Please read the entirety of the March issue here.
Dear Brothers and Sisters:
“The Cross is the word through which God has responded to evil in the world. Sometimes it may seem as though God does not react to evil, as if he is silent. And yet, God has spoken, he has replied, and his answer is the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness. It also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us. Remember this: God, in judging us, loves us. If I embrace his love then I am saved, if I refuse it, then I am condemned, not by him, but my own self, because God never condemns, he only loves and saves.” (Pope Francis’ remarks at the conclusion of the traditional Good Friday Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum: March 29, 2013)
Over the past year, we as a world have probably often mouthed the question: “Where is our God?” Much like Job in the Old Testament, our planet has seemingly suffered so much these past twelve months. We have had to endure the COVID-19 pandemic, racial tensions, a bitterly contested presidential election, wildfires, hurricanes, and the list could go on and on. Does God care about our world, has he abandoned us and left us to our own designs?
We will soon enter into those days when we recall how God responded to evil in the world. During Holy Week we will recount the story of when God allowed His Own Son to suffer and die on the cross. As Pope Francis said: “…the Cross of Christ: a word which is love, mercy, forgiveness. It also reveals a judgment, namely that God, in judging us, loves us.” This is the way God has responded to evil in the world and continues to respond to our troubled existence…by loving us!
As we draw closer to Holy Week and reflect upon the year we have lived through, I invite you to look back at the past year to see the ways God has loved you. In the midst of the pandemic how have you felt the presence of God in your life? Perhaps the past twelve months we have spent in “lockdown” was our own journey with the Cross? As a world we are on the verge of rising from our own tombs…a tomb we have been in for these so many months. We enter Holy Week to reflect upon the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ so that we can truly celebrate His resurrection. While we still have a way to go before the vaccine is administered to everyone and the scourge of this pandemic is truly over, this Holy Week/Easter can be a time to remind us that God indeed walks beside us. God loves us and saves us. These past twelve months God has not forgotten us just as He did not abandon His Only Son on the Cross. The cross is indeed God’s response to evil in the world. Let us enter into Holy Week by embracing our own crosses so that we will truly live as risen disciples of the Lord.
From all the Redemptorists of the Baltimore Province, I wish you a Blessed Holy Week and Easter Season. My prayer is that all of us truly take the time to reflect on this great fact: “For God so loved the world that He gave His Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but may have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
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"Comfort, give comfort to my people, says your God." (Is: 40:1).
The Redemptorists invite you to a virtual Novena Prayer Service to Our Mother of Perpetual Help on Saturday, March 20 at 10 a.m. (EST) on Facebook or on YouTube. The theme is: Mary Stands Beneath the Cross in Silence.
Come, be refreshed, and cultivate the comfort and support of the Most Holy Redeemer and His Mother so that you may receive countless blessing in your life and in petition for those you love. The Novena Prayer Service will be posted on the third Saturday of each month at 10 a.m. (EST).
In the Spirit of the Redeemer,
Paul J. Borowski, C.Ss.R.
