By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami
The “no” which is the inheritance of original sin, the “nos” that are the sum total of our personal sins, had to be substituted by the “yes” of Jesus. He is the Only Son of God who became our brother — a man like us in all things but sin. He became our brother so that in him through the gift of his Holy Spirit we might become children of his Eternal Father.
Jesus says “yes” to the will of his Father. For this reason, he came to earth and made his dwelling among us. He accepts to do the Father’s will — and accepts to do it to the end — to the point of giving his life in ransom for ours. He obeys his Father and goes up the mountain — Calvary — where he offers himself in sacrifice for our salvation.
Adam and Eve said “no” to God when they ate of the fruit of the tree in paradise. Jesus’ ”yes” brings him to be nailed to a tree. They ate the fruit of disobedience — and thus lost Paradise for themselves and for us. At the Last Supper, Jesus gives us the Eucharist — which anticipated his sacrifice on the cross. The sacrament of his body and blood is the fruit of his obedience which gives us back Paradise. He allows the “good” thief crucified with him to steal heaven by telling him: “Today, you will be with me in paradise.”
Jesus does the will of his Father — and in doing so, he also teaches us to do likewise. In Gethsemane, he prayed: “Father, not my will but your will be done,” and he taught us to pray by saying: “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” And what is this will of our Father: that we love one another. Jesus loved to the end. And from the altar that was his cross, he teaches us what love is.
For Christ, love is not a mere sentiment. It is not some fleeting emotion. It is a decision, a commitment. It is saying “yes” and at the same time “going up the mountain,” accepting the difficulties and the struggles that obedience to God’s will does often entail.
As we contemplate the crucified one, we see that love means to give of oneself, it means to sacrifice oneself. The one who loves always wishes to embrace the beloved — Christ, opening his arms on the cross, embraces all of humanity — but without sentimentality or false compassion. Such is his love — his love endures everything; his love suffers everything; his love forgives everything.
This is the great mystery we celebrate during the week that is called “holy.”
In the reality of our everyday lives, we see how men — and how we — seek after power, the power to force our will on others. This hunger for power, this exertion of our self-will over the will of God, was born from the disobedience of Adam and Eve and has caused so much misery, so much pain in our world.
But thanks to Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, we see that love is stronger than hatred, that life is stronger than death, that good does conquer evil. This is the history of our salvation — Christ saves us not through the love of power but by the power of love.
On Easter Sunday, we are asked to recommit ourselves to the power of that love in our own lives through the renewal of our baptismal promises: We make our own once again the great “yes” of Jesus which brings us out of the darkness of death into the new life of Easter dawn.
