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How would you feel if someone came up to you and offered you an amazing thing for free? Would we be surprised? But at first, we would not believe it and ask about all the conditions around this, because we already know it from so many so-called winnings, e.g., The Audi A8 is certainly already yours, you just need to order the goods for y- money. If there were no conditions, we would take it immediately. God also has wonderful offers for us; we just need to listen well to learn to use these offers well and not be afraid to ask if something is unclear to us. Mária received a unique offer that has never been repeated in history. This offer made her an important woman chosen by God himself. But no one pressured her; she was free to decide. And she doesn’t rush headlong into anything, not out of fear. She asks what and how so that she can consider the whole situation and her role, and when she receives clear answers, trusting in God, she obediently answers “yes.” Mary is the exact opposite of King Ahaz from the first reading, who does not want to know anything and does not want to ask so that he can do his own thing and not have to follow God’s will. And he supports it with pious sayings that he should not tempt God. But the opposite is true; he doesn’t want to try – to do well, he doesn’t want to listen to wise advice. And we can already guess the end.

The basis of our successful life is to obey. And it does not only bind children and youth but everyone until old age. We know that obedience is not an easy thing at all. It seems that man cannot do as he pleases like this. But from our experience, we see that the goal of obedience is not restriction but the good of a person who can avoid negative experiences without their own doing, which we may have already bounced off ourselves and learned something that way. And we want to pass on this wisdom. At the same time, obedience helps us find our place in life. God knows where we would be most useful; that is, we would bear much fruit. You just have to follow some signs – your skills, grades, desires, hobbies, etc. And at the same time, we ask a lot, especially in prayer, to clarify what God wants from us. At the same time, you need to be inspired by people, their examples, and advice. They have already experienced a lot themselves, so they can help us. Being taught is not a sign of stupidity but of intelligence, because stupid people think they already know everything and only the intelligent know their limits. Maybe sometimes you have to overcome the limits of some shame to ask. If it helps us, we must realize that shame is a sign of pride that does not want to be defeated. And if we want to learn something, it costs us nothing to ask, and the answers give us a lot.

Young Hans, from one fairy tale, decided to go to higher school. He left his native village and went to study in Hamburg. After a year, he thought he had gained enough experience, so he returned home, welcomed almost as a doctor, and made mayor of the village. He was the first to order what would be sown, where to plant, etc. Not everyone liked it because their fathers taught them a different procedure, but they took the doctor’s word as they began to address him, except for one elderly farmer, Thomas, who was doing things the old way. The crop came out, but not as expected, while Thomas had decent yields. The following year, Hans ordered the forest on the slope to be cut down so that there would be better land there. But the rains came and washed everything down the hill. The village almost started to starve; only Thomas had enough of everything. Therefore, Hans, fearing for his post, told the villagers that Hans was a witch and should be burned. It almost happened, but Thomas didn’t give in and started to defend himself. But it didn’t help much. Finally, the oldest member of the village, whom everyone respected, spoke up. Until now, he has been silent because he wants people to learn from their deafness and stupidity and to prove Thomas right. Then they made him mayor, and Hans was kicked out. Let’s listen and obey the advice of experienced neighbors and God’s signs that want to show us the best way.

The proverb says: “Repetition is the mother of wisdom.” We know that those who want to achieve something great often have to start again and again and overcome initial failures and difficulties, and only then can we talk about victory. A passage from the Gospel draws our attention to Christ’s actions after his resurrection. Jesus rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart. From these words of Jesus, we can feel instruction and encouragement for us in our struggles for a deeper faith and a stronger attachment to Christ. This excerpt from the Gospel is from Mark’s appendix, where he recapitulates the revelation of the Lord Jesus from the other gospels after his resurrection, first to Mary Magdalene, to the two Emmaus disciples, and finally to the eleven apostles at the table. After his resurrection, Jesus must start with his disciples from the beginning.

All the enthusiasm and zeal of the three years they spent with Jesus seems to have evaporated. However, Jesus continues to free his apostles from sadness and hopelessness, and even here, we encounter real unbelief, the hardness of the apostles’ hearts because they did not believe those who saw the resurrected Christ. This struggle of the apostles, their doubts, and disbelief, is not unfamiliar to us in our faith journey. Jesus approaches the apostles again and awakens faith in them, in this small group of people, because he knows that they will soon become the foundation of the future Church. Even this doubt of theirs will serve many to accept the faith and teachings of Christ. Therefore, Jesus seems to be working again to awaken the shaken faith of his apostles. In the Gospel, Mark uses the words – to all creation. We can say that in this designation it is a missionary terminology that is used for Christians from paganism, where we understand that all people, the whole creation are to meet the preaching of the Gospel and be transformed for us.

This Gospel is a struggle between Jesus and Peter, John and Thomas, but it is also about us. After all, we have not seen Jesus; we have not touched his pierced hands and side, and yet we believe. Why? Because Jesus addressed us, he wrestled with us like his first apostles. And so he also invites us to follow him, bear witness, and proudly multiply the ranks of those who believed in one universal, apostolic Church from the beginning. Whoever believes in Christ must also persevere with him and must try to get out of doubt and cowardice because Christ wants us to be like that.

Christ wants us to be soulful and joyful heralds of good news; this is our task. Everyone who has accepted baptism also accepts this role. This is not a task for the chosen few but for all of us. Whoever wants to carry out this task must believe and not doubt. Jesus rebukes unbelief. His disciple must not be an unbeliever. We are Christian believers who were reincarnated to Christ through baptism and became his apostles. We, therefore, must testify about Christ. It is not enough to stay with the theory. How and when should we testify? We have to remind ourselves again that a good example is a fundamental way to prove with our lives that we are imbued with faith in the glorified Lord Jesus. We must not underestimate this way of apostolate, the apostolate of the word is correct, but we know that the world does not believe much in words, but wants deeds. Furthermore, we believe that life is more powerful than words.

From St.’s life, We know Francis of Assisi’s teachings. Once, he invited one of his fellow brothers, who was a well-known and famous preacher, to preach. From the morning, this brother and František walked the city streets. In the evening, he impatiently asked František when he would preach. Then Francis seriously said to him: – My brother, you have been preaching to those we meet with since morning. And lo, what does this mean for the practice of our life? We should set an example in our own lives, above all, in our families. Parents to children, man to woman, woman to man, and then to everyone else, excluding no one, our life and not just our words should address. All who meet us must see from our life that we believe in the resurrection of the body, in eternal life, in Jesus Christ. This requires constant starting and repetition in our lives. We must not be disgusted because the example is Jesus Christ himself, who repeatedly instructs and encourages his apostles after his resurrection. 

THE CITY of Magdala lay on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. Jesus spent pleasant moments there and performed many miracles. Mary came from there, one of the women who followed the Lord, and was freed from seven demons. Her faithfulness brought her to Calvary, where she was close to the Virgin Mary on Passion Friday. The following Sunday, she got up early, before dawn, left the city, and went to the tomb where Jesus’ body was laid. Her love overcame fear because she had the strength of a person who loves and wants to love more and more.

We can imagine her walking briskly, with some fear of being discovered at the city gate. She carries a bag of fragrant herbs and bandages to complete the embalming of the Lord. She goes there to anoint his motionless body. On the way, she passes by Mount Calvary, forcing her to relive Friday’s pain. However, when he arrives at the grave, he is surprised that no soldiers guard the place. In addition, the stone that previously covered the entrance was moved a few meters away. Then, in tears, she sees that the tomb is empty. “Woman, why are you crying?” (Jn 20:13); unknown people – angels – ask her when they see her depressed. Magdalena’s answer is touching: “They took my Lord away and I don’t know where they put him”.

She missed Jesus. He cannot bear to lose sight of him. Mary’s tears are an example of courage and tenderness. The one she loved most in the world had died a cruel death, and now his body was gone. She did not even have the comfort of anointing his body. During Saturday, her thoughts flew to the grave again and again, and she longed to show him her affection at first light on Sunday! Magdalene’s tears teach us that the natural fear of God is the fear of losing him, of not being aware of his closeness, of overlooking his pleas and graces. As St. Josemaría often emphasized, “we are not well without Jesus “[1]. He is everything.

The resurrected Jesus calls her by name …

“EMPTY TOMB! Mary Magdalene is crying, a sea of ​​tears. He needs a Master. She went there to console herself a little by being close to him, to keep him company, because without our Lord she has no value,” St. Josemaría once reflected. “Maria persistently continues to pray, looks for him everywhere, and thinks only of him. My children, in the face of such faithfulness, God cannot resist” 

“Woman, why are you crying, who are you looking for?” (Jn 20:15) Christ himself asked her when he met her later. At first, Maria mistook him for the man in charge of the garden where the grave was located. Amid confusion and tears, paying enough attention to the surroundings was not easy. So he replies: “If you took it away, tell me where it is, and I’ll pick it up.” In reality, Mary Magdalene probably would not have been able to carry such a heavy body, but again, difficulties are no obstacle to her love. “Poor Magdalena, exhausted by the fatigue of Good Friday, exhausted by the anxiety of White Saturday. Her powers are weakened to the extreme, and she still thought of carrying him!” 

Only when Jesus pronounces her name – “Mary!” (Jn 20, 16) – with his exceptional intonation does he realize that he has Christ in his glorified body before him. “How beautiful it is to think that the first appearance of the Risen One took place in such a personal way! That there is someone who knows us, sees our suffering and disappointment, is moved by us, and calls us by name “[4]. The reward for Magdalena’s faithful love is now the contemplation of the beauty of the Risen One. She risked her life for Jesus and passionately sought him, and the Lord repaid her with full commitment. Emotions took over her; she threw herself at his feet and clung to him. It was an eloquent gesture: she no longer wanted to lose Christ. She suffered too much contemplating the Master’s humiliation and thought she had lost him forever. “The tenderness with which Jesus treats this woman, who was used by many and condemned by all, is impressive. She finally found in Jesus’ clear eyes a heart capable of loving without exploding. She accepted the revelation of God’s love in Jesus’ gaze and his heart” 

The joy of the first announcement …

THE PATH that Mary Magdalene will travel before she meets the glorious Christ is, in a sense, similar to the path of all Christians: to rise humbly from falls; to seek the Lord without stopping in moments of discouragement; to care for others; to accompany Jesus when the cross unexpectedly appears; not to lose hope, even when everything seems dark because Jesus is alive.

Just as it happened to her: the voice of Jesus, speaking our name with a very personal accent, awakens us and pulls us out of discouragement. Living attentively to his voice, attentive to what Christ wants to tell us at every moment, transforms everyday life into a constant opportunity for love. “Humanity needs such women and men: able to tirelessly turn to God’s mercy, faithful at the foot of the cross, attentive to hear – in the ordinary tasks of every day – the very name from the mouth of the Risen One” [6]. Mary was the first among the disciples to see the resurrected Jesus. Her tears of sadness turned to tears of emotion within seconds. Jesus entrusts this faithful woman with the first announcement of the great news: “Do not hold me… Go to my brothers and tell them: I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God” (Jn 20, 18). The sorrow of her heart turned into a feast that cannot be described.

Before our eyes, the figure of this woman running to Jerusalem becomes excellent. On his lips, he carries a message of hope for Christ’s disciples and the whole world: The Lord lives; he has risen from the dead! In her heart now reigns the living joy of Easter, which springs from the empty tomb and floods the entire world. Next to the mother of Jesus, Magdalena is the happiest woman on earth at that moment.

Christmas is a time of joy! This manifests itself mainly in the church and in various ways. Very joyful Easter songs are sung here, e.g., “Rejoice or “Rejoice, queen of heaven” and others; the liturgical color is white, the color of joy, and the word hallelujah is often sung or recited, which means glory. The pleasure is also emphasized by the flower decoration in the church when the church was without flower decoration during Lent. We all know the reason for this joy: it is the resurrected Jesus Christ. From the very beginning, Christians have realized that Jesus accomplished something magnificent and unique with his resurrection, which should be rejoiced, all the more so because this resurrection does not apply only to Jesus, but he promised it to all who believe and are baptized. With the first witnesses of Jesus’ resurrection – women – we read that great joy was mixed with fear, but this should not be surprising because no one expected that this resurrection of Jesus would happen.

The women went to the tomb to anoint Jesus’ dead body with fragrant ointments. And instead, the tomb was empty. But joy completely replaced fear when Jesus appeared to the women and spoke to them. For us, today’s Christians, it is not only a joy that Jesus rose from the dead, that he conquered death, sin, and the evil spirit, and that he wants to give this resurrection to believers, but we also rejoice that Jesus was able to reward loyalty, bravery and love women who remained on the way of the cross and under the cross close to Jesus, unlike many of the apostles and disciples of the Lord Jesus. Jesus acts in the same way during the church’s history and in the present time. He loves the one who fulfills the will of God and makes no distinction between man and woman, poor or rich, young or old. Jesus is undoubtedly happy with you who came to church on the Way of the Cross, to the Holy Week ceremonies, and to tell the truth, in our parish, it was mainly women or older believers. 

The other part of today’s gospel was less joyful. The chief priests and elders bribed the guards who guarded the tomb but did not keep watch to tell the people that the Lord’s disciples had come at night while the guards slept and stole Jesus’ dead body. Even though the guards, in this case, would have to be punished not only for having someone steal the object of their watch but also because the guards are not supposed to sleep on the watch. Indeed, a dead Jesus could not appear to anyone as alive. The revelation of Jesus is the greatest joy for us, and that revelation for 40 days from the day of the resurrection, but later during the church’s history. Let us recall some women to whom Jesus appeared throughout history: St. Margaret Maria Alaquoque, St. Catherine of Siena, St. Teresa of Avila, St. To Faustina Kowalské and others Nothing will help against these apparitions, not even the money that powerful non-believers give to book publishers or film producers to question the resurrection of Jesus. The resurrection of Jesus does not mean that Jesus is still visibly with us, but that he is in another, that is, God’s existence, which is far from our senses, especially sight, but to whomever Jesus wants to appear, he will give this ability to see him. 

It may be sad that we did not see Jesus, but for all of us, there are comforting words that the Lord Jesus said to Thomas: “Blessed, that is, happy are those who have not seen, but still believed.” This makes our faith even more worthy than those who saw Jesus. And we can and should be happy about that. We can meet Jesus in faith and love because he promised: “I will be with you until the end of the world.” He also said: “Where there are two or three in my name, I am in the midst of them.” This is especially true during religious gatherings. Therefore, let us gladly come to our gatherings to strengthen our joy, like the women at that time of meeting the resurrected Lord Jesus.

In his Gospel, Saint Mark tells us how the disciples, coming down from the Mount of Transfiguration, discussed among themselves what it means to “rise from the dead” (cf. Mk 9:10). Just before that, the Lord predicted to them his crucifixion and Resurrection after three days. Peter protested against the prediction of death. And now they were thinking about what “rise from the dead” could mean. Isn’t the same thing happening between us? Christmas, the birth of the divine Child, is immediately comprehensible to us. We can love this Child; we can imagine the Bethlehem night, Mary’s joy, the joy of St. Joseph and the shepherds, and the joy of the angels. But Resurrection – what is it? It goes beyond the realm of our experience, and its message thus often remains, to a certain extent, misunderstood; it belongs to the past. The Church tries to bring us into its understanding and translates this mysterious event into the languages ​​of symbols, in which we can at least glimpse this revolutionary event. The Easter vigil gives us the meaning of this day with the help of three main symbols: Light, water, and a new song – hallelujah.

First, it’s light. God’s creation – which we heard about in the first reading – begins with the words: “Let there be light!” (Gen 1,3). Where there is light, Life is born, and chaos can turn into a cosmos. In the biblical message, Light is the most immediate image of God: He is all Light, Life, Truth, Light. The Church reads the creation narrative on the Easter Vigil as a prophecy. The Resurrection majestically confirms what this text describes as the beginning of everything. God says again: “Let there be light!”. The Resurrection of Jesus is an eruption of Light. Death is overcome, and the grave is open. The Risen One himself is the Light, the Light of the world. With the Resurrection, the day of God enters the night of history. The Light of God spreads to the world and history by being resurrected. It’s dawning. Only this Light – Jesus Christ – is true Light more than the physical phenomenon of Light. He is pure Light: God, who gives birth to a new creation in the midst of the old, transforms chaos into cosmos. Let’s try to understand it even better.

Why is Christ the Light? In the Old Testament, the Torah was considered a light coming from God for the world and for people. It separates Light into darkness in creation, i.e., good from evil. It shows a person the right path to an authentic life. It shows him good, shows him the truth, and leads him to love, which is its most profound content. The Torah is a “lamp” for steps and a “light” on the path (cf. Ps 119,105). Christians then knew that the Torah is present in Christ, and the Word of God is present in Him as a Person. The Word of God is the true Light that man needs. This Word is present in Him, in the Son. Psalm 19 compares the Torah to the sun, which rises and makes the glory of God visible throughout the world. Christians understood this. Yes, in the Resurrection, the Son of God appeared as Light over the world. Christ is the great Light from which all Life comes. He enables us to recognize the glory of God from one end of the earth to the other. He shows us the way. He is the day of God that is now beginning and spreading throughout the planet. If we live with him and for him, we can live in the Light.

At the Easter Vigil, the Church points to the mystery of Christ’s Light in the sign of the paschal, whose flame is light and heat simultaneously. The symbolism of Light is tied to fire: glow and heat, brightness and transforming energy contained in fire – truth and love go together. The Easter candle burns and thus is fed: the cross and the Resurrection are inseparable. From the cross, from the Son’s self-giving, Light is born, and true radiance enters the world. From Easter, we all light our candles, especially the baptized, for whom the Light of Christ descends to the depths of their hearts in this sacrament. The ancient Church marked baptism with the Greek term fortissimos, the sacrament of enlightenment and the granting of Light, and connected it with Christ’s Resurrection. God says to the baptized one in baptism: “Be light!”

The baptized person is brought into the Light of Christ. Christ separates the Light from the darkness. In it, we recognize what is true and what is false, light and darkness. The Light of truth arises with him, and we begin to understand. When Christ saw the people who had gathered to listen to him and received some guidance from him, he felt sorry for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd (cf. Mk 6:34). Amidst the conflicting currents of their time, they did not know where to turn. How much compassion must Christ feel even today in connection with great speeches, behind which great disorientation is hidden? Where should we go? What are the values ​​we can follow? What are the values ​​in which we could raise the youth without presenting them with unbearable standards or demanding things that should not be imposed on them? He is the Light. The baptismal candle is a symbol of the enlightenment that is given to us in baptism. Also, St. Paul is speaking to us directly at this moment. In the letter to the Philippians, he says that amid a perverted and evil generation, Christians should shine like stars in the universe (cf. Phil 2:15). Let us ask the Lord that the Light of the candle that he has lit in us, so that the gentle Light of his Word and his love in us amid the confusion of this time does not go out, but grows stronger and brighter. So that together with him, we can be the people of the day, the stars of our time.

Water is the second symbol of the Easter Vigil – the night of baptism -. It occurs in the Holy Scriptures and the internal structure of the sacrament of baptism but in two opposite meanings. After all, there is a sea that appears as a hostile power that opposes Life on earth as a permanent threat, but to which God has set limits. That is why it is said in the book of Revelation that there will be no more sea in God’s new world (cf. Revelation 21:1). It is the element of death. And so it becomes a symbolic representation of Jesus’ death on the cross: Christ descended into the sea, into the waters of death like Israel into the Red Sea. He rose from the dead; he gave us Life. This means that baptism is not only washing itself but a new birth: with Christ, we descend into the sea of ​​death, as it were, to emerge as new creatures. The second way we encounter water is a fresh spring that gives Life or a great river from which Life comes.

According to the Church’s original stipulation, baptism was to be given with fresh spring water. Without water, there is no life. It is incredible how essential wells are in the Holy Scriptures. They are the places where Life comes from. At Jacob’s well, Christ announces to the Samaritan woman a new well, the water of true Life. He appears to her as a new, definitive Jacob, who opens the well they long for to humanity: the water that gives Life, which never runs out (cf. Jn 4:5-15). Saint John tells us how a soldier pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, from which blood and water gushed out (cf. John 19:34). The ancient Church saw it as a symbol of baptism and the Eucharist, coming from the pierced heart of Jesus. In death, Jesus himself became the source.

In one vision, the prophet Ezekiel saw a new Temple, from which a spring came out, which became a great river, giving Life (cf. Ezekiel 47:1-12). It was a powerful vision of hope in a country that has always suffered from drought and lack of water. In its beginnings, Christianity understood that it was realized in Christ. In Christ, He is the true, living temple of God. And He is the fountain of living water. From him gushes a great river, which in baptism begets and renews the world; the great river of living water, his gospel, which makes the earth fertile. In one speech during the Feast of Tabernacles, Jesus prophesied something more significant: “If … anyone … believes in me … streams of living water will flow from within him” (Jn 7:38).

In baptism, the Lord makes us not only people of Light but also springs from which living water flows. We all know such people who have refreshed and renewed us in a certain way, who are the source of fresh spring water. We don’t necessarily think of great men like St. Augustine, Francis of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, etc., persons through whom streams of living water flowed into history. Thanks to God, we find such people constantly in our everyday Life: people who are a source. Of course, we also know the opposite cases: people who create an atmosphere like a pool of stagnant or poisoned water. Let us ask the Lord, who gave us the grace of baptism, so that we can always be a source of clear, fresh water, gushing from the source of his truth and love!

The third great symbol of the Easter Vigil is unique: it concerns the man himself. It is the singing of a new song – hallelujah. When a person experiences great joy, he cannot keep it to himself. He has to express it and pass it on. But what happens when the Light of Resurrection touches a person and comes into contact with Life, Truth, and Love? He can’t just talk about it. Speaking alone is no longer enough. He has to sing. The first mention of singing in the Bible is found just after the crossing of the Red Sea when Israel was freed from slavery. He emerged from the terrifying depths of the sea. He is like reborn. He lives and is free. The Bible describes the people’s reaction to this great event of liberation with the sentence: “The people trusted the Lord and his servant Moses” (cf. Ex 14:31). This is followed by the second reaction, which flows from the first one out of some inner necessity: “Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord” (Ex 15:1). In the Easter Vigil, we Christians sing this song every year after the third reading as our song because we too were rescued from the waters by God’s power and were freed to true Life.

The story of Moses’ song after the liberation of Israel from Egypt and after the crossing of the Red Sea has a surprising parallel in the book of the Revelation of St. John. Before the arrival of the last seven plagues, which will fall on the earth, there will appear to the visionary something “like a sea of ​​glass mixed with fire, and those who have overcome the beast, over his image, and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of ​​glass; they had God’s harps and sang the song of Moses, God’s servant, and the song of the Lamb” (Revelation 15:2-3a). This image describes the situation of Jesus’ disciples of all times and the problem of the Church in the history of this world. Humanly speaking, this situation is contradictory in itself.

On the one hand, the community is in a state of departure in the middle of the Red Sea. A sea in which, paradoxically, fire and ice mix. But shouldn’t the Church still walk on the sea through fire and ice? Humanly speaking, she should drown. But while still wandering amid this Red Sea, he sings. He sings the praise of the righteous: the song of Moses and the Lamb, in which the Old and New Covenants coincide. Instead of drowning, the Church sings a song of thanksgiving for the saved. It stands on the historical waters of death yet has already been resurrected. She sings and grabs the hand of the Lord, who holds her above the waters.

And she knows this puts her beyond the reach of the attraction of death and evil – a force from which there would otherwise be no escape. It is uplifted and attracted by the new attraction of God, truth, and love. Now, it is still between two gravitational fields. However, since Christ rose from the dead, love’s gravity is more vital than hate’s. Isn’t this situation the actual situation of the Church of all times? It always feels like she’s about to drown, and she’s always already saved. Saint Paul illustrated this situation with the words: “We are as dying – and behold, we live” (2 Cor 6,9). The saving hand of the Lord carries us, and we can now sing the song of the saved, the new song of the resurrected: Alleluia!

With the seven words of Christ and the Cross … “Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit”. The words of Jesus Christ on the Cross call us to trust and love as God’s children filled with the Holy Spirit.

The evangelists refer to Christ’s seven words on the Cross. We discover in them how much God the Father loved us, to the extent that he gave his Son to die so that we could become sons in him.

1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Lk 23, 34). The Lord asks forgiveness for our sins. “When he ascended the cross, he bore our sins on his own body, so that we might die to sin and live for righteousness” (1 Pt 2, 24). Christ dies to save us. It calls us to do good and to endure suffering. The secret of forgiveness is a love that understands the weakness of others because we know that we are filled with God’s Love.

2. “Truly, I say to you: Today you will be with me in paradise” (Lk 23, 43). Forgiveness again. The excellent thief repents and hears the promise of salvation. The word “paradise” of Persian origin recalls the garden of happiness: the first garden at creation. Jesus makes it clear that happiness is to be with him. As Saint Gregory of Nazianzus says, “If you are crucified with him as a thief, trust your God like a good thief.”

3. “When Jesus saw the mother and with her the disciple whom he loved, he said to the mother: Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple: Behold your mother! And from that hour, the disciple took her to himself” (Jn 19, 25-28). The Virgin Mary “accepts with love the offering of the victim she conceived.” She has no other son than Jesus. By accepting his death on the Cross, she receives us all as her daughters and sons in Saint John: she is the Mother of the Church.

4. “The whole earth was covered with darkness. Jesus cried out with a loud voice: Eli, Eli, lemah sabachthani? – that means: My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” (Mt 27, 46). They are words from Psalm 22(21), which end with confidence in the goodness of God the Father and the future growth of the Church: “The whole earth will remember and turn to the Lord; all the families of the nations shall bow before him” (v. 28). Christ’s suffering on the Cross existed simultaneously with the immediate vision of God. At the same time, as St. Augustine says, we were also on the Cross because we are his body, which is the Church: Christ spoke for each of us.

5. “I thirst” (Jn 19, 28). This cry expresses the Lord’s humanity amid great suffering as He suffocates on the Cross. He also thirsts for our Love, which can ease the pain in his heart. His glory, the radiance of His love, is our participation in God’s life. “More than the weariness of the body, the thirst for souls consumes him.” He looks at us from the Cross in the Father’s eternal Love. Thirst for our thirst. And he has a great thirst to send us the Holy Spirit.

6. “It is finished” (Jn 19, 30). It is fulfillment. Jesus loved in obedience to the extreme (cf. Jn 3, 34; 13, 1). With the fullness of the Spirit, his offering to the Father is without measure. He fulfilled the Father’s will. At the same time, he is surrendered, drained, and exhausted. We contemplate the mystery of Love rather than pain. Above all, Jesus’ Love for the Father and the world is on the Cross. To the very end, what it means to be entirely the Son of God is manifested in him.

7. “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23, 46). In the light of Jn 19, 30 – “he gave up his spirit” – the Church sees the gift of the Holy Spirit. Christ dies for the Love of God, for following his plan of salvation, and for Love for us. He dies “once for all” (1 Pt 3, 18). His human soul is separated from the body, which no longer has an animating principle. He died as a man, willingly, in the same way that a man suffers grief to separate himself from another man—death overcome by Love. The deity remains attached to the holy body, awaiting resurrection. We watch over him with sadness and hope.

In Christ’s seven words, we find the forgiveness of our sins, the promise to be with Jesus, the gift of the Virgin as Mother, the prayer full of trust, the request, the fulfillment, and the gift of the Spirit. “To lay down one’s life for others. That is the only way to live the life of Jesus Christ and identify with him”. Because “there is only one way to live on earth: to die with Christ, so that we can rise with him from the dead until we can say with the apostle: It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me (Gal 2:20)”. We can claim: “We are already God’s children”; and the children of the Blessed Virgin Mary.