Living into the Paschal Mystery
| Each year the Lenten-Easter season provides us a special time of grace to reflect upon a profound truth that stands at the center of our Christian experience: the paschal mystery. This term succinctly expresses the unified, total event of Christ’s passion, death, and resurrection. In the paschal mystery, Christ “passed over” (pascha) to his Father, drawing all humanity with him and fulfilling the Father’s loving plan for the salvation of all peoples. In a unique way and with great intensity, we Christians remember, celebrate, and share in this paschal mystery, particularly in the liturgies of Holy Week and the Easter Season.
Embracing a Broken World. Our experience of suffering forces us to look closely at the large scale of suffering in the contemporary world. Unfortunately, and even scandalously, examples of the lived paschal mystery and the “passion of humanity” abound. Although human misery is often reduced to cold statistics or media clips, suffering must never be depersonalized; it always has a human face! And, it is precisely in these contexts where God seems absent or hidden (deus absconditus) that our Christian theology of the cross (theologia crucis) becomes eminently realistic. Christian faith and life itself are always cruciform, signed by the cross.
Christianity: Faith Embracing Suffering. The late John Paul II observed in Salvifici Dolores that the reality of suffering is ever before our eyes; suffering is that “universal theme that accompanies humanity at every point” of human existence. “The Church has to try to meet humanity in a special way on the path of his suffering” (SD 105-106). We Christians must not fall into escapism and denial of the world’s harsh realities. We are challenged, in imitation of Christ, to embrace our wounded world. In the words of Theologian Jon Sobrino, we are called to recognize the existence of “crucified peoples” and strive to “take them down from the cross.”
Our Paschal Faith. Undoubtedly, our Christian faith is, at heart, a paschal faith. We accept that all reality has a paschal paradigm and all life is shaped by rhythms of life through death. Our Christian faith and practice, our “missionary eyes,” continue to discover elements of this very mystery hidden in the history and lives of all peoples, including those of diverse faiths. Our paschal faith is probably strongest when seen through life’s difficult situations of suffering and brokenness.
Reflection in Faith. The cross is not an accidental of Christian faith and mission. Theologian David Bosch asserts that the Gospel affirms that “in the suffering Jesus, God embraces the suffering of the world for the sake of humanity…. Moreover, in Christ, God does not necessarily save us from suffering, but in and through it…. Christ suffers when we suffer. The pain people suffer is the pain of Christ himself.” As Christians, we are called to live into the mystery of the cross, to live into the image of Christ on the cross. We must not fail to keep the cross—and resurrection—at the center of our faith journey. Our heartfelt prayer remains constant: “Lord, increase our faith.” |
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Notes on the Readings
First Reading, Isaiah 50:4-7: In today’s reading the prophet Isaiah gives us a description of the mysterious “Servant of the Lord.” The Servant, doing God’s will, is beaten and abused but shows great courage and faith in God. This is a messianic passage that reminds us of the Lord during His passion.
Responsorial Psalm, Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24: This psalm selection expresses a heartfelt lament of extreme suffering and a cry of abandonment; yet, ultimately it highlights God’s faithfulness. Despite the pain, the psalmist trusts in God’s past, present, and future deliverance. It acts as a detailed, prophetic portrait of Jesus’ radical faith on the cross.
Second Reading, Philippians 2:6-11: Here Paul addresses the community in Philippi describing Christ’s attitude, voluntarily emptying himself of all divine trappings and taking the form of a slave. Jesus obediently accepted death, even a tortuous death on a cross. Because of such profound self-abasement, we honor and exalt Him as Lord.
Gospel, Matthew 21:1-11: Matthew, our evangelist for this year, helps us begin Holy Week as he describes the scene in Jerusalem crowded with Passover pilgrims. Jesus, whose life is in danger, publicly enters the city, humbly riding a lowly colt. He is hailed as the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee. Within a week, Pilate mockingly will post a sign on the cross that Jesus is “King of the Jews.” Yes, Jesus is truly a “Servant-King”!
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Notes and Commentary by Maryknoller James H. Kroeger, who recently published three short, meditative books: Living in Joyful Hope, Exploring Vatican II Treasures, and A Joyful Journey with Pope Francis (www.faithalivebooks.com).
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Please pray for the missions,
May God bless you in all the ways you Go Forth…
