Fr. Thomas M. Pastorius
March 5, 2017
Spiritual Ponderings
7 Last Words of Christ
 
St. Maximilian once described “the Cross is the school of love.” St. Francis De Sales called “the cross the academy of love.”  Seizing on the wisdom expressed in the quotes from St. Maximilian Kolbe and St. Francis DeSales, I think it is important that each Catholic take time to explore the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ death in many different ways.  One ancient way the Church has helped its members do this is through a devotion that focuses the Christian on the last Seven Words of Christ.  I invite you therefore to reflect with me on these last seven words.
 
1.            Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34
Growing up, I use to think that turning the other cheek was a sort of wimpy and passive action.  Now, I see that turning the other cheek has nothing to do with being wimpy and passive.  When we turn the other cheek, we are actually telling others that they can do their worse to us and we will still remain the same loving person that we have always been.  If we are honest with ourselves, we realize that we spend a lot of time reacting to others instead of being who we want to be.  For example, I want to be a loving person, but when someone cuts me off while I am driving, there are times that I stop being a loving person and I become an anger filled person.  Jesus loves us no matter what we do to Him.  We can spit on Him, whip Him, strip Him naked, nail Him to a cross, and He will still love us and pleads our cause to our Father in heaven: “Father forgive them.”  
 
Archbishop Fulton Sheen in his book: The Cross and the Beatitudes: Lessons on Love and Forgiveness connects these last words of Jesus on the Cross to our Lord’s beatitude about meekness.  “How different this is form the beatitude of the world!  The world blesses not the meek, but the vindictive; it praises not the one who turns the other cheek, but the one who renders evil for evil; it exalts not the humble, but the aggressive.  Social and political forces have carried that spirit of violence, struggle for power, and the clenched fist to an extreme the like of which the world before has never seen… To correct such a warlike attitude of the clenched fist, Our Lord both preached and practiced meekness.”
 
2.            Jesus replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43). 
It is interesting that Jesus’ declaration of universal forgiveness is followed by a specific act of forgiveness.  Jesus had professed that He was willing to forgive everyone and now he had a specific opportunity to demonstrate it.  I have come to believe that it is always easier to say that I want to be a forgiving person and that it much more difficult to actually be a forgiving person.
 
Often the people we that are in need of our forgiveness are closer than we can imagine.  It is often our siblings, parents, children, etc.  We declare our desire to forgive others at Mass especially at the Our Father and the Sign of Peace but do we really make an effort when we go home to do so?
 
Jesus offers paradise to the repent thief despite the fact that the thief had nothing.  He like Jesus was probably stripped of every worldly possession.  God’s mercy is always free.  He loves us so much.  All that He asks of us is that we ask Him for it so because He respects our freewill.  The other thief did not receive the gift of paradise because he never asks for it.  He is so caught up in blaming others for his problems that he misses out on the opportunity to change the direction of his life around. 
 
Another insight one can gleam from this short encounter between the Good Thief and Christ is that paradise is found when both of them focus on the other.  The good thief defends Christ and tries to feel what Christ must be feeling, as an innocent man being put to death in such a horrible way.  Jesus, despite all His suffering is not turned inward on himself but is instead focused on helping the repent thief reach heaven.  The non-repent thief chooses only to think about himself. 
 
Let us finish this week’s reflection with a quote from St. Leo the Great: “No one, however weak, is denied a share in the victory of the cross. No one is beyond the help of the prayer of Christ. His prayer brought benefit to the multitude that raged against him. How much more does it bring to those who turn to him in repentance.”