Transcript of Abbot Clement's Homily on Good Friday, April 9, 2004
It doesn't seem possible to reflect on the Passion without some reference to Mel Gibson's film. What had Mel Gibson accomplished? He has the entire world considering the Crucifixion. In one moment, he has set before the eyes of our agnostic world culture the sacrificial death of the God-made-man, by which the entire universe is reconciled to the Father. Period!
He has turned the world's attention away from itself and toward Christ on the cross. The world doesn't know what to do. In its confusion, the media cries foul and hurls politically correct accusations. Yet in the present anti- Christian culture and specifically anti-Catholic climate, the accusations sound as hollow as they really are. The statement was made years ago that "anti-Catholic attacks are the anti-Semitism of the intellectuals." And sad to say this is true. There is more in the protests against the film than what meets the eye. But, despite the howling, the fact remains: Christ crucified is at the heart of the discussion about this movie.
What has Mel Gibson done? A forty-seven year old man, after seeing the movie, called his father and became reconciled. A mother of a difficult special child kept repeating the phrase: Not my will but yours be done when dealing with difficult situations with her child. Sometimes the child became calm, at other times she received strength, or thought of more creative ways to deal with her child. Many were deeply touched so that they understood Jesus' love for them. One person even confessed he murdered a girl friend and turned himself in. Mel Gibson has accomplished what our lenten season is all about.
The wisdom of the Church has told us again and again to meditate on the passion of Christ as the source to make us grow in virtue quickly and to become a lover of Christ. The film proves this point.
Further the Epistle to the Hebrews states that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. First, we are reminded of the great ceremony on the Day of Atonement when the High Priest dare not enter the Holy of Holies "without taking blood that he offers for the sins of the people" (9,7). Behind that lies the Mosaic Covenant commitment which likewise could not take place without blood (9,18), since Moses sprinkled the book, the people and the tabernacle and its vessels with blood and spoke words that point forward to the Eucharist: "This is the blood of the Covenant, which God has offered to you". It is clear that blood atones for life (Lev. 17,11).
This section of the Epistle to the Hebrews serves to clarify the mystery of the Cross, which in turn explodes the first statement that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood. It asks: How could the blood of rams and bulls remove sin in the conscience? He answers in the person of Christ, the High Priest: taking his own blood, once for all he entered the Holy ofHolies who by the power of the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God. The High Priest comes before the Father once for all meaning "always now" with his own blood that was shed in the eternal Spirit thereby winning eternal redemption for us so that we hence forth might serve the living God. (9,12,14). This is the blood of the New and eternal Covenant presented to us daily in the Eucharist. It circulates in the members of the Body of Christ so that we possess a single and unified life.
It is interesting to listen to God's answer to Catherine of Siena when she ask our Lord why he permitted his heart to be pierced through. He said: "My yearning for the human race was limitless, but my temporal work of bearing suffering and torment was limited. Therefore I wanted you to see the secret of my heart by opening it up and offering it to you. In this way it should be clear to you that my love was greater than what I could reveal by my limited suffering. That is the way it is when the power of the Divine and Infinite nature united with a human and finite nature suffered in me.. .thus this work is an infinite work. Had it not been limitless, the entire human race—those living now as well as those who have died and those who are yet to come—could not have been saved." Decisive here is the divine wound, a bleeding that pulses with life from the other side of death. It is the source of living water in the new Eden that flows out of the center that keeps life circulating in the members of His Body, you and me.
On the 24th of Nov. 1929 Jesus said to Concepcion de Armida, the Mexican mystic confirming his revelation in Hebrews: "Souls cost me the price of my blood. Only with this price is it possible to redeem them. It is the currency for purchasing graces." He went on to say: "The souls of my priest I purchased with the blood of my Heart, that is to say with its thorns and sorrows that is a price without price for my beloved priests."
So we have a great, incomparable treasure in the blood of the covenant. This is the cup of my blood, the blood of the New and everlasting covenant. It will be shed for you and for all so that sins may be forgiven. Let these words ring in our hearts, today in sober gratitude but forever in trust and joy.