By Fr. Glenn Jones:

Christianity was until fairly recently believed and practiced by the majority of our nation, even if not the world. And yet recent news stories report that much of that faith has been lost in the current existential and rationalist culture, which does not deign to explore (and even DIS-dains) that which is beyond its empirical probing, refusing to admit that there may be existence that transcends our materiality. It’s a bit of a danger, really, and to paraphrase G.K. Chesterton, when people believe in nothing, they may believe in anything.

Now, the bulk of the Christian world comes to Holy Week beginning April 2 this year, remembering the pivotal moment of Christian faith when Jesus of Nazareth, aka Jesus Christ, was falsely convicted, tortured, and finally executed by crucifixion—an agonizingly slow and painful death.

Seems quite odd to the non-believer: why in the world commemorate such a horrific event?

I was musing on this as we read in weekday Mass from Genesis of Abraham. God changes his name from “Abram”, meaning “exalted father” to “Abraham”, meaning “father of a multitude”, promising also that Abraham’s descendants will be as numerous “as the stars in the sky”.

“So what?”, one may ask. Well, consider that Abraham, a nomadic shepherd, was given this promise approximately four thousand years ago, and that the written form of Genesis, scripture scholars tell us, appeared likely in the time of King David with the settled kingdom and scribes to transcribe—about three thousand years ago.

And how that ancient promise has been realized! Jews and Christians, of course, trace their religious roots back to Abraham—“our father in faith”—but so do Muslims, summing around four billion people alive today, not counting believers of the past. More than four billion plus counts as a “multitude”, don’t you think?

And, as mentioned numerous times in this column, there are myriad other reasons to believe in the veracity of Christian core beliefs in Jesus and, therefore, the Christian faith: the rapid expansion of the faith by Jesus’ country-bumpkin apostles—wholly unlikely without a supernatural hand assisting. These same apostles, with nothing worldly to gain, would suffer for years and decades and eventually be killed for testifying to what they saw Jesus say and do. Also, there’s the very fact of the worldwide appeal and indisputable success of a faith based in a poor uneducated carpenter from a despised little town in a backwater Roman vassal province—a workman who suffered an inglorious and shameful method of execution, conquering the world with a simple teaching of “Love God, and love thy neighbor”, in having given His life for truth and—Christians most cherished hope—the salvation of souls … to reveal starkly a transcendent world’s reality by His resurrection on Easter morn. And, as both the apostles Peter and Paul state in their Biblical letters, Jesus is the “first-born” from the dead—the trailblazer, as it were, that all humanity will one day experience, but He cautioned: “… those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:29)

One may believe or not, of course, but doesn’t knowledge of indisputable realities rate at least close investigation, especially given the inevitability of bodily death? Does a wise person walk off a cliff’s edge thinking: “Well, I’ll look into that gravity thing later if things don’t work out like I thought?”

Regardless of faith, many lessons can be gleaned in considering the passion of Christ, including:

…the corrupting power of money in Judas’ betrayal …

…the corrupting power of power and pride evident in the Pharisees, refusing to acknowledge Jesus’ innocence even when Judas admits deception and treason…

…Jesus’ apparently (but only apparently) unheard prayer in the Garden, which nonetheless led to a much greater good…

…a denial by one who would later repent and become leader of Jesus’ apostles and first leader of His Church…

…the call for Christ’s blood to be upon those clamoring for His death…blood which both convicts and acquits…

…the unknowing passerby, called to an unpredicted yet singular service to God …

…the prayer of the forsaken, which is actually a psalm of trust…

…the infinitely regal and omnipotent, in humiliation …

…the immortal, suffering death…

…the trembling of creation at the demise of its Creator…

…the Son’s obedience to the Father’s will…infinite innocence atoning for finite human guilt…

…the seemingly utter defeat of the crucifixion, to emerge as the ultimate victory on Easter morning.

———————-

A traditional (but non-Biblical) devotion which always gives me pause is that of the woman Veronica wiping the face of Jesus as He stumbled…heavy-laden…to Calvary. Courageous Veronica … braving blows from soldiers, venom from the crowd, expulsion by the Pharisees, …to give a moment of service and succor to the Lord.

When I consider Veronica, and the many who have given their lives for the faith and in righteous causes, I cannot but ask myself: Will I have courage enough to endure the slings and arrows launched by scoffers and haters of faith?…to offer even a moment of comfort to my Lord, and thereby aid Him on the Via Dolorosa? Or will I cowardly flee into darkness and safety like His apostles? Will I be strong enough to suffer even a little with Him…and thus, for Him? Will I, like Simon of Cyrene, bear at least a little of the burden of the cross beside Him?

Near the end of the movie “Forrest Gump” …Forrest describes his cross-country running exploits at the bedside of his beloved dying Jenny. Jenny muses wistfully: “I wish I could have been there with you.” Forrest simply looks at her tenderly and says: “You were.”

Likewise, when our hearts ache at Jesus’ sufferings, at His loneliness, at His agony…and we moan: “My Jesus…I wish I could have been there with you” … He gazes upon His faithful lovingly and says: “You were.”

So, O Christian, in the coming Holy Week let us be true disciples who stand beside Him, upon whose faith and love He leans upon for support in His agony. For Jesus, in His divinity, beheld every and all moments in time, and as He walked to Calvary thus witnessed the love we have for Him in the present … supporting Him all the way to the cross … to His final breath:

“It is finished. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.”

Editor’s note: Rev. Glenn Jones is the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe and former pastor of Immaculate Heart of Mary Catholic Church in Los Alamos.