Today marks the beginning of a holy week of remembrance. Through Scripture, Song and Sacred Ritual, we commemorate Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection. Our Parish Lenten journey leads us now to the gates of Jerusalem where ‘Jesus emptied Himself and accepted death on a cross.’ We come to this time and place, open to the wonders of Christ’s death; a power that brings new life to those who have lost hope, a home to the confused, and healing to those who suffer.
It is on Calvary we find our noblest aspiration as human persons. Tertullian wrote: “The flesh is the hinge of salvation.” We believe in a God Who made Himself human in order to redeem us by the very flesh He gave us.
Jesus, the Son of God, freely suffered death for us in complete and free submission to the will of God. He asks nothing less from us. “By His death He has conquered death, and so opened the possibility of salvation for all of us (CCC, 1019).”
If we can identify with the Centurion of the Gospel, and stand with him beneath the Cross and say with him: “This indeed was the Son of God,” then we will enter more deeply these sacred moments and ponder the great mystery of God’s love for us.