America's Largest Catholic Newspaper
Reunions have proven to be quite popular in the past few years. We love it when a former rock group reunites for a concert, or when the cast of an old TV show reunites to make more episodes. It satisfies our curiosity about whatever happened to those musicians or those characters. And perhaps it points to a mysterious longing for a more profound unity, a unity that withstands the test of time and even promises eternity. What or Who could generate such a unity?
That question has been answered in a stunning way in “Beneath the Cross,” a meditation on the seven last words of our crucified Lord, given by Auxiliary Bishop Gerardo J. Colacicco on Good Friday last year at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, and recently published by Jubilee Studio 33 as a beautiful book.
Bishop Colacicco brings us through a deeply moving lectio divina in which men and women whom Jesus has healed and forgiven find themselves united at the foot of His cross. From His most powerful pulpit, the words of Jesus resonate in a unique and illuminating way in each of their hearts, leading them to marvel at the significance of their first encounters with Jesus, and at the particular, personalized mercy at the core of all of His encounters.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church, #521, teaches us that “Christ enables us to live in him all that he himself lived, and he lives it in us.” (The emphasis in italics is from the Catechism itself).
The woman caught in adultery is amazed to hear Jesus say, “Father forgive them,” for her life was saved by that very forgiveness, and Jesus himself has entered into the very shame and fear that she suffered when she was taunted and threatened with death. The healed blind man’s eyes open wide when he hears Jesus cry, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” For he now realizes that Jesus understands completely and experientially his own sense of loneliness and abandonment when he was begging on the side of the road. The widow of Naim understands the reason that Jesus had such pity for her when He saw her weeping over her dead son, for the pain He spared her by raising her son is the very pain He and His mother now suffer out of mercy for everyone. And she then intuits that Jesus has united Himself to everyone’s suffering in the hopes of redeeming and uniting all of us together in Him. At this realization she proclaims, “That’s what you do Jesus. If we belong to you, then we belong to each other.”
Bishop Colacicco guides us to the realization that these men and women are not mere characters, but real people who were touched by Jesus at the very depths of their hearts. Their sins, their sufferings, their circumstances are all different, but they are profoundly and inextricably united by the One Lord Jesus Christ who intimately entered and saved each of their lives, and thus revealed to all of them the One God for whom every heart longs.
As you meditate with Bishop Colacicco, and with these men and women, you are likely to discover that you are not an outside observer. You too will find yourself a member of this miraculous community. You will be standing at the foot of the cross with them; and you will not know until you are there which words of Jesus will resonate with you. You may find yourself viscerally moved to discover how Jesus has been present with you in the dark and difficult moments of your own life. You may experience a deeply human gratitude for the Lord who shares so unimaginably deeply in our human life. You may be awakened to a new realization and appreciation for the salvation He offers to each of us and to all of us. And you are likely to experience a great respect and familial love for all who sin and who suffer and who long for the mercy and love of Jesus.
Through Bishop Colacicco’s inspired meditations, Jesus’ words invite us to unite in praise and thanksgiving beneath His Holy Cross, through which He had redeemed the world.
Father Veras is director of pastoral formation at St. Joseph’s Seminary, Dunwoodie.
