THE EFFICACY OF THE PASCHAL MYSTERIES

THURSDAY, FOURTH WEEK OF LENT

Exod 32:7-14; Ps 106:19-23; Jn 5:31-47

The Father’s Witness to the Son

We have reflected on the fact that the Son reveals the Father through his life, death, and resurrection. The core of these revelations is the content of the paschal mysteries. By the paschal mysteries through which he sacrificed or consecrated himself to the Father to accomplish his will, he showed forth the holiness of God and revealed the essence of his sacred name: ‘I Am who I Am.’ Through the same paschal mysteries, he forgave our sins and achieved the eternal redemption of all who would call on God’s holy name for salvation. The paschal mysteries have profound significance for us who seek to know God and receive salvation from sin and evil. Its importance is such that the scriptures lose their meaning when we remove these mysteries of our Lord. The words of our Lord in the gospel affirm this. “You study the scriptures, believing that in them you have eternal life; now these same scriptures testify to me, and yet you refuse to come to me for life!” Because of the importance of the mysteries of our Lord, the Church dedicates this holy season of Lent for her children to consecrate their minds and purify their hearts for the meditation, contemplation, and celebration of the mysteries. Let nothing prevent us from carrying out this sacred duty of turning our minds and hearts to the paschal mysteries of our Lord this season.

As our Lord himself testifies, the Father bears witness to him, thereby confirming the importance of these mysteries. The contents of the paschal mysteries underscore the will of the Father. So, our ignorance of the mysteries leads to ignorance of God’s will for us and our salvation. The event of the apostasy of the children of Israel, narrated in the first reading from Exodus, gives us an example of how the Father bears witness to his word. By their refusal to believe in the word of God proclaimed to them and acting contrary to the sacred word of God, the Israelites entered a path of death and destruction, which only God can prevent from happening to them. Thus, God’s forgiveness, as pleaded by Moses, was a suspension of their destruction, which they had incurred by disobedience to the commandments of God. Thus, they were the sole cause of their death and destruction and not God as such. “Go down now, because your people whom you brought out of Egypt have apostatised. They have been quick to leave the way I marked out for them; they have made themselves a calf of molten metal and have worshipped it and offered it sacrifice. ‘Here is your God, Israel,’ they have cried ‘who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’” The nature of sin is hereby laid bare; it is the abandonment of God’s word that gives life for death.

The Father bears witness to the Son by letting death come to us when we choose to die instead of living through the word. He also bears witness to his Son in forgiving our transgressions through the paschal events of his Son. God forgave the sins of his people in the wilderness because of the life, death, and resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ, which was in the future for the Israelites, but present to him who is ‘I Am who I Am.’ Jesus affirmed this when he told the Jews that he existed before Abraham. He confirms the fact that the Father forgives sins to bear witness to him when he said to the Jews: “Were I to testify on my own behalf, my testimony would not be valid; but there is another witness who can speak on my behalf, and I know that his testimony is valid… the works my Father has given me to carry out, these same works of mine testify that the Father has sent me. Besides, the Father who sent me bears witness to me himself.” The works that the Son accomplished in his humanity, which constitute the paschal mysteries, are efficacious for the forgiveness of our sins and our salvation from evil and damnation. By the efficacy of the mysteries, the Father testifies that he is pleased with his Son and the work of salvation he accomplished for us. Thus, the Father bears witness to his Son in the fruits of the paschal mysteries. He who reaps these fruits understands the witness of the Father.

Let us pray: We invoke your mercy in humble prayer, O Lord, that you may cause us, your servants, corrected by penance and schooled by good works, to persevere sincerely in your commands and come safely to the paschal festivities. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.