Forsaken?

Passion (Palm) Sunday

In the four Gospels there are four slightly different accounts of the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus. St Mark’s is the briefest of them all. He records only one statement of Jesus. But what all four Evangelists agree on is this: Jesus died praying. He died as He lived, in perfect communication with the Father. The psalm we sang today, the psalm He prayed on the cross as He gradually suffocated to death, begins with an apparent cry of despair: “God, why have you forsaken me?”

I think that all of us who have lived for any time at all on this earth have prayed that line at least once or twice. It’s the prayer of a man or woman who is sinking into a black hole with no apparent escape. You’ve lost a parent, or child, or spouse. You have to declare bankruptcy. You’ve been out of work for a year and have no money to pay the mortgage. Your child is arrested for dealing drugs. You feel a physical vacuum in your soul and body. You cry out in a reflex action to your Father–“where are You? I need help and can’t find You?”

The meaning of this Gospel, I believe, is that God–the very Son of God made man–went into the hole ahead of us. God died. God experienced human abandonment, mockery, crucifixion, ingratitude, death. And He went into the hole with a prayer on His lips. Jesus probably prayed the whole psalm. It is a psalm that ends with a promise of resurrection: “I will praise You, Lord, in the assembly of Your people.” If we, when we go into that chasm of trouble, unite ourselves with the suffering Jesus, He will always be there, with that same promise of resurrection.

How shall we commemorate that greatest week of human history–Holy Week–this year? I hope you can attend all, or many, of our liturgical services, especially the Easter Vigil, when we welcome souls into our fellowship of Catholic witness. If it is available to you, also celebrate the Divine Office with others in a special service called Tenebrae–darkness. These three services are the Church’s vigil with Christ during the darkest hours of His human life. They are also an experience of prayer that is incomparable. Join the Church in prayer this week, and we will celebrate all the better on Easter Sunday.