The Pascal Mystery
The term “Pascal Mystery” refers to the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus—as a kind of continuum. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, the figure of Jesus is a victim, helpless, under the control of the Jewish and Roman authorities. He suffers. His suffering, however, is redemptive—it has a larger purpose and end to it. In John’s Gospel we have a different portrait of Jesus: Jesus is the Messiah, the king of creation, and nothing happens to him which is not allowed by him. In both points of view a terrible injustice takes place and his friends, family, and followers are helpless to do anything about it. We are passersby or onlookers and cannot influence the action.
Call
Opening ourselves to gratitude shows us that there is a call built right into our human being, as children of God, formed in God’s own image and likeness, in community with one another as brothers and sisters, and charged with stewardship for our world. Opening ourselves to healing shows us how, at some long past time in our history, that call was frustrated, and the power of its attractiveness became lost on us. Developing a relationship of friendship and love with Jesus enables us to rediscover God’s image and likeness within ourselves, and this leads us to want to share God’s love with others. Turning to our fellow human beings in solidarity reawakens in us the gift of the other and the joy of working with a shared purpose toward a common good. It is within the framework of these experiences that we seek to be able to look and listen for—and hopefully respond generously to—a possible new call of God coming to us today in the course of our lives and work.
Solidarity
Solidarity is a virtue which calls us—like all the virtues—to “excellence” in how we live together. Many experience solidarity in the world we live in right now as a kind of “lost” virtue. Our present world judges primarily according to the life and cultural values of economics, business, politics, technology, and “the self”. Solidarity takes seriously our obligations and duties to others and to the common good. Recently we have been hearing often from the Gospel of Mark. I am continually struck by how deeply concerned Jesus is throughout Mark’s Gospel for others around him— especially the sick, the suffering, the dying, the hungry, and those close to him. Jesus is constantly on the move in Mark’s Gospel and what he does is mostly inspired by his concern for others. In the stories we have about him, Jesus is directed outward—toward others.
Jesus Christ
Recently someone gave me a card which said, “God’s deepest desire is that we let Him love us . . . and freely love Him in return.” Jesus is the friendly face of God. When we think of Jesus in the New Testament, we meet Jesus the Teacher, Jesus the Healer, Jesus the Sage, Jesus the Charismatic Leader of followers, Jesus the believing Jew and follower of the Torah, Jesus the grace-filled rebel, Jesus the Prophet, Son of God, Son of Man, Christ, Herald of the Kingdom, and other faces/masks. The theologians tend to speak of the Jesus of history and the Christ of faith. But when we meet Jesus in scripture and in the sacraments, we meet a real person who loves us, values our friendship, and wants to develop that relationship.
Healing
We turn to God for the healing of our sin and sinfulness, a grace which God offers us and of which he assures us. But what does it mean to be healed? It is not to stop sinning. None of us will achieve that in this lifetime. Rather, to be healed is to be able to truly accept forgiveness—for your own sins and for those committed against you.
