OUR COMMUNAL CUP OF THE LORD


WEDNESDAY, SECOND WEEK OF LENT   

Jer 18:18-20; Ps 31:5-6,14-16; Mt 20:17-28

Our Participation in the Cup of our Lord

The root cause of our sins is our lack of attention or refusal to pay attention to the Word of God, which reveals the will of the Father to us. The Word became flesh to save us from our sins and the evil that holds us bound by sin. As man, he did not just redeem us from sin and evil; he traced a path of redemption for us to follow. Assuming our nature and sinful condition, he teaches us how to return to the divinely planned communion with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This communion God prepared for us, which is the reason he made us, was in the original plan of the Father even before the foundation of the earth. By repentance, therefore, we enter into the path of transformation that ends with our full communion with the Trinity. The path entails a gradual transformation of our minds and hearts into that of Jesus Christ. It is the growth of the life of the Son of Man in each of us. God grants us the Holy Spirit for this all-important journey of transformation whenever we repent and turn away from sin and a sinful lifestyle. Entering this path implies that all our experiences will promote our sharing in His redemptive sufferings, which He continuously offers for our salvation.

Subsequently, our conversion is the renunciation of our will and the embrace of the will of the Father. Christ, our Teacher, teaches us to pray for the will of the Father to be done in our lives and not our sinful wills. Therefore, progress in our spiritual journey of transformation is also progress in our life of prayer. Our progress in the life of prayer signifies growth in the spirit of the Son, for all our true prayers are a participation in his prayer to the Father, as all our sufferings are our participation in the suffering of the Son of Man. The communal consciousness of suffering is a deepening in the mystical awareness of the Son of Man. Even in the Old Testament, the sufferings of the prophets and all faithful souls are considered a prefiguration of those of the Son of Man. The Prophet Jeremiah is considered a type of the Son of Man; he offered his whole life to accomplish the will of God. The plot of the sinners to kill him is what we have in the reading. “‘Come on,’ they said, ‘let us concoct a plot against Jeremiah; the priest will not run short of instruction without him, nor the sage of advice, nor the prophet of the word. Come on, let us hit at him with his own tongue; let us listen carefully to every word he says.’” Just as sinners serve to execute the plan of evil on the righteous soul, the righteous also serve to execute the divine plan of redemption for sinful souls by their sufferings and prayers.

At the moment of suffering, the faithful lack the consciousness of the common purpose and value of their sufferings because not many of us recognise the fact of our union with Christ; not many of us know that the spiritual life we have is the life of Jesus Christ living within us. Hence, even Jeremiah prayed a personal prayer of deliverance, not knowing that his prayer was for all who are suffering similarly for their faith in God. “Listen to me, O Lord, hear what my adversaries are saying. Should evil be returned for good? For they are digging a pit for me. Remember how I stood in your presence to plead on their behalf, to turn your wrath away from them.” Here, he recognises his vicarious office, which finds its perfection in the Son of Man. Our Lord revealed this to the apostles. “Now we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man is about to be handed over to the chief priests and scribes. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the pagans to be mocked and scourged and crucified; and on the third day he will rise again.” The preoccupation of the twelve apostles with positions reveals they gradually grew into the consciousness of the meaning of their vocation, as we are doing now. May God help us to understand what it is all about.

Let us pray: Keep your family, O Lord, schooled always in good works, and so comfort them with your protection here as to lead them graciously to gifts on high. 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.   

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