Contemplation is defined as an action of looking thoughtfully at something for a long time or of having a deep reflection at something. In the Christian tradition, contemplation is often associated with an action from the Holy Spirit to enlighten the soul and therefore drive the contemplation process into a fruitful conclusion – deeper understanding or appreciation of the object of contemplation. For this piece, the object of contemplation is the Fourth Word, which is found in Matthew 27:45-46.
“From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” – which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” To guide us in contemplating the Fourth Word, I thought we should try to answer four key questions about the Fourth Word. Question 1: Why did Jesus quote Psalm 22? Question 2: Was Jesus really abandoned by God? Question 3: What does it means to be abandoned by God? Question 4: What does Jesus’ abandonment experiences teaches us? Why did Jesus quote Psalm 22? Psalm 22:1-2 says “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief” These words were attributed to David. For twice in the bible God says that in David He had found 'a man after my own heart' (1 Samuel 13:14, Acts 13:22). David was one of God's favorites and was very close to David from his youth. Many passages in Psalms reflect David’s love and trust in God. • In Psalm 23, David says “The Lord is my shepherd I shall not want” • In Psalm 27:4, David expresses his ultimate aim in life “One thing I have desired of the LORD that I will seek; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the delightfulness of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple. • In Psalm 62:5-7, David reveals his deep trust in God, “My soul, wait silently for God alone, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation; He is my defense; I shall not be shaken. In God is my salvation and my glory; the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God. • In Psalm 27: David says “The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom should I fear.” As you know, David’s courage to fight and defeat the giant enemy Goliath came from his deep trust in God. Just by reading these passages already gives us a good insight of the very intimate relationship that exists between David and God. David was always in the presence of God and enjoyed all the benefits of having God so close and so intimate. David’s life we can surmise must have been full of joy and happiness. However, it wasn’t like that all the time. We know from the bible that David sinned against God and that brought great distressed in his life to the point that he was no longer able to feel God’s presence and lost all the benefits of being close to God. At this point, he uttered “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night you hear my voice, but I find no relief” In those same words, Jesus found a way to express the cry of his heart: Why had God abandoned him? Why did his Father turn his back on Jesus in his moment of greatest agony? That leads us to the second question 2: Was Jesus really abandoned by God? Before we attempt to answer this question, let me just read out to you Jesus’ own words as revealed from the book True Life in God. Jesus says: Arriving on the Mount, they thrust Me on the ground, tearing off Me My clothes, leaving Me naked for every eye to see Me, My wounds opening again and My Blood flowing out on the earth; the soldiers offered Me wine mixed with gall; I refused it for deep inside Me I had already the bitterness given to Me by My foes; they quickly nailed My wrists first, and after allowing the nails to set in My cross, they stretched My broken body and with violence pierced My feet through; what pain, what agony, what torment of My soul, forsaken by My beloved ones, denied by Peter upon whom I would found My Church, denied by the rest of My friends, left all alone, abandoned to My foes; I wept, for My soul was filled with sorrow; the soldiers erected My cross, setting it in the furrow; I gazed upon the crowds, from where I was hardly seeing; from My swollen eyes, I watched the world; I saw no friend among those who mocked Me; no one was there to console Me; "My God! My God! why have you forsaken Me?"; forsaken by all those who loved Me; Was Jesus really abandoned by God? We have to realize that Jesus was so human. He underwent the pains of being human: he was born on a rough and cold manger; he worked as the son of a carpenter; he had to leave his mother to begin his mission; he was criticized by the Pharisees for doing good and being with sinners. As his frail human body hung on the cross, he had to cry out to God, not complaining, but seeking God’s help in the midst of suffering. Yes, he knew that God was with him. He was just expressing words of faith that his God will carry him through this most difficult ordeal. We are like that too. When calamity happens in our life, don’t we say similar words: “Lord, are you there? Please help. Why this? I need you now. Please don’t abandon me. Make me strong. Give me courage and strength.” I recalled when Tsunami struck the South Indian Ocean in 2004 and caused a lot of deaths, including in the South of Thailand, many people, including myself, asked the same question: “Where is God?”. Brothers and sisters, these words are expressions of FAITH. They reveal a sense of confidence in God who will always say: I am always with you always and be not afraid.” In this sense, Jesus here was not asking a question why God had abandoned him. Rather it was his expression of deep feeling of loneliness in the midst of great suffering? Of course, we will never fully know for sure what Jesus was experiencing in this moment. Question 3: What does it means to be abandoned by God? St Paul’s second letter to Corinthians (5:21) tells us that God made him (Jesus) who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God”. This brings to the idea that the Father did abandon Jesus because he took upon himself the penalty for our sins. In other words, man’s sins were transferred to Jesus while He was on the Cross; God was so enraged against sin that when Jesus became sin-laden on the Cross, the Father could not bear to look upon Him and thus turned away from Him. This was one of the penalties that Jesus had to take on Himself as result of being our sin-bearer. In that difficult moment, Jesus experienced something far more horrible than physical pain. Jesus felt spiritual separation from God. The beloved Son of God knew what it was like to be rejected by the Father. We can then say that the Father abandoned the Son for our sake, for the salvation of the world. But can I really grasp the mystery and the majesty of this truth? As Martin Luther once said: “God forsaking God, who can understand it” Jesus was fully a man on the cross and in order to redeem mankind had to experience everything that man experiences which includes spiritual death. So, Jesus died spiritually when God turned away from Him and is the reason for the cry of Jesus. Question 4: What does Jesus’ abandonment experience teach us? There are many lessons we can draw from Jesus experience, like lesson of faith, trust in God and intimacy between man and God, as shown in the lives and David and Jesus himself. For this session, I would however like to focus our reflection on the sins of man. Sin is a horrible thing. It separates us from God. Sin and God do not go together. They are exact opposite. Oftentimes, we do not realize the magnitude of damage we make for ourselves, our souls, and of the risk we danger we take if we persevere in our sins. Sin is a horrible thing. Jesus says “Not only is the death of a sinner horrible, but also his life. One should not be deceived by their outward appearance. It is a veneer, a curtain placed there to cover the truth. In truth I tell you that one hour, just one hour of the peace of the righteous people is infinitely richer in happiness than the longest life of sin. To the eyes of the world the wealth of joy of a saint of God does not appear. So too is the abyss of restlessness and discontent which is in the heart of a sinner. Their death is a horror. How difficult it is for man to rise to God! And the main obstacle is in man himself, as he will not admit and meditate on himself and his faults. Really even Satan is very often slandered, by ascribing every cause of spiritual ruin to him. And God is even more accused falsely, as all events are ascribed to Him. God does not infringe man’s freedom. Satan cannot prevail over a will firm in Good. I solemnly tell you that, seventy times out of one hundred, man sins of his own will. And he does not rise from sin because he avoids examining his own conscience and does not want to meditate. Man stifles his conscience, even if his conscience shouts the truth on which he did not want to meditate, because his mind is proud and his flesh corrupted. Since we are all sinners, be meek with sinners. Remember these words: “Why do you observe the splinter in your brother’s eye, if first you do not take the plank out of your own eye?” Forgive those who offend you, in order to be forgiven. He who is without sin is a hypocrite and Hell awaits him. Man has committed every crime by having God close to him, but not in his heart; by having the knowledge of the word of God, but not the obedience to it. The more one is aware of the will and mind of the master, the more one is obliged to fulfill it accurately. If one does not act as the master explained in so great detail that nobody else was told so clearly, one will be severely beaten. If you can control your body, you can avoid many sins. Sins come from the body. When it is that a fault occurs? When there is the will to commit a sin, the knowledge of sinning, and the persistence to want to sin also after knowing that a certain action is sinful. It all depends on the will by which one performs an action, whether it is virtuous or sinful. Do not say to Me “Satan tempt us” as an excuse for descending towards the low path. Also God tempts with His love, which is very strong, with His work, which are most holy, with His promises which are most alluring. Are God’s words, promises, love not sufficient to counteract satan’s poison? All the germs of evil and all the longing for good are latent in man by God's loving will and by the wicked will of Satan who influence, tempts and instigates, whereas God attracts, comforts and loves. Satan tries to seduce, he works to conquer God. And God does not always win, because creatures are heavy until they choose love as their law. I would like to end by recalling a story given by a Filipino named Stanley Villavicencio who is from Cebu and is now a promoter of Divine Mercy. Prior to his call, we experienced death for three days. While at the hospital, declared dead by the doctors, he recalled he saw a light, a very big bright light, but not glaring. You can stare at it. It is like a fountain. It is like a fog as it slowly evaporates, until I notice someone is standing in front of me. And when I look at His face, I recognize Him as Jesus. As we are looking at each other, He showed me the film of my life, from my childhood up to my present. And I notice that every time I do good, it just goes on normally and I also notice that every time I commit a sin, suddenly it would go into slow motion as if He wants to show us that what we have done is wrong, as if He wants to show us that what we have done is a sin. And because I have also committed bigger sins, sins like what we call the mortal sin. Every time it shows up, suddenly it would stop, came closer and enlarged it. Then I said to myself, 'Why should this be included? There must be no word of sin in Heaven, because it is just too bad to look at, but even if I closed my eyes I could still see it. Also I notice that every time I commit a sin, I could feel the heaviness. I could feel the weight. The more I commit a sin, the more the heaviness, the more the weight. And I also notice that every time I do good, for example, if I give something to the poor, I could feel as if I were floating. So it is really true what is written in the Bible, 'That what so every you do to the less of your brethren, that you do unto Me." And I also notice that the sins I did not confess to a Priest it is too heavy, and also I notice that the sins that I confessed to a Priest, it is lighter. And we cannot deny anything because the screen is so big and very clear and also the pictures are also big and below the pictures are written the day, the month, the date and the year. And below that it is also written the hour, the minutes and the seconds. So, we cannot deny anything, even the seconds are recorded. In fact, He reviewed my film three times and after our long conversation, He tapped my shoulder and as He was tapping my shoulder, He said to me, 'You go back now, because you still have so many things to do. You still have so many things to finish. If I have something for you or if I have a message for you, I will just appear to you in your dream.' After He say that, I was at the I.C.U. in the hospital. Suddenly I got up and went back home. To end this reflection, let us thank Jesus for bearing all our sins and for enduring the infinite pain of crucifixion, all for the love of us and love for the Father. |
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January 2024
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