“Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
At that moment in history when humanity had committed its greatest offense against God—when Jesus had been handed over to death by His friend Judas, betrayed by Peter, hung upon a cross to be executed, and people sneered and jeered at Him as He suffered to save the world—Jesus’ response is profound passion for His people:
“Father, Forgive them, for they do not know what they do” (Luke 23:34).
As Pope Francis has said when he proclaimed this year as the Year of Mercy, “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy.” This week, Holy Week, as we celebrate the great mysteries of our salvation, we participate in the great events of God’s mercy. These events are all recounted in this Sunday’s reading of the Passion narrative from the Gospel of Luke. As we celebrate this Sunday Passion or Palm Sunday, we hear how soon after Jesus was gloriously welcomed into Jerusalem as that city’s Savior, He celebrated the Jewish Passover with His disciples and was then betrayed and put to death.
For the Jewish people the Passover meal recounted how God had delivered their nation from slavery in Egypt and delivered them to the Promised Land. On Holy Thursday, we remember that at the Last Supper Jesus instituted the Eucharist as the Sacrament of the New Covenant. While His Disciples had hoped He would free Israel from Roman oppression, He had come rather to save all humanity from slavery to death and to share with us the gift of eternal life. Through the gift of the Eucharist, Jesus gives the Church that he will establish a sacrament that will allow all of us to know His presence throughout our lives. Each time we come to share in the Eucharist, from Sunday to Sunday, the Lord says to us, as He did to the thief who acknowledged his sins on the cross: “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). This is why we begin each Mass with the Penitential Rite, or for serious sins celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The Eucharist gives us a taste of the heavenly banquet as it places us in communion with Christ today. Jesus establishes the Eucharist on Holy Thursday as the Sacrament of His mercy, so that His salvation may be made known to people of all nations and times. He invites us from Sunday to Sunday to partake in His offer of mercy.
On Good Friday, when we gather at 3:00 p.m. to commemorate that Jesus bowed His head and cried out in a loud voice: “Father into your hands, I commend my Spirit,” we remember the supreme sacrifice of mercy by which the doors of Heaven were burst open by Christ’s sacrifice. Those doors, which the sin of Adam and Eve had closed by disobedience, were opened to all who believe in Him by the obedience of Christ. Through His sacrifice on Good Friday, we are all delivered from death. On Easter Sunday we celebrate something not mentioned in today’s Passion narrative. On the Day of the Resurrection (Easter Sunday), we celebrate that God the Father accepted the sacrifice of His Son and by raising Him from the dead opens the possibility of eternal life to each of us.
Not only has Pope Francis said that “Jesus Christ is the face of the Father’s mercy,” he has also said that “the name of God is Mercy.” Throughout the coming celebration of Holy Week, as we celebrate these events of God’s mercy, we are called to remember that God is not just merciful during Holy Week. God is mercy. As Christians we celebrate God’s love and mercy every Sunday at the Eucharist. As Jesus institutes the Eucharist and commands His disciples to “do this in memory of me,” He is inviting us each week to share in the gift of His salvation at the Sunday Eucharist and to make Him a part of our lives. What we celebrate this week during Holy Week, the Lord invites us to celebrate each Sunday. This is why the Church calls each Sunday a little Easter. During Holy Week we celebrate in a particularly powerful way the week of God’s mercy. Let us pray that our celebration of these great mysteries may lead us to recall that God is always merciful and that as Christians we are invited to celebrate this love and mercy each and every Sunday. This invitation comes to us directly from the same Savior who commanded us before His passion, as He instituted the Eucharist, “to do this in memory of me.”
Father Michael McGourty
Pastor – St. Peter’s Parish – Toronto
