The Prayer of Christ on the Cross

"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from me, from the sound of my groaning?"

This blog took its name from the title of Hebrew psalm 22. For this post, I choose to use the version of this psalm from the Christian Community Bible; Catholic Pastoral Edition 56 (this Bible is available to read online), because the title and explanatory notes seem so poignant as Lent has arrived, as we wait with Christ, to fast and pray with Him.

Extracts from the notes: "The prayer is a passage from night to day. The first part is gloomy, the second is like a sunrise which gives new life and puts joy in the heart of humans. It is the long lament of the persecuted, who on the edge of the abyss are given assurance and certitude. From the beginning, Christian tradition has applied this psalm to Jesus himself. In fact, we find here the passion of Jesus...the humiliation of blows and the infamy of the cross...And yet, in the midst of this terrible darkness, a light in the soul of Jesus does not waver. He knows that in spite of this silence, the Father is always with him and the second part of the psalm is a song of trust which ends in a cry of triumph. The Crucified of Good Friday is transformed to the Glorious Lord..."

"A light in the soul of Jesus does not waver". How much do human souls waver, I wonder, before temptation or hardship, or even when there is none; during prosperity. Each word, phrase, verse, song in the Holy Book has been handed down from ancient times to remind His people to trust, to throw human fears up to heaven where, I believe, Jesus will catch them. Divine Love through the Cross and the Passion of this earth to the eternity. Divine Love creates us, Divine Love sustains us, and this, to me, is a huge comfort for my soul during Lent, to be able to be sustained while I try to fast and pray, offer alms, in the hope that for the next six weeks, I may approach the Passion of Our Lord a better servant and disciple, than when I started, having received my cross of ashes. One of the final invocations a Priest says in Latin during Holy Mass on Ash Wednesday, according to the 1962 Roman Missal; is the Prayer over the People;
"Look graciously, O Lord, upon us who bow down before Thy Majesty; that we who have been refreshed by Thy divine Gift may ever be sustained by Thy heavenly aid. Through Our Lord Jesus Christ..."

Blessed be God.