Thursday, November 11, 2010

Friday: The Losing/Saving Mystery

"Sacrifice" is the word that envelopes a mystery, how the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has become for humanity its highway to redemption. 

And what is the "sacrifice"?  St. Luke's gospel points out the answer:  whoever seeks to preserve his/her life, loses it; yet whoever loses (sacrifices) it will save it.

The mystery is how the sacrifice of the Son of God from the moment of conception to the moment of death becomes so pivotal for all humankind.

Jesus Christ made the singular sacrifice to guarantee that each person who enters the world at the Father's will would never be deprived of redemption.  Truly death brought death to never ending condemnation.

The mystery of the redemptive sacrifice invites humanity to mount the Calvary cross with the dying Jesus through the various sacrifices that individuals make in their lives to prevent and to atone for sins.

Our lives are a "mixtum gatherum" of events and moments of confusion and complexity.  Ever present in our world is the need to sacrifice what can separate us from Jesus Christ.