Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi
Title of Series: "What Catholics Believe: The Faith Professed"

Part 5: "A Lenten Preview: He Suffered, Died, and Was Buried"

February 1st, 2007
First Thursday

On Saturday of this week, we celebrate the feast of St. Blaise. In the blessings of the throats, each of us focuses on that day in faith and hope on the healing intervention of this 4th century bishop and martyr. The Church was so wise to place this feast day in the middle of the winter when soar throats and other ailments of the throat are commonplace.

On this second First Thursday of 2007, our focus is not so much on healing but on suffering and death, on the suffering and death of Jesus Christ, out of love for each and every one of us. "Jesus Christ suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried.” It is the 4th article of the Apostles' Creed. As we are not yet, however, in the holy season of Lent this year, I have entitled this meditation: “A Lenten Preview: He Suffered, Died, and Was Buried.”

Not only by His words but importantly by His deeds, signs, and miracles, Jesus revealed Himself to us, communicated Who was and is, completed and perfected Revelation, but "above all," in the words of the Vatican Council document on Revelation, He revealed Himself "by his death and glorious resurrection from the dead." (D.V. 4) Stated differently, in the words of the catechism, the Paschal mystery (and that is what His cross and resurrection is) "stands at the center of the Good News that the apostles, and the Church following them, are to proclaim to the world." CCC 571 Today we focus on suffering and death -- its integral place in the mystery of Christ and His redemption, out of love, for each of us. "God's saving plan was accomplished 'once for all' by the redemptive death of his Son Jesus Christ." CCC 571 Archbishop Wuerl has written: “Nothing of Christian life can be understood apart from the cross. By His cross we are saved and brought to life.” The Gift of Faith, p. 79

I.) Jesus suffered under Pontius Pilate

The Creed is very specific in this matter. We profess that "He suffered under Pontius Pilate." Pilate -- the Roman Governor of Judea from A.D. 26 to 36. His concrete name in the Creed fixes the particular point and place in human history where Jesus suffered. It attests to the historicity of Jesus' suffering and its integral role in our faith. This historical specificity helps us in times when our faith might be a little shaky. The name of Pilate also conjures up in us the climax of Jesus' suffering -- His death on the
cross.

From the gospels, we know of the horrifying details of his suffering: Christ's agony in the garden, the scourging at the pillar, the crowning with thorns, the carrying of the cross and ultimately the horrible death by crucifixion.

Christian devotion has helped us focus prayerfully on the suffering of Christ -- the five sorrowful mysteries of the rosary, the fourteen stations of the cross and the seven last words of Jesus. The latter two devotions are encouraged in special fashion during the holy season of Lent -- which begins this year on February 21st, 2007.

As we begin our meditation, I invite you to listen to the moving words of Jesus from the cross. It is, if
you will, His prayer from the cross. These words of prayer come from the depth of His soul and express His great love for us. They are recorded in the four New Testament gospels. In effect, there are seven sets of words: “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”; “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”; “Woman, behold your son” -- ”Behold your mother”; “I thirst.”; “My God, My God, why have your forsaken me?”; “It is finished.”; “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” CCC 2605

If we listen closely, listen from the depth of our hearts, we will get a privileged glimpse of the boundless depth of Jesus’ prayer to the Father, His Father, Our Father. Jesus simultaneously speaks and acts from the pulpit of the cross. Precisely in the midst of His terrible pain and suffering, the deed of His whole life, His crucifixion, the supreme act of unselfish love, Jesus also speaks. These are words uttered in agony. He prays. It is, as it were, acting and speaking coming together in a dramatic way. He acted out His teaching. As we stand by that cross and listen, we then make His prayer, His words, our own.

His words are akin to a sacred commentary on what He was doing for us. His words give lasting credibility to His magnificent act of love for us. This act gives a credible and meaningful context to His words, these last words, that He uttered from the pulpit of the cross. They are words of prayer, words from the Hebrew psalms, words of communion with His Father, words of communion and solidarity with and for others to hear, words for us to hear over and over again, words which inspire us to greater faith and reverence for the saving Power of our God. If the agony on the Cross had not happened, if His heart had not been pierced, it would be extremely difficult to believe the truth that God is Love.

For Jesus did not simply speak of suffering or offer an explanation about it. No, He embraced it, accepted it, shared it and transformed it out of love for us.

By accomplishing our redemption precisely in and through suffering, Christ has raised human suffering, all human suffering -- every aspect and dimension of our human suffering -- to the level of our redemption. He has given suffering a new meaning. The mystery of human suffering now has a salvific meaning. Each one of us thus can see in our suffering, in the suffering of others the face of Christ Jesus. It is in suffering where we meet Him personally, where we touch and experience His saving power.

In their book Believing: Understanding the Creed, Fr. O'Collins and Mary Venturini wrote:

“I shrink from giving the impression of glorifying pain and wallowing in suffering. But “he suffered under Pontius Pilate” applies to all of us. There is always some Pontius Pilate around to put pain into our lives. No matter who we are, we cannot avoid the cross. The choice is simple. We can curse the pain. Or we can lay it at the feet of Jesus. If we do that we will know our pain and our lives to be transformed...Murder or some other fierce tragedy can unexpectedly bring the cross into our lives. Or else our particular Pontius Pilate may turn up in a less dramatic fashion. Either way we all constantly face the challenge: Do we keep our eyes down and curse our cross? Or do we lift our gaze and link our pain with our unique fellow sufferer, the Son of God himself?” (pp. 79 & 80)

The catechism speaks of the "why" of Jesus' suffering and death. Already "from the beginning of Jesus' public ministry, certain Pharisees and partisans of Herod together with priests and scribes agreed together to destroy him." CCC 574 It was as if He were a marked man. At the beginning of Mark's Gospel, he says it succinctly: "The Pharisees went out and immediately took counsel with the Herodians against him to put him to death." (Mk 3:6) Moreover, Jesus predicted on multiple occasions His Passion. Pain and death would be an essential part of His mission. “Not only would Jesus accept the Cross, he expected the same willingness from his disciples. ‘If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.’ (Lk9:23)” USCCA 91

But why would Jesus suffer and die?

The catechism gives the following reasons: "Because of some of his acts -- expelling demons, forgiving sins, healing on the sabbath day...his familiarity with tax collectors and public sinners -- some ill-intentioned people suspected Jesus of demonic possession. They accused him of blasphemy and false prophecy, religious crimes which the law punished with death by stoning." CCC 574

But there are other reasons.

The catechism makes it clear that "in the eyes of many in Israel," Jesus seemed to be acting against three essential institutions of the Chosen People: 1.) the Law, 2.) the Temple, and 3.) Israel”s Belief in One God and Savior.

1.) Jesus and the Law:

"I have come not to abolish (the Law) but to fulfill" it -- words of Jesus at the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount. Despite that reassurance, He could not help but offend the teachers of the law. Jesus spoke with authority. His interpretation was different than theirs. "You have heard it say...but I say to you." To "fulfill" the Law means to go beyond the law, to refine, to surpass the law, to lead the Old Law to perfection. Jesus empowers each of us to "live" the law because of the power of the Holy Spirit within us. "I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes." Ez 36:26

2.) Jesus and the Temple:

On Friday, we celebrate the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple -- His presentation by Mary and Joseph 40 days after His birth. From that point on, like the prophets, Jesus expressed deepest respect for the Jerusalem Temple. He visited the Temple annually for the major Jewish feasts. For Him, it was a house of prayer, the dwelling place of God. On the threshold of His passion, however, Jesus announced the coming destruction of the Temple (which did happen in 70 A.D.). This was meant to foreshadow His own death. His Body would become the definitive Temple. But, by doing so, this prophecy would be distorted in its telling by false witnesses during his interrogation at the high priest's house and would be thrown back at him as an insult when he was nailed to the cross.

3.) Israel’s Faith in One God and Savior:

"Jesus performed acts, such as pardoning sins, that manifested him to be the Savior God himself. Certain Jews, who did not recognize God made man, saw in him only a man who made himself God and judged him to be a blasphemer." CCC 594

II.) Jesus Died Crucified and was Buried

In talking about the crucifixion, the catechism is quite clear from the outset that the Jews are not collectively responsible for the death of Jesus. "We cannot lay responsibility for the trial on the Jews in Jerusalem as a whole...Still less can we extend responsibility to other Jews of different times and places." CCC 597

The new Adult Catechism, citing Nostra Aetate and the catechism, adds: “Neither all Jews indiscriminately at that time, nor Jews today, can be charged with the crimes committed during his Passion...The Jews should not be spoken of as rejected or accursed as if this followed from holy Scripture.” USCCA 93

The catechism clearly states instead that: “The Church has never forgotten that ‘sinners were the authors and ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured.’” CCC 598 Even the prayers which the Church uses on Good Friday have been changed to remind us that the sins of each of us are responsible for the death of Jesus.

Citing the Roman Catechism, the catechism goes on to say: “Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt." CCC 598 That is you and I, each one of us without exception, each of us who sins, who live lives of sin.

Jesus’ crucifixion, moreover, was not some random event that simply escaped the Father's care for His
Son. No, it was decreed from all eternity. It was predestined from all time. It was the ultimate act of mercy and love for each of us. We can never forget this truth of our faith. It is worth pondering often in our prayer. The death of Jesus for our sins was "according to the Scriptures." (l Cor. l5:3) It was the way in which the Son would give human expression to the divine and eternal love Jesus has for the Father. "The Father loves me because I lay down my life," says the Lord, "(for) I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father." Jn 10:l7,14:3 His redemptive passion was the very reason for His Incarnation, a total act of generous self-giving. CCC 607 Archbishop Wuerl writes: “From the beginning, the Church focused her attention on the infinite love that shines from the cross of Christ. ‘We preach Christ crucified’ (1 Cor. 1:23). ‘Far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ (Gal. 6:14). When the Gospels were written, the longest single section of each was the history of the passion.” The Gift of Faith, p. 77.

By His death, Jesus assumed a solidarity with each of us, each of us sinners. In a mysterious way, He so identified with us, those He came to save, that God the Father "made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Cor. 5:21) He was not a passive victim. On the contrary, He offered Himself to the Father for our sins.

What is being spoken about is that singular event in history by which -- through the blood of the cross -- the whole of humanity was reconciled to God -- that supreme act of love in which Jesus Christ gave His whole life over to the Father freely out of love for us and Him. "No one takes (my life) from me, but I lay it down of my own accord." (Jn10:18) “In the words of Christian tradition, Jesus’ sacrifice merits salvation for us for it retains forever the power to draw us to him and to the Father.” USCCA 92

Beforehand and during the Last Supper, Jesus both symbolized this offering -- His unique and definitive sacrifice -- and made it really present: "This is my body which is given for you." The Paschal Sacrifice is now fulfilled to be mysteriously made present again each time we gather to celebrate the Eucharist. It is at the heart of our faith. That is why regular participation at the most holy Eucharist is essential in the life of a Christian. There should never be a Sunday, or Saturday vigil, when we without grave reason miss Mass and we should attempt regularly to participate at Mass during the week if possible.

That Jesus' death is the perfect sacrifice of the New Covenant, which He offered for all, and that it is an expiatory sacrifice, are truths of the faith belonging to the original substance of the Christian Creed. Though both His soul and body remained united to the divine Word, Jesus truly died and was buried. It was from the tomb that He will arise to a newness of life that we experience every day of our lives if we only turn to Him and repent for our sins.

Yes, it was out of love for us -- that is the fundamental dimension of our faith that lies beneath the ignominy of the cross. The supreme clue of Calvary is love -- not some softly sentimental love, a Valentine card type of love, but a love that can move and change human hearts in a world where true caring and real compassion seem at times a lost art.

As we conclude, mediate, if you will with me on the Pieta, the dead Christ in the loving embrace of His sorrowful, our sorrowful Mother. I think of the beautiful statue in St. Peter's. Often I would visit it in Rome. There is a replica at St. Patrick Church downtown. Twice someone tried to destroy the original in Rome. Both times it was fixed. At a more profound level, the mystery which the artistic creation represents can never be destroyed no matter how often one might try. The world tries repeatedly to eradicate this Jesus who died and suffered for us, but to no avail. The Pieta tells us so much about Jesus, about His loving mother Mary and about us.

That image challenges each of us, without exception, to see in the mystery of Christ's suffering and death the key to the mystery of our own daily suffering and ultimately to our deaths. By uniting Himself to each of us in our suffering and death, Jesus gave meaning to the mystery of suffering and He invites us to join our daily suffering to Him who raises it to the supreme level of our sanctification and life forever with Him. In the words of St. Rose of Lima: "Apart from the cross, there is no other ladder by which we may get to heaven." CCC 618

As a practical reminder, do not forget the Sacrament of the Sick (formerly Extreme Unction) -- "By the grace of this sacrament the sick person receives the strength and the gift of uniting himself more closely to Christ's Passion: in a certain way he is consecrated to bear fruit by configuration to the Savior's redemptive Passion. Suffering, a consequence of original sin, acquires a new meaning; it becomes a participation in the saving work of Jesus." CCC 1521

We will see, hopefully we will begin to see little by little each day, that hidden in the crosses of our own sufferings is the seed to new life, risen life with the Lord -- for He had to suffer and die before He could rise again in glory. It is no different for you and me in Lent and outside of the Lenten season. That is the supreme paradox of the Christian life.

Amen.