Beloved People of God:
How God’s mercy is ever placed on our heart! As our sinfulness laid the blows of the nails to crucify Jesus, in His own suffering, Jesus opens His heart to receive our transgressions and forgive.
The revolutionary crucified next to Jesus is an outsider. He is not one of the apostles or disciples. This transgressor asks for Jesus’ forgiveness. In that grace-filled moment, the man on the cross recognizes Jesus as God and Jesus the Word made flesh, immersed in overwhelming pain from human frailty, speaks compassion and heals the man’s wound.
Pope Francis offers, “Let us meditate on that word: remember. To remember (ricordare) means ‘to lead back to the heart (cor),’ to carry in the heart. That man, crucified alongside Jesus, transformed his dire pain into a prayer: ‘Carry me in your heart, Jesus.’ His words did not reflect anguish and defeat, but hope. This criminal, who died as a disciple of the last hour, desired only one thing: to find a welcoming heart. That is all that mattered to him as he found himself defenseless in the face of death. The Lord heard the sinner’s prayer, even at the end, as he always does. Christ’s heart – an open, not closed heart – pierced by pain, was laid open to save the world. Dying Himself, He was open to the voice of a dying man. Jesus dies with us because He died for us.”
We are called to remember this wondrous offering of hope through forgiveness this Holy Week. We reflect upon our transgressions once again against God — against our family members, our friends, our neighbors — and invite God into the core of our heart. We are called to untie the knots of anger or bitterness drawing us away from God and taste and see His goodness.
Always, Jesus is prayerful. He begins His public ministry with prayer. He prays to the Father as He is dying on the Cross. He invites us to pray with Him. Jesus remembers those who are crucified at His side. He knows each one of us and calls us to know Him. His arms are open wide on that Cross to embrace us with His compassion and mercy. He will not leave us.
The revolutionary rebuked the other criminal who was also crucified. He becomes one with Jesus as he turns to God. We also are called to rebuke the devil, the temptation to leave God, and to seek God’s justice. He names his sin to Jesus and then calls Jesus by name, “Jesus, remember me…” This intimate, holy moment with God is not reserved for the revolutionary, only. It is always before us for we are assured God responds with His divine love.
Jesus is our example. How do we carry people in our heart? How do we remember those who are at our side in our daily living? Do we judge? Do we divide? Or do we welcome them? It is we who abandon Jesus and leave Him for other worldly pleasures. It is we who choose to hurt others, by our thoughts, words, or deeds.
Turning to the heart of God will lead us to a path of hosannas. It brings forth a lifetime of hope; an offering of mercy through, with and in God, as we follow His commandment and love one another. The man on the cross in his human words, ‘remember me,’ is the offering of faith and repentance.
St. Ambrose comments that this “is a beautiful example of conversion to which one should aspire: forgiveness is very quickly offered to the thief and grace is more abundant than the request; the Lord in fact,” St. Ambrose continues, “always gives more than is asked for…. Life is being with Christ because where Christ is there is the Kingdom” (Expositio Ev. sec. Lucam X, 121: ccl 14, 379).
Let us together journey alongside Jesus, not refusing anyone God’s love and praying for those who are burdened by the crosses of our own doing, that they may truly receive God’s mercy through our consolation and find solace in the everlasting hope of the Resurrection.