Scriptural Lessons from These Holy Seasons

By TODD GRAFF

The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word that is love, mercy, forgiveness…. [T]he word of the Cross is also the answer that Christians offer in the face of evil, the evil that continues to work in and around us. Christians must respond to evil with good, taking the Cross upon themselves as Jesus did.

-Pope Francis, Good Friday, 2013

Greetings of Peace in this Easter Season!

As I write this in the middle of March, we are in the midst of our Lenten journey. But, I also realize that it will be published early in the Easter Season. So, I would like to offer a reflection that honors the present Lenten time of fasting and penance and perhaps gives deeper meaning to the joyful Easter days to follow.

I have been reflecting a lot this Lent on what we learn from Jesus’ Passion and his Death on the Cross. These are days of immense suffering in our world, and of great division both in our country and around the globe. It seems like many, many people in our world are living through an experience of the passion, and even of death for those who have had loved ones perish due to famine, violence, and war. Within our own country, there is a deep and dark spirit of anger and hostility turning neighbor against neighbor in our public life.

How are we, as Christians and followers of our Crucified and Risen Lord, to respond?

On Wednesday of the Second Week of Lent, we hear Jesus tell his disciples as they are traveling to Jerusalem that he will be “mocked and scourged and crucified” (Matthew 20:19). This is directly followed by the mother of James and John requesting that her sons sit “one at your right and the other at your left” (Matthew 20:21) in Jesus’ kingdom. His response to her offers some of the most critical and most challenging words of Scripture.

Jesus notes that the rulers of the Gentiles “lord” their authority over others and make their power “felt”. But, in perhaps my favorite verse of the gospels, Jesus teaches: “But it shall not be so among you.” He then states: “whoever wishes to be great among you shall be your servant; whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave.” (Matthew 20:25-27)

Foreshadowing what is to come, he offers his life and his witness as the model: “Just so, the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Matthew 20:28)

We live in a time when many in our culture, and in our politics, are seeking power and authority in order to vanquish their political and ideological enemies. Sadly, at least for me, many of these declare that they are doing so in the name of Christianity. While it is not my place to judge anyone, I cannot accept this as the way of Christ: “But it shall not be so among you.”

The way of Christianity is the way of the Cross, the way of service, even the way of servitude. This is a very hard way, and many times I resist it in my life, but we do not get to the Resurrection and the promise of new life without accepting the humiliation, the self-surrender, and the hardship of the Cross.

As St. Paul taught, “[W]e proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called, Jews and Greeks alike, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.” (1 Corinthians 1:23-25)

A second scripture that has stayed with me this Lent is from Saturday of the Third Week of Lent. It is the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14). It challenges me to repent of my sense of being “righteous” and judges any thoughts of mine which “despise” another.

It is a temptation of Lent to believe that our actions of penance and self-denial serve to “merit” God’s mercy. Although necessary and valuable, they do not. It is a humble heart that God desires, such as that of the tax collector, who prays, “O God, be merciful to me a sinner.” And, in offering this simple prayer, fearing to "even raise his eyes to heaven," he is justified.

No one stands outside of God’s compassionate love and mercy. Our assurance of our own “righteousness” and of others’ sinfulness are spiritually very dangerous. The way to divine reconciliation and forgiveness is through the surrendering of our ego and our self-righteousness and by a recognition of our spiritual brokenness and need of God’s healing grace.

A final Lenten-Easter “lesson” comes from the Gospel Reading for Friday of the Third Week of Lent. It is Jesus’ response to the scribe’s question as to the “first of all the commandments.” Jesus’ words here are familiar to us: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart … You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Mark 12:28-34)

The spiritual writer DEACON JAY CORMIER, offers a deeply mov ing and beautiful reflection on this reading in the resource Give Us This Day. His words bridge these seasons of penance and joy, drawing on our eucharistic faith. Perhaps his inspiration can help to guide us, as Christians, through these often dark days to a place of light and hope:

Every week we gather around our parish altars. We place on the eucharistic table bread and wine as our offering to God, who consecrates them and returns them to us as the body and blood of his beloved Son. But imagine a bigger table, an altar on which is placed not just the eucharistic elements, but the means of realizing mercy, compassion, justice, forgiveness in our lives.

Imagine placing next to the paten and chalice your favorite casserole dish, the one you use to prepare suppers for neighbors experiencing crisis or hardship … the book you read to your child every night … the smartphone you put aside when a friend needs to talk, the yarn you use to knit shawls for the parish prayer shawl ministry, the snow shovel you use to clean your elderly neighbor’s walk.

All these gifts are sacramental; they reveal God in our midst…. With our eucharistic offerings, God accepts our most ordinary acts of mercy, our tools of reconciliation, our humble efforts to heal and reconcile. God accepts them and returns them as grace, blessing, and hope.

May we become what we offer at our altars: the embodiment of God’s mercy and peace, the vision of God’s compassion and justice to heal and lift up the broken, the fallen, the lost.

[Deacon Jay Cormier, “An Extra Leaf in Our Table,” from the March 2024 issue of Give Us This Day giveusthisday.org (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2024). Used with permission.]

The way of Lent, the way of the Cross, is to fast from and “crucify” “the works of the flesh:” “…hatreds, rivalry, jealousy, outbursts of fury, acts of selfishness, dissensions, factions.” The way of Easter is to rejoice in and embrace “the fruit of the Spirit:” “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” (Galatians 5:19-24) Through self-sacrificing love, we journey from the suffering and death of the Cross to the light and new life of Easter… “Christ is risen! Christ is truly risen! Alleluia!” I wish you, and our world, peace and hope in these days of Easter joy. Deo Gratias!

The meeting with the Risen One transforms, it gives faith fresh strength and a steadfast foundation. For us, too, there are many signs through which the Risen One makes himself known: Sacred Scripture, the Eucharist, the other Sacraments, charity, all those acts of love that bring a ray of the Risen One. Let us permit ourselves to be illuminated by Christ’s Resurrection, let him transform us with his power, so that through us too the signs of death may give way to signs of life in the world.

-Pope Francis, April 3, 2013

Todd Graff is the Director of Lay Formation & RCIA for the Diocese of Winona-Rochester