‘Walking along the path’ is a phrase taken by the French philosopher Emmanuel Falque from the interview given by Pope Francis to fellow Jesuit Antonio Spadaro in August 2013. In its stark setting and somber mood the Liturgy of Good Friday looks to the path Jesus walked along, pointing to the Way of the Cross, remembered today in The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord. It is Luke’s half-line – ‘he set his face to go to Jerusalem’ (9:51) – that heralds the purpose of Jesus to proceed along the path of suffering and sacrifice, solidarity and salvation which, to borrow an image from the Gospel of John today, was seamless.
Path of Suffering
In today’s Liturgy of the Word Isaiah speaks of the ‘Suffering Servant’ of God – ‘so disfigured did he look that he seemed no longer human’ – and the reading from Hebrews states ‘he learnt to obey through suffering’. It is the devotional Stations of the Cross which show in graphic and gory detail the final suffering of Jesus – morally before Pilate and the earthly authorities it was his misfortune to run into, mentally at the nastiness of the soldiers and spectators throwing their taunts into his face, physically falling to the ground beneath the cross before being finally nailed to it. The path of suffering is the price paid by people throughout the world in conflict zones with their violence and void of humanitarian aid. God our heavenly Father, as we look upon the suffering of your Son Jesus and see the image of the ‘Man of Sorrows’ in so many of your suffering family, move our hearts to herald your mercy on earth and help to alleviate their hardship.
Path of Sacrifice
Jesus’ Path of Suffering does not make sense without sacrifice, which he spoke of several times on his journey to Jerusalem. However, only the Gospel of John carries his saying, ‘Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain, but if it dies, it bears much fruit’ (12:24). Jesus interpreted and, more importantly, intended his Passion and death as a sacrificial offering not to wipe out the wrath of a God hell bent on getting his so-called pound of flesh for human sinfulness but to show that, in the profound words of Pope Francis, ‘The cross is Jesus’ most eloquent word of love. A word that is not shallow, sentimental or merely edifying. It is love, sheer love’.[1] Lord Jesus, through the sacrifice of truth by Pilate and his cynical conspirators teach us the truth of sacrifice.
Path of Solidarity
In his Encyclical on the Sacred Heart Pope Francis states ‘the teaching of the social Encyclicals Laudato Si’ [on the Environment] and Fratelli Tutti [on Fraternity and Social Friendship] is not unrelated to our encounter with the love of Jesus Christ. For it is by drinking of that same love that we become capable of forging bonds of fraternity, of recognizing the dignity of each human being, and of working together to care for our common home’.[2] ‘Solidarity’ is a key principle of Catholic Social Teaching, coming from the prophets who preached that faith and justice can never be separated and from Jesus who proclaimed the Reign of God through ‘righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit’ (Romans 14:17). This is not self-righteousness, setting oneself or one’s country above others but, as Saint Paul reminds, ‘what makes for peace and for mutual edification’
(14:19). Christian solidarity supports and serves the common good, sometimes suffering, always sacrificing.
Path of Salvation
All three prior Paths point to and participate in the fourth and final Path, professed in the Creed, ‘for us and for our salvation’. Without this purpose his suffering, self-sacrifice and solidarity with human beings in the world would mean that Jesus was just another moral teacher and ethical exemplar alongside Socrates, Buddha and other spiritual figures in history. With the language of salvation and its correlate redemption reduced to sometimes ridiculous applications in contemporary culture, there is need for the Church to continually communicate that Christ through his Passion and Resurrection is Lord of Life and Saviour. Thus the International Theological Commission has recently issued, with the approval of Pope Francis, a major document entitled Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour which contains the following declaration: ‘[His] ‘double consubstantiality [fully divine, fully human] makes it possible for Christ alone to save. He alone can bring about salvation. He alone is the communion of human beings with the Father. He alone is the Saviour of all human beings of all times. No other human being could be before him or after him. The unheard-of perfect communion between God and man has fulfilled himself in Christ, beyond any form of realization that the human being can imagine starting from oneself’.[3] The theology of salvation – soteriology – has much to ponder on in these lines.
Identifying with Jesus’ suffering involves the way of martyrdom, not masochism; imitating his self-sacrifice includes the way of service, not superiority; intending his solidarity invites the way of sharing, not selfishness; incarnating his salvation implies the way of healing, not harming.
Kevin O’Gorman SMA
[1] Encyclical Letter, Dilexit nos – On the Human and Divine Love of the Heart of Jesus Christ, 24th October 2024, Par. 46. (Available at www.vatican.va)
[2] Ibid., Par. 217
[3] Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour – 1700th Anniversary of the Ecumenical Council of Nicaea, Par. 22. (Available at www.vatican.va)