Father forgive them, they don’t know what they
do.
By this
request of Jesus to the Father, our sins have been forgiven. Let us meditate on how the Lord used these important words on the way to Calvary as we accompany him.
Let us feel the way Jesus felt and experience his merciful love. Let us live those moments of pain and echo his words as we pray for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of the whole world.
In the agony in the Garden he suffered anguish in his soul,
he was going to give his life for this ungrateful humanity and he hesitated because of the
indifference by which we value his salvific sacrifice. Father if it is possible, remove
this cup from me, but not my will, your will be done. "Father
forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the painful scourging Our Lord atoned for all the sins of
impurity, how savagely his body was being torn for all the sins of impurity committed in
our minds and in the flesh. Imagine how Jesus was almost fainting with pain and yet he
could only think of saving us while he was saying silently
"Father
forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the crowning with thorns he experienced so much pain on
his sacred head which continued until the moment he died, his mind was tortured by the
horrors of our despising his wisdom. Our pride and the attachments to the world have
despised the kingdom of heaven while we open our hearts to the kingdom of the world. Jesus
foresaw this and humbly atoned for pride. Very mindful of these humiliating sins he just
prayed in silence: "Father forgive them, they don’t know
what they do".
In the trial, the Supreme Judge was misjudged and condemned
by our ignorance. What an insult to the One who has the power to forgive. But Jesus was
very patient until death he was whispering with great love "Father
forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the carrying of the cross on his wounded shoulder, Jesus
experienced the weight of all our sins, his pain can not be measured. And yet he did it
willingly because he loves us so much, "Father forgive them,
they don’t know what they do".
In the encounter with his blessed mother, Jesus was united
to her suffering, no words between them, but their hearts were one, they both felt so
helpless, but in their powerful intercession for us they were saying the same prayer:
"Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the encounter with the
Cyrinean, the Lord shared a little
bit of his suffering with this man, who represents everyone of us when we share the
sufferings of Christ and our neighbor, not so much physically, but spiritually. Let us
implore: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they
do".
In the encounter with Veronica, the Lord left an impression
of his countenance on this woman’s veil since she felt compassion for his sufferings
and was willing to be united to his words of salvation: "Father
forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the encounter with the holy women of Jerusalem, the Lord
felt pity for them and for their children, he pointed out to them that it was not enough
just to weep for him, that they should be concerned for their children and always pray:
"Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the three falls of our Lord, he stressed that we fall
over and over again, weakening our souls with sin, but he suffered mercifully because knew
the importance of his plea: "Father forgive them, they
don’t know what they do".
In the painful stripping of his garments, the Lord
experienced the pain that destroys souls of their innocence as they are stripped of the
robes of salvation, the image of Christ. How fools we are, but Jesus continues to plead in
his pain: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they
do".
In the crucifixion, the Lord suffered the most excruciating
pain, we mortals are paralyzing our God with our sins, we don’t let him rule our
lives because we rebel against Him, he gets stuck on the cross to put our sins to death
and to forgive us as he says with great love: "Father forgive them, they don’t know what they do".
In the sorrowful agony and death, he suffered unimaginable
pain out of his most merciful love for us. The infinite offence of men could not be paid
by finite offerings or sacrifices, God in the person of his Son had to personally
experience the pain of the sacrifice to satisfy his divine justice in order to forgive us
and to open the way to everlasting life.
"Father forgive them,
they don’t know what they do".
In the piercing of the Sacred heart of Jesus, he no longer
suffered but the humiliation of men had to be pushed to the limit. From his heart flowed
blood and water as symbols of his mercy and grace. Our Blessed mother had to endure all
the sufferings of the passion and death, now the lance fulfills the prophecy of Simon who
predicted her sufferings so that our thoughts would reveal compassion for her, the mother
of humanity, our mother, who has conceived spiritually the children of God in great pain
and sorrow.
She continues the prayer of our Savior: "Father forgive them,
they don’t know what they do".
The body of Jesus is taken to the
sepulcher. We are the
temples of the living God, he visits our souls in the Blessed Sacrament of the Holy
Eucharist, making us living sepulchers for the flesh and blood of our Savior who will
grant us the resurrection and eternal life. His words reverberate in our hearts, he is
continually saying: "Father forgive them, they don’t know
what they do".
Joseph of Jesus and Mary
The Work of God Apostolate
The
Work of God >> Divine
Mercy > Mercy of Jesus
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