A reflection by Nancy Fischer, SSJ

​When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, “It is finished.”
And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit. -John 19:30

I believe that two key words in this passage are “handed over.”  Other versions interpret it as “gave up.”  Philippians describes Jesus’ arrival on earth by saying, He “emptied himself” to become one of us. However, it is said, these phrases are all about letting go — all about the call for each of us to live the paschal mystery of Christ.  

​What does it mean to live the paschal mystery?  What makes us disciples of Christ? In the past, we may have thought that because we go to church on Sunday, or fast when we’re supposed to, or contribute to the support of the church, or because we are an Associate, Agrégrée or Sister of St. Joseph, that we are good disciples.   

To really be disciples of Christ we need to share in the paschal mystery that is Christ’s dying and rising.  We need to hand over our life in fulfillment of the Gospel, not just “do Christian things.”  We must die to ourselves so that we can bring the light of Christ to the world. The more we cling to ourselves and others, the more we try to control our destiny —the more we lose our true selves. In letting God take over, we discover our true selves.

It is this act of abandonment that we all must seek to pursue. 

Prayer:
Merciful God,
As Jesus rode triumphant into Jerusalem,
He was not thinking about Good Friday,
but that memory of being loved and accepted
may have helped carry Him through. 
As we seek to be disciples, may we also remember in the darkness what we see in the light.  May our Psalm Sundays support us that we may embrace with open hearts the paschal mystery and truly become disciples of Jesus. 
​Amen.