7 Last Words of Christ Lenten Retreat st Word: Father Forgive Them

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1 7 Last Words of Christ Lenten Retreat st Word: Father Forgive Them The following words come to us from St. Anselm s PROSLOGION they are meant to set the tone for you as we begin our Lenten Mission a Lenten Mission that will serve to draw us into contemplating the Mystery behind the 7 Last Words of Our Blessed Lord spoken from the Cross Put aside now your weighty cares and leave your wearisome toil. Abandon yourself for a little to God, and rest for a little in Him Enter into the chamber of your soul: shut out everything safe God and what can be of help in your quest for Him. And having locked the door, seek Him out: Come then Lord my God, teach my heart, where and how to seek you, where and how to find you. Lord if you are not present here, where, since you are absent, shall I look for you? On the other hand if you are everywhere, why then, since you are present, do I not see you? But surely you dwell in a light inaccessible. But where is this inaccessible light? Or how can I approach the inaccessible light? Or who shall lead me and take me into it? That I might see you in it. Again by what signs? Under what aspects shall I seek you? Teach me to seek you and reveal yourself to me as I seek. Because I cannot seek if you do not teach me how, nor find you unless you reveal yourself. Let me seek you in desiring you. Let me desire you in seeking you. Let me find you in loving you. Let me love you in finding you LET ME LOVE YOU in FINDING YOU Our encounter with the Word made flesh, the Second Person of the Trinity, Humanity s Savior begins right where He desires for every man, woman, and child to meet him. At the foot of the Cross staring into the Face of God s Love a face Bruised and Broken out of LOVE for each and every one of us! All throughout our Lord's Public Ministry, he continually DROPPED PROPHETIC UTTERANCES before his disciples that pointed towards the event of His Cross as being the Culmination, the Center Point, for his purpose of having been sent on earth by God the Father. Ø Take THE MOMENT immediately following Peter's profession of faith after the disciples are asked: "and who do you say that I am?" The gospel writer tells us that From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. (Matthew 16:21) Ø Then there s THE MOMENT following our Lord's TRANSFIGURATION on Mount Tabor. His face begins to shine LIKE THE SUN, his CLOTHES BECOME DAZZLING WHITE Peter, James and John fall on their faces in Fear and Awe a cloud covers them while a Voice BOOMS OUT from the clouds it s GOD!!! I mean here they are INSIDE the experience - A VOICE: THIS IS MY BELOVED SON!!!! LISTEN TO HIM! And not just vaguely listen to Him, LISTEN TO HIM FOR WHAT HE JUST TOLD YOU! And was it that he just told them? He just told them about the cross that awaits them in Jerusalem. His death and crucifixion. And so we are to understand that the glory contained within Jesus Christ on earth is one that seeks to manifest itself through the cross! For its when He speaks of the Cross that the Glory bursts forth!!! 1

2 And the putting together of all this is something that only God himself can do by the power of the Holy Spirit in the figure of Jesus of Nazareth, this PUTTING TOGETHER OF THE GLORY and THE CROSS. It s a TERRIBLE paradox of our Christian Faith and it s one which never goes away The GLORY and the CROSS a paradox that never goes away And Jesus, during the entire course of his life on earth is standing RIGHT INSIDE this paradox. And now here we are, embarking upon a Lenten journey that BEGINS ringside, right in front of the Main Event THE CRUCIFIXION OF GOD'S SON this is THE VERY HEART of that which is the ULTIMATE EXPRESSION OF GOD THE FATHER'S LOVE for every human being enslaved by Sin and Death Kneeling before our blessed Lord suspended between heaven and earth the ULTIMATE ACT OF SURRENDER these are the final hours of Jesus of Nazareth and they will culminate in the experience of his Death. We must never forget that the DEATH of Jesus is Death and Sin at its worst. It really is Death and it really is Sin: all the SINS of the world BBBOOOOMMmmmm there present in the DYING BODY of Jesus!!! We are beginning our Lenten journey SEEING the effects of Evil and Sin at their best: a reminder to each of us that SIN is a force within Fallen Creation that has within it the authority and the power to crush the very life out from everyone who comes in contact with it. The crucifixion of the Eternal Word made flesh is the GREATEST EXPRESSION OF HORROR that has ever crossed the stage of Creation and Human History and yet: RIGHT THERE with humanity encapsulated within the person of Jesus Christ at its worst the Holy Spirit makes it so that his death on the cross says: LOVE!!! And he will express the Father's love by means of the following seven words The 7 Last Words of Christ are each spoken while our King finds himself crucified upon the throne of human salvation. His cross is the pulpit out from which the LAST GREAT SEVEN SERMONS poured forth from his sacred lips. And as uncomfortable as it is for us to be there with our imagination, our hearts, our sins, our helplessness there is no other place and or event on earth that service to manifest God's love for us in the way that we are about to experience it. Last Word #1 "When they reached the place called THE SKULL, there they crucified him and the two criminals. One on his right and the other on his left. Jesus said: Father FORGIVE THEM they know not what they do Then they cast lots to share out his clothing (Luke 23:33-34) Why is it that billions of people walk this earth imprisoned within because they are unable to forgive themselves, to forgive others, to forgive the events that they have lived through which has left them scarred beyond recognition? We who call ourselves Christians have it as a DIVINE IMPERATIVE to strive each and every day towards overcoming hatred and evil by way of establishing RECONCILIATION and SACRIFICIAL LOVE at work in this world. Our Master demands of us nothing that He himself did not put into practice. To those who Tortured Him, Laughed at Him, Spit on Him while he hung on that cross for six hours 6 HOURS of Agonizing Pain Our Lord s response to this BARBAROUS ACT OF INJUSTICE: "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do 2

3 At that moment, our Lord taught us the two most important words found in every language: LOVE and PRAYER. The LOVE our Lord bears witness to from that cross is not some kind of ROMANTIC LOVE. The Master hangs there teaching us that LOVE IS NOT ABOUT HOW WE FEEL regarding the other but rather: HOW WE RESPOND TO THE OTHER! LOVE is not the acquisition of pleasant feelings for an Enemy, the kind of feeling we have for a sweetheart, or even a member of our own family. The love Christ reveals by means of his first word from the cross has very little to do with feelings and much more to do with ACTIONS. LOVE IS TO DO WHAT YOU CAN TO PRESERVE ANOTHER LIFE and TO BRING THAT PERSON TOWARD SALVATION!! And so let s get this straight once and FOR ALL: FORGIVENESS IS NOT A FEELING forgiveness is an ACT OF THE WILL!! Back in 2003, 13-Year-old BETHANY HAMILTON was HAWAII'S TOP FEMALE SURFER in her age group and one of the best in the United States. And then it happened... She had gone surfing on the morning of Halloween with some friends, as she was lying sideways on her board with her left arm dangling in the water, a 14 foot tiger shark came up from below and bit her arm straight off just below the shoulder. Her surfing partners acted quickly, applying a tourniquet to her arm, and with a surf leash, they paddled her to shore on her board. When she got to the beach, Bethany passed out while waiting for an ambulance... Fact #1: Events in life have contributed to shape who we are this day and they will affect us into who we become tomorrow. Fact #2: Until we can forgive ourselves, Forgive the Event, those who have hurt us, and experience God s forgiveness for ourselves which is made most palpable through the SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION until we experience these things, we will never truly be free!! Fact #3: The SPIRITUAL FORCES OF DARKNESS at work in this world are bent on making sure that you and I remain prisoners of sin, of past hurts, of shame, of despair... A priest once received a letter from a woman who said that HER LIFE HAD BECOME SO EVIL, that she decided to end it. So many scars, so many wounds from events beyond her control that she could no longer believe in forgiveness itself. And so, early one morning she went out to the ocean and began slowly walking along the empty beach With her mind made up, she walked along the water s edge, (the place where water and land embrace one another) and as she was psychologically preparing herself to swim out to the point of no return, she heard a voice say: STOP! Turn around, and look down She stopped, turned, and looked down at the wet sand behind her. The gentle caress of the waves upon the shore had washed away all her footprints... 3

4 Again, the Voice spoke and said: I am calling you TO LIVE and TO LOVE, not to die... For as the waves have washed away your footprints, so my Love and Mercy wash away all of your sins... This experience had such an impact upon her heart, mind, and soul, that this woman left the beach and from that moment on: she CLOSED THE DOOR OF HER OLD WAYS OF LIFE and opened the door to a whole New Life... And while I'm sure that it was as though TIME STOOD STILL for this woman as her heart was touched by the EXTRAORDINARY EMBRACE of the Eternal Father's words of Forgiveness and Mercy, elsewhere in the world people were still going about their daily chores while clouds passed overhead as though absolutely NOTHING OUT OF THE ORDINARY was happening on that day anywhere in the world... After all, it's an ORDINARY THING ISN'T IT to be the only Intelligent Life Force on a huge clump of dirt and rock that we have named "Earth" which floats around in an abyss of space and is held together by gravitational forces. It's an ordinary thing isn't it to be surrounded by billions of stars and their planets, poisonous gas, and dust that extends over thousands of light years in what we call "OUR GALAXY" which by the way, according to scientists is but one of an estimated 50 billion galaxies in the Universe I mean if we really take the time to think about it, the Extraordinary Existence of our daily reality which sadly is all too often times expressed through the mundane routine of our every day lives is probably less likely to ever occur in some galaxy somewhere compared to the ORDINARY EVENT of a woman, made in the image and likeness of the Triune God, walking on the beach hearing her Creator s VOICE resounding in her heart The voice of the Life-Giving Spirit: ECHOING throughout her soul... And while most people will not experience the type of grace that this woman experienced, all of us are called to the same gift of freedom made available to us in Christ. But we have to FREELY CHOOSE to come before the King of Kings with a DEEP FAITH coupled with the shattered existence of our lives held out for him to mold back into form. Forgiveness of THE EVENT, Forgiveness of THE PERSON, Forgiveness of THE TRAUMA!! As we speak, countless people walk this Earth imprisoned within themselves because they are unable to forgive themselves, others, or EVENTS that they have lived through which has left them scarred beyond recognition. And so, here is THE KEY that will unlock the door to your Newfound Freedom: FORGIVENESS IS NOT A FEELING forgiveness is an ACT OF THE WILL!! It has to be the Greatest Pitfall of all time. The idea that we must wait until we feel better about a person or situation before we believe that we have obtained and or reach that point where TRUE FORGIVENESS happens. Jesus Christ suspended between heaven and earth from piercing nails on the cross teaches us the GREATEST LESSON about FORGIVENESS that has for some reason or other been bypassed by a multitude of his followers. How did Jesus FEEL after having been tied to a pillar and beaten with a whip of nine tails containing shards of bones and iron, after having a crown of thorns pushed through his scalp, after having been crushed three times to the ground by the weight of his cross, and finally after having been crucified by the Roman soldiers and lifted up in the air to dangle: HOW DID JESUS FEEL AT THAT VERY MOMENT?? TRAUMA, be it being attacked by a shark in the ocean, being abused by a family member or a friend having one's heart crushed by a relationship gone bad TRAUMA happens to us all... And when TRAUMA happens, the wounds left upon our souls become scars over time scars that serve to forever remind us of our TRAUMA. 4

5 The answer to experiencing freedom from its clutches is found in one word: FORGIVENESS HE WAS IN AGONIZING, EXCRUCIATING PAIN!!! And it was from that human experience that he cried out: FATHER, forgive them for they know not what they do... FORGIVENESS IS NOT A FEELING forgiveness is an ACT OF THE WILL!! The lesson being is that even if we don t feel good about FORGIVING SOMEONE, FORGIVING OURSELVES, OR AN EVENT: it doesn t matter! What matters is that in prayer we let our Heavenly Father know that we have FREELY chosen to forgive just as Our Lord and Master FREELY Chose to Forgive each of us for our Sins that put Him on the cross in the first place. And the best part is that: we don t need to ask God to Forgive someone, ourselves or an Event 100 times!! his Son asked him to forgive us ONCE and that was enough After we have forgiven, even if go on LIVING WITH THE PAIN: kind of like Jesus was still in much pain on that cross, we need to Trust that Forgiveness has occurred. FORGIVENESS IS NOT A FEELING it is an ACT OF THE WILL! It is a path of Understanding travelled by people of Faith. Don t Kid yourself the Scars WILL REMAIN we re Human!! If the Trauma and the Wound is deep enough, then, THE SCARS STAY! Look at Jesus Christ resurrected from the dead: he sits at the right hand of the Father with holes in his hands up in his side and in his feet. Such is the human condition! Despite losing 60 percent of her blood from that SHARK ATTACK, Bethany survived several surgeries and avoided infection. She was back in the water less than a month later, catching waves on Thanksgiving Day... She bears the wounds of TRAUMA from an event outside her control and yet she lives in COMPLETE FREEDOM an example for us of someone who has FORGIVEN THE EVENT. So much so that she returned to competitive surfing and won her First National Title back in Truth be told, the event of a Shark Attack leaving someone with an amputated arm is far from the ordinary events that most people experience in this life. At one and the same time, we have all LIVED THROUGH EVENTS that have left us scrambling for Meaning, drowning in Confusion, amputated from Understanding It's not that one's events of trauma are worse than someone else's, rather it's that all of us are called to courageously approach our Lord with the one thing that is in our power exercise. Forgiveness That's our part to play in the ONGOING DRAMA OF SALVATION HISTORY. The EFFECTS OF OUR FORGIVENESS is that of experiencing HEALING and FREEDOM within. And that is a PURE GIFT FROM ABOVE! We are all God's precious children and his First Sermon from the Pulpit of the Cross has to do with instilling within us the pathway that leads to Healing, Reconciliation, and Inner Freedom. FORGIVE the Person, FORGIVE the Event, FORGIVE the Trauma and experience the FREEDOM... 5