Lent 2017 Study Guide for The Seven Last Words of Christ by Father Tom Rosica, CSB
From the book jacket: For Christians, the cross of Christ is both an outrage and the path to salvation. How do we even begin to ponder its profound meaning? The Seven Last Words of Christ the final seven phrases that he spoke from the cross lead us deeper into our relationship with the Lord. With eyes of faith, we see beyond the humiliating death of Jesus of Nazareth and glimpse our God: a God of mercy, redemption and endless love. For more from author Father Thomas Rosica, CSB, on how this book was written and how you might consider these Seven Last Words as part of your Lenten journey and prayer, go to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2s604vcxia SAVE THE DATES! Father Tom Rosica joins us in the Easter Season to lead a three-evening retreat on the four Gospel accounts of the Resurrection, Words of the Resurrection May 7-8-9, 7:00 8:30PM in Church Begins with dinner, Sunday, May 7 following 5:00 Mass, in the Gathering Space
First Word Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. Luke 22: 33-34 1. What are your hopes for your own spiritual life in spending time this Lent with Father Rosica s homilies on The Seven Last Words of Christ? 2. As a Catholic, when you ponder the Cross, what do you see? What does it mean to see the Cross with eye of faith, as Donald Cardinal Wuerl suggests in the Foreword? 3. Jesus kingdom is built on love, service, justice, peace, forgiveness and mercy. This is Luke s recipe for authentic conversion How will you embrace this recipe for conversion for yourself this Lent? 4. Pope Francis said of Jesus first Word in his Palm Sunday 2016 homily: He takes upon himself all our pain that he may redeem it, bringing light to darkness, life to death, love to hatred. In our world today, where are we called to shed light on darkness? 5. Pope Francis also has placed a great emphasis on MERCY and ENCOUNTER. Mercy, Father Rosica writes, is what happens when a heart of love meets the misery or pitiful state of others and the world. Where is your heart meant to encounter another with mercy this Lent? 6. Jesus is our model of love and forgiveness. As you embark on these 40 days of Lent, where do you need to forgive and show mercy?
Second Word Today, you will be with me in Paradise. Luke 23: 39-43 1. Jesus went to his death in the midst of community. Among those who followed him to the cross were those who mocked and made jokes, including one of the criminals beside him. Reflect on your own reaction to human suffering. Are you ever tempted to distract yourself with humor or another inappropriate response? This Lent, how will you be more tuned into the suffering of others? 2. Ponder the reasons Jesus was condemned and go back through the accounts in Scripture of him eating with sinners, touching the untouchable, raising the dead, befriending women. Where do you see yourself in those stories? 3. How are the two criminals crucified with Jesus strikingly different? Why does Jesus say, Today, you will be with me in Paradise? 4. Pope Francis said on Holy Thursday 2016 that God enables us to move directly from the most shameful disgrace to the highest dignity without any intermediary stages. When do you have the opportunity to do the same for others? 5. Pope Francis continued: Our response to God s superabundant forgiveness should be always to preserve the healthy tension between a dignified shame and a shamed dignity. What does that mean? 6. Dismas, the forgiven criminal, made a choice to admit his own wretchedness to Jesus. What is the wretchedness you need to admit to Jesus?
Third Word Woman, here is your son Here is your mother. John 19: 25-27 1. Mary, the Mother of God, is among five people at the foot of the cross, along with the beloved disciple. Who is the beloved disciple? 2. At the Annunciation, Mary responds to the Angel to God Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be done to me according to your Word. (Luke 1: 26-38) How does Mary s YES! come to full fruition at the Cross? 3. How do Jesus words to his mother and the beloved disciple help to give birth to the Church, the People of God? 4. The Communion of Saints is depicted in varied ways throughout Scripture. How do you experience deep communion with other people of faith today? 5. When people participate in Holy Week Triduum services and Holy Mass at St. Joseph s do they find a welcoming community of warmth and kindness? How can we make ourselves ever better at this? 6. On Holy Thursday 2016, Pope Francis, who washed the feet of refugees in Rome, described the communicative power of concrete actions, saying that gestures of fraternity, tenderness, concord and peace is a powerful witness in a world desperately in need of such signs and gestures. Identify one concrete action you can take this week to be a sign of peace and tenderness in your world.
FOURTH WORD My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Matthew 27: 45-46 1. We focus on Jesus last three hours on the Cross. Mark emphasizes that he was nailed to the Cross at 9AM. There are many other differences in the Gospel accounts of Matthew and Mark, Luke and John, including Jesus final words. Spend some time this week with the four different accounts. Which one resonates the most with you and your faith? 2. In Matthew s Gospel, Jesus utters the fourth Word from Psalm 22. Read Psalm 22 this week. How do you call out to God? 3. In this Lenten journey, can you be mindful of God s presence at all times? What helps you be aware of God s presence in your life? 4. The haunting, burning question remains: How is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob present in the midst of such terror, destruction and loss? 5. Jesus does not bring us deliverance from death but through death. What does this meant to you? 6. Have we felt abandoned in our suffering, or have we abandoned our loves ones in their pain and suffering? Do we ever make the psalmist s and Jesus words our own: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
FIFTH WORD I am thirsty. John 19:28 1. This week, ponder your innate thirst for God. Are you in touch with that human desire that is so central to your faith? 2. Why did Jesus need to encounter the Samaritan woman? Read the fourth chapter of John this week. 3. Mother Teresa had the words, I THIRST, placed on the wall of every chapel of the Missionaries of Charity. What is their purpose? 4. What specifically is Jesus thirsting for in us? 5. We cling to our own plans. Do you fully trust the plan of God for you? How can you let go more fully? 6. What is one step you can take this week to respond to the thirst of Jesus for you to take up his cross and act in discipleship toward those in need?
SIXTH WORD It is finished. John 19: 29-30 1. What is the broad meaning of the word finished in this context of John s account of the Passion? 2. For the evangelist John, why is Good Friday already Pentecost? 3. As we gaze on the face of the crucified Jesus today, what do we see? 4. Has someone in your life been a point of embarkation? 5. Death cannot stop those significant persons in our lives from being embarkation points for us. Is there a deceased loved one who is an embarkation point for you? 6. Why on Good Friday do we pray for our sisters and brothers of other faith communities?
SEVENTH WORD Father, into your hands I commend my spirit. Luke 23: 44-46 1. This seventh word comes from Psalm 31. Read Psalm 31. Why does Luke place the words of this psalm on Jesus lips, and not Psalm 22, as Matthew and Mark do? 2. What do these final words of Jesus say about his desire for us in our relationship with God? 3. How do you cultivate an interior attitude of unconditional surrender to God? 4. We are all sinners. What does God want for us as sinners? 5. Before becoming Pope John Paul I, Cardinal Albino Luciani, wrote a letter to Jesus and expressed the inadequacy we all feel in the words and expressions of our prayer to Jesus. This Holy Week, can you take time to write your own letter to Jesus? 6. Pope Francis said at World Youth Day 2016: The Way of the Cross is the way of fidelity in following Jesus to the end, in the often dramatic situations of everyday life It is the way of hope, the way of the future. Enter into the Way of the Cross this Good Friday. How will you bring this way of hope into your family, your workplace, your own heart?
Our thanks to Father Tom Rosica for his permission to use excerpts and questions from The Seven Last Words of Christ Novalis, 2017