Contemplating His Wounds

Celebration of the Lord’s Passion
Good Friday, 21 March 2008
Rosary Monastery, St. Ann’s

“As the crowds were appalled on seeing him – so disfigured did he look that he seemed no longer human – so will the crowds be astonished at him, and kings stand speechless before him; for they shall see something never told and witness something never heard before: ‘Who could believe what we have heard, and to whom has the power of the Lord been revealed?’ (Isaiah)”

“This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the Savior of the world.”

By the shedding of His precious Blood, by handing over His life in sacrifice to the Lord, Jesus won for us a happiness which will never end. He raised us up to new life with Him.

I happened upon a Psalm-prayer from the Breviary recently, which really spoke to me. I think it helps put today’s liturgy into context very nicely.

“God our Father, to show the way of salvation, you chose that the standard of the cross should go before us, and you fulfilled the ancient prophecies in Christ’s Passover from death to life. Do not let us rouse your burning indignation by sin, but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.”

Meditating on the Cross, contemplating Christ’s wounds, can fill us with love from the very top to the very bottom of our hearts. Choosing Christ above all is first and foremost a deliberate response to a grace given to us by God Himself. Those who here yesterday at the Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper here in Rosary Monastery heard me say, that in all of this, what matters is the direction our lives take, where we are headed. Where I am headed is what counts; moving off dead center, being moved by the Spirit of God is what counts. Being moved by the Spirit of God is not “moved” as in “all stirred up”, but “moved” in the sense of “set in motion”, of being pointed and set off in a direction. What is important in life and religion is the direction: we must bring the proper spirit to our every day living and to our participation in public worship, as we progress along the road to Christ and to our eternal salvation. We seek Jesus, the Crucified, in prayer, in life and in divine worship.

Today’s worship service is unique in the Church’s yearly calendar, it being the only day with a prescribed celebration other than the Eucharist and that so that we can focus directly on the historical event of Christ’s Sacrifice once and for all upon the Cross. I think Good Friday is a good time to face both pastors’ and parents’ anxiety about wanting to make worship attractive for the people and especially, as many parents would say, for our children so as to keep them coming to church. We need to exhort or admonish all those who seem to be seized by all kinds of fears, that one thing only is necessary.

“…through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.”

There are times when we think that liturgical renewal, making worship speak to the people of our day and time, is the thing at the present time. You’ll hear it said: “People didn’t have so many options back then… There weren’t so many other things to do with your Sunday once upon a time… Church was the social gathering years ago… Folks have to make more of a deliberate choice today also because there isn’t the social pressure to go to Sunday Mass that there used to be…” And we could go on with similar observations all pointing to the opinion that externals are what faith practice is all about, that because the entertainment options out there are numerous and impressive, not to mention being maybe fun, that it’s harder to be a practicing Catholic today than it ever has been…

I would like to respectfully disagree with that opinion. The Cross which Jesus invites us to carry with Him has not gotten bigger over the years. Life has not changed much really, even over the centuries. Look at the Exodus story from the Old Testament! Even an earth-shaking Theophany, God coming down in a cloud with thunder and lightning, couldn’t keep the Israelites at the foot of Mount Sinai, with Moses almost within sight up on the mountain top talking with God, not even God’s own powerful presence in the desert could keep them from forging for themselves and worshiping a golden calf. As God’s Chosen People yearned for their stew-pots and kitchen gardens despite the slavery back in Egypt, so people in our day and time often miss the bigger picture and turn their backs on the practice of their Catholic faith for some other form of entertainment. It may be true that we’ve lost out in that competition, but that is not the point because it is not the core issue. Who ever said that Sunday Mass was a cultural exercise? No matter how polished, how dynamic, how entertaining Sunday worship could be… no matter how dynamic Father’s sermon and how pertinent his message, some folks would still stay away or wander off of a Sunday. The challenge to living a Catholic life, to embracing the faith in its fullness and clinging to Christ has never played out in the matter of externals.

What is at the heart of our faith? What made grandma and grandpa or mom and dad such faithful Catholics? What was it which made the difference for them and why don’t I have any excuse for not being the same kind of committed Catholic? What animates the life of a practicing Catholic? What is the soul of religion, what can and does sustain me in my faith if it isn’t a hearty greeting of peace, a great choir or a rousing sermon? That what, I think, is something we can call essential religion.

“…but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.”

We use the expressions: “Being a good citizen, being a good neighbor…” People used to say “being a good Christian” in the same breath. The thought is good but it is not the whole story. Remember: essential religion! Every tendency recorded in history to move away from the fullness of Catholic faith has been a denial of the central and essential importance of the Blood of Christ. This turning away from the contemplation of his wounds has corresponded to an attempt on the part of the powers that be in the world of that time, by whomever it was who was pulling the strings, to manage folk, to get the people to toe the line, to make “good Christian” synonymous with “good citizen”. What is central to our faith, what is essential however lies elsewhere; it is necessarily a part of Good Friday.

First and foremost a good Catholic is someone who has made the experience of Good Friday the hallmark of his or her life. The good Catholic has contemplated his wounds, Jesus’ Cross, and in a sense that spectacle is enough for him or for her. In the Cross of Christ my cup is filled to overflowing. The popular old Spiritual hymn, “Were you there when the crucified my Lord?”, says the same thing in a little different manner. The role of Calvary in my life can hardly be exaggerated.

The fullness of life and truth is hidden deep within His wounds. The prophet Isaiah spoke to us in prophecy of what is called the scandal of the Cross, “the crowds were appalled on seeing him – so disfigured did he look that he seemed no longer human”. Leaving aside almost the spectacle of violence, the Cross signals for those who do not take time to pause and reflect something truly gratuitous, something which goes beyond the limit and doesn’t make much sense. Some people just do not seem willing to face the fundamental question: To what extremes will God really go to touch my heart, to draw me back, to draw me to Himself? “To ransom a slave you gave away your son” we’ll sing tomorrow night!

“God our Father, to show the way of salvation, you chose that the standard of the cross should go before us, and you fulfilled the ancient prophecies in Christ’s Passover from death to life. Do not let us rouse your burning indignation by sin, but rather, through the contemplation of his wounds, make us burn with zeal for the honor of your Church and with grateful love for you.”

Eyes and heart wide open, our ears filled with the powerful words of John’s Gospel account of the Passion, let us look to Jesus and let our choice of Him above all others be strong!