Were You There?

I attended the way of the cross sponsored by Communion and Liberation in Chicago on Friday, starting from the Daley Plaza and proceeding to other venues, including the Chicago River, Water Tower and Holy Name Cathedral. At each stop we read the passion story, sang songs, and heard a reflection on the passion.

What stopped me was the last sentence in a passage by Luigi Giussani (from his Meditations on the Rosary) about Jesus' prayers in the Garden of Gethsemani. "Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will." (Mark14:36)

Giussani writes, "'Take away this condition, Father, take away this condition.' Must I say this? But it is precisely for this that I have come to this hour!' Thus I can say at the end, 'Father, glorify Your name, which I do not comprehend. Father, glorify Your name in front of which I stand in fear and trembling, in obedience, that is to say, love. My life is Your plan, it is Your will."

"How many times will we have to reread this passage in order to identify with the most lucid and fascinating instant in which the consciousness of the Man-Christ, Jesus, expressed itself. We can come upon this by surprise, from its deepest recesses to the highest peaks of His example of love for Being, of respect for the objectivity of Being, of love for His origin and His destiny, and for the contents of the plan of time, of history.

"'Father, if possible, let me not die; however, not my will but Your will be done.' this is the supreme application of our acknowledgment of Mystery, adhering to the Man-Christ kneeling and sweating blood from the pores of His skin in His agony in Gethsemane. The condition for being true in a relationship is sacrifice."

The last sentence especially struck me. Jesus remained true to his relationship with his Father, and through his Father, with all of us, but at what a cost! And what is our calling, as Christians, but to pray that we may also remain true, like Jesus, in our own relationship with our Father, and through Him, to remain true in our relationships with our loved others?

But sacrifice? Yes, to maintain love relationships based on truth, to "hang in" when times are tough, sacrifice may be needed, will be needed. Are we willing to sacrifice? Thus will the truth out.

Listen to Tatiana "Where You There When They Crucified My Lord?"

Same by Johnny Cash and the Carter Sisters

Same by "Willie Nelson"

Willie Nelson, "Just a Little Walk With Jesus"

Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash "Family Bible"