The most fruitful three hours of Jesus’ life were His dying on the Cross. Many people think of Jesus as a great teacher, but they forget that Jesus was also a priest, and priests offer sacrifice. On the Cross, Jesus offered pure love to the Father on our behalf, and that was more important than any of His teachings.
What is the most fruitful hour of our week? Of all the things we do, what does the most good? Since Mass makes present Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross, it can be the most fruitful activity of our lives.
However, praying at Mass can be difficult. We often come here busy, distracted, perhaps in physical pain, or even with little faith. For years, parents have told me, “It’s so hard to pay attention at Mass now that I have children; it’s so distracting.” I understand! It took me ten years to be able to pray well while celebrating Mass as a priest because I have to think about the homily, the servers, etc. But, if we can enter into Jesus’ love on the Cross, then we can be one with Him in His prayer to the Father.
The Passion today says, “From noon on, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon” (Mt 27:45). Darkness signifies God’s judgment: The world has rejected His love, has rejected Jesus, and so now it’s heading into spiritual darkness. Later on, after Jesus’ death, the earth shakes, which is also a sign of God’s displeasure, as predicted by the prophet Amos. When we come to Mass, we must realize that there will often be darkness in and around us—that’s part of what happened on Good Friday. From now on, we will no longer be surprised by this.
“And about three o’clock Jesus cried with a loud voice, ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’” (27:46). Jesus feels totally separated from His Father at this point, but is He? He feels it, and it’s remarkable that He chooses to experience the separation we experience. Yet, He is not separated. The Father is with Him.
In the same way, we sometimes feel separated from God, but are we? If we are, then we need to apologize and ask His forgiveness for our sins. Other situations: if someone’s going through cancer, has just lost a loved one, or is in financial ruin, this may be their darkest hour, yet those things don’t separate us from God. Similarly, the Cross didn’t separate Jesus from the Father. When we come to Mass in these states, they don’t mean we’re far from God!
The words ‘My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ are the first words of Psalm 22, a psalm of intense suffering. Nonetheless, when someone says, ‘Let’s pray the Our Father,’ do we just say, ‘Our Father,’ and that’s it? No, we pray the whole prayer. In the same way, Psalm 22 ends with expressions of trust and praise of God. Because of this, we know that Jesus didn’t give up on the Father or give up faith.
There will be many times when we don’t want to be at Mass—it’s okay to tell God this as long as we stay. We don’t have to feel good or be able to focus every time we’re at Mass. Perhaps all we can muster, like Jesus on the Cross, are short prayers. When we’re tired, in pain, or holding a baby in our arms, short prayers done with love are best—they are what Jesus is looking for. So, if these situations apply to you, God bless you that you come to Mass!
“When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, ‘This man is calling for Elijah.’ [They’re confusing Jesus’ words ‘Eli,’ meaning ‘my God,’ for Elijah.] At once one of them ran and got a sponge, filled it with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink’” (27:47-48).
If the soldiers are mocking Jesus with this sour wine, then it corresponds to one of the most painful experiences we can have when coming to pray at church: We’re already struggling and someone around us makes things worse. But Jesus perseveres.
“Then Jesus cried again with a loud voice and breathed his last” (27:50). The precise words in the Greek are ‘yielded his spirit,’ meaning Jesus freely chose to give His life to God as a sacrifice. God always asks if we will love Him freely. When we’re children and living at home, it’s right that our parents make us come to Mass, just as they make us go to school, but, as adults, it must be a free choice.
Are we willing to follow Him no matter what, even when it hurts? When we freely give ourselves to God the Father at Mass, despite all the difficulties, it’s a beautiful sacrifice.
Our culture has conditioned us to think that so many things are more important than God, such as travelling, work, family, exams—all reasons why we sometimes are tempted to skip Sunday Mass—but the most precious thing to Him is His Son’s sacrifice on the Cross, in complete obedience, trust, and love.
When we join ourselves to Jesus’ sacrifice at Mass, no matter how difficult it is, nothing is more precious to God than this.