Sunday, September 16, 2007

Travelling through Time

The film, the Passion of the Christ, felt like a time travelling experience. People who saw the film felt like they were brought back in time, back physically to the events that changed human history forever. There were mixed reactions from the people, some wept, some kept silent. The imagery that the director Mel Gibson used was so powerful that the people were so focused from the start of the film to its end.

Unknown to many, the events of Calvary is made present every day. Every time a priest offers Mass, the sacrifice at Calvary is made present. The people who are present in the Mass are invited to cease to be spectators or viewers but to become united to that great sacrifice at Calvary.

Father Zerrudo asks: Keeping in mind that in each Mass we are truly present at the foot of the cross, how should we conduct ourselves?

At Calvary we meet two groups of people: a group who entertained themselves by mocking our Lord and reviling Him shouting: If He is the Messiah, the chosen of God, and the King of Israel let Him come down now from the cross, that we may see, and believe in Him. Another group was present, some of the disciples of our Lord together with His mother stood by Him at the foot of the cross in silence, interiorly contemplating the sacred mystery unfolding before their eyes.

Should we come to Mass expecting to be entertained with a show? Should we come to Mass expecting something new to see? That holy sacrifice our Lord did at Calvary was never a show, never an entertainment for those who followed and believed Him. Our Lady was not at the foot of cross just to watch her beloved Son die. She was at the foot of the cross to unite herself with the suffering and death of her beloved Son. So too, must we focus to unite ourselves, body, mind, heart and soul with the sufferings of our Lord each time the Mass is offered.

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