The Cross Is Victory and Salvation
H.H. John Paul II
Words after the Way of the Cross
Good Friday, April
2, 1999
1. "In manus tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum
meum"; "Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit". These are the words, this is the
last cry of Christ on the Cross. It is these
words that close the mystery of the Passion
and open up the mystery of liberation
through death which will be fulfilled in the
Resurrection. They are important words. The
Church, aware of their importance, has
incorporated them into the Liturgy of the
Hours and every day ends it with these
words: "Into your hands, Lord, I commend my
spirit".
Today we would like to put these words on
humanity's lips at the end of the second
millennium, and the end of the 20th century.
Millenniums do not speak, centuries do not
speak, but man speaks, thousands, millions
of people speak, who have filled this space
which is called the 20th century, this space
which is called the second millennium. Today
we want to put Christ's words on the lips of
all these people who have been citizens of
our 20th century, our second millennium,
because these words, this cry of the
suffering Christ, his last words, do not
only close: they open. They signify openness
to the future.
"Father, into your hands I commit my
spirit". These words are an opening. We hope
that at the end of this Good Friday, and
Easter Vigil of 1999, the words - "In manus
tuas, Domine, commendo spiritum meum",
"Father, into your hands I commit my spirit"
- will be the last words for each of us,
those which will open eternity to us.
2. "Christus factus est pro nobis oboediens
usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis";
"Christ became for us obedient unto death,
even death on a cross" (Antiphon from the
Breviary; cf. Phil 2:8). With these words,
the liturgy of Good Friday summarizes what
was accomplished on Golgotha 2,000 years
ago. The Evangelist John, who was an
eyewitness, recounts the sorrowful events of
Christ's Passion. He tells of his cruel
agony, his last words: "All is
accomplished!" (Jn 19:30), and the piercing
of his side with a spear by a Roman soldier.
From the wounded side of the Redeemer there
came forth blood and water, certain proof
that he was dead (cf. Jn 19:34), and the
supreme gift of his merciful love.
3. Keeping John's testimony in mind, what
the prophet Isaiah says in the Song of the
Suffering Servant becomes even more
remarkable. He writes some centuries before
Christ and his words seem in perfect harmony
with those of the fourth Evangelist. They
constitute a true "Gospel of the Cross":
"Despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows.... / Pierced through for our
faults, crushed for our sins.... / We had
all gone astray like sheep, each taking his
own way; and the Lord burdened him with the
sins of us all.... / Yes, he was torn away
from the land of the living, for our faults
struck down in death. / They gave him a
grave with the wicked.... / His soul's
anguish over, he shall see the light and be
content; / by his sufferings shall my
servant justify many, taking their faults on
himself" (53:3, 5, 6, 8-9, 11).
These considerations, so rich in detail, are
all the more surprising because they are the
words of one who could not see with his own
eyes the drama of Calvary, having lived long
before. They are words which foreshadow the
theology of the sacrifice of Christ's Cross.
In a wonderful synthesis, they contain the
entire mysterium passionis et resurrectionis,
which go to make the great mysterium
paschale.
4. The prophetic words of the Book of Isaiah
resound in our hearts this evening, at the
end of the Way of the Cross, here at the
Colosseum, eloquent reminder of the
suffering and martyrdom of many believers
who paid with their blood for their
faithfulness to the Gospel. They are words
which echo the Passion of Jesus "in agony
until the end of the world" (Paschal,
Pensées, Le mystère de Jésus, 553).
Christ is "despised and rejected" in those
reviled and killed in the war in Kosovo and
wherever the culture of death triumphs; the
Messiah is "crushed for our sins" in the
victims of hatred and evil in every time and
place. Peoples divided and struck by
incomprehension and indifference seem at
times to have "gone astray like sheep".
Yet on the horizon of this scene of
suffering and death, hope shines for
humanity: "his soul's anguish over, he shall
see the light and be content; / ... my
servant shall justify many". In the night of
sorrow and depression, the Cross is a torch
which keeps alive the expectation of the new
day of the resurrection. We look to the
Cross of Christ with faith this evening, and
through the Cross we want to proclaim to the
world the Father's merciful love for every
human being.
5. Yes, this is the day of mercy and love;
the day on which the redemption of the world
is accomplished, because sin and death have
been defeated by the saving death of the
Redeemer.
O crucified heavenly King, may the mystery
of your glorious death triumph in the world.
Grant that we never lose the courage and
boldness of hope in the face of the
tragedies afflicting humanity and in the
face of every situation of injustice that
humiliates the human being, the creature
redeemed by your precious blood.
Grant indeed that we may proclaim this
evening with even greater force: Your Cross
is victory and salvation, "quia per sanctum
crucem tuam redemisti mundum", because by
your blood and your Passion you have
redeemed the world!
© Copyright 1999 - Libreria Editrice
Vaticana
