Homily- Sermon of the Seven Words
We contemplate the crucified man who has a sign above his head, INRI, the initials of four Latin words, which translated into Spanish say: Jesus of the Nazarene, King of the Jews. We see a victorious King, attached to the cross by several through nails, we see a calm, betrayed King, we see a faithful King, crowned with thorns, we see a peaceful King, with the mark of 40 lashes, we see a King peaceful with a wound in his heart pierced, we see a King with outstretched arms to gather the crucified and crucifiers and at the same time we are before a praying King with confident hope in his Father God despite the fact that he is apparently abandoned and this King of suffering accepted in peace for love of his Father God and his children, he leaves his dying testament in these 7 Words that we have heard.
Tonight we present to our crucified King all the moments in which we have felt crucified, crowned with thorns, scourged, despised. We present the wounds of our hearts. Let us write down all these pains of ours and place them at the foot of a cross or under a picture and pray:
On this afternoon, Christ of Calvary,
I came to beg you for my sick flesh;
but, when I see you, my eyes come and go
from your body to my body with shame.
How can I complain about my tired feet,
When I see yours destroyed?
How can I show you my empty hands,
when yours are full of wounds?
How can I explain my loneliness to you,
when on the cross lifted up and you are alone?
How can I explain to you that I don’t have love,
when your heart is torn?
Now I don’t remember anything,
All my ailments fled from me.
The impetus of the prayer that he brought
it drowns in my begging mouth.
And I only ask not to ask you for anything,
to be here, next to your dead image,
learn that pain is only
the holy key of your holy door. Amen.
It may happen that at times we become crucifiers and make family members, friends, neighbors, innocent people and many others suffer. God never tires of forgiving us. We just have to recognize that we did evil and because of that evil people suffered. Recognizing evil, we ask forgiveness from God and those we crucified and we prepare to never again cause suffering to those we have marked with painful wounds. And we pray to God that the crucified and crucifiers become peacemakers. A priest, a deacon, a nun, can help us heal our wounds and rebuild our lives. They are available. Look for them. We recognize that we have done wrong:
I CONFESS like this, without hesitation and without detours,
BEFORE GOD ALMIGHTY,
before which there is nothing hidden.
AND BEFORE YOU, BROTHERS,
to whom I am also guilty and responsible,
THAT I HAVE SINNED A LOT, just as it sounds: that I am worse than I seem and
When they judge me badly they fall short, because I have sinned in every way
possible:
OF THOUGHT, WORD, WORK AND OMISSION
and I don’t blame anyone because it has always been
FOR MY FAULT, FOR MY FAULT, FOR MY BIG FAULT but I am sincerely
repentant, so much so that I am going to repair my sins as soon as possible and in the most
full possible.
Now, I see that I need all the goodness of God to deserve forgiveness and all its
strength to rebuild my life.
THAT IS WHY I PRAY TO HOLY VIRGIN MARY, TO THE ANGELS, TO THE SAINTS AND
YOU, BROTHERS, PRAY FOR ME BEFORE GOD, OUR LORD.
Tonight we want to turn our sufferings into prayers like Christ on the cross. We pray for each of our mothers whose children we have made suffer. We pray for the stricken children who were in the same mother’s womb, who crucify their mother. Their reconciliation will fill the mother with happiness. We pray for the children of the Virgin of Charity who are in conflict and the Virgin in their midst so that they may live in peace.
We pray for the mothers of children who are sick, imprisoned, troubled, disabled, emigrants, deceased and we ask all mothers to hold a picture of the Virgin of Charity against their hearts and pray for their children and thus peace will return.
We pray to the Virgin:
Hail you, Queen and Mother of Mercy,
life, sweetness and our hope.
God saves you.
We cry out to You, the banished children of Eve,
To You we sigh, groaning and crying in this valley of tears.
Come, then, Lady Our Lawyer,
return your merciful eyes to us,
and after this exile, show us Jesus,
blessed fruit of your womb.
Oh, clement, oh pious, oh sweet Virgin Mary.
Pray for us, Holy Mother of God,
so that we are worthy of achieving the promises of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
The crucified Jesus was accompanied by his mother, his good friend Juan Evangelista and some brave and comforting women. We thank God for so many good people who accompany us in our pain and are there, they don’t talk much, but their close presence strengthens us.
How wonderful to feel at our side people who cry with us, suffer with us, walk with us, hug us and never leave us alone!
The best comforter for a sick person is another sick person. The best comforter for someone who cries is someone who knows about tears.
Each suffering person does not lock himself in or stay with his pain. Comfort those who suffer the same. As Christ speaks from his cross to those who carry such crosses and accompanied suffering becomes peace for the consoler and consoled.
Nothing disturbs you,
Nothing scares you,
Everything passes,
God doesn’t move
Patience
Everything reaches;
Who has God
Nothing is missing:
God alone is sufficient.
Elevate the thought,
rise to the sky,
don’t worry about anything,
Nothing disturbs you.
Follow Jesus Christ
with big chest,
and, come what may,
Nothing scares you.
Do you see the glory of the world?
It is vain glory;
nothing is stable,
Everything passes.
Aspire to the celestial,
that always lasts;
faithful and rich in promises,
God does not move.
Love her as she deserves
Immense goodness;
but there is no fine love
Without the patience.
Trust and living faith
keep the soul,
that whoever believes and hopes
Everything reaches it.
From hell harassed
although it is seen,
will mock their fury
Who has God.
Helplessness come to him,
crosses, misfortunes;
God being his treasure,
Nothing is missing.
Go therefore, goods of the world;
go, vain sayings,
even if I lose everything,
God alone is sufficient.
Let’s pray:
May your blessing, Lord, descend abundantly upon your people who are preparing to celebrate Holy Week with the hope of the Holy Resurrection of Christ; Your forgiveness comes upon him; grant him your comfort; increases your faith; multiply his love and guide him to eternal salvation, through Christ Our Lord. Amen.