The cross of Jesus Christ represents the absolute proof of the magnitude of Jesus’ and the Father’s love for us. Holy Week, of course, is the time when we meditate on the passion and death of Christ. The meditation below is from The Word Among Us magazine for Palm Sunday, March 20, 2005. As you reflect on the words of this meditation, and enter more deeply into Jesus’ passion and death, I believe the Lord will reveal to you in a deeper way the greatness of his love for you.
Close your eyes for a few moments and picture yourself in Gethsemane. As Judas enters with the temple guards, look closely at Jesus’ eyes. He is looking at Judas with such love! At once, Jesus is arrested, bound, and abandoned by his friends. In the presence of the high priest, Jesus is slapped, spat upon, and beaten. Yet look at those eyes again. Wouldn’t you expect to see hatred, or at least anger, by now? But no, the love is still there — only now it is much more resolute.
Now imagine Jesus, after having been turned over to Pilate and the Roman soldiers, being crowned with thorns, whipped, and mocked. He looks exhausted now, and his body is quivering in pain and exhaustion. Surely he must have given up hope by now. Yet through eyes blurred by blood, he looks over at you and nods. He is not giving up!
After an agonizing walk to Golgotha, Jesus’ bruised and bloodied body is stripped and nailed to the cross. As many in the crowd mock him, Jesus looks up to heaven. His weary eyes say what his parched lips cannot: “Father, forgive them; they know not what they do.”
Brothers and sisters, this is the love that Jesus has for you! He loved you so much that he suffered all this and more to open the gates of heaven to you. Jesus’ passion is truly the greatest love story ever told. It is the story of God’s only Son offering his life in sacrifice for our sin so that we could know intimacy with God once more.
“Jesus, I am overwhelmed and speechless at the love you poured out for me in your passion and death. With every crack of the whip and every blow to your face, you saw me, and you loved me. You held on through all the suffering just so that you could secure my salvation. Lord, who am I that you would do this for me? As I meditate on your passion this week, may it move me to look upon others with the same look of love that you have shown to me.”
(Maurice Blumberg is Executive Director of the National Fellowship of Catholic Men. This article is part of NFCM's sponsorship of the Catholic Man channel. Contact NFCM at P.O. Box 86381, Gaithersburg, MD 20886 or e-mail them at info@nfcmusa.org. Many thanks to The Word Among Us for allowing us to include in this article the March 20, 2005 meditation from the 2005 Lenten Edition of The Word Among Us magazine.)
Reflection Questions on Page 2
Questions for Reflection/Discussion
1. It is so easy to take for granted, or passively listen to, the familiar words of the passion narratives in the Gospels that are read at services during Holy Week and on Easter Sunday. What steps can you take to prevent this from happening?
2. In the meditation, we allow our imaginations to visualize Jesus’ love for us in the midst of his suffering. Jesus’ not only wants us to intellectually believe he loves us; he also wants us to experience his love in a personal way. If you are in a men’s group, have one of the men read the meditation to your group as you try to enter into the events of Jesus’ passion, and through it, sense his great love for you. What did you experience as the meditation was being read?
3. In what way is Jesus’ passion and death a testimony to his total trust in the Father’s love and call for his life? When you are in the midst of difficult circumstances, or suffering, do you believe that, “The Lord God is my help, therefore, I am not disgraced” (Isaiah 54:7a)? Are you able to say, “I have set my face like flint, knowing that I will not be put to shame” (54:7b)?
4. Jesus’ passion and death is also a testimony to his humility in that “he emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, coming in human likeness; and found human in appearance” (Philippians 2:6) and “he humbled himself, becoming obedient to death, even death on a cross” (2:7). If humility is lifting others above yourself, and pride is lifting yourself above others, how do you rate yourself on humility? Pride? What steps can you take to reflect more and more the humility of Jesus?
5. The meditation prayer ends with these words, “As I meditate on your passion this week, may it move me to look at others with the same look of love you have shown me.” Try to put this prayer into practice every day during the remaining days of Holy Week. Share its impact on you at your next men’s group meeting (if you are in one) or share it with your wife and/or a close friend.
