As we have seen, since the disobedience of Adam and Eve, humanity had been condemned and deprived of Heaven. An expiatory victim was necessary to appease the justice of God and repair the offense committed against Him. Then the Son of God Himself, moved by an infinite love, offered Himself in sacrifice to bear the punishment we had deserved, thus restoring our bond of love with God the Father.
At about the age of thirty, Jesus began His public life, traveling throughout Palestine to preach the Gospel, surrounded by twelve Apostles and a number of disciples. Declaring Himself the Son of God, He proved His divinity by countless miracles: healings, resurrections, and words that stirred hearts and converted crowds.
Welcoming children with tenderness, He said: “Let the little children come to Me, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to such as these.” Therefore, to know the Spirit of Jesus, we must study the Holy Gospel.
After three years spent evangelizing the crowds, the time came for Jesus to redeem humanity. Just before His Passion, He instituted the Holy Eucharist as the means of giving Himself entirely to us and of perpetuating His presence among us until the end of time. (We will speak later of the beautiful dogma of the Eucharist.)
Jesus, filled with love for mankind, willed to suffer the most cruel of deaths – the death on the Cross – in order to atone for our sins: this is the great mystery of Redemption.
The Passion of our divine Savior unfolded as a long and terrible sequence of events. Betrayed by a treacherous Apostle, Judas, and delivered to unjust judges, Caiaphas and Pilate, Jesus, though innocent, was condemned. He was scourged; a crown of thorns was pressed upon His head; He was overwhelmed with insults and blows. At last, He was nailed to a Cross.
The sky grew dark, and the earth trembled before such a crime. On the hill called Golgotha, three crosses were raised – three condemned men. In the center was Jesus, agonizing in cruel sufferings, enduring infinite pain and sorrow. The priests and the hostile crowd insulted and mocked Him.
The torment of the Cross is beyond what we could ever imagine. Since the scourging, the body of Jesus Christ had already become one great wound. Lifted above the ground and suspended by heavy nails, it sagged under its own weight. Each of His breaths renewed the pain: His outstretched arms pulled against the wounds, and His blood flowed down to the earth. The divine Condemned was scorched by the sun; His sweat mingled with His blood.
And yet, from His parched lips came words of forgiveness. He prayed for those who crucified Him, asking the Father not to punish them for this deicide. One of the two criminals crucified beside Him mocked and insulted Him. Then his heart was touched, and though he was a criminal, he implored the mercy of Jesus, in Whom he recognized God made man. Jesus promised to take him with Him that very day into Paradise.
At the foot of the Cross stood the Blessed Virgin Mary, upright and still, Her livid face revealing something of Her infinite sorrow. Yet She looked upon Her beloved Son with complete resignation. Everything within Her suffered, but not a shadow of rebellion ever crossed Her soul. The Mother of God fully consents to the ultimate sacrifice of Her Son, and Her heroic offering rises in silence to God.
Near Her stood John, the beloved disciple, the only one among the Apostles who had neither abandoned nor betrayed Jesus. In the midst of His sufferings, Jesus saw His Mother and His Apostle. His gaze first rested upon Mary – a gaze of infinite tenderness, the last ray of filial love before the great silence of death.
Then His lips opened, and His voice, weak yet firm, came down from the height of the Cross:
“Woman, behold Your son.”
Mary lowered Her eyes toward John. In that solemn moment, he represented all souls – those of the past, the present, and the future. The Blessed Virgin Mary understood the mission Jesus was entrusting to Her. She received us as Her own children – even us, who had put to death Her divine Son, Her only Son. At that moment, when Her sorrow reached an unfathomable depth, She became the Mother of all those redeemed by the blood of Her Son.
Then Jesus turned to His beloved disciple:
“My son, behold your Mother.”
Around them, darkness descended upon Golgotha, and the wind carried away the last echoes of the Crucified. Mary remained there, standing by the Cross, guardian of the greatest mystery of love the world has ever known. From that day onward, each of us may lift our eyes to Her and invoke Her by a name that will never fade: Our Mother.
At about the ninth hour – three o’clock in the afternoon – a cry rang out, deep and piercing, resounding throughout the land. Jesus cried out to His Father, from whom He had become, as it were, an object of horror, having taken upon Himself all our sins in order to atone for them:
“My God, My God, why have You abandoned Me?”
Then He said, in His sorrow, “I thirst.” Certainly, He endured an unbearable physical thirst in His condition; but above all, He thirsted for the salvation of our souls. The thought that, despite His infinite sufferings, so many souls would still refuse His love and choose hell for eternity tormented Him even more than all His bodily pains.
Then our Savior declared that He had fulfilled His mission on earth: “It is finished.”
After this, He cried out in a loud voice: “Father, into Your hands I commend My spirit.” And having spoken these words, He bowed His head and died. It was three o’clock in the afternoon. This is the hour we commemorate each year on Good Friday.
The centurion, struck by such peace in the midst of such extreme suffering, was moved by grace and exclaimed: “Truly, this Man is the Son of God.”
One day, long before the coming of Jesus upon the earth, God willed to put the faith of His faithful servant Abraham to the test. He said to him:
“Take with you your beloved son, the one you love – your Isaac. Go to the land of Moriah, and there, on a mountain that I will show you, offer him to Me as a holocaust.”
Obedient to God’s command, Abraham rose early in the morning. He saddled his donkey and set out with two of his servants and his son Isaac. The wood needed for the sacrifice had been gathered, and burning coals were also brought. Abraham went toward the place that the Lord had indicated to him, which he reached only after three days of travel.
A short distance from the place, he told his servants to stay there with the donkey and wait for his return. He placed the wood for the offering upon his son Isaac, while he himself carried the fire and the knife in his hands.
As the father walked on in silence, his brow heavy with thought, Isaac said to him:
“Father?”
“What is it, my son?”
“I see the fire and the wood, but where is the victim for the holocaust?”
Abraham’s heart tightened, but he answered gently:
“Do not worry, my dear son – God Himself will provide.”
And they continued on their way together, side by side, in a heavy silence.
When they reached the summit, Abraham built an altar and arranged the wood. He revealed to his son the command he had received from God. Isaac, worthy son of such a father, accepted the will of God with love.
Then Abraham took Isaac, bound his hands and feet, and placed him upon the altar to offer him to God. At last, he took the fatal knife and had already raised his arm to sacrifice his son when the voice of the Angel of the Lord was heard:
“Abraham! Abraham!”
“Here I am, Lord.”
“Do not lay your hand upon the child, and do him no harm. Now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld from Him your only son.”
Abraham lowered the knife, trembling with emotion and relief. He turned and saw a ram caught by its horns in a thicket. He took it and offered it to God in place of his son.
One day, a woman, hearing the account of the sacrifice of Isaac, exclaimed:
“Ah! God would never ask such a sacrifice of a mother!”
She was mistaken. There was indeed a Mother – the most tender of all mothers – from whom the Heavenly Father asked the sacrifice of Her only Son in order to save a sinful world. This Mother is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Sorrows, who saw Her Son die upon the Cross. She was blessed to cooperate actively, through Her immeasurable sacrifice, in the redemption of the human race.
Jesus is the Redeemer. At His side, His Mother is Coredemptrix. Every grace that God grants us passes through Her hands.
Isaac was only an image of Jesus, the true Victim, who carried the wood of His own sacrifice. He ascended the mountain of Calvary, obedient and silent, and offered Himself with infinite love as a holocaust to His Father, in atonement for all the sins of the world.