For the second time
this week we participated in the solemn proclamation of the Passion of the Lord. Last
Sunday proclamation was from Luke, this Friday’s proclamation is from John. The
purpose of these proclamations is to lead us to ask ourselves this fundamental
question: What does the Passion and
Death of the Lord mean to me? Again: What does the Passion and Death of the
Lord mean to me?
The One who
loved me before I ever knew him, before I ever knew myself, suffered and died
for me. He took the sins of the world upon himself because I needed him to
defeat evil, not just in the world, but in my life. I can’t view the sacrifice
of Calvary as an event in the past. It
is a present reality for me.
He conquered sin
for me and for you because we need him so badly.
The old, wise
man Ignatius said, “Let me go to the Coliseum. I want to give witness, I am
willing to die even if I have to coax the beasts to kill me”[1].
How strange!
The young rich
girl, Cecilia, said, “Neither impoverishment, nor scorn, nor torture nor the
threat of death will convince me to give up my Lord”[2]
How strange!
Young and old,
male and female throughout the ages, sought to lose everything the world valued
as a testament to God. How strange! And
Jesus embraced his cross. How very
wonderful. He died for us that we might live for him. How incredibly beautiful!
Today is a very
good day ■
[1] Ignatius of Antioch (Ancient
Greek: Ἰγνάτιος Ἀντιοχείας, also known as Theophorus from Greek Θεοφόρος
"God-bearer") (ca. 35 or 50-between 98 and 117)[1] was among the
Apostolic Fathers, was the third Bishop of Antioch, and was a student of John
the Apostle. En route to Rome, where according to Christian tradition, he met
his martyrdom, he wrote a series of letters which have been preserved as an
example of very early Christian theology. Important topics addressed in these
letters include ecclesiology, the sacraments, and the role of bishops.
[2] Saint Cecilia (Latin: Sancta
Caecilia) is the patroness of musicians and Church music because, as she was
dying, she sang to God. It is also written that as the musicians played at her
wedding she "sang in her heart to the Lord". St. Cecilia was an only
child. Her feast day is celebrated in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, Eastern
Orthodox, and Eastern Catholic Churches on November 22. She is one of seven
women, excluding the Blessed Virgin, commemorated by name in the Canon of the
Mass. It was long supposed that she was a noble lady of Rome who, with her
husband Valerian, his brother Tiburtius, and a Roman soldier Maximus, suffered
martyrdom in about 230, under the Emperor Alexander Severus. The research of
Giovanni Battista de Rossi, however, appears to confirm the statement of
Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poitiers (d. 600), that she perished in Sicily
under Emperor Marcus Aurelius between 176 and 180. A church in her honor exists
in Rome from about the 5th century, was rebuilt with much splendor by Pope
Paschal I around the year 820, and again by Cardinal Paolo Emilio Sfondrati in
1599. It is situated in Trastevere, near the Ripa Grande.
