Musings on the Passion and the Apostles
I commiserate with you on the current state of the Catholic Church the world over. Attendance at Mass by baptized people is very low and receiving forgiveness through confession extremely low. No wonder, when the many members of our clergy are committing or have committed sexual crimes against us. Some of our Cardinals, Archbishops and Bishops have abetted their deviant clergy by reassignment rather than firing them. We are left with a huge scandal which has broken the trust of many people in the authenticity of our Church.
We do see very positive signs within the Church of reformation. Yet the damage to our trust in them, results in even more people turning away. Most people have a view that being a priest means you live saintly lives. Much of their trust is based on their attitude toward the Church itself. Now that our Church has received a global wake-up call, positive results continue. However these men of God are men, just like the twelve apostles.
We need to take hope that holiness will improve among our clergy which will engender a holier people in increasing numbers. Let us examine the Passion of 2000 years ago and learn about the weakness of these men and Jesus’ hope in their becoming good shepherds.
Jesus had a most important Thursday evening supper with his apostles who had been with Him for three years. They had witnessed most of His miracles, heard most of His preaching, and helped Him in performing corporal and spiritual works of mercy. Now, Jesus rewards them by training them to be priests. He performed for them a miracle of changing bread and wine into His Body and Blood which they all ate. Jesus explained to them the power and the glory of being spiritual leaders after He died. Wouldn’t all of them feel elated that each would have a leading roll in spreading Jesus’s message? Wouldn’t they be especially attentive to the needs of Jesus?
Jesus leads them into the gardens of Gethsemane for an after supper stroll. Only Jesus knows he will be arrested there with the help of Judas one of His apostles. He asked His three most important apostles, Peter, James and John, to tarry with Him while He prayed nearby. Jesus prayed alone to His Father for courage and strength to endure His Passion. He walked over to His three leaders and found them asleep. What is this? After all Jesus had done with and for them, they didn’t keep Him company. Jesus probably started having serious misgivings about His apostles being ready to take charge. Jesus woke them and advised them to be alert. Jesus walked back to His prayer site and continued praying; but He was very troubled about His misgivings for entrusting His mission to them. He walked over to them a second time and they had fallen asleep.
Jesus was very upset. He returned to pray to His Father to postpone His Passion because He had little or no confidence that His apostles were ready to take charge. The Holy Spirit talked with Him, as in “It’s a Wonderful Life”, and showed Him the tremendous blow to His salvic mission and the absence of the blessings that the people of God would not receive. The Holy Spirit said that He resides in the souls of the apostles and would be vibrant in His continuous guidance to them and all disciples until the end of the world.
Jesus realized that He also must have faith in the Divine plan of salvation. Jesus said to His Father that “not My will, but Your will will be done”. Jesus felt mighty encouraged and strong to endure His Passion. So he returned to His three leaders who had fallen asleep again. He awakened them with a scolding and they continued their stroll. Then Judas, His traitorous apostle walked toward Him accompanied by many armed men of the Temple guard. Judas hailed Jesus and kissed Him. Jesus was abruptly seized by the guard and enchained. Only loyal Peter defended Jesus with sword while the other ten apostles fled, fearing for themselves only. Imagine how Jesus felt! After three years with the twelve one betrayed Him and ten deserted Him.
Jesus is taken to trial before the Jewish court and Peter trails behind. While Jesus is being tried, He likely hears Peter in the courtyard denying three times to people that He knows Jesus. Now Jesus is truly alone! Three years with twelve apostles has not yet yielded any fruit. Now Jesus faces His Passion suffering alone.
What do you think of these apostles? They eventually were given power by the Holy Spirit as promised by Jesus. We can only say these twelve were merely men, not Gods. They were part of the Jewish population which was referred to by God and prophets as stiff-necked people ~ “their way or the highway”. Yet after they were ordained by the Holy Spirit, they “walked the walk.” They became saints, proving that one can “walk the walk” by dedicating themselves to follow the inspirations and promptings of the Holy Spirit. This salvic mission has continued for 2000 years, praise be to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
We must pray for the Holy Spirit to prompt our clergy to put their primary mission of being shepherds to their sheep and lambs, rather than protecting their sinful clergy. Our trust in the truths of our faith should never be shaken. Our trust in our clergy needs to be earned, yet we must pray for them with a forgiving heart.
Submitted by Paul D Kearns
Responses to: cispkearns@aol.com
March 18, 2008 © modified 09/09/08
