Holy Week Reflections - Tuesday

Emerging from today’s readings are three intertwining themes: chosen by God, however unworthy we may feel; trusting in God’s plan, however unlikely its fulfillment seems to be; and overcoming every obstacle to cooperation with the grace of God, from lack of faith to outright betrayal.

Isaiah 49:1-6 confirms the mystery that before we came to be, we were already present in the mind and heart of God. Our essence preceded our existence, a truth confirmed by the words: “The Lord called me before I was born.”

Being chosen by God requires that we, like the prophets before us, listen with full attention to the mystery unfolding in, with, and through us. Only then may we know who we are and what God calls us to do. The word that comes from the mouth of the Servant will be “like a sharp sword.” It will be “living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, able to judge the thoughts and situations of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

This prophecy challenges our trust in God’s plan. We long for its fulfillment, but is it possible? The people of Israel were in exile. They had been guilty of defection. They witnessed the destruction of the Temple. They were chained and taken to Babylon, not as servants but as slaves. They were scattered like desert dust from Mesopotamia to Egypt.

The prophet breaks through this grid of despair, promising that every obstacle will be overcome. God’s servant will not only renew the covenant but grant salvation to the world. All creation will experience renewal thanks to the Holy One of Israel whom God has chosen, consecrated, and commissioned to bring the Good News to the ends of the earth.

Psalm 71 expresses the experience of an aged believer acknowledging his trusting dependence on God for everything—from relieving him of oppression by the wicked to being his rock and his fortress. Who else would he praise but God from his birth to his death?

In The Living Flame of Love (Stanza 2.31), Saint John of the Cross tells us: “For God repays the interior and exterior trials…with divine goods for the soul and body, so there is not a trial that does not have a corresponding and considerable reward.” To age gracefully is to live in gratitude for the goodness of the Lord despite devastating experiences like that of his own imprisonment. In The Spiritual Canticle (Stanza 25.2), he offers three reasons to live in continual praise of the Lord. These praises he attributes to the bride’s affection for her Beloved. She praises him for the sweetness he gives her “that is so efficacious it makes [souls] run along the road to perfection.” The second reason has to do with his visits “of love by which he suddenly inflames [souls] in love.” The third concerns the abundance of charity he infuses in them…” These gifts cause the spirit “to be elevated and to burst forth in praise and delightful affections of love before God,” echoing the elation of the psalmist, who praises God’s righteousness and proclaims God’s wondrous deeds.

In the Gospel reading from John, Chapter 13, we meet Jesus under more somber circumstances. The God of glory is revealed as troubled in spirit—not because of the radical obedience he is soon to exercise in accordance with his Father’s will, but because one of his trusted apostles will betray him. The one who took the piece of bread dipped in the dish would be Judas. Created in his heart at that moment would be a crevice into which Satan would slip. What he did, he would do quickly, and the night of betrayal would descend upon him.

So chagrined was Peter by what Jesus had foretold that he pledged never to betray him and even to lay down his life for him. What a boastful and idle promise that was! The Lord knew that before the cock crowed he would deny him three times. When asked to stand up for Jesus, Peter insisted that he did not know the man. Such self-righteous boasting is the opposite of bowing to the Lord. Jesus will forgive his good friend by testing the truth of his love and forecasting his own ultimate sacrifice.

In The Ascent of Mount Carmel (1.14.13), Saint John of the Cross articulates the lesson we ought to take away from this exchange between Jesus and Peter. He tells us that only when we admit we have nothing to boast about and operate instead from the center of our humility will God be our All in all. Resting gratefully at the feet of Jesus, “nothing [will tire us] by pulling [us] up and nothing [will oppress us] by pushing [us] down.” In Number 103 of his Sayings of Light and Love, Saint John offers a fitting summary to these readings of Tuesday of Holy Week: “To be taken with love for a soul, God does not look on its greatness, but on the greatness of its humility.”

Questions for Reflection

1.     Do you believe with all your heart that you are chosen by God to fulfill a divine destiny planned for you beyond any obstacle that might be strewed on your path?

2.     In the face of being betrayed by someone you trusted, can you forgive what occurred and go forward in gratitude?

3.     How often in your daily life of prayer do you give praise and glory to the Lord?