Christ Speaks

On Good Friday, I shared, over Twitter, just a few meditations on the last words of Christ during a three-hour reflection I attended at the Saint Anthony of Padua in New Bedford, Mass. Some, in sum (in reverse Twitter order for an easier read):

*Jesus not only suffered to say his last words, He suffered because he did [say those last words]. #listen #GoodFriday

*Jesus asked his father to pardon those who had done HIM wrong. [Always thinking of us!]#lastwords #GoodFriday

*Jesus was not thinking of his torment but of his tormentors.True love always shows itself in mercy #fatherforgivethem #lastwords#GoodFriday

*They console us with the Lord’s mercy. They’re also appalling: He holds us to the same standard of merciful love. #lastwords#GoodFriday

*We are called to love like Christ did. With mercy. #lastwords#GoodFriday

*In his indefatigable merciful love, Jesus was thinking of us on the cross. #lastwords #GoodFriday

*The cross! It takes our guilt away #GoodFriday

*The thief realized that Jesus’ kingdom was only about to begin#lastwords #GoodFriday

*His throne was made of wood and perpendicular #GoodFriday#lastwords

*I ask for what the good thief asked for — st thomas aquinas#lastwords #GoodFriday

*This is my Friend , in whose sweet praise I all my days could gladly spend #GoodFriday #mysongisloveunknown

*The most poignant scene in all history #beholdyourmother#beholdyourmother #GoodFriday #lastwords

*And a sword will pierce your heart as well #simeontomary#sorrowfulmother #GoodFriday #lastwords

*She had laid her firstborn in a manger. She gathers the rest of us at the foot of the cross.To teach us how to follow her fiat. #last words

*Jesus says to us: behold your mother. Let us not just look at her but receive her within. #lastwords #GoodFriday

*Silence is one of his most evocative words on the cross #GoodFriday#lastwords

*Jesus knew how his psalm ends. Utterly certain of the closeness of the father. #forsaken #lastwords #GoodFriday #psalm23

*Total confidence in the father despite feeling abandoned. He says to us: Follow #lastwords #GoodFriday #fourthword

*He thirsts so that we might give him permission to quench our deepest thirst #GoodFriday #lastwords #fifthword

*Jesus thirsts.Let’s not give him vinegar but our whole heart overflowing w the grace of the Holy Spirit. #GoodFriday #fifthword#lastwords

*Love so amazing, so divine. Demands my soul, my life, my all.#GoodFriday #*****

*Great cry of victory. #sixthword #lastwords #GoodFriday

*The debt for our sins has been paid in full. #DoWeHearThis?#lastwords #sixthword #GoodFriday #DoWeFollow?

*He thirsts for us to say the words it is finished #lastwords#GoodFriday

*His entire life was entrusted to the Father #lastwords #GoodFriday#seventhword

*Father, Into Your Hands I Commend My Spirit #GoodFriday#lastwords

Tweets, needless to say, do not do the three hours justice (so apologies to the last words, you, and Fr. Landry). We also don’t have to confine such meditations to Good Friday.

Some links:

The Seven Last Words by Fulton J. Sheen

The Seven Ages of Man by Fr. George W. Rutler

Death on a Friday Afternoon, by Fr. Richard John Neuhaus

B16: Jesus speaks through silence, too.

Oh, and you can follow me on Twitter @kathrynlopez. I am not always tweeting from church.