The Lord our God gave the ultimate sacrifice for humankind – He was hung on a cross and experienced every real moment of that sacrifice as would any human going through the same experience.
In those moments, Jesus Christ our Lord felt every word of humiliation, every smack of the whip as it hit and cut deeply through His aching human flesh, every fall as He carried the weight of his own sacrifice across His shoulders and back, and He felt the ultimate agony as His human body gave up its last breath to the Eternal…and into the comfort and joy of God the Father in heaven. Not one moment was spared by our Lord Jesus Christ in self pity, but every moment was eternally stamped into the hearts and souls of humankind.
For many of us our response has been less than eternal: fleeting moments of passing thoughts, dark desires, worldly interests, and self-gratification of all sorts. The only eternal response for many of us has been an eternal chase for that next ‘high’, that next dollar, that next glutinous indulgence in whatever pleasures we desire…that next…that next…that next…it keeps repeating its call, louder and louder…that next!…that next!…that next!
That ever evasive Eternal Moment still waits for us hung on a cross, yet we pass by it every day without one glance up, without one thought of concern, without ..without…without…That Eternal Moment calls out as we pass by and we lower our eyes and drop our heads for fear that if our eyes cross and meet the Eternal Moment, we will finally realize that the chase is over and that we have lost..lost…lost..echoing within our empty carcass…lost.
Yet, if we listen closely, that Eternal Moment whispers to us through His Agony saying, “I call you, I forgive you, come, rest in Me.” Again, many of us fail to understand those Eternal Words and within empty shells we run past that Eternal Moment and continue our chase for…more emptiness?
My fellow brothers and sisters, I urge you as you pass by that Eternal Moment – slow down. I do not even ask you to stop. Simply slow down. I do not even ask you to lift your head or have your eyes meet that Eternal Moment’s eyes. Simply… slow… down…and listen to His whisper…His sacrificial whisper that echoes eternally in our hearts and souls. “I forgive you…come…rest in Me.”
Let us end our chase, and sit and rest for a moment at the feet of that Eternal Moment. Let us allow ourselves to catch our breath, to experience the quiet, and respond to the Eternal Moment, ” Lord, I am here…I wish to rest…in your Eternity.”
Our Lord speaks to us through the words of Holy Scripture, through the voice of the martyred ancients and prophets, and through the legacy of Prayer given to us by our Catholic faith. All of these take the whisper of the Eternal Moment and ride it like the wind to the sky and let it fall back upon the earth like nourishing and refreshing rain to wash us anew.
As for me, I will cleanse myself in that nourishing rain and that Eternal Moment. Will you join me?
Copyright 2014, Luciano Corbo
Luciano Corbo
Luciano Corbo holds a Master of Arts - Integrated Studies from Athabasca University. His major interests are Culture, Work, Organizations and Leadership, within a context of Catholic Social Teaching Principles. He writes from Canada.
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