Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise

24 MARCH (Lk 23,27-49)

The Gospel of Luke tells of the Lord’s passion beginning with the Upper Room. The disciples are in turmoil. They have not yet solved the problem that makes them uneasy. Jesus has not yet indicated what their roles must be in his new kingdom. Everyone wishes he could be the greatest, the first. Jesus intervenes and teaches them the law of humility. He is great who is small. He is the first who is the last. Who serves matters. Who works in silence is worth. Who can divest himself of his life to make of it a gift of salvation for the whole world is important. The logic of God is very far from the logic of the world. In the world they devour each other. With God one lets himself be consumed.

Peter and the other disciples are strongly tempted by Satan. He wishes he could sift them as wheat is. But Jesus watches over them with an earnest and strong prayer. He prays to the Father to keep Peter in the faith. Once Peter will be confirmed in the faith, he must be the one to confirm all of his brothers it in. Peter’s faith must be the faith of the Church. This law is valid until the end of history, of time. Until there will be sun and moon, this law will never fail. Peter must always be the one to confirm.

They leave the Upper Room and go to the Mount of Olives. Here Jesus reveals himself in all the fragility and smallness of his humanity. Fear of death assails him. He overcomes fear with so intense a prayer as to turn his sweat into drops of blood. In this hour of great agony, intense fight against the fragility of his humanity, Jesus is not left alone. The Lord sends an angel so that he comforts him.

A large crowd of people followed Jesus, including many women who mourned and lamented him. Jesus turned to them and said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me; weep instead for yourselves and for your children, for indeed, the days are coming when people will say, ‘Blessed are the barren, the wombs that never bore and the breasts that never nursed.’ At that time people will say to the mountains, ‘Fall upon us!’ and to the hills, ‘Cover us!’ for if these things are done when the wood is green what will happen when it is dry?” Now two others, both criminals, were led away with him to be executed. When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him and the criminals there, one on his right, the other on his left. [Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.”] hey divided his garments by casting lots. The people stood by and watched; the rulers, meanwhile, sneered at him and said, “He saved others, let him save himself if he is the chosen one, the Messiah of God.” Even the soldiers jeered at him. As they approached to offer him wine they called out, “If you are King of the Jews, save yourself.” Above him there was an inscription that read, “This is the King of the Jews.” Now one of the criminals hanging there reviled Jesus, saying, “Are you not the Messiah? Save yourself and us.” The other, however, rebuking him, said in reply, “Have you no fear of God, for you are subject to the same condemnation? And indeed, we have been condemned justly, for the sentence we received corresponds to our crimes, but this man has done nothing criminal.” Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” He replied to him, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.” When all the people who had gathered for this spectacle saw what had happened, they returned home beating their breasts; but all his acquaintances stood at a distance, including the women who had followed him from Galilee and saw these events.

On the cross, Jesus reveals his supreme holiness. He asks the Father for forgiveness for his executioners. He excuse them near the Divine Justice. They know not what they do. Sin has made them so blind, so stupid and foolish as not to know the seriousness of their actions and decisions. This is the great fruit of sin: it deprives us of mind and heart, it drains us of sound intelligence and wisdom, it makes us become a body of wickedness and evil, it makes of our humanity a land mine and a bomb of destruction.

The cross of Jesus is the ladder that introduces him to his kingdom. In it he will immediately welcome the robber who has found him innocent and proclaimed him the true King of Israel. There is a kingdom beyond death, because there is a king beyond death. This is the truth of Jesus.

Virgin Mary, Mother of the Redemption, Angels and Saints introduce us into this mystery.