarily an internal Act not a mere intention or Vilayet a forgiveness is an act the Bible sees sin as a great swamp it's a great morass it's a great net or network in which we find ourselves trapped you're unkind to me so I'll be unkind to you which awakens in you and answering unkindness which awakens in me and answering cruelty and on it goes across space and time injustice awakens answering injustice violence awakens counter violence and before you know it we find ourselves stuck trapped what's forgiveness not a mere intention forgiveness is a way out forgiveness is a path forward now to grasp this I think it's very helpful to look at the heart of the Sermon on the Mount and we find those still startling challenging words love your enemies bless those who curse you pray for those who mail treat you someone strikes you on the right cheek turn and give them the other someone takes you to trial for your coat give him your cloak as well love your enemies do you see how that little line shows the way out you become my enemy through some act of cruelty or violence or injustice what's the natural response I will be cruel and unjust to you it is only when we muster the courage and the capacity to love our enemies that we can break that cycle attend to to the famous examples that Jesus gives someone strikes you on the right cheek what should you do well you know in the face of violence or injustice there are two classical responses aren't there true in the animal kingdom as well as in the human society the two response is our fight-or-flight someone strikes you well fight back fight fire with fire making the whole world hotter Gandhi said that an eye for an eye yes making the whole world blind we know that in the long run answering violence with violence tends not to solve the problem so the second great response is flight someone's cruel unjust to you well run away acquiesce give in that solve the problem now it just confirms the violent person or institution it's violence what's Jesus giving us here it's giving us a way out a third way if you want he says if someone strikes you on the right cheek we'll see in his time you wouldn't have used your left hand for any kind of interaction it was unclean therefore if someone strikes you on the right cheek it means they're hitting you like this with the back of their hand it was a sign of contempt the way you treat a slave or an inferior someone does that to you what should you do fight back no run away Jesus says stand your ground and turn the other cheek what are you doing thereby you are signaling to that person that you refuse to cooperate with the world he's living in you refuse to be treated that way again you mirror back to the violent person his violence hoping thereby to lure him into a new spiritual and moral space let me give you an example Bishop tutu of South Africa before he was a famous figure he was a simple priest was making his way along a raised wooden platform over the muddy sidewalk and he came face to face with a white man who was a racist the white man said get off the sidewalk I don't make way for gorillas so tutu got off the sidewalk gestured broadly he said I do that's turning the other cheek not fighting back but not running but rather in this humorous provocative way mirroring back to that person his violence another example from Mother Teresa I saw some of her sisters here in the front famous story about Mother Teresa finding a abandoned starving child in the streets of Calcutta took her by the hand brought her to a baker's shop and begged for some bread the Baker spat full and Mother Teresa's phase at which point the Saint said thank you for that gift for me now perhaps something for the child fighting back but not running away rather mirroring back to that violent person his violence hoping thereby to draw him into a new space you know what new this principle and practice it brilliantly with John Paul a second I remember very vividly the days when he arrived in Poland many of us were afraid of World War three breaking out John Paul went into the belly of the beast confronted this tyrannical government but didn't fight it with the weapons of the world but by god he didn't run what did he do he stood his ground and talked about God and talked about creation human dignity human freedom human rights and as he did remember that first time he visited Warsaw June of 1979 as he did the crowds began to chant we want God we want God we want God and the chant went on they say for 15 minutes if you imagine almost a million people chanting we want God and they say what John Paul did during that chant was he simply turned to the Polish government who were sitting behind him as if to say you're finished he didn't fight them but by God he didn't run rather he mirrored back to them their injustice mirrored back to them their violence do you see hoping to draw them into a new spiritual space someone told me when I was a kid back in the 1970s that the Soviet Union would collapse with barely a shot being fired and one of the main protagonists would be the Pope of Rome I would think you're in a fantasy world that's exactly what happened though Peter Maurin along with Dorothy Day the founder of the Catholic Worker movement said it's time that we blow up some of the dynamite of the church Dunamis Paul's word means power power what's the power not worldly power but the power of forgiving love which can indeed change lives and can change whole societies we've seen it happen you know a few years ago in a seminary where I teach a student told me about a martial art called Aikido this kid was trained in the martial arts and Aikido is a martial art it's an art of war but the purpose of Aikido is not to engage the opponent directly fighting fire with fire rather in Aikido you use the momentum and violence of your opponent against him so as he comes at you you definitely get out of the way send him flying you definitely move out of the way as he comes with his full weight against you he told me the purpose of Aikido is not to harm or kill your opponent the purpose is to leave your opponent laughing on the ground realizing he can't possibly defeat you do you see how turning the other cheek as I've been describing forgiveness in this sense is a kind of Aikido it's a way of responding to the violence of the world that actually extra kate's us from the morass of sin actually is a way out of the great swamp of violence meeting counter violence now now think of that cross of Jesus Christ Thomas Aquinas said the purest exemplification of the Beatitudes is the cross love your enemies bless those who curse you pray for those who mail treat you where do we see that we see it precisely in the cross of Jesus and we hear it in those magnificent words Father forgive them what is that it's not fighting fire with fire but by God it's not running do you see how the cross of Jesus is a kind of great act of Aikido as he allows all of the darkness of the world to wash over him and then be swallowed up in the ever-greater divine mercy not fighting fire with fire making the whole world hotter not an eye for an eye and making the whole world blind but swallowing up all the dysfunction evil of the world precisely through the divine forgiveness that's why we say that Jesus is the Lamb of God who listen takes away the sin of the world Father forgive them they know not what they do though he was in the form of God Jesus did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped rather he emptied himself taking the form of a servant being born in the likeness of men and being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death even death on a cross at the name of Jesus every knee must bow and tongue confess Jesus Christ to the glory of God therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every other name so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father at the name of Jesus Almighty and everlasting God you willed that our saviours should become man and undergo the torment of the Cross as an example of humility for all humanity grant that we may follow in his suffering as to share in his glorious resurrection we ask this through the same Christ our Lord would you please stand and sing o sacred head surrounded [Music] the second word now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus saying are you not the Christ save yourself and us the other however rebuking him said in reply have you no fear of God for you are subject to the same condemnation and indeed we have been condemned justly for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes but this man has done nothing criminal then he said Jesus remember me when you come into your kingdom he replied to him Amen I say to you today you will be with me in paradise [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] amen I say to you today you will be with me in paradise friends what is it about the words of the Good Thief that are so moving to us Jesus remember me and what's so powerful about this response today you'll be with me in paradise dismiss is the name of course the tradition gives to the Good Thief we know almost nothing about him but we know the essentials he realized he was a sinner and he reached out to Jesus and fellow sinners that's what it comes down to at the end of the day Chesterton said there are Saints in my religion that just means people that know they are sinners Dismas would never be tempted to say I'm okay and you're okay would he he knows there's something very wrong with him remember the song was out a couple years ago by Christina Aguilera pretty melody but she says in that song I am beautiful in every single way and your words can't get me down well that's the language of modern you know sort of self-esteem culture but it's not the language of the Bible rather those who are directed toward the light John the Cross of them are more not less aware of their sins that's why this man so close to Jesus in such proximity to him realizes that he's a sinner very good and he reaches out to the right source now here's the thing though it's very peculiar here's a man who's being crucified whom did he reach out to another man being crucified I mean doesn't the other thief seem to have it more correct I mean hey if you're the Son of God save yourself and us but the good thief being crucified reaches out to another man being crucified who says to him this day you will be with me in paradise friends here's the high paradox of the Christian faith Thomas Aquinas said happiness now please put this on your screensaver put it up on your refrigerator any place you can see it take it to the bank spiritually time is acquainted said you want to be happy here's the formula despise what Jesus despised on the cross and love what Jesus loved on the cross you'll be happy now take my word for here I'll try to explain this but I think you can take that right to the bank all kinds of self-help books aren't there about what makes us happy you can find a thousand of them at Barnes and Noble throw them all the way here's what makes you happy despise what Jesus despised on the cross love what he loved on the cross you'll be happy now how do we make sense of it Thomas Aquinas said following Saint Agustin we are all wired for God that's true of everybody in this room is true of all the New Atheists it's true of people that deny God explicitly like it or not we are wired for God because we are wired for ultimate happiness honestly fellow sinners does anything in this world make you finally happy we all know the answer to that question but Aquinas said in our sin we make for great mistakes we search for God for ultimate happiness in four bad places in wealth in pleasure in power and in honor I found dealing with people over the years doing with my own weak soul there's no exceptional what we tend to look for as a substitute for God our wealth pleasure power or honor anything wrong with wealth no not in itself but wealth isn't God and therefore what happens when you hook your infinite desire for God unto wealth you will become in short order dissatisfied and addicted you know the old spiritual masters use that word concupiscence meaning Aaron's desire but I think a very legitimate rendering of concupiscence in our time would be addiction I've hooked my desire for God onto well so what do I do I strive and strive and strive for wealth and let's say my great dream comes true I have my first million by thirty wasn't that produce a buzz it produced a great delight what happens that buzz though talk to anyone addicted to to alcohol or to drugs pornography what happens that buzz wears off because we're not wired for wealth were wired for gone now what do I do now I start striving harder harder harder to get more wealth and maybe by 40 I make my first 10 million which produces a buzz which lasts a shorter time and now I panic and I find myself moving obsessively and addictively around that goal of wealth about ten years ago I was working at a parish on the North Shore it's the suburbs north of Chicago the wealthiest area of Chicago I finished math I was still in the rectory and the knock came to the door and there appeared a man typical Northshore gentleman about 45 well dressed beautifully quaffed well-spoken well-educated father could we talk and sit sure he sat down and he said father all my dreams have come true and so summoning all my training in psychology and theology and I said great and then he said and I'm miserable terrific terrific bit of self-diagnosis I said what were your dreams they were all the North Shore Dreams the first million by thirty headed my company by forty 10 million by fifty and he had them all he had the wealth the home the power he wanted and he was miserable and I told him why so you're not wired for that you're wired for God wealth is fine in itself but it's not God and when you make it God you become miserable and addicted what's the second great substitute pleasure anything wrong with pleasure no Catholics like pleasure pleasure of food and drink and sex and sensuality Hilaire Belloc said wherever the Catholic Sun does shine there's music and laughter and good red wine that's Catholicism we were not puritanical in fact I always find Puritanism is a sign of spiritual corruption we're not dualist we're not Puritan but but pleasure isn't gone when I turned into God in short order I become addicted to it now again talk to anybody who's fallen into an addiction to alcohol or to drugs or to pornography or to sex what's happened there is a finite good namely pleasure has been turned into God and that turns me in short order into an addict what's the third one power its power good yes God's described as all-powerful so power can't be bad in itself power rightly exercised in church and society in families is a good thing but listen L power isn't God when I turn into God in short order I become addicted to it remember the Lord of the Rings films we all watched what 10 years ago now what's the ring it's a ring of power isn't it I mean Toki and intuitive that with great clarity the most seductive temptation is the temptation toward power remember the scene of all three movies you know which features great battles and orcs and all sorts of wicked things but you know what scene I found most frightening in the Lord of the Rings in the very beginning when Gandalf the great wizard great positive figure drink comes to the home of Bilbo who had the ring and Gandalf the great Gandalf the good Gandalf seized the ring of power and there's this there's this frightening moment when you can see in his eyes that he's attracted to it you think oh gosh if Gandalf goes bad we're in serious trouble but even the great Gandalf and of course at the climax of that movie Frodo who was the courageous bearer of the Ring who resisted its temptation its lure at the end even Frodo gives him you know a few years ago my nephew is now 12 must been eight or nine years ago he's a little guy and our whole family was out at Mundelein seminary where I teach and for fourth of July and a certain point we all had to cross the street to get to the ball field and so people are saying Oh be careful be careful it might be a car coming well drew who was three or four at the time there was one person in that group he could possibly boss around his little sister Lauren who was about to and what did I see Dru doing but turning to Lauren with great energy don't don't watch it don't go I thought the one person he could boss around he did power from the timer little till the time we rolled is a great seductive thing that's why for example in Matthew's Gospel the three great temptations the devil gives to Christ what's the highest one the temptation to power you turn power into God you become addicted to it in short order last one honor there are many people that they don't really care that much about wealth pleasure or power they can live without those they've got those in the right order but they are addicted to honor titles rewards being recognized the esteem of others where as a little kid I would bring my papers in to my father my father was a wonderful man and I'd show him my papers in my test with their you know good grades on them and he said kiddo that's terrific I'm so proud of you well that gave me a buzz you know as it does we like to be honored and so I go back to school might strive and work and work to get those grades so I could get the honor from my father and he would dutifully give it to me you're in your own but of course in time that buzz wore off I thought I need to be honored by more people than my dad I mean he's my father he'll honor me anyway so I better get my high school teachers I better get my college professors I'll even go across the ocean to Paris and get my doctoral teachers to honor me I was retained about two years maybe and I just said mass delivered a homily which I thought was pretty good and I'm giving out communion to the people bodied prizefighting Princeton and it man came up to me and I said the body Christ and he said that was the worst sermon I ever heard well I mean when you're an honor junkie that's a little difficult to take in you know honor is good Aquinas said honors the flag of virtue it's a good way to think about isn't it that when you're honored it's a flag that's meant to signal to others oh look there's something worth emulating so honor is never for the honoree it's for others it's good perspective so what aren't that bad itself but it's not god and when we turn it into God we become in short order addicted to it now remember Aquinas you want to be happy despise what Jesus despised on the cross and love what he loved what did he despise on the cross well Jesus naked nailed to the cross the end of his life what does he have in terms of wealth nothing he is detached from wealth pleasure that's the good life Jesus the end of his life is that the limit of physical psychological even spiritual suffering power he has none of it nailed to the cross he can't even move honor they laugh at him they spit at him as he dies nailed to an instrument of torture near the gate of a city of Jerusalem despised what he despised on the cross in other words be detached from it wealth pleasure power and honor and love what he loved what did he love doing the will of his father and it was the very detachment from those four things that allowed him so fully to do the will of his father today today he says to Dismas you'll be with me in paradise hearing friends again it's the hyperox of our faith but Thomas Aquinas said it look at Christ crucified hold him right now in your mind's eye and realize though it runs counter to all of our expectations there's a picture of someone in paradise there's a picture of the attitude Lord Jesus on the night before you suffered you said to your apostles this is how all will know that you are my disciples if you have love for one another you brought good tidings to the poor let us be your messengers to the poor you healed the sick constellation lovingly you call the children to you you love the sinner even while hating the sin people's from you have taken upon yourself our burdens give us the grace Lord God keep us in your love so that on the day of judgement we may come to you in joy we ask this through Christ our Lord would you please join in singing our holy jesus [Music] Oh [Music] the third word standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister Mary the wife of Clopas and Mary of Magdala when Jesus saw his mother and the disciple there whom he loved he said to his mother woman behold your son then he said to the disciple behold your mother and from that hour the disciple took her into his home into his home [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] woman behold your son that language can seem abrupt to us as the wedding feast of Cana Jesus addresses mother not as Mary or his mother but as woman of course the church father saw it wasn't disrespectful at all but rather an acknowledgment of Mary's archetypal significance as the new Eve as the true woman they love to draw out all the implications of that relationship between Eve and Mary and I'll do the same thing seeing them as prototypes of two types of freedom we Americans are part of a distinctively modern culture and one of the signs event is that we love freedom as choice freedom means I choose I determine myself on the basis of no internal or external constraint I decide what to be what to do you want to see a pure expression of that read the 1992 decision of the US Supreme Court in a matter of KC versus Planned Parenthood there's a breathtaking phrase in that decision where our Supreme Court says it belongs to the very nature of Liberty to decide the meaning of one's own existence and of the universe oh that's all I guess we can decide what our life means what the universe means that's freedom as Choice and self-determination can I suggest though there's an older biblical sense of freedom which is in freedom as choice primarily but rather freedom as the disciplining of desire so as to make the achievement of the good first possible and then effortless let me just say that again I'll give you some more examples to freedom is not so much choice but the disciplining of desire so as to make the achievement of the good first possible and then effortless so I stand before you as a relatively free speaker of English I can say pretty much whatever I want to say in English those who have studied a foreign language know what I'm going to talk about here when I was over in France doing my doctoral work and I was struggling to speak the French language what I felt very often was unfree you know what I mean if you struggle with a foreign language very often in ordinary conversation or in the seminar room I knew just what I wanted to say but I couldn't say it my skill in French was so limited I couldn't say what I wanted to say and I felt unfree now how did I become a free speaker of English and eventually a relatively free speaker of French oh by just speaking anyway I want just choosing to talk anyway I felt like it well of course not I became a free speaker of English by submitting myself to a whole series of teachers and masters by listening to gifted speakers of English by attending to grammar and syntax vocabulary etc etc you see how on the first reading of freedom the law is the enemy because the law is restricting my self-determination now maybe I'll accept the law grudgingly as a necessary evil like traffic laws you know I'll accept them but I'm not happy about them or like the tax code I'll accept it but I'm not really happy about it but now although in regard to the second type of freedom freedom for excellence do you see how law is now the friend of freedom not the enemy of it what made me free to speak English precisely all those laws and disciplines and rigor and syntax whose the freest Gaul forever I'm speaking now as the master is this going on I'm a big fan of golf I'll try to watch the highlights tonight of the master who's the freest golfer ever no maybe Jack Nicklaus would probably Tiger Woods because he just played anyway he wanted to golfers know this don't you go out there with a club hey just swing anyway you feel like it how's that gonna work out no no no Golf is filled with laws rules demands do we hate them no no if we internalize those laws they enable us now to make the golf swing we want to make law is not the enemy of freedom you see but the friend of freedom think for a second of a great biblical image of King David dancing before the Ark of the Covenant as he brings it into Jerusalem that scene in 2nd Samuel David dancing with a reckless abandon before the law of the Lord can you imagine anybody in our society dancing in front of the tax code no no of the law I sure I'll accept it grudgingly I really like it it's a restriction of my freedom but it's modern freedom biblical freedom you bet you'll dance before the law because the law is what makes you free see Paul is operating out of that conception when he says it's for freedom that Christ has set you free and and I am the slave of Christ Jesus you see how that paradox makes no sense on modern grounds but makes perfect sense on biblical grounds in the measure that I become the slave of Christ I become free because now I'm free to be the person God wants me to be the more I internalize the law of Christ the more I internalize the Word of God the more I become myself now go back to the book of Genesis to the very beginning Adam and Eve at play in the field of the Lord the church fathers saw that as God's desire for us to be fully alive eat of all the trees except the one see but attend first to the permission this great rangy permission they receive Agustin saw that as politics and art and the social life and the life in the city relationship friendship conversation all that makes life rich yes that's what God wants for us but there's one tree we shouldn't eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil why why because that's that first kind of freedom I was talking about that means I decide what my life is about I choose I determine myself I grasp at the prerogative that belongs to God alone now listen now this is what the Bible keeps telling us over and over again what happens when we do that we live in the little narrow space of our own egotism in Dante's Divine Comedy Satan is not in fire Satan is in ice much better image you see because he's stuck he stuck in the little narrow space of his own little kingdom of what he can imagine his projects his plans his freedom ho-hum that's the point what does Paul say in Ephesians there's a power already at work in you that can do infinitely more than you can ask or imagine now we're talking what's that but the Holy Spirit now that can do infinitely more than I can imagine for myself in my little world of freedom and self-determination Joseph Campbell said most people find when they've reached the top of the ladder of success it's up against the wrong wall there's our problem isn't it is we live in the little narrow space of the ego drama that's the drama that you're writing about yourself that you're producing you're directing and above all you're starring in so here's the father Robert Barron show on the road in New York now and here's my nice supporting cast see that's the problem with us sinners is deep down we think we're gone we grasp at the knowledge of the tree of the tree of a knowledge of good and evil we grasp at God's prerogative and it makes our lives boring now the church fathers love this little relationship Eve Ava in Latin Eve EA is reversed by the Angels Ave at the Annunciation Ave Maria Hail Mary the Ave reverses the Ava Mary is the new Eve why because she doesn't grasp at her own privilege her own prerogative she doesn't live in the narrow space of the ego drama but she says be it done to me according to thy word there's a power already at work in you that can do infinitely more than you can ask or imagine surrender to it Mary surrendered to it did she know what her surrender meant not totally she entered into the adventure of grace and that makes her the archetype of a new humanity a new way of responding to God she saw the law of God not as a imposition and restriction but she saw it as the means by which she would come fully alive and that's why Jesus calls her woman the new Eve and that's why Hans or von Balthasar our current Pope's favorite theologian can say Mary provides the matrix she's the MOT heir of the mother of all forms of the Christian life everybody in this room operating within the matrix of Mary's great yes because she knows her life is not about her she knows she's on a spiritual adventure and that's why Jesus and trusts the whole church to her holy Mary you were conceived without the stain of Adam's sin Mary in faith you conceived in your womb God and man Jesus Christ our Lord Blessed Virgin true mother of the Eternal Word your own heart was pierced by a sword even while you did the will of the Father less at virgin you stood at the foot of our saviors cross you were assumed into heaven as a foreshadowing of our own destiny Almighty father your son Jesus suffered the depths of human suffering in his agony on the cross strengthen our faith so that like Mary we may ponder the mystery of our Redemption and persevere until you call us to yourself we ask this through the same Christ our Lord won't you please stand and join in singing at the cross her station-keeping [Music] the fourth word and at 3 o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice LOI alloy Lema sabachthani which is translated my God my God why have you forsaken me [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] Oh [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] god my god why have you forsaken me we've come with this word from the cross to a very dark place in fact to the darkest place imaginable from the first three words the cross we were able to derive some light insights about forgiveness about happiness about freedom but now with this word it seems were just stopped short this is a Jesus who seems simply out of control but Jesus who's entered into that very darkest place meaninglessness we all know that that beyond physical suffering is a far greater suffering because whatever your physical suffering if you can put it in the context of meaning you can endure it but when meaning itself is lost it seems as though everything's long whenever I hear this word I think now of Matthias Grunwald's great masterpiece the isenheim altarpiece when I was filming the Catholicism series one of our stops was in Colmar it's in France where the ice time altarpiece is on display you've probably seen a reproduction of it or maybe you've been there but Grunwald gives us I think the most powerful and theologically rich depiction of the crucifixion in Western art because there's Jesus not serenely in control but his limbs twisted out of shape and pain his head covered in this in this possibly painful crown of thorns but the worst part of the painting for me the most powerful is that Jesus mouth is simply a game in silent agony it seems to be a Christ who's just uttered those words God my God why have you abandoned me about ten years ago I was preaching in the parish and they finished a homily on on God's providence God's goodness how God's at work in the world so after massive man came up to me a man in his late 60s he said father I'm on a quest and your homily didn't help I said what's your quest he said well I've got two granddaughters they both have a disease that's so mysterious but even the doctors the Mayo Clinic can't understand quite what it is all they know is that first the person goes blind and then she dies from the disease my older granddaughter he said is already blind and the younger one cries out at night in fear as she contemplates her future father how do you explain that that was one Sunday morning after man God my God why have you abandoned me now that wasn't an atheist talking to me that was someone just at Mass that was a believer but who was feeling that pain God my God why have you abandoned me back at my first assignment when I was in the parish I read the paper the story about a policeman who inexplicably to everyone got up one night took his service revolver and with it shot his own son to death and then killed himself so I read that terrible story in the paper well about two days later I was in the local funeral parlor attending the wake of a parishioner I came out from the wake and I saw in the adjoining room two coffins which of course unusual sight and I looked up and I saw the name and I said ah it's the policeman and his son now I didn't know them at all I don't think they were Catholic but I just felt some obligation to go in I had of course my Roman collar on and I went into the room and over to me came the wife and mother and we didn't exchange any words all she did was this she went is it to say father explain this to me God my God why have you abandoned me you know the new atheists are on the prowl today and I don't think their arguments very good because I think the only really telling argument against God's existence is this one John Stuart Mill in the 19th century put it this way if God exists her really couldn't be evil because God we here is omni-benevolent he's omniscient and omnipotent well if he's omni-benevolent he want to do something about evil if he's omnipotent he could do something about evil if he's omniscient he'd know all about evil therefore there wouldn't be any evil if God exists Thomas Aquinas many centuries before put it even more pithily in one of his objections to God's existence he said if one of two contraries be infinite the other would be destroyed but God has called the infinite good therefore there should be no evil now can I submit to you friends those are darn good arguments as I say the only ones I think are really powerful against the claim that God exists a lot of us feel in our heart of hearts the agony of those words God my God why have you abandoned me does the Bible know about this you bet it does correct to the Old Testament the book of Job is the most powerful biblical wrestling with this problem in the Old Testament you know the story of course righteous job is beset with every possible suffering in one fell swoop he loses home livelihood money family health everything his wife mrs. job has one of the great one-liners in the Bible not very fast really helpful she says the job will curse God and die not a helpful pastoral strategy job's friends come along I put friends and quotes and they say well job I mean come on you have to done something to deserve all this suffering you must have offended God somehow job says no he knows he's righteous and then in one of the most dramatic scenes in the Bible job dismisses his friends and he calls God and self into the dock like that grandfather like that mother and wife that I met he calls God into the dock explain yourself to me why have you allowed this suffering look in the 38th chapter of job I tell my students at the seminary memorized that champion it's God's longest speech in the whole Bible God speaks out of the desert whirlwind beautiful image the desert world one that's kicking up the dust is getting in job's eyes as he can't see and God says where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth where were you when I instructed the Sun were to rise where were you when I told the hail and the snow and the ice Godman takes job on this great tour of the whole cosmos revealing to him all of its intricacy all of its strangeness all of its mystery where were you you know everything job you tell me at the climax of the speech God points out to job two of his creatures behemoth and Leviathan scholars think it might have meant a crocodile maybe a hippopotamus we don't know but God sings the praises of behemoth and Leviathan these two creatures and he says to Joe how wonderful they are these two creatures whom I made just as I made you you see the point job you think your life's about you and you're seeing your suffering from the standpoint of your own length but Joe you are part an infinitely complex drama painting story that I am composing that includes all of space and all of time yes job you are suffering but the sense that it makes occurs within this infinitely complex drama that God is writing I think for a second of this great Cathedral all the st. Patrick's Cathedral look at in all of its darks and lights all of its play of color all the intricacy of its design suppose now that this Cathedral represents God's great work across all of space and all the time we see how all of it fits together harmoniously suppose I were to look down there at that corner of this podium and we're to say to you on the basis of that vision st. Patrick's Cathedral is the ugliest Cathedral I've ever seen st. Peter's Cathedral means nothing there's no harmony or order to it how much do we see of God's great composition one tiny swath of space and time it's a bit like taking one sentence out of one paragraph of war and peace' and reading that one sentence of saying this novel makes no sense maybe the sentence you read is a very dark and troubling sentence how much do we read of God's great novel here's an image from William James the American philosopher James had were called at his desk and then the end of the day his dog would come in to visit his master the dog would come in happily wagging his tail and he would take in everything in the office he would see the desk covered in papers he'd see the shell fill with books he'd see the globe in the corner he'd see all of it but understand none of them and if William James endeavored to explain to the dog what all that meant all these papers are filled with symbols a signal to my mind ideas the books are collections of further semiotic signs that trigger to my mind certain ideas see that globe in the corner it's a depiction of the planet we all live on that's hurtling through space how much would the dog understand none of us it occurred William James he saw everything but got almost nothing now now imagine how we're seen by a higher power will you think that we see it all yeah well maybe we do but we can't almost none of it and what if an angel or God Himself endeavored to explain it to us even in principle he couldn't make sense of it DMVs in New York I wonder about 20 years ago these kind of mean ladybugs blew into Chicago I think from China or something ladybugs when I was a kid were just kind of these harmless things but these new ladybugs sort of blew in and they come during the fall and they invade all of our homes or our space well I was in my office one day I was working on a book of theology and I saw up in the corner of my window on the screen find these little ladybugs it was kind of a cold day so they were huddled together in the course of my time in the office they move maybe a quarter of an inch in different direction next thing I came back continuing my work on my theological book and I saw the ladybugs head clustered again in that little corner and now they moved perhaps I thought big day for you today you're moving an inch on my screen I remember that day thinking with infinite condescension what stupid little things Here I am in my office working on my books of theology and look at those stupid little creatures a big day for them is moving one inch on my screen and then it occurred to me like a grace from God how I must be seen by the angels I who think it's so exalted in writing my important books and Here I am in my office to an angel I would look like one of those silly little ladybugs crawling along the screen part of the part of the rationale of the book of Job is don't presume to think that you can pronounce on the meaningfulness of the universe of your life because what we grasp of God's purposes is so small ok fair enough true enough illuminating enough yeah yeah I think all that makes some sense sheds some light but does it solve the problem of that grandfather I talked about with sharing these ideas solve the problem for that wife and mother I doubt it then we listen to this word again God my God why have you abandoned me who is saying that not just a suffering human being but according to our faith the one who says that is the very son of God the very son of God out of love for us went into our darkest place went into that place where we are most afraid where we are most confounded entered into it so fully that Chesterton could say on the cross it's as though God became an atheist to grasp that friends is to get very close to the dizzying paradox of our faith on the cross it's as though God became an atheist meaning the Son of God out of love went into that place that frightens us the most that's the ultimate answer because now God Himself brings light to that darkest place as we remember the passion of our Lord let us join ourselves with him as he prayed the 22nd some my God my God why have you forsaken me you are far from my prayer than the words of my cry O God I cry out by day and you answer not by night and there is no relief for me Lamb of God I am a worm not a man the scorn of me despised by the people all who see me scoff at me they mock me with parted lips they wagged their heads Lamb of God you take away I am like water poured out all my bones are wracked they have pierced my hands and my feet I can count all my bones they look on and gloat over me they divide my garments among them and for my Wester they cast lots worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and divinity and wisdom and strength and honor and blessing Lord Jesus Christ you experienced fully the weakness of our humanity and were even betrayed by your friends by your blest passion be our comfort our protection and our strength in our weakness you who live and reign forever and ever the fifth word after this aware that everything was now finished in order that the scripture might be fulfilled Jesus said I thirst there was a vessel filled with common wine so they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it to his mouth [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] I thirst one of the most clarifying spiritual truths is this God does not need us it's true God is gone God is utterly perfect in himself utterly happy in himself Vatican Council 1 clarified that in the 19th century God did make did not make the world out of me but rather to manifest and share his glory one of the preferences for daily Mass has this theological a magnificent line you have no need of our praise yet our desire to thank you is itself your gift our prayer of thanksgiving adds nothing to your greatness that makes us grow in grace expand that our being adds nothing to god's greatness our existence doesn't enhance the existence of God God doesn't need us now why is that good news it's good news because it means the whole world has been loved into being Thomas Aquinas said that to love is to will the good of the other as other it's a very penetrating definition by the way it's not sentimental love he says is an act of the will I want your good now most of us sinners operate this way don't wait I'll be kind to you that you might be kind to me I'll be just to you that you might be just in return but he that isn't love that's just a kind of indirect egotism to love is a truly ecstatic act because I break out of the confines of my own egotism and I want you are good well can you see friends that's all God can do because God has no news therefore the very existence of the world is a sign of God's love every breath we draw is a sign that we're being loved so God doesn't need us how come God gives us so many laws why does he make so many demands upon us why does he require us for example to come and pray not because he needs any event but see here's the paradox because we need it Thomas Aquinas said that the worship of God doesn't benefit God it worships those who engage in it we become better and rightly ordered precisely through our worship of God now why why because he here's how it works God loves us into being everything we have everything we are is a result of God's love now when you return that to God in love you find the divine life in you increasing thirty sixty and a hundredfold what's the problem the problem is when I receive the divine life as a gift and Paul says what do you have that you haven't received right everything's a gift when I receive that and then hang on to it it's mine my possession my life what happens is then you lose the little you think you have remember that formula from the gospel it's absolute common sense spiritual physics that principle if you try to hang on to the divine life which is a gift it will disappear because it only exists in gift form what's the right formula when you've received the divine life as a gift give it as a gift and you'll find it increasing in you do you see how the divine life has had only on the fly as I receive it I give it and then I get more that's why John Paul formulated this principle as the law of the gift here's how it works you're being increases in the measure that you give it away now young people here listen to me and it's the key to your joy it's the key to life you want to be happy you want your being to increase give it away the one thing you should never do is hang on to it think for a second of the prodigal son story father give me my share coming to me remember three times he reminds the father me me mine mine it's mine so the father gives it to him what happened he fritters it away that's the way it works in spiritual physics if you try to hang on to the divine life as your own little possession you will lose it only when he returns to that great source does that prodigal son find life think of that wonderful story in the old testament of the widow of Zarephath it's in the cycle of readings about elijah the prophet it's a time of drought in Israel and Elijah sent to the widow of Zarephath and he asked for some food and she says well we have enough here for one more meal for me and my son and then we're gonna die Elijah says make me a cake now I've always found that something like out of Mel Brooks you know I've just told you I'm dying here I've got enough for one last meal you want a cake yeah make me a cake and what happens of course the flour and the oil do not run out it's making this same spiritual point when you give the divine life you've received as a gift it increases in you there are 5,000 people be fed here what do you have well we got a couple loaves and five fit we have nothing give them to me says Christ and they are multiplied unto the feeding of the world that's the way it works in spiritual physics now I want you to think about the store of the woman at the well who comes to that well as Jesus says every day and you get thirsty again don't you seen Agustin commented that's concupiscent desire I spoke about it just a little while ago wealth pleasure power honor I come to those wells day after day and I drink but I'm not satisfied what does Jesus say I want to give you water bubbling up in you to eternal life I want to give you water that will satisfy you eternally but listen el how does he get into that conversation with her remember how she sits down by the well and Jesus says give me something to drink I'm thirsty what's he doing san agustin said it magnificently he's thirsty for her faith he's trying to lure her into the space I've been describing she's been coming to that well drinking seizing hanging onto he's trying to lure her into a new spiritual space where she gives and that's the way you get the water bubbling up in you to eternal life if you learn this path of giving the divine life increases in you okay now flash forward to this scene on Calvary when Jesus dying on the cross says to his executioner's I'm thirsty not just a suffering human criminal speaking but the very son of God saying to the human race what he always says I'm thirsty but not out of ordinary need I am thirsty that you might give back to me what I've given to you so that life might increase in you 30 60 and hundredfold Christ up and down the centuries is still thirsty for our faith in that sense not for his own need but that we might come to life satisfy his thirst by giving your life away let us pray to the Father asking for the grace to drink the cup which he offers us make us strong with the faith of our father Abraham make a single-minded with a dedication of Moses make us faithful with the fidelity of Ruth enlighten us with the wisdom of Solomon father make us bold with the courage of Esther Phylis with the zeal of John the Baptist unites us with the confession of Peter give us the fortitude of Paul father form us as you did the Virgin Mary [Music] please join in singing hail true cross [Music] [Applause] [Music] the sixth word it was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until 3:00 in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the Sun then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle Jesus cried out in a loud voice father into your hands I commend my spirit and when he said this he breathed his last [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] father into thy hands I commend my spirit the Trinity is the strangest and most important document Christianity I say strangest because it's meant in many ways to confound the mind san agustin said see comprehend us known as Deus that means if you understand then it's not gone a young German theologian in 1968 said the purpose of Trinitarian language that God is one in essence but three in person is something like the incense we use the liturgy meant to cloud meant to obscure meant to sting the eyes I think last night I was here for the Holy Thursday master they know how to use incense here at st. Patrick's it really did cloud the sanctuary that's its purpose that young theologian by the way was called Yosef rotzinger the purpose of the Trinity said in part was to confound our attempts to grasp the control Gong now the same time the Trinity is telling us the very deepest truth about God and here it is that God is love now all religions and philosophies of God will say some version of God loves or love is an attribute of God but only Christianity claims that God is love somehow in the very being of God there's a play of lover beloved and shared love God is one yes but God has not monolithically one but rather God is a communion a play of persons lover beloved and loved san agustin long ago gave us that wonderful analogy drawn from human psychology how the mind is able to form an image of itself and then mind an image looking toward each other generate love so the father is the great primordial mind of God the son is the image of the father generated from all eternity the spirit is the love shared between the father and the son I'm happy in this pulpit to quote the great Fulton sheen he said from all eternity the father looks at the son what does he see he sees utter perfection from all eternity the son looks back at the father what does he see but utter perfection and so the two of them naturally inevitably fall in love they Sheen said sigh their love for each other that spirit was son to us that holy breath the love that connects the father in the son now how do we know about all this not from abstract speculation we know about it because of the economy of salvation God so loved the world he sent not just one more prophet not just one more teacher not one more patriarch God so loved the world he sent His only Son the father sent the son his beloved son we're into our human condition yes but even further into our fears yes but even further into our death yes the father sent the son listen oh all the way down he sent the son to the very limits of God forsaken us why but he might embrace even those who had run furthest from him do you see how in the great mission of the son the everlasting arms can reach out to embrace even those who would run as far as they can from God because now no matter how far you run you'll find yourself running into the arms of the son that's why this great act of the Trinity is is the saving act the father sent the son all the way out all the way down and then gathered us back in through the Holy Spirit that holy breath the side love that connects the father in the son that's why friends is so important that when we pray as Catholics every one of our prayers begins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit do you see what we're signaling we're not just playing praying to God as though we're standing outside but rather were praying within God because the father looked sent the son all the way down that we might be gathered in to the Holy Spirit as Jesus dies on the cross he says father into your hands I commend my spirit and then he breathed his last that if you want is the iconic representation of the sigh of love that obtains within the Godhead from all eternity but now the son having been sent to the limits of God forsaken us having gathered the fold into the divine light now breathe all of us back breathe all of us back to the Father in the Holy Spirit we've been gathered in you know friends one of the ways to name the deepest tragedy of sin is the refusal even of this embrace of love is it possible yes yes if the deepest darkness of sin but even to this acrobatic act to the divine love I could still say no but you see what God has done in order to save us the father sent his beloved all the way down that he then might return all of us into the holy breath the Holy Spirit the love that connects the father and the son like a sapling he grew up in front of us like a rude and arid ground without beauty without majesty we saw him no looks to attract our eyes we adore you oh Christ we praise you because by your Holy Cross the world a thing despised and rejected by men a man of sorrows and familiar would suffering and yet ours were the sufferings he bore ours the sorrows he carried but we thought of him as someone punished struck by God and brought low [Music] yet he was pierced through for our faults crushed for our sins on him lies a punishment that brings us peace and through his wounds we are healed because by your Holy Cross Lord Jesus Christ by your holy and glorious wounds guard us keep us from all evil and bring us to the victory you have won for us you live and reign forever and ever please join in singing when I survey the wondrous cross [Music] [Applause] [Music] vii word when Jesus had taken the wine he said it is finished and bowing his head he handed over the spirit [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] consume awesome s it is finished according to both the ancient rabbis and the Church Fathers the first priest was Adam before the fall and here's why Adam before the fall walked and easy fellowship with Yahweh all his power is aligned to God and that means Pope Benedict explained he was in the stance of adoration the etymology of that word is interesting odd or rot Co odd aura to the mouth of to be in the stance of adoration is to be mouth-to-mouth with God it's like our word reconciliation the cilia or the eyelashes to be reconciled means to be eyelash to eyelash eyeball the eyeball mouth to mouth some of you turn around you can see the great Rose window and the west side of the cathedral for the medieval that Rose window was a picture of the well-ordered soul in the center is Christ and then wheeling around that Center in those ordered patterns are all the other images the idea is if you are mouth-to-mouth with Christ then the whole of your life falls into harmony around that attitude what's the fall bad praise a suspension of adoration or if you want adoring the wrong things wealth pleasure power honor when I adore the wrong things then I fall apart I disintegrate the Harmony becomes a cacophony sound familiar fellow sinners we all know about them after the fall God sent a rescue operation called a people Israel he wanted to form a people as a corporate atom a people after his own heart and mind who would know how to praise Him who'd be a people of adoration as the book of Exodus says who would be a priestly people hence the covenants hence the sacrifices hence the temple teaching a people how to praise God aright all but much went wrong didn't it read up and down the Old Testament the priestly people fell out of right prayers again and again the prophets called him back but they break the Covenant the prophet Ezekiel says things got so bad that the very glory of Yahweh has left the temple but then he prophesized one day the glory of Yahweh would return to his holy temple and I'm that day water would flow forth from the side of the temple for the renewal of the world remember that beautiful lyrical passage in the prophet Ezekiel one day he's saying the priestly people will be reestablished divinity and humanity will once more be mouth to mouth eyelash two eyelash who is Jesus not just one more prophet not just one more teacher but God from God light from light true God from True God therefore in his very person divinity and humanity meet in his person divinity and humanity are reconciled in his very person adoration takes place which is precisely why st. Paul called him the new Adam at the climax of his life Jesus goes into the Holy Temple in Jerusalem what was meant to be the place of right praise the gathering point of the people Israel he throws the money changers out and he says I will tear this place down and in 3 days rebuilding referring say John tells us to the temple of his body you see what he means Christ himself now in person is the temple is the place of right praise is the place of true sacrifices all those anticipation in the Old Testament were leading to him they were prefiguring him which is why on the cross we say Jesus performed the perfect and ultimate sacrifice look now burying the sins of the world burying your sins and mine he adores the father bringing us all thereby in principle back onto line with the father he performs on the cross the great priestly act the act of the new Adam and this is why when the Roman soldier Pierce's his side outcome blood and water yes the blood of the Eucharist the water of baptism but what first century Jew would have missed the fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy when the Shekinah when the glory of Yahweh would return to his holy temple water would flow forth from its side for the renewal of the world who is Christ the new temple who is Christ the new priesthood who is Christ the final and definitive sacrifice he is the one now who consummates and completes and fulfills the priestly vocation of Israel consummate amass it is finished and see friends at every mass we are once again on Calvary where that sacrifice is performed at every mass we eat the body and drink the blood of the crucified Christ at every mass the water flowing forth from his side renews the whole world consummate a mass it is finished the definitive word of a definitive priest [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] when you come to serve the Lord prepare yourself for trials into your hands Lord I commend my spirit be sincere of heart and steadfast undisturbed in time of adversity into your hands Lord I commend my spirit cling to the Lord forsake him not thus will your fortune be great into your hands Lord I commend my spirit accept whatever befalls you in crushing misfortune be patient into your hands Lord I commend my spirit trust God and he will help you make straight your ways and hopes in him into your hands Lord I commend my spirit you who fear the Lord trust him and your reward will not be lost into your hands my spirit you who fear the Lord hope for good things for lasting joy and mercy into your hands Lord I commend my spirit consider the generations long past and understand has any one hoped in the Lord and been disappointed into your hands Lord O Lord our God your faithfulness and kindness to us will never end grant us the gift of unwavering trust in the promises you have made to us we ask this through Christ our Lord amen now for my half-hour conclusion I'm joking as I conclude I do want to thank cardinal Dolan once more for the very kind invitation and - all of you - for giving me this great privilege to preach on this day so thank you maybe just elasticity cross of Jesus Pilate put the sign Jesus of Nazareth King of the Jews and he put it in three languages Hebrew Latin and Greek so no one could miss it and it made Pilate despite himself the first great evangelist you one galleon good news our words evangelist evangelism come from that new one galleon was used in the first century to announce a Roman Imperial victory when the Emperor won he'd send evangelists ahead with the good news Caesars won do you see how edgy that language is now when the first Christians use it the first light of Mark's Gospel I've got an e-1 galley on for you about Jesus the Son of God in other words the real imperial victory has nothing to do with Caesar it has to do with someone that Caesar killed but whom God raised from the dead the one who's conquered sin and death who's conquered all the powers the world and Mark writes those lines probably from Rome in the belly of the beast in the heart of the Empire who had just killed his friends peter and paul and yet he says that edgy line I've got the real gospel for you it's why st. Paul can refer to Jesus over and over again as curios Lord and we say well that's spiritual enough but in the first century those were fighting words too because a watchword of the time was Kaiser kurios Caesars the Lord you see what Paul is saying and how edgy it was not Caesar but someone who Caesar killed who God raised from the dead Christ is the Lord they didn't miss it by the way which is why Paul spent a lot of time in prison they knew just what he was saying may we be just as strong just as edgy just as confident and bold in our proclamation of the lordship of Jesus in our evangelization as we declare now to all the world the news that comes from that cross the grace that flows from that cross it's still our call our privilege our obligation 2,000 years later to announce to all the world that Jesus Christ the King of the Jews is the Lord god bless you all

Channel: Bishop Robert Barron

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Length: 171min 8sec (10268 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 10 2020