The Liturgy of the Word
Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 31:9-16; Philippians 2:5-11; Luke 22:14-23:56
What Jesus preached in the Sermon on the Mount, he practiced on the Mount of Calvary. On the cross, Jesus prays for his enemies, "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do," and everything changes.
Jesus of Nazareth lived and died in the real world, and it was a world saturated and captivated by hatred and violence. No Hollywood, no video games to scapegoat. In these first words from the cross, found only in Luke, Jesus reveals God's own costly love for the world, mediating God's forgiveness and friendship even in the midst of our violent world. From the cross, Christ takes all of it upon himself, all of the hatred and all of the violence of the world, and he says "no more." Enough.
The deadly cycle of violence and counter-violence is broken, and begins to yield to a new world of compassion and solidarity and reconciliation. On the cross, we see God's costly gift of love in the person of Christ, and in the prayer of Christ for the transformation of the whole world.
(THE REV. DR. JOSEPH S. PAGANO, Sermons that work)
Beloved, in this Great and Holy Week we glory in the Cross of Christ. We tremble before the mystery of our redemption forged on the cross, and weep as Love So Amazing and Divine hangs there. This holy and precious cross, signed on us in baptism, demands that we too reveal the power of Christ-like love. "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." And then, we commit to understanding more clearly what Jesus truly wants us to do, and be, and why it matters so much.
Father, help us, help us, to be delivered from the evil of violence in all its forms, that we might love as you have loved us.
Hymn: My Song is Love Unknown
 |
| My Song Is Love Unknown - King's College, Cambridge |
Let us pray. Almighty and everliving God, in your tender love for the human race you sent your Son our Savior Jesus Christ to take upon him our nature, and to suffer death upon the cross, giving us the example of his great humility: Mercifully grant that we may walk in the way of his suffering, and also share in his resurrection; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
