Prayer

Seasonal Inspiration

Father John Phalen has experienced a variety of ministries, peoples, languages and cultures in more than 25 years of priestly ministry. He has described his life as a priest of Holy Cross to the image of the colors that radiate from a crystal when exposed to light. (For more information on Father John, click here)
We can grow in our own Christian faith through meditation and contemplation of the truths revealed in this mystery called “the Paschal Mystery.”

-Rev. John Phalen

Contemplating the Paschal Mystery

Seasonal Inspiration: By Rev. John Phalen, CSC President Holy Cross Family Ministries

Lent is a time of preparation for the worthy celebration of the most important week of the year, “Holy Week.”  We recall as a Christian community that Jesus suffered, died, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  This is the remembrance of the salvation event:  when the purpose of Jesus’ being among us was made clear.  “For God so loved the world that He gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish, but might have eternal life.”  (John 3:16)

Did we deserve this salvation from Jesus Christ’s suffering, death, resurrection and ascension?  No.  And we don’t deserve it now.  It is a free gift!  We cannot make ourselves worthy.  What we can do is look carefully once again at the age-old story to see the places where Jesus proves himself truly human (“Father, if you are willing, take this cup away from me!” [LK 22:42]) and truly divine (“Thus it is written that the Messiah would suffer and rise from the dead on the third day and that repentance, for the forgiveness of sins, would be preached in his name to all the nations, beginning from Jerusalem [LK 24:47]).
We can grow in our own Christian faith through meditation and contemplation of the truths revealed in this mystery called “the Paschal Mystery.”  God saved the world through the incarnation sacrifice, rising and ascending of His only Son, Jesus Christ.  We are proud to profess it.  If we make the story more deeply a model for our own Christian life, then this Lent will truly be a time of grace for us.

I recommend to you the careful reading of all four passion narratives which we will hear read during Holy Week.  Use the Ignatian method if you will and imagine yourself present in the crowd as Jesus goes by carrying his cross.  How do you respond?  How does the serene presence of his Holy Mother strike you?  Is the world changed; are you changed by these brutal, yet holy and amazing events?

And let us pray the sorrowful mysteries of Jesus passion and death in the Rosary with prayerful attentiveness; and the glorious mysteries which follow with profound joy!  All these events are not a puzzle to be solved; but rather a great mystery to be lived.

“Behold your Mother,” who showed us how to die with him in order to rise with him!

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