Long Gospel, so I
just want to share a couple quick thoughts.
A couple quick
words, actually, as we reflect on the Gospel we’ve just heard: Love.
And surrender. Love and
surrender.
Love – what
amazing, extravagant, passionate love Our Lord has for the Father, to submit to
the torture, the suffering, the shame, the absolute humiliation, and unspeakably
painful death, death on this cross! And
what amazing, extravagant, passionate love Our Lord has for you, for me. These solemn words you’ve just heard
proclaimed – He did that for you, for me!
He loves us THAT MUCH!
My sisters and
brothers, as we journey through Holy Week, it would be good, I think, for us to
contemplate, to meditate, on His love for you, for all of us. To spend quiet time simply gazing upon His
Holy Cross, upon His broken, dead body, and try to wrap our minds and hearts
around the fact that He. Loves. You. That. Much. That He would be willing to be humbled,
scourged, nailed to a cross, and killed, all to save you, to save me. He loves us THAT MUCH!
And the other word
is surrender. Out of pure love, Our
Lord surrendered to the will of the Father.
He became “obedient to the point of death,” as St. Paul writes. In the garden, He prayed “Abba, Father, all
things are possible to you. Take this
cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.” Complete surrender, out of love for the
Father, out of love for you and for me.
And as we’re
contemplating His love all this week, let us also contemplate His surrender to
the Father, His complete self-giving love of the Father.
And brothers and
sisters, I think it is natural when we’re pondering His extravagant love, His
humble submission, His surrender, it is natural to say to myself – “What can I possibly
do, what can I give back?”
And the answer is
complete surrender. Complete surrender
to Him, at whose name we bow and kneel, and whom we confess as Christ and
Lord. Our completely surrendering our lives
to Him is the only adequate response to Him who died for you and me. Surrender is what it means to be a
Christian, a disciple of Christ. It
means we must also, in a sense, be put to death. Not physical death, although yes that will
come for each of us, but as St. Paul writes to the Romans, to make of our
bodies, meaning our bodies and souls – all of us - a “living sacrifice” – to be
by our entire lives a living offering, a living sacrifice back to Him who died
for you and for me.
And what does that
mean, exactly? It means this: to quote a Protestant minister Timothy Keller
- “the essence of the Christian life is to put to death the right to live as
you want.” Put to death the right to
live as you want. To abandon the right
to decide that you can live the way you want.
What Our Lord wants for us as He hangs on the cross is to take complete possession
of our lives, that we turn over to Him and His will every corner of our lives, every
room of our house, our every word, our every action, our every heartbeat, our
every breath.
In so surrendering
ourselves to Him, in making ourselves a living sacrifice, a living offering to
Him, these two words – love and surrender - become one and the same.
For true love requires surrender.
And surrender requires an act of love, a loving act of the will.
So, sisters and
brothers, as we begin this holiest of weeks, as we re-enact and make present
once again the Lord’s supreme sacrifice of love, the Lord’s supreme act of
surrender, and as we begin the rest of our lives, let us listen to Him as He
gently invites each of us to surrender our entire lives over to Him. That is the only adequate response to
Him who gave His all for you and me.
Allow me to close
with this Prayer of Abandonment by Charles de Foucauld:
Father, I abandon myself
into your hands;
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
do with me what you will.
Whatever you may do, I thank you:
I am ready for all, I accept all.
Let only your will be done in me,
and in all Your creatures -
I wish no more than this, O Lord.
Into your
hands I commend my soul;
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
I offer it to you with all the love of my heart,
for I love you Lord,
and so need to give myself,
to surrender myself into your hands,
without reserve,
and with boundless confidence,
For you are
my Father.
Amen.
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