40 Days of Lent: Day 7
01 Apr 2023 | Office for Mission and Identity (OMI)
40 Days of Lent: Day 7
Death is a topic that can arouse different feelings and insights. It can invite fear because we really have no idea what happens after we pass from this life. It can encourage clarity regarding how we want to spend our days while still in the world. It can move us to see what are really important. At the same time, if asked, every person may have a preference for how and when they would want to go.
Perhaps no one would wish to die alone and abandoned, publicly humiliated and enduring excruciating pain before the final hours. But this was what happened to Jesus. And his seven last words reflected who he was, where his life was anchored and what occupied his mind and heart. After everything that he suffered, we witness his humanity in his thirst and his divinity in his forgiveness, compassion and trust in the Father.
If Christ had his own utterances during his last moments, what would be yours to him whose death we look back to during this time? When you gaze at this dying man, would your words be from the perspective of a believer, a passive bystander, or a doubter? Would you tell him something to reflect pity, repentance or gratitude? Every day, what we express matters. More so in moments of death, regardless of how we feel about it or what it evokes in us. And when we arrive at that point and even as we continue to breathe at present, may we accept God’s whisper of “I love you. In death and in life, I always love you.”
40 Araw ng Kuwaresma: Ika-7 Araw
Nakapupukaw ng iba-ibang damdamin at saloobin ang kamatayan. Maaari itong magdulot ng pangamba sapagkat hindi talaga natin batid ano ang naghihintay pagkatapos nitong buhay. Maaari rin itong mag-anyaya ng kalinawan kung saan ilalaan ang panahon samantalang narito sa mundo. Maaari tayong mabunsod nito sa kung ano ang tunay na mahalaga. Kasama nito, kung tatanungin tayo, bawat isa ay may hangad kung paano at kailan ang wakas ng pag-iral.
Marahil walang sinuman ang nagnanais na pumanaw nang mag-isa, niyurakan ang dangal at dumaan sa malupit na pait sa mga huling sandali. Subalit ito ang naganap kay Hesus. At ang kanyang pitong huling winika ay sumalamin sa kung sino siya, saan nakaugat ang kanyang buhay at ano ang laman ng kanyang isip at puso. Pagkatapos ng lahat ng kanyang pagdurusa, nasisilayan natin ang kanyang pagiging tao sa uhaw na nadama at ang kanyang kabanalan sa kanyang pagpapatawad, pagmamalasakit at pagtitiwala sa Ama.
Kung may mga winika si Kristo sa kanyang mga huling sandali, ano kaya ang mga sasambitin mo sa kanya na ang kamatayan ay binabalikan natin ngayong mga araw? Kapag mamasdan mo itong lalaking pumapanaw, magmumula ba ang mga salita mo sa isang naniniwala, sa isang walang pakialam na nagmamasid, o sa isang nagdududa? Magpapakita ba ang mga sasambitin mo ng awa, pagsisisi o pasasalamat? Sa araw-araw, mahalaga ang mga binibigkas natin. Higit pa sa mga pagkakataong nalalapit sa kamatayan, anupaman ang nadarama natin tungkol dito o napupukaw nito sa atin. At kapag dumating na tayo sa oras na iyon at samantalang nagpapatuloy ang ating paghinga sa kasalukuyan, nawa tanggapin natin ang bulong ng Diyos na nagsasabing “Iniibig kita. Sa kamatayan at sa buhay, lagi at lagi, iniibig kita.”
#ateneoishome #aihfortydaysoflent #aihday7oflent
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