Such was his love for us

By Archbishop Thomas Wenski - The Archdiocese of Miami

Photography: MARLENE QUARONI | FC

We adore thee, O Christ; and we praise thee, because by thy holy cross you have redeemed the world.

A lover seeks to embrace his beloved. Today, we contemplate the figure of Jesus crucified. His arms are opened wide – as if to embrace the whole human race. Such was his love for us. This love is what we mean when we sing that song: "Amazing Grace: How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me... T’was grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved.”

That Amazing Grace is God’s free gift! Grace is free – but it does not come cheap. Dietrich Bonheoffer was a Protestant pastor who lived in Nazi Germany. He was executed by Hitler just a few weeks before the end of the war. He wrote a book called "The Cost of Discipleship." He was highly critical of the state of the church in Germany at the time of the Nazi takeover. He felt that too many Christians came to believe in a false idea of what Christian living was about. The Gospel was no longer seen as demanding because too many came to believe in what he called “cheap grace.” Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal conversion. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ who, while risen, still carries the wounds of His Passion.

La gracia es un don de Dios – que él nos da sin mérito ninguno de nuestra parte; o sea, la gracia es gratis – pero esto no quiere decir que no nos cuesta nada. La gracia no puede ser “barata”. La gracia barata es la predicación del perdón sin la exigencia del arrepentimiento, del bautismo sin la disciplina, de la Comunión sin la confesión, de la absolución sin la conversión personal. La gracia barata es gracia sin discipulado, una gracia sin la cruz, una gracia sin Jesucristo, que, aunque haya resucitado, aún conserva las heridas de su Pasión. 

La gracia es costosa porque le costó a un hombre su vida, y es gracia porque le da al hombre la verdadera vida. Le costó a Dios la vida de su hijo: “Habéis sido redimidos a un precio”, y lo que le ha costado tanto a Dios no puede ser barato para nosotros. Estamos comprometidos todos los días en una guerra espiritual: una guerra para resistir a la tentación y hacer lo correcto, lo que le agrada a Dios. La gracia barata nos dice que podemos abandonar la lucha, que no tenemos que luchar, que combatir. ¿Por qué no abandonar la lucha? Porque es sólo en medio de la batalla donde experimentamos la gracia de Dios.

A veces lo intentamos, y descubrimos que es verdaderamente posible “hacer todas las cosas por medio de Él, que nos fortalece”. A veces tratamos y fracasamos, y cuando yacemos heridos a un lado del camino, Su gracia llega a nosotros como el Buen Samaritano. Él sana nuestras heridas, nos levanta y nos lleva a un sitio seguro, a un sitio de sanación.

Jezi sove nou gratis - gras a lanmò li ak leve li leve byen vivan, nou jwenn favè Bondye, li fè n kado lagras. Anpil fwa, sa n jwenn gratis nou pa bay li valè. Anpil moun konprann delivrans Jezi pote ban nou – paske li fè n kado li – pa gen pri. Ki fe yo konprann yo ka jwenn padon san yo pa repanti, yo ka batize nan lafwa san yo pa pratike lafwa, yo ka kominye san yo pa konfese. Men, an menm tan, li sove n gratis, sa pa vle di, Jezi ban n yon delivrans “bon mache”. Li gen yon pri, li koute byen chè– Jezi peye l ak pwop lavi pa l. Men, an menm tan, se yon kado, yon gras, yon favè ki ban nou lavi net ale a.

Years ago the crucifix was prominently displayed in our churches – and in our homes, a good Catholic family would have a crucifix in every bedroom.

One wonders whether it is only a coincidence that as those crucifixes began to disappear, so did frequent confession. We want grace – but we want it on the cheap.

But grace is costly because it cost a man his life, and it is grace because it gives man true life. It cost God the life of His Son: “You were bought with a price,” and what has cost God so dearly cannot be cheap for us.

As Christians, we are engaged every day in a spiritual warfare – to resist temptation and do what is right, what is pleasing to God. Cheap grace tells us we can give up the battle that we don’t have to fight, to struggle. Why should we not give up the battle? Because it is only in the battle that we will experience God's grace. Sometimes we try, and we find that truly “we can do all things through him who strengthens us.” Sometimes we try and fail, and lying wounded at the side of the road, his grace comes to us as the Good Samaritan. He binds up our wounds, lifts us up and carries us to a safe place, a place of healing.

Un amante quiere abrazar a su ser querido. Hoy, contemplamos a Jesús crucificado. Vemos a sus brazos extendidos en la cruz– como signo que Él quiere abrazar a toda la humanidad. Tal fue, tal es, su amor para con nosotros.

Yon moun ki renmen vle ambrase sila li renmen an: konsa, nou wè Jezi sou lakwa, bra li louvri byen laj – komsi pou montre nou li vle anbrase nou tout. Se konsa li renmen n.

We adore thee, O Christ and we praise thee; because by thy Holy Cross you have redeemed the world. This realization, this blessed assurance, more than compensates for whatever price we must pay to walk with Him along the way of discipleship.