With Jesus, we are victorious: Our participation
in the Easter Mystery
By
Cardinal Justin Rigali
The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines the word “vicarious”
as meaning: “experienced or realized through imaginative or sympathetic
participation in the experience of another.” Even if we have never
thought of the word, we have most likely experienced the reality. One
of the clearest examples of vicarious participation in something or
in the actions of another involves the interest of many people in sports.
Fans of a particular team refer to themselves as “we” in
relationship to their team. In times of defeat, they share in the sadness
of the team. In times of victory, this association is most apparent
as the many fans call out: “We’re number one!” Psychologists
tell us that this reflects a desire in the innermost part of a person
to belong to someone or something. Of course, the players may know that
there are many fans in the stands or before the television set cheering
them on with great loyalty, but they do not know the fans personally.
For the most part, even the greatest fans of a particular player do
not know that player intimately or on a personal level. However, they
participate in a manner we call “vicarious” in these activities.
Most of the time, this is a harmless activity and a true source of joy
and relaxation to the faithful fans, as they vicariously share in the
defeat or victory of their favorite teams and players.
The victory of Jesus
This Sunday we celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and
His victory over death. It is most important to remember that in our
celebration of this victory, we are not mere spectators nor are we engaging
in an exercise in psychology. Jesus tells us time and time again that
we are true sharers in His victory, if we believe in Him and take up
our own cross. Jesus becomes an intimate part of our nature by His Incarnation
and He draws us up to Himself by His Death and Resurrection. How is
this so?
Towards the end of the fifth century, Pope Saint Leo the Great (400-461)
said: “Christian, recognize your dignity.” What is this
dignity? First, let us remember the dignity of the human person as a
creature of God. Let us proclaim, in season and out of season, that
every person, regardless of the circumstances of his or her conception
or birth, has been willed to exist by our loving Creator. The Book of
Genesis, reminds us that: “God created man in his image; in the
divine image he created him; male and female he created them”
(1:27). The sin of our first parents destroyed, for a time, the peace
in which they had been created and had been intended to live. However,
the very circumstances of their sin, which was their defeat by the devil,
contained the seed and image of the salvation to come. In the very context
of their punishment, God promised that they would one day be saved through
a woman (Genesis 3:15). The tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
which was the instrument of the sin of our first parents, becomes the
image of the wood of the Cross, which would be our salvation. In a mysterious
way, at the very time of the sin of our first parents, the mission and
person of Jesus were foretold.
The language and images used in the Book of Genesis indicate a true
and personal relationship with God on the part of our first parents.
Although this relationship was broken through their sin, it was God’s
intention from the beginning that we have such a relationship with Him.
As this relationship was broken through man’s sin, so it would
be restored in a marvelous way through Jesus, who would become man for
us. The relationship is personal, sin is personal and Redemption would
be personal. In the highly impersonal age in which we live, it is most
important for us to remember this because it fills us with great hope
and true joy.
God the Son becomes one of us
Unlike the merely vicarious union between a sports fan and a team or
an individual player, God the Son truly becomes one of us when He becomes
flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This is an event of the greatest
importance. This is why we bow or genuflect in the Profession of Faith
when we say: “by the power of the Holy Spirit He was born of the
Virgin Mary and became man.” The Incarnation is not merely a symbolic
act, it is a true union of the Son of God with us. This is why Jesus
can tell us to be like Him, to listen to Him, to learn of Him, to do
this in remembrance of Him. He speaks with the authority of God but
He uses human language so that we might understand. In a recent Wednesday
audience, Pope Benedict spoke of Pope Leo the Great, whom we referenced
above. He made special note of the fact that Pope Leo presided over
the Council of Chalcedon (451), which clearly defined at a very early
stage in the life of the Church, the union of the divine and human natures
in the one person of Jesus Christ. If we do not understand the dignity
of our creation by God and the union of Jesus with us, we cannot appreciate
His victory. “The Resurrection of Jesus is the crowning truth
of our faith in Christ, a faith believed and lived as the central truth
by the first Christian community; handed on as fundamental by Tradition;
established by the documents of the New Testament; and preached as an
essential part of the Paschal mystery along with the cross” (Catechism
of the Catholic Church, 638).
The Cross as part of God’s plan
Even according to our human experiences, we know that work, effort and
even suffering most come together if we are to experience any type of
victory. I think of those who struggle with the many human weaknesses,
as we all do, that are part of our human condition. I think of the heroism
of the alcoholic person who refuses a drink; of the young person who
refuses to take drugs, even under great peer pressure; of the spouse,
who resists temptation in order to be faithful in marriage. All of this,
and so much more, involves a great struggle.
As our Lord worked towards what He called His “hour,” that
spiritual struggle resulting in His Passion and Death, He extended many
invitations to us to share in the Cross that would be His. This is because
He wanted the victory, which He would ultimately win, to be our victory
as well. He tells us: “If anyone wishes to come after me, he must
deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke
9:23). To the apostles James and John, who wanted to bypass the cross
and gain glory for themselves, Jesus says: ”Can you drink the
cup (of suffering) that I drink?” (Mark, 10:38). One of the beautiful
aspects of what we might call a “Catholic culture is that phrases
which are actually expressions of our faith become a part of our vocabulary.
My brother priests tell me about the goodness of our people, who will
say in the midst of life’s difficulties: “We all have our
cross to bear.” This is a splendid expression of the mysteries
we are discussing here and their integration into our Christian lives.
When we are asked to enter into the mystery of the cross with Jesus,
we do not always accept it with such a willing spirit. “Sometimes
we would like to say: ‘Lord your yoke is not at all light. It
is, rather, tremendously heavy in this world.’ But in looking
upon Him who bore it all—who knew in His own person obedience,
weakness, pain, all the darkness—then our complaints die off.
His yoke is that of loving together with Him. And the more we love Him,
and together with Him become persons who love, the more light His seemingly
heavy yoke becomes for us” (Pope Benedict XVI, Homily, Mass of
the Chrism, April 8, 2007).
Not a shallow victory
It is no secret that we live in an age of instant gratification and
shallow pleasures. Over and over again, we have seen the lack of true
fulfillment and lasting joy that these illusions bring with them. Jesus
has attacked our sinfulness at its root. He does not forget the sin
that came through a tree but He leads us by His own humility and patient
teaching to another tree—the tree of His Cross. “God wanted
to learn what obedience means for us; He wanted to take stock of everything
on the basis of His own suffering, this invention of His love for us.
In this way, He can Himself bear what it is that we experience—what
is asked of us, suffering” (Saint Gregory Nazianzen, Discourse
30, Theological Discourses).
This victory that Jesus has won for us makes us victorious both in life
and in death. “When sin reached its full extent, the grace brought
by Jesus Christ came in superabundance. Through Baptism this grace reaches
each of us and frees us from the control of sin. When we receive this
sacrament we die; that is to say, our blameworthiness is destroyed,
we renounce sin once and for all, and are born again into a new life”
(Commentary on Romans 1-11, Navarre Bible). This new life, brought about
by the victory of Jesus, restores the order that was once broken by
the sin of our first parents. It makes forgiveness possible and it leads
us, through the teaching and example of Jesus, through a godly life.
We are led not in a state of confusion or doubt but by clear teaching
and example. However, the life of grace which is our participation in
the victory of Jesus here on earth, is not meant to be permanent. “When
sacraments shall cease,” as we sing in a hymn, the degree of grace
we possess will be transformed into the degree of everlasting glory
we will enjoy in Heaven: our ultimate sharing in the victory of Jesus!
A Blessed Easter to you and your loved ones.
March 20, 2008
Cardinal
Rigali's Lenten Letter 2008