April web

COVER STORY
us how Jesus gives meaning to suffering
without making anybody else suffer. The
cross is then transformed from being a
curse to the very sign of blessing.
Discipleship is not for sleepers
Every year, the Liturgy of the Church
offers Christians an opportunity to rethink
the depth of their willingness to follow
their Master. The journey starts with a
recognition of one’s being dust (Ash
Wednesday). Without the life-giving Spirit
of God, the human being is lifeless (Gen 2:
7). It is important to note that Jesus Himself
was led by the Spirit (see Mk 1: 12; Mt 4: 1,
Lk 4: 1). Christians follow the Lord into the
desert in order to learn from Him to resist
the cunning tricks of the tempter. Jesus is
able to overcome the apparent goodness
proposed to him by the devil because he
is rooted in the love of the Father. He had
heard the word on which all life depends:
“You are my beloved son.” (Mt 3:17; Lk
3: 22). This is the eternally established
order which the evil one tried to bring into
disorder (diabolus Gk = one who throws
things into disorder). He refuses to use
power for purposes that are not from God
the Father. The Evangelist Luke presents
a detail which deserves some attention.
“When the devil finished tempting Jesus in
every way, he left him for a while.” (Lk 4: 13).
The devil waited for another opportune
moment, namely, moment of suffering.
“Father, if you will, take this cup of
suffering away from me.” (Lk 22: 42). Yet
amidst his anguish, he surrenders himself
to the will of the Father and invites his
friends to pray in order not to fall into
the same temptation (Lk 22: 43-46).
While he was sweating blood, his friends
(disciples) were sleeping. Was that a way
of avoiding suffering? Suffering which is
part of discipleship can be lived only with
the strength given by God. This invites
us to avoid the quick-fix answers to the
paradoxical nature in personal lives
but also in the affairs of the world.
Great love and great suffering
What Christians remember on Good Friday
is a “dangerous memory” (Johann Baptist
Metz). In order to be really present to see
Jesus’ body being broken, we ought to
let ourselves be drawn to the Crucified.
He said: “If I am lifted up, I will draw all
unto me.” (John 12: 32) The only dilemma
is that the disciples who were His friends
while he still performed miracles are away
out of fear. He died for our sins. Yes. But
we may need to rethink this way of looking
at the Crucified which risks leaving us as
mere bystanders. The Crucified invites
all to contemplate the depth and width
of God’s love and what it does amidst
human hatred. Sebastian Moore (2011)
understood the cause for Jesus’ death as a
crucifixion by the world that is not ruled by
love but by idols.
As we celebrate the memorial of his
passion, death and resurrection, we ought
to think of the many forms of human
destruction that have been meant to
appease the gods of this world. The idols
especially, power have conditioned human
beings to perpetuate the world’s violent
order. God chooses to suffer because of
love and proves to the humans that it is
possible to suffer without causing others
to suffer. The only disciple who was able
to stand under this pain of the cross was
the one whom Jesus loved (see John 19:
25). Jesus reconciles God with humanity
through love which is ready to embrace
human brokenness.
Richard Rohr Ofm expresses this
succinctly: “…great love and great
suffering (both healing and woundedness)
are the universal, always available paths of
transformation because they are the only
things strong enough to take away the
ego’s protections and pretensions. Great
love and great suffering bring us back
to God, and I believe this is how Jesus
himself walked humanity back to God. It
is not just a path of resurrection rewards
but a path that now includes death and
woundedness.” At the foot of the Cross,
we see the risk of a great love which
enables the transformation of enmity
and all human inclination to vengeance.
Whoever is moved by authentic love,
will bear with suffering until the desired
transformation is achieved. True lovers are
the truth-lovers who will bring about true
justice and reconciliation in the world.
Vindication in love instead of vindictive
justice
At Easter, Christians celebrate the victory
of love. At the end of it all, it is love that
wins. There is a reality that disturbs the
human ego, namely, that the one whom
humanity wanted to dispose of comes
back to life to love and to heal humanity.
Resurrection is the ever new beginning of
the world that it opens. Our world needs
the “resurrection effect” which should
bring about healing of the wounds that are
often buried in human history.
Of course, healing happens in
personal lives but Easter should motivate
groups and communities to experience
a collective healing. This year, just two
days to Good Friday (7 th April), the world
will commemorate what humans (even
Christians) are capable of, namely the
Rwanda Genocide. Some may think that
commemorating this day is reviving the
wounds that was inflicted on others 26
years ago, but, it is an attempt to allow the
Cross to cast its light into these wounds in
order to bring about healing of an entire
nation. It is not vindictive justice (at least
not the way the world understands it) that
will free the world from the shadow of
death but the loving kindness of God who
visits humans like the dawn from on high
(see Lk 1: 78-79). Easter is this dawn.
May the light of the Risen Lord shine
into the darkness of the world, so that
God’s dream for peace on earth through
Christ’s disciples may become more real!
APRIL 2020
13