When Jesus
finished all these words, he
said to his disciples:
"You
know that in two days' time it will be Passover, and the Son of Man will be
handed over to be crucified." (Mt 26, 1-2)
A very moving fact is recorded in the Annals of Humanity.
There was a King with his only Son who was the delight of
his life! He had a slave. It happened that the slave rebelled against the King,
and so he enchained him, kept him in prison, and condemned him to death.
Now while the days of his execution is about to come, the
King’s son, moved by an unexplainable love towards the slave, offered himself
to die on his stead, because the King is just, and his justice must be
satisfied!
He offered Himself, and upon entering the prison he found
the slave, embraced him and said to him: go, I give up to you my rights before
my Father, I will die for you, and I only ask you to remember me! The sentence
is executed: the son of the King is killed instead of the slave, and he possessed
the Kingdom.
You understand well the meaning of this parable even though
it could never happen between simple mortals, but happened in the person of our
Lord Jesus Christ.
Man is the slave, God the
Father is the King, Jesus the Son.
Jesus Christ stood
in our place: we
sin and He paid the penalty! we were condemned to eternal death, and he
offered himself to an ignominious death. And so he redeemed us from slavery, he brought for us
eternal things, he made us inherit the Kingdom.
But he wants from us one thing: that we remember of his pains, and suffer with him. So, let come and see Jesus: today he is
all disfigured. Otherwise, whatever aspect that he takes throughout the
33 years of his mortal life, He is always
beautiful! He is no less beautiful in his passion
than he was in his glory: not less beautiful in Calvary than on the Cross. Because
what makes Jesus beautiful is Love! Love made him to incarnate,
Love made him to be borne - Love made him to
starve, Love made him speak and perform
wonders, Love made him suffer and die!
(St.
Hannibal M. Francia, Writings,
vol. 11 ch.
2 File 1874)
