Today’s Scripture readings are bathed in LOVE. Jesus told us in John 15:13 “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” But on Calvary, He poured out his blood for all of us…friends and enemies. Or as St. John told us in 1John 4:10, “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the expiation for our sins.” Filled with the joy of the resurrection and the Holy Spirit, St. Peter reluctantly, but obediently, took the message of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ to Cornelius and the Gentiles. His obedience bore “fruit that would remain” (as Jesus said in today’s Gospel, John 15:16) in the Church, which is His body. Thus was fulfilled the refrain of the responsorial psalm from Psalm 98: “The Lord has revealed to the nations His saving power.”
Example of Love
St. Catherine of Siena said, “God is crazy in love with us.” (“pazzo d’amore” in Italian). Five young men who were crazy in love with God and the command to share the Good News found themselves dead at the end of spears on January 8, 1956 on a tributary of the Amazon River in Ecuador. LIFE magazine broke the story three weeks later, when a search party found their bodies on a beach along with a camera containing the first known pictures of the then called Auca Indians, who are now called Waodani. One of the missionaries was Jim Elliot, who wrote in his diary, “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.”
His wife Elizabeth Elliot, who became an author of 20 books on Christian living, and Rachel Saint, the sister of the pilot of the plane, Nate Saint, were later invited by the Waodani to come and live with them. The Indians who had killed these missionaries wanted to know what had compelled them to willingly die to teach them about a God who could bring peace. The Waodani thought that they must either spear and live, or be speared and die. They were exhausted by this cycle of ongoing violence. This story is beautifully portrayed in the movie, “The End of the Spear.” Gilberto, grandson of one of those killers, said that the spear has been replaced by the Bible, which is used to rescue lives, not to kill.
Dying for Love
Jesus Christ was led like a lamb to the slaughter. He took all of the world’s hatred and cruelty upon himself, suffering the most excruciating of all deaths. Then He cried out to His Father God, “Forgive them for they know not what they do.” Jesus made excuses for us until His dying breath. But his final cry was one of victory. In Aramaic, he cried “Ho Mashalam”, or “It is finished” in English. To make certain that “this imposter, the King of the Jews,” was truly dead, a Roman soldier pierced His heart with a lance and blood and water poured forth. In that moment, as Saint Augustine says, the Church was born through Jesus’ gift of the water of baptism and the blood of the Holy Eucharist. The veil of the temple was torn in two. As Hebrews 9:12 says, “Christ entered once and for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” All of the world’s violence and invective were thrown at Jesus Christ on the cross. At the Resurrection Jesus returned saying “Peace. I love you.”
Reflect: How do we respond to this kind of love? Would we be willing to die to share this love?
Wow. The Waodani story is incredible and fits so well with the readings. God Bless those five martyrs – rather than it being the end, their death was only the beginning. They died without knowing the incredible change they would bring about. Thank You Dave.