Holy Week, April 2003

To the Christian mind it is obvious that the Incarnation is the central event of creation and of history. In Christ, He who is the source of creation brings creation to a stunning completion and perfection when He joins Himself with man, the last of His works. In His splendid humanity He is the means of our Salvation, and the model of our lives.

Holy Week, the last of His mortal life, was from the beginning His special "Hour." To His mother at the wedding feast of Cana, He said: "My Hour is not yet come." Frequently He spoke of the events of that Hour. "The Son of Man will be handed over to sinners . . . and be put to death, but on the third day He will rise again." As passover approached, "He knew that His Hour had come." "What should I say? Father, save me from this Hour? But it was for this Hour that I came. Then, Father, glorify Your name."

He who knew no sin became sin so that we may be freed from slavery to sin and death. In the frightening darkness of Calvary, life and death struggled, and it seemed that life was lost. But it was not — for in that great cry from the Cross, "Father, into Your hands I give my Spirit," the full gift of His Life is manifest. The dead walked the streets of Jerusalem, and the Centurion cried out: "Indeed, this was the Son of God."

O loving wisdom of our God!
When all was sin and shame,
A second Adam to the fight
And to the rescue came.

O wisest love! that flesh and blood
Which did in Adam fail,
Should strive afresh against the foe,
Should strive and should prevail.

Cardinal Newman, "The Dream of Gerontius"

In the Person of Christ, in His great Hour, the entire reality of history is encapsulated. Our redemption is achieved, the possibility of freedom is restored, and, in and through Christ, we can live the good life. All that is required of us is that we let Him be our light and our strength.

Were you there when they crucified my Lord? You were, and so also was I. With His divine mind, and possibly also with His human mind, He saw us as we are. What were we doing? The answer is: what we are doing. Oh let us try to be with Mary Magdalene and John — for He would gather us "as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings." We must choose, for to neglect to choose is itself a choice.

- Fr. O'Brien