March 22nd Fast

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JMJ

"A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, "Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children. . ." (Luke 23: 27-28)

"Hearing Jesus reproach the women of Jerusalem who follow him and weep for him ought to make us reflect. How should we understand his words? Are they not directed at a piety which is purely sentimental, one which fails to lead to conversion and living faith? It is no use to lament the sufferings of this world if our life goes on as usual. And so the Lord warns us of the danger in which we find ourselves. He shows us both the seriousness of sin and the seriousness of judgement. Can it be that, despite all our expressions of consternation in the face of evil and innocent suffering, we are all too prepared to trivialize the mystery of evil? Have we accepted only the gentleness and love of God and Jesus, and quietly set aside the word of judgement? "How can God be so concerned with our weaknesses?", we say. "We are only human!" Yet as we contemplate the sufferings of the Son, we see more clearly the seriousness of sin, and how it needs to be fully atoned if it is to be overcome. Before the image of the suffering Lord, evil can no longer be trivialized. To us too, he says: "Do not weep for me, weep for yourselves... if they do this when the wood is green, what will happen when it is dry?"     (Blessed John Paul II, Meditation on the Eighth Station)

"Ecce Homo": Behold the Man, Pilate cries out before the bloodthirsty crowd on Good Friday. In the suffering Christ we encounter the ugliness of sin, the reality of evil:  ". . .there is no beauty in Him, nor comeliness: and we have seen Him, no sightliness that we should be desirous of Him. . ." (Is. 53:2) If we truly realized the ugliness of sin, would we not make every effort to make reparation for it?  Would we not, like Veronica seek to wipe the face of Jesus, if only with our poor sacrifices as a veil?  

It is easy to wring our hands over the state of society, to allow our minds to embrace anxiety rather than embrace the cross.  Pilate too was hesitant as to how to ameliorate a seemingly unsolvable situation, and so he washed His hands, despairing of a good solution and thereby ensuring a most sorrowful conclusion.  We must not give into despair or anxiety as we witness the crumbling of families, and foundational principles once held by all and now held by few.  We cannot weep for "our children", for the next generation, as a simple gesture of lament: a nostalgic exercise, wishing the next generation would not have to suffer, that they could live without fear as we did.  Instead, God calls us to action: "Blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted" (Mt. 5:4).  God asks us to beg for His mercy, to atone for the sins that cause us to weep.  Not just to lament the offenses that sins cause, but to make reparation for them. 

Anxiety is driven by fear of suffering.  But, as Christians we must accept the fact that our way is the way of the Cross: "If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. . . " (Jn 15: 20) How easy it is to be anxious, to play out various fears in our minds.  How much harder to persevere in prayer, to physically deny ourselves in order to atone for the evil that surrounds us, to sacrifice for our children so that they too may be given the perseverance to overcome temptation and to walk the way of the cross with courage.  

"When we walk without the Cross. . . and when we profess Christ without the Cross, we are not disciples of the Lord." (Pope Francis)