During the Good Friday Service at our parish last week, I was asked to be one of the readers of the Passion of Jesus according to John (18:1-19:42). At one point I was the maidservant, later I was Peter then the soldier who slapped Jesus' face, and finally I was Pontius Pilate.
Reading through the Passion - before and during the service - I felt the tension experienced by most of the characters. Peter was a classic example with his denials of Christ before the cock crew. In the earlier parts of the Passion, this was the same apostle who drew his sword cutting off Malchus' right ear. Another character who felt tense was Pilate who told the Lord: ‘Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?’.
And yet, throughout that Passion, Jesus was in control. Notice His reply to the exasperated Roman governor: ‘You would have no power over me if it had not been given you from above; that is why the one who handed me over to you has the greater guilt.’. And towards the end of the story, He uttered: ‘It is accomplished’.
Jesus' being in control has been reiterated to the world through the visionary nun Faustina Kowalska. To this 20th century nun - now a saint - Jesus appeared as the Lord of Divine Mercy. To a world mired in sin, Jesus offers His mercy. To souls bogged down with despair and incredulity, Jesus offers His mercy.
If Jesus was (and is and will always be) in control, what should we be afraid of? What should we worry? What is holding us back?
Only one response is necessary. And this response was taught by the Lord to St Faustina: "Jesus, I trust in You"!
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I am one with the whole Catholic Church in celebrating the canonization of Popes John XXIII and John Paul II this coming Mercy Sunday. Both popes strove to trust and mirror Jesus' mercy to the world. A day after Christmas in 1958, Pope John XXIII visited the Regina Coeli prison in Rome where he told the inmates: "You could not come to me, so I came to you.". Before the crowd gathered in St. Peter's Square on the day he announced the opening of the Second Vatican Council, this beloved pope said: "Dear children, returning home, you will find children: give your children a caress and say: This is the caress of the Pope!". Another touching moment was when he He 'opened' the Church through many efforts such as eliminating the description of the Jews as 'perfidious' in the Good Friday Liturgy, removed the word 'faithless' from the prayer for the conversion of the Jews, and convened the Second Vatican Council.
In his encyclical Pacem in Terris, he wrote: "Man has the right to live...the right to bodily integrity and to the means necessary for the proper development of life, particularly food, clothing, shelter, medical care, rest, and, finally, the necessary social services. In consequence, he has the right to be looked after in the event of ill health; disability stemming from his work; widowhood; old age; enforced unemployment; or whenever through no fault of his own he is deprived of the means of livelihood."
The last words of Il buon Papa (The Good Pope) were "I had the great grace to be born into a Christian family, modest and poor, but with the fear of the Lord. My time on earth is drawing to a close. But Christ lives on and continues his work in the Church. Souls, souls, ut omnes unum sint (That all may be one)".
Pope John Paul II visiting Mehmet Ali Agca (a Turkish gunman who shot and wounded him in May 1981) in prison comes to mind when I think of the Divine Mercy. In his pontificate, he built good relations with other faiths and apologised to those who suffered in the hands of the Catholic Church such as Galileo Galilei, the victims of the Holocaust, and the victims of sexual abuse. During his visit to Yad Vashem (the national Holocaust memorial in Israel) in march 2000 he said: "We are deeply saddened by the behaviour of those who in the course of history have caused these children of yours to suffer, and asking your forgiveness we wish to commit ourselves to genuine brotherhood with the people of the Covenant".
On the sexual abuse scandal that hit the US, he told American cardinals who went to Rome in April 2002: "Priests and candidates for the priesthood often live at a level both materially and educationally superior to that of their families and the members of their own age group. It is therefore very easy for them to succumb to the temptation of thinking of themselves as better than others. When this happens, the ideal of priestly service and self-giving dedication can fade, leaving the priest dissatisfied and disheartened".
His last words were "Allow me to depart to the house of the Father".
Unfortunately, John Paul II's papacy comes under a cloud of doubt due to clergy sexual abuse: he recalled Cardinal Bernard Law (who was known to cover up sexual abuse committed by priests in his archdiocese) to a key post in Rome and supported Fr Marcial Maciel (founder of the Legion of Christ who abused boys, had relationships with women, fathered several children whom he also abused). His 'centralization' of power at the Vatican made the Roman Curia behave as though it should be served rather than serve the local churches. (Look at how the new English translation of the Mass was implemented!) These issues have made some quarters uneasy with his canonization.
I'm aware that Pope Francis is facing these two issues head on. Perhaps that is the way forward. Definitely, the Holy Father needs our support. Let's entrust him to Jesus, King of Mercy! May Sts John XXIII and John Paul II intercede for him and the entire People of God!
