Praised be Jesus, Mary, and
Joseph!
Abraham did not hesitate to offer
Isaac to God when the Lord asked for him. It must have pained him to bring his
son to the mountain in order to kill the boy and offer him as a sacrifice. But
it was all a test, which Abraham passed. As he took the knife to slaughter the
boy, an angel of the Lord prevented him from doing so: “Do not do the least to
harm the boy. I know now how you are devoted to God, since you did not withhold
from me your own beloved son.” If by what he did, Abraham showed how devoted he
was to God, so much more do we realize how God was devoted to us: “God did not
spare his own Son but handed him over for us all…” said St. Paul to the Romans.
God spared Isaac from being killed in sacrifice, but he did not do the same for
his own beloved Son Jesus.
Jesus was transfigured before his
disciples Peter, James, and John. His face was resplendent like the sun and his
clothes became dazzling white. Such was the glory of Jesus which the disciples
saw. It was the glory of God’s only begotten Son, full of grace and truth. The
Father declared: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” And yet, when the
Father hands his Son over to us, there would be no trace of that glory. That
resplendent face of his, in a few days, will be bruised beyond recognition: “so
marred was his look beyond human semblance and his appearance beyond that of
the sons of men.” That dazzling white garment will be soiled with blood. That
voice which declares Jesus as his “beloved Son” will remain silent when that
Son cries out to him: “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” No angel will
be sent to intervene, to prevent people from harming God’s Son.
Why, we may ask…Why would God
allow this to happen to his Son? Why would God not spare his Son? Why would God
hand his Son over to us? The answer of St. Paul would be very simple: it is because
God is for us. It is God who acquits us. It is he who gives us everything else
along with his Son. God sent not his Son to condemn the world but that the
world through him might be saved. In handing his Son over to us, the Father did
not abandon his Son. Indeed, there was no angel to prevent people from harming
his Son. Indeed, he was silent when his Son cried out to him in anguish. But he
raised up his Son who obediently accepted death on the Cross. He raised his Son
and sits him at his right hand. And from his heavenly throne, Christ Jesus
intercedes for us.
Such is the mystery of God’s
love. In his great love, he hands over to us his own beloved Son. No one could
have loved Jesus more than the way the Father loves him. And yet, for our sake,
he hands over to us his Son, his glorious Son, his resplendent Son, his beloved
Son. It is this mystery that makes the Church sing in great wonder: “O wonder
of your humble care for us! O Love, O Charity beyond all telling, to ransom a
slave you gave away your Son!” We will never truly appreciate what God has done
for us unless we keep clearly in our minds the resplendent beauty which the
disciples beheld today with their own eyes. When we remember how the Son looks
like in the splendor of his glory and then behold him bruised and
desecrated…when we remember how high he was and behold the depths of
humiliation to which he descended…and then we think that all these he did for
you…for me…for us…then we could not help but say: Truly he loves me. Truly he
loves us. God is truly for us…therefore, who can be against us? He gave us his
Son…is there anything else he will not be willing to give? Indeed, God so loved
the world, he gave his only Son.
Jesus, I trust in you! O Mary
conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee!
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