No Greater Love Session 4: The Death of the Messiah

Here are a few links related to last week's discussion.

• Fifth Station: Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the Cross - from Stations of the Cross by St. Josemaria Escriva
• Simon of Cyrene: The Patron Saint of Passersby - article by John Grondelski
• God Doesn't Always Heal Wounds, Uses Them For Holiness; Example of St. Therese - Podcast comments by Fr. Marc Foley OCD
• What’s So Important About Blood and Water? - Article by Adam Lucas at Catholic Answers
• Church is born from the side of Christ - Catechism paragraph 766

Blood and water

A. Imagery associated with the Church, baptism, and the Eucharist

B. Eve came from the side of Adam (see Genesis 2:21-22) 

C. The Church is the New Eve born from the side of the New Adam

D. Jesus is the new Passover Lamb (see John 19:4)

1. Hyssop branch (see Exodus 12:21-23; John 19:29)

2. Legs not broken (see Exodus 12:46; John 19:31-37)

The temple veil is torn (see Mark 15:38)

1. The sacrificial system has been replaced by Christ’s sacrifice

2. Opens a new level of intimacy with God (see Hebrews 10:19-20)

O that you would tear the heavens and come down, that the mountains  might  quake  at  your  presence  ...  to  make  your name known to your adversaries and that the nations might tremble at your presence! (Isaiah 64:1-2)

Dead Rise 

The Lord explains to Ezekiel the meaning of the vision: the prophecy of resurrection symbolizes Israel’s return to the land after being in exile. This is a fitting image, for in the Bible, the curse of exile was described as a kind of death (see Deuteronomy 30:15-20). 

In exile, God’s people,  therefore,  were  like  the  dry  bones  in  the  valley.  But when  they  return  to  the  land,  they  will  experience  a  kind  of resurrection. 

“I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you home to the land of Israel ... I will put my Spirit within you and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land” (Ezekiel 37:12,14). 

The tombs being opened at Jesus’ death recalls this prophecy of hope. It signals a new day is dawning for Israel. It not only anticipates the final resurrection of all at the end of time, but also  reveals  God’s  power  being  unleashed  right  now,  in  the present, breaking in the new age that Ezekiel foretold.

St. John Paul II once said that the passion of Christ is “the culmination of the revelation of God’s love.”6 In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, St. Paul expounds on the characteristics of authentic love. Love is patient ... kind ... not jealous or boastful or arrogant or rude ... it does not insist on its own way ... it is not irritable or resentful ... it bears all things ... endures all things. Reflect on the ways in which Jesus, in his passion and death, models these various qualities of love. 6 St. John Paul II, apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae (On the Rosary of the Virgin Mary), (October 16, 2002), 22, original emphasis.

Ask Jesus to help you imitate him as you strive to live out this aspect of love this week. Then pray the words of St. Paul from 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,which can be seen as a hymn of love:

“Love is patient and kind; love is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude. Love does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong, but rejoices in the right. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

Christ crucified was “a stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles” (1 Corinthians 1:23)

In reality, Christ’s crucifixion points to the “power of God” (see 1 Corinthians 1:24)

The Theology of the Cross

A.  The punishment of an innocent person does not solve the problem of sin

B.  It is the love of God that saves humanity

C.  Sin separates us from God

D. We do not have the ability to make up for our sins ourselves

E. Christ is able to save humanity by his infinite act of love on Calvary, because he is fully divine and fully human