Today we commemorate the passion
and death of Jesus on the cross.
Yes, Jesus died on the cross, and
we Catholics use the cross as a principal symbol of being a Christian. Why the
cross? The cross reminds us of human helplessness; the experience that brings
us this feeling that our nerves were stretched beyond their limits and we could
do nothing to save ourselves. It is at such moment that we pray to God but it
seems He never listens to us. We feel we are helpless. However, it is only when
we come to this point in life that we truly know who God really is. Though He
does not grant us what we pray for, He gives us what is good for our soul. It
is when we become totally helpless that we find strength in His unconditional
love. People who have been through this experience live a renewed Christian
life, hold greater faith in God and deal with people patiently.
Last month, when it was announced
that there were three COVID positive in Aklan, one of them was a church worker.
Bishop Cor Tala-oc confirmed this and the fact that the church worker attended a
mass and helped in giving communion to the faithful before he was tested positive
for COVID-19. When people heard this, many expressed their negative reactions.
The patient and his family were pushed beyond their limits. They were not only
weary because of the disease but also because of the pain brought by social
rejection. The wife, in the midst of their family’s helplessness, could not ask
for anything except for prayers. It is in this experience; I see the cross, I see
helplessness. But it is also through this experience that I see how great God’s
love is. The bishop went to seclusion after learning he had a direct contact
with the patient and he prayed while observing a self-imposed quarantine. The
priests who know the family prayed for them. The Charismatic community prayed
for them too. We continued praying until we received the news that the patient
was stable and safe from COVID-19.
Yes, the cross reminds us of
human helplessness. But it also tells us of God’s greatest love for us.
In our veneration of the cross,
we think of Jesus who embraced with Him our human helplessness. He spent His
night in prison, mistreated by the guards. On that very night, He was helpless
as His closest friends abandoned Him. The next day, Pontius Pilate and Herod
sent Him back and forth to one another until Pilate made the decision. The
chief priests and the people shouted loudly to Pilate to crucify Jesus. Not
only that Pilate sentenced Jesus to death but he also ordered the soldiers to
scourge Him. After the scourging, Jesus could feel the pain of His open wounds
in His whole body. How painful it was for Him to walk as His feet were wounded.
How painful it was painful for Him to carry the cross as His shoulders were
wounded. Then He received a crown of thorns that added to His pain. How
difficult it was for Him to carry the cross in some distance while His body was
covered in open wounds. When He was crucified, people scoffed, “He saved
others, but he cannot save himself!” This is the real depiction of human
helplessness. But in His helplessness, Jesus found strength in God’s love
expressed through these words, “Father, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”
My dear friends, human
helplessness is real. Time will come and has already come that we say to
ourselves, we have been weighed, we have been measured, and we have been found
wanting. We are pushed beyond our limits and all we can do is to look at the
cross, believe in God’s unconditional love for us and say, “We adore You, O
Jesus Christ, and we praise You. Because by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed
the world. Amen.”
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