Reflection on the Seven Last words of Jesus on the Cross at Mount Calvary

1. “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Are we forgiving? 

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” Forgiveness simply means that we choose to move on and not allow hatred to destroy us.

Hanging on the cross and near-death Jesus spoke these profound words. Who was Jesus alluding  to when He spoke these words? Jesus was alluding to those who persecuted Him which led Him on the cross. They were His critics like the Pharisees, Scribes, High priest and so forth. Included also were the Soldiers who brought Him to the mountain of Calvary to nail Him on the cross.

Here we see that Jesus is full of mercy, love and forgiveness towards those who made life very difficult for Him. Jesus did not bear any hatred towards those who hated and killed Him.

We have to reflect here on how we forgive those who sinned against us. For example, if a person betrayed our trust or a person hurt us. Have we forgiven them already? We have to forgive no matter how deep the hurt the they’ve inflicted upon us. Why? Because if Jesus can forgive who are we not to forgive? 

Forgiveness is a gift that we give not to those who’ve hurt us or betrayed us. Forgiveness is a gift that we give to ourselves for the simple reason that we are only hurting our very selves when we don’t forgive. We have to free ourselves from being imprisoned by hatred caused by our unforgiveness. Therefore, we have to forgive. 

Are we forgiving?

2.   “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

Where is the paradise that Jesus is referring here?

The paradise is with Him, in Him and in His kingdom in heaven. Jesus addressed this statement to one of the criminals hanging on the cross by His side. The criminal said to Jesus: “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom (Luke 23:42).” And right there Jesus said to the criminal: “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Luke 23:43)

The criminal was enlightened while he was hanging on the cross side by side with Jesus.  This is the reason why he asked the Lord to remember him when He is already in His kingdom. Don’t we all want to have the same enlightenment that he had? Of course, we do want it as well. So, we have to humbly ask the Lord for the same enlightenment coursed through our prayers to the Lord.

Many of us are so fixated in this fleeting word that we think and feel that this is our paradise. But as we go through the covid-19 pandemic experience we already have that this world is not at all paradise. We seek worldly pleasures (many of these worldly pleasures influence us to sin). We seek temporal wealth and worldly power and influence only to find out that this is not where paradise is located. Why?  For the simple reason that we humans have no satisfaction we will seek these earthly things which we think would satisfy us. Only to realize in the end that it cannot and will not satisfy us.

So, where is the real paradise that the Lord is talking? This paradise we can only find, feel and experience with Him, in Him and through Him. The true and real paradise that Jesus mentions is already here and now when we make Him part and parcel of our daily living.  When we make Jesus our Lord and Savoir.   

Where is your paradise?  

3.  “Woman, behold thy son. After that, he said to the disciple: Behold thy mother.” (John 19: 26-27)

Do you respect and love the Blessed Mother and your own mother?  

When Jesus was on the cross dying, He saw His mother Mary still looking after Him. His mother who cared, nurtured and watched over Him from the beginning until the end of His life. Dying and all, Jesus saw that nobody would take care of His mother so He asked John, His beloved disciple to take care of her.

Do we also take care of the Blessed Mother by respecting her as Jesus respected her? Mary is the mother of Jesus therefore it is incumbent for us to give her the respect and love which she richly deserves.  We show our love and respect for the Blessed Mother when we pray the Holy Rosary. When we politely teach others to respect her because she is the mother of Jesus and our mother as well. Mary our mother who will always be there to listen to us when no one would dare listen to us.  Mary our mother who will always be there to pray for us.

This is also to remind us that we have to respect and love at all times our own respective mothers. We would never exist in this world without our mothers. We would never become who we are today without their guidance and nurturing. Jesus would not have existed in this world without the consent of his mother Mary. As a debt of gratitude to his mother Jesus saw it fit to entrust his mother to his beloved disciple John.

Do you respect and love the Blessed Mother and your own mother?  What are you doing right now to show your respect and love for the Blessed Mother? Do you invoke her intersession when you pray? Do you defend her when someone is demeaning her role in the life of Jesus?

4.“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mark 15:34)

Do we sometimes feel forsaken by the Lord?

On the cross and dying Jesus uttered these words. These are words of surrender, frustration and giving up. After going through all of the persecutions, torture and abandonment Jesus felt forsaken. Who among us would not feel the same way when we’ve been through what Jesus had been through? We would also understandably feel forsaken and abandoned by the Lord.    

But did God abandon Jesus when He was gasping and dying on the cross? Does God abandon and forsake us when we are at the lowest point in our lives? Is God absent as we navigate through the dangerous waters of  this covid-19 pandemic experience? God did not abandon Jesus, God was with Jesus all the way! God was strengthening Jesus when Jesus was at the lowest and weakest point in His life. And certainly God is also walking with us as we try to survive this covid-19 pandemic experience. 

We are humans subject to our own human frailties. It is understandable to feel forsaken by the Lord once in a while. But truth be told, God presence in our lives is strongest when we feel forsaken by this world and the people of this world.

God will never forsake us, God will never abandon us and God will always be there to strengthen us. Therefore, we always have to cling to Him in good times and most especially in the turbulent episodes of our lives.

Do we sometimes feel being abandoned and forsaken by the Lord?

5.“I thirst.” (John 19:28)

What do we thirst for?

Was it physical thirst that Jesus was feeling when He said: “I thirst.” In His humanity, yes physical thirst but more than that it was the thirst for those people who were formerly with Him. These are the people who were with Jesus during His healing and speaking ministry.

Dying on the cross perhaps, Jesus was whimpering while saying, “I thirst.” Why? For the reason that He was also thirsting for His followers and apostles who were with Him during His miraculous healing and powerful speaking ministry. 

It is in the lowest episodes of our life that we would know who is really for us and not for us. Those who are for us would choose to remain no matter the odds against us. Those who are not for us would immediately evaporate from our sights to save themselves.

When we encounter these words: “I thirst.”  Let us imagine that Jesus is addressing these words to us. I thirst for you to be faithful in your marriage covenant. I thirst for you to be honest where you are presently working right now. I Thirst for you to value the sacredness of life over the evil of abortion. I thirst for you to always be humble.

 I thirst for your presence at Holy Mass everyday or even every Sunday if you cannot make it every day.  I thirst for you to become a good father/mother. I thirst for you to become a good and God loving son/daughter. I thirst for you to be faithful to your priesthood. I thirst for you to be faithful to your religious life.

Would we respond to Jesus thirst?

 6.“It is finished.” (John 19:30)

How do you feel after finishing a worthy undertaking?

You feel good and triumphant. This second to the last word of Jesus is a word of triumph, at last its over at last its mission accomplished!

Jesus finally defeated the voice of Satan who was whispering to Him not to finish His salvific mission. Jesus overcame the many hurdles and temptation for Him not to pursue to the end His mission of salvation. Finally, Jesus redeemed the sinful humanity from the enslavement of sin.

However, it’s not finished for us yet, we are still in this journey called life. We are still battling the many demons that constantly whispers to our ears to commit sin. So, what are we going to do to be able to say that, “It's finally finished!”

We have to be faithful to our Lord until our end in this temporal world overtakes us. Then, when it comes, we can finally say, it is finished because we have been faithful to the Lord. We did not give an iota of space to the devil to distract us in our disciples with the Lord.

Would we be able to successfully say, “It is finished ” when the sun sets upon us someday? It is finished because we have defeated the many demons that were constantly tempting you to give up in our disciples for Jesus.

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)    

Are you afraid to die?

After all has been said and done it’s now the end, it’s the victorious death of Jesus on the cross. Jesus conquered our sinfulness by dying on the cross. By giving His very life on the cross Jesus showed us the true meaning of sacrifice and love.

Death is something that many of us fear but why fear death if we live our life with Jesus in this world? Why fear death when this is the final hurdle for us to be with the Lord in heaven? Why fear death when it ends all our sufferings in this world? If we have not done wrong in this world we would not fear death. When we love the Lord over this fleeting and temporal world we would not fear death.

Many of us fear death for the simple reason that we are so attached to this world. But if we are detached from this world and attached to our Lord, we will not fear death. What are the attachments that we have that makes us fear death?  Are we so attached to our worldly possession that’s why we fear death?

When we make this world our God we would fear death, when we make our worldly possession our master instead of servant we would fear death. Jesus conquered His fear of death because He has no worldly attachments. From the beginning Jesus detached Himself from this world because it would encumber Him from devoting His life to His mission of salvation.  

Let us slowly but surely detach ourselves from this world. So that when we are at the doorway going to the everlasting life we can say to our Lord: "I'm finally coming home my Lord, into your hands I commend my spirit." -  Marino J. Dasmarinas    

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