“After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), ‘I thirst.’” – John 19:28

After agonizing to the point of sweating blood, days spent in prison, being brutally whipped and crowned with thorns, and after the long road to Calvary carrying his cross, is it not too trivial to speak of thirst? I believe the Lord was calling our attention elsewhere, and the Church shows the way to us with the Scripture readings chosen for this holy season. This year, we were told on the second Sunday of Lent that, just before his Passion, Jesus was transfigured on Mount Tabor, shown together with Moses and Elijah in splendor, speaking of his coming Exodus.

On the following Sunday, we read from the book of Exodus. After having been delivered from slavery and brought through the Red Sea, the people of Israel grew increasingly weary from thirst and became angry that Moses ever led them into the desert. “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” they cry. Moses, tried but never abandoned by God, was instructed to take the same staff with which he parted the Red Sea, and to strike a rock from which came a stream of water for the people to drink.  Here, we can see Jesus in both Moses and in the people. Like the Israelites, he himself was dying of thirst, perishing on the wood of the Cross like they were perishing in the desert.  Just as Moses drew water from the rock, so did water come forth from Jesus’s pierced side. In his humanity, Jesus suffers exactly as we do, thirsting not just for water but for our love, for lost souls to return to him, and for a world healed from strife and division. In his divinity, he refreshes our spirit to strengthen us on our journey to Heaven. He brings us life through the waters of Baptism, in which catechumens across the world will be washed tomorrow night and raised to a new life of grace. Along with the water from his side came his precious blood, in which we are washed whenever we seek forgiveness in the sacrament of Confession.

Paired with the reading from Exodus is the Gospel passage of the Samaritan woman at the well, when Jesus asks her to give him water to drink. As though the Lord completely lost interest in his need for water, he tells her “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” The one who drinks this water, he tells us, will never thirst again. Though Jesus is himself the source of this living water, he did not avail himself of it. “I thirst” – in his Passion, he drinks only from the cup of suffering given to him in Gethsemane. Though master of the universe, he is content to allow himself to be deprived not just of water, but of any feeling of comfort or relief. Our Lord chose to suffer in the greatest measure he could. He brought together in one act the suffering and longing of humanity with the mercy and compassion of God. On the Cross, he is both the Lamb of God and the Good Shepherd, both the sacrificial lamb and the high priest. The Passion is both the greatest revelation of the love of God for man, as well as the perfect expression of man’s love for God – a pure gift of self to bring about the Kingdom on earth. 

We all thirst, if not for water then perhaps for understanding, compassion, or meaning, and above all we thirst for Christ. Our world certainly thirsts for peace and justice. In remembering this act of God’s immense love, we are reminded of the hope that comes with our longing. Today, we can turn to Jesus for this living water. Let us pray that in two days, we may rise to new life with him, and that we can bring this water to those close to us and to a world which is ever thirsting for the coming of Christ’s Kingdom. 

Daniel Ogulnick

Tenebrae for Good Friday begins with a reflective reading of Psalm 22, a psalm quoted 13 times in the gospel stories of the Passion of Jesus. The psalm reveals someone in the midst of hard suffering, yet with no bitterness, no complaints of injustice, no lashing out against an enemy. It reveals Jesus in his Passion to us.

“We meet a simple abandonment into the hands of God, and in this surrender there is peace. The psalmist asks so little of God; only that God hear his cry of abandonment. (v.2) Once God induces a mystic presence so that the psalmist can whisper ‘You heard me’ (v 21) the psalm modulates into a song of Thanksgiving.

“The psalm leads us into the suffering heart of Jesus,” who does not simply reflect on his own sufferings; he identified himself with the agony and faith of generations of persecuted, afflicted peoples.”
(Fr. Carroll Stuhlmueller, CP, Psalm 1, Wilmington, Del, USA 141-151)

In his passion, then, Jesus is aware of more than his own suffering. Our reading from the Letter to the Hebrews sees Christ as high priest of the good things that have come to be. “ (Hebrews 9, 11-28)

What are “the good things that have come to be? ” Even on Calvary we see them. Blood and water flow from his side as the soldier pierces him with a lance. Blood and water are universal signs of life. Humans need both to live.

In our final reading for Tenebrae, Saint John Chrysostom sees in blood and water Christ fashioning his church, as Eve was fashioned from Adam’s side as he slept a deep sleep. Blood and water are signs of Christ’s gift of life to us. He offers us life-giving sacraments.

The saint says further: “As a woman nourishes her child with her own blood and milk, so does Christ unceasingly nourish with his own blood those to whom he himself has given life.”

More than whips and thorns and nails, good things come about on Calvary. Jesus give us life here, life that conquers darkness and death.

The Chrism Mass is typically celebrated on Holy Thursday before the Triduum. The bishop of a diocese blesses the holy oils used in the sacraments of the church. The oils are taken to the parish churches of the diocese where they are enthroned and used for various sacraments:

1. Oil of Catechumens: The oil used to anoint those preparing for baptism, signifying cleansing and strengthening. It is a symbol of the Holy Spirit who frees us from sin and fortifies us for our journey of faith.
2. Oil of the Sick: The oil used in the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick, bringing healing, comfort, and strength to those who are ill.  It signifies God’s grace and presence, offering physical and spiritual healing, as well as forgiveness of sins .
3. Holy Chrism: The oil, a mixture of olive oil and perfume, consecrated by the bishop for use in the sacraments of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Orders.  It signifies consecration and the seal of the Holy Spirit, marking individuals as belonging to Christ and empowering them to share in his mission.  The word “Christ” (Messiah) means “the anointed one,” highlighting the connection between Jesus and the anointing with oil .

Holy oils are tangible signs of God’s grace and presence in the lives of believers. They accompanyi us in significant moments of our faith journey, from initiation into the Church to healing and preparation for eternal life ⁶.

We are entering the most sacred period of our church’s year, the Easter Triduum, a time all are invited  to participate in the mysteries of Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection.  The  three-day observance begins on the evening of Holy Thursday and reaches its high point on Easter Sunday, concluding with evening prayer..

The Triduum includes:

Holy Thursday, when the church commemorates the Last Supper, during which Jesus instituted the Eucharist, the sacrament of his Body and Blood. On Holy Thursday morning, before the Triduum, the Chrism Mass also takes place, when sacramental oils are blessed for use in the churches sacramental life.

On Good Friday,  the church listens  to the account of the Lord’s Passion and venerates the wood of the Cross.

Holy Saturday begins with silence and prayer in anticipation of the Easter Vigil is a  celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. At the Easter Vigil the saving power of the Paschal Mystery is communicated through baptism.

In summary, the Triduum is a three-day period encompassing Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday, culminating in the celebration of Easter Sunday. It is a time to remember the Passion, death, and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, the central events of the Christian faith.

Matthew’s gospel today, “Spy Wednesday”, describes the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, one of his disciples. He approaches the chief priests offering to betray Jesus and is given thirty pieces of silver. Then he joins the other disciples at the supper.

Jesus announces “One of you will betray me.”   “Surely it is not I?” Judas says. “You have said so,” Jesus answers. 

We wonder what Judas’ motives were and how God ultimately judged him. He was the first who “left Jesus, but let’s not forget there were others too.

Our first reading from the Book of Isaiah focuses on the Servant of God, Jesus, who does not turn away from his work of forgiveness, in spite of those who beat him. Though “an outcast to his brothers and a stranger to his mother’s sons” he does not draw back from the work of mercy.

“Lord, in your great love answer me,” His prayer is “for the poor and his own in bonds.” Is his prayer for Judas?  

When Jesus rose from the dead, his disciples must have questioned him about Judas as well as their own failure to be loyal to him. He answered them by going through Moses and all the prophets. I think the readings we have for our Easter Vigil is a summary of what he told them.

The Book of Genesis, the first reading of the Vigil, sees God’s original plan for humanity and all creation. The prophets speak on an outpouring a cleansing water refreshing a fallen world. The Word made flesh came to restore and recreate the world.  God reaches out to all in the mystery of his death and resurrection.

Today is a day to see us all, Judas, the disciples of Jesus, and ourselves offered the mercy of God.

John’s gospel points to Bethany as the place where Jesus and his followers stayed when they came to Jerusalem. He ate with Martha, Mary and Lazarus there. Today Bethany is part of East Jerusalem, a contentious area in our times.

My community, the Passionists, have the Church of St. Martha and a retreat house in Bethany. Olive trees still grace the land, as they did in Jesus’ time. Ancient caves are found here. They probably provided shelter for pilgrims to the feasts. Could Jesus have stayed in a cave like this? Bethany evokes memories of the time Jesus was here. 

The traditional tomb of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead,  is a short distance from St. Martha’s, although an Israeli security wall blocks access to it now.

From Bethany Jesus and the others would walk a couple of miles to the temple. His claims there unsettled the city’s leaders, so he would return to the safety of Bethany, among friends. Judas knew the place. On Holy Thursday he gave Jesus up as he prayed in Gethsemane, the Garden of Olives, just over the hill from Bethany.

Luke’s narrative of the Passion mentions a crowd of people followed Jesus on the way to his death “including many women who mourned and lamented him. ” 

Women from Galilee followed him to Jerusalem. They were there when he died and was buried.. Mary, his mother was one of them. Martha and Mary from Bethany would have been there too. Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the other women from Galilee must have stayed in Bethany. They must have returned there after his death and burial.

Would Lazarus give them some comfort and hope?