“Living the Paschal Mystery”

 (Homily/Conference delivered by His Eminence Gaudencio B. Cardinal Rosales, Archbishop of Manila, during the Mass celebrating the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven on August 15, 2006, at the Arzobispado Chapel.)

 

Brothers in the priesthood and sisters in the faith:

We now come to, and arrive at, the most difficult part or phrase of our apostolic vision. The most difficult! As we would soon see there are two moments in our vision, both difficult, with regard to the Paschal Mystery. The first difficulty is in understanding what really is the meaning of this Passing-over Mystery. What is the meaning?

And the second is, after knowing it at least by hint, how do I live it? How am I going to live it? Understand it. We have been quoting it again and again, but I do not understand. If ever, before this reflection is over we may understand it. If ever, so God will forgive us if we do not understand, so better not understand it, because if you understand it, you will be tasked to live it.

Sufferings’ meaning as a means

A question may be “why is there so much suffering around?” Why is there so much suffering in the world? Why is there so much suffering in the Philippines? And I ask you, "Why do you suffer?” Bring it down to the person. Ako? Bakit ako nahihirapan? Don’t tell me that there is a priest or layperson in this room who has never suffered, who has never been tried, who has never failed. Truth to say is that in life there are so many why’s, bakit, nano. But unless experienced, that “why” cannot make you wise. You’ve got to experience it!

Concretely put, the only way to overcome suffering that leads to growth is to experience the suffering. There are no painkillers, no anesthesia, and you find out that anything that does not belong to God is foolishness in trying to address this mystery of suffering. There is a saying that it is the roughness of the grindstone that sharpens the blade of the sword; it is the storm that hardens the oak tree or the acacia; and it is work that develops the muscles.

The key to one’s understanding of the Paschal Mystery is the Hebrew word “pasah”, "pasehu”, “paseh”. There are, I think 34 explanations of this in some commentaries and all them are mediated by blood. Lahat ay madugo. But let’s take “pasah.” What does it mean in Hebrew? It means to pass over, to skip. Ligtaan. Tumawid. To go across. This refers to the Avenging Lord of Exodus who skipped over or passed over the houses of Israelites and would spare the Israelite household upon seeing the blood of the lamb painted on the doorposts of their homes. (Exodus 12:13). But aside from referring to the refuge afforded by the lamb’s blood, skipping slavery to cross to the other side of freedom is possible only through the death of the lamb. It involves death. It is not then possible to cross to new life and therefore to freedom even, without having to pass from suffering and ultimately death.

The Paschal event or experience always goes through three phases, whether it is spiritual life, political life, cultural life, even botanical life. We will see as we go through the reflection, it’s always three phases. Tatlong bahagi. (I have put it in a table form.)

Even if you’re free if you don’t discipline yourself, you’re a slave, you are not going to develop character. As pastors and teachers we have to tell people of this and not just put on the superficials, changing facades. No way! The way of Jesus is to change the person. Pass through: passion, cross and death, resurrection. Those are the three main things in salvation, liberation. development, etc. Suffering, death, resurrection.

The Pasch in the Old Testament
and Jesus Christ as Pasch in the New Testament

(The passing over experience, yung pagtawid, karanasan ng pagtawid., we are all experiencing crossing overs. Right now, I’m crossing over. I am passing, tumatawid ako. Alam n’yo kung saan? Sa pagtanda. I’m crossing into old age. I’m 74 years old and I’m crossing into that. And I am going to cross my death, an end. All of us but some people miss it and it doesn’t make any sense.)

In the passing over experience, there always is the element of restriction (you cannot cross), conflict, difficulty, or crisis. In Exodus, the phase of conflict was the chosen people’s slavery in Egypt. All the sufferings, all the oppression and injustice and the inhumanity in the history of man are parts of the slavery portion of experience and life awaiting discovery and release towards its only potential, which is development, freedom and salvation. We’re moving that way. Ultimately salvation, but before that, development, freedom.

The second phase of the actual escape of the Israelites was the death of the entire first born of men and beasts alike. So you see, we were crossing to the most difficult. Nagduduguan na tayo. It must always be mediated by blood. So in the second phase there is now death but that death was signaled by the lamb’s blood. Yung dugo ng tupa that Yahweh said must by slain. The sacrificed death of the lamb was the sign of the night’s upcoming freedom. And the lamb’s meat was their “food”, actually their “viaticum” in that nocturnal flight to freedom. That night escape of the fleeing Israelites was leading them to safety and there was death of the lamb. There must be death to their enslavement; death to their fear that brings them to the better side of life.

So you see, we cannot cross to the other side without passing through death; an of experience death; what they say as vicarial dying, which is nothing but practicing for the final death that brings us to eternal life. All these things are practices and these things are leading us to that fullness of life that we are talking about.

And the third phase, the last, is without doubt, the freedom across the Sea of Reeds, the other side of now, a new life. The life of the free!

Again and again our lord Jesus Christ foretold his own destined glory, but always passing through three inescapable phases when he himself said, “The Son of man is going to be delivered into the power of men; they will put him to death, and on the third day he will rise up again.” (Matthew 16:22) You see the three stages: will be delivered to the powers of evil men; they’ll put him to death; and on the third day he will rise again. Tatlong stages. The phases are unmistakable in human experience.

SUFFERING, DEATH AND RESURRECTION .

The way of passing over from slavery to freedom, sin to new life, vice to virtue; passing over from poverty to riches (one which we are trying to address now, from poverty to sufficiency, maybe that’s the better way), from sickness to health, or even underdevelopment to progress are always mediated by blood or its equivalent. What is the equivalent of blood? Now listen to this! Sacrifice, discipline, abnegation and self control. Puro masasakit iyan. All are painful. And we miss the whole thing. Now we see in our new vision, all these things will matter, dearest brothers in the priesthood and lay people with us. They will open the eyes of our citizens and our brother priests again to the necessity of pain—the blood—sacrifice, discipline, abnegation, control.

It has been said that the noblest souls are the most tempted. The devil assaults the finest minds and the noblest spirits (J.L. Lawrence). If you’re not tempted, you’re not noble. You’ve got to be tried. You’ve got to struggle. If one’s target is success or if the desired object is human and spiritual advancement, then he or she must expect trials and affliction. This is what we share with the people in the Archdiocese. It is part of our vision, a vision of the Church and the vision of the community. And I am telling this to you so that you will share it with others. We know where we’re going but there is a caution—and we are all going to be tempted—and it comes from St. Peter. He said “Keep sober and alert because your enemy, the devil, is on the prowl like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” (1Peter 5:8). We are always the targets because we’re headed for something noble, that fullness of life that only comes from Jesus Christ, our brother and our teacher.

There is absolutely no exception—I will repeat brothers and sisters—THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO EXCEPTION to this developmental or liberation process.(SACRIFICE – DEATH – NEW LIFE).

No exception to SACRIFICE. No exception to the experience of DEATH in the vicarial sense. No exception to NEW LIFE. Those three must go together. And if you have not gone through it you’re less as a man and less as a woman. I could not in my own life, my experience, 74 years, that I’ve gone through death.

(This most important Paschal Mystery Experience (passing over event) – tumatawid tayo, eh, araw-araw. We’re crossing. And if you’re a mother, a parent, your children are crossing and sometimes you cross with pain with your daughters and your sons. Same thing with the priests. Your brothers and sisters in the family we cannot escape. Your parishioners, you cannot. And this is a must, if you are a human being created in the image of God before you claim that image you’ve got to sacrifice, die (death), (to) new life.)

This most important Paschal Mystery Experience called a passing over event has already been enunciated as a “must law” for all created life. A must law.

I was reading a book about Teilhard de Chardin. And he said something like … Of course this was the reason why he was censured by the Holy See (Bene parabile?). The reason why there was ____ about Teilhard de Chardin when we were students was some of the things he was staying was just a thin line between absolute truth and the possible ______ of the human person. He said something striking. We have been trained in theology that suffering is the punishment for sin. That’s the way I was born and I supposed it’s the same with you! Teilhard de Chardin said something like, even if man had not committed sin, and woman, still they have to suffer. Quite striking. When we say that it’s a “must law” for all created life, anyone who is created must suffer. Even Jesus. He has no sin but he took the risk out of love for us to become human. That humanity of Christ is created. The divinity of Christ is not created, therefore, Jesus, in order to cross, must suffer. You doubt that? I’ll tell you more.

When Jesus was foretelling his death he said, “Now the hour has come for the Son of man to be glorified. In truth I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls to the earth and dies it remains only a simple grain, but if it dies it yields a rich harvest.” (John 12:24) See! You begin to understand differently. The man, a mystic scientist like Chardin. You want to grow? Die.

The Mystery of the Passover tells us that there is no glory except only through the necessary passing through the passion and death. For the seed or the grain to produce new shoot and fruit it … for the seed, whether that be a mustard seed or a palay seed or a mango seed… it has to fall to the ground. Why? In order to die. Why? To continue to germinate new life, and then give the promised new fruit. Dying is the key to more life. Let me repeat that. Dying is the key to more life. Dying of course in the usual way is to shed blood but could instead be abnegation, control, sacrifice. You don’t have to shed blood. No! The blood, the pain takes place inside. Dying is the key to more life. Sacrifice and discipline provide the passage to better, freer new life and character.

Unfortunately we, my brother priests, have stopped talking about this. How soon we forget all this! No one comes to progress and success without sacrifice.

There is no glory with the cross. We’ve made this already a Good Friday sermon.

No Good Friday, no Easter Sunday.

No pain, no gain!

Alam natin yan! Hindi natin sine-sermon, hindi natin gagawin para hubugin ang karakter ng Filipino. Gusto natin yung madali!

How soon and how we always forget that restraint, discipline are necessary phases to progress, whether that progress is spiritual, material, industrial, social, political, or cultural, hindi maaaring hindi dito dadaan or all is deceit. Worse still is we cheat! Nandadaya tayo sa proseso. We cheat the process. We invent make-believe pass-overs or adventures, a death without pain, no sacrifice, no discipline, no renewal, and then pretend to enjoy a glory bereft of meaning and without virtue. Absolutely without virtue. Will we be able to cross? Or shall we make short-cuts and deceits every time, every five or seven years? Tandaan n’yo kasama natin si Kristo at si Kristo nagtuturo sa atin nito.

The PASCHAL MYSTERY within the PERSPECTIVE of our APOSTOLIC VISION in the ARCHDIOCESE OF MANILA .

The Vision states that we are called to become a community of people with fullness of life and witnessing to the Kingdom of God while living the Paschal Mystery. The vision does not only state that while living the pass-over mystery, fullness of life is being achieved. Our understanding of the Paschal Mystery as self-discipline, sacrifice, conversion, as suffering and death to one’s self, serve as the necessary means to achieve new life, virtue, character, and ultimately the equivalent of fullness of life in our vision. Paraan po ito. These are all means.

In the same manner our enjoying of life in the dominance of God as Father (Kingdom of God) in our life, our community and Church is assured only by the only process chosen and appointed by Jesus Christ—His Paschal Mystery (or our passing –over experience). Other than the mystery called the Pasch, there is no other way of proceeding to our human development or even eternal salvation.

Jesus is our Paschal Mystery. He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.” There is only one way proceeding towards development of the human person, society or country and it is the way of discipline, sacrifice, control of self and endless taming of one’s greed. No matter how looks at the process there is always the “death” part in the process. And I put “death” in quotation marks.

All of these are equivalent to what we now accept in Jesus as our PASCHAL MYSTERY or our crossing-over experience with all its pain, “death” and the rewarding moments of new life, freedom. All of them are achievable through, and in, Jesus Christ, his saving experience and our own struggles for the fullness we call the more, leading us towards the most in life.

Ask the Good Lord that we will have this. It is a process. Our Blessed Mother lived all these things that I talked about. It’s her feast today, therefore, in her honor we made this reflection which was truest in her life, more than any other person only next to Jesus. May Jesus through the intercession of Mary, our Mother, bless us.

In closing, I hope you did not understand because the next step is more difficult. But if you want our Church to move on, if you love your country, please I beg you, in Jesus Christ, let’s start to live this; to live this mystery we’ve talked about. It will bring us to the understanding of the power and the glory of Jesus and his greater generosity to share with us, really, FULLNESS OF LIFE.

+GB Rosales
August 15, 2006.