Cooldude

Q7. (Luke 23:46) What does Jesus mean when He says, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit"? Why does this saying comfort us so much? His task is finished here on earth so now Jesus, as an obedient son, seeks His just reward of being seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven. The saying gives too much comfort because Jesus set examples on His entire journey that God always listens to prayers. Jesus succeeded through prayers up until His last moments here with us. So please allow me then to share my favorite prayer: "Lord Jesus, the Son of God, help mercy on me, a sinner." O Divine Jesus, through Your Face and Name save us. Our hope is in the virtue of Your Holy Name!

Q6. (John 19: 30) What had Jesus "finished"? What can we learn for our own lives from this sixth word: "It Is Finished"? Jesus finished the test of faith. He has succeeded in elucidating the essence of His incarnation: The triumph of good against evil. The scripture was fulfilled and the gateway opened for the spread of Christianity. The sixth word made us learn the fruitful outcome of obedience, trust and surrender to God's will...for "whatever God designs is perfect."

Q5: (John 19:28) What do you learn fro Jesus' Fifth Word:"I Thirst"? What does this tell us about Jesus? What does this tells us about His experience on the cross? The Fifth Word tells us about the reality of Jesus' incarnation. Unthinkable punishment He has endured for our sins...hard to express what else to say except pray: LORD, HELP US TO SIN NO MORE! Jesus' thirst did not merely pertain to bodily relief but His Thirst for belief, love, compassion, obedience and repentance from all of us. Christ's experience of suffering on the cross tells us about His determination to fulfill what was written and His resolute surrender to God's will for our salvation.

Q4: What does Jesus fourth word from the cross teach us about faith? About commitment? About love? What effect should this understanding have in our lives? It taught us to be stronger in faith no matter how heavy the trials may be; being confident that God is always there to save us through fervent prayers for: "Many are the afflictions of the righteous; But the Lord delivers him out of them all (Ps. 34::19)...Jesus clearly sets at example even as the Son of God. We are commited to obey and accept the will of our creator for:"The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and His ears are open to their cry" (Ps. 34:15). God loves us so much that He offered His only Son to suffer and die on the cross and so it is imperative for us to love back; Is this too hard for the asking? We are only creations: "God is all we have, in Him should we put our hope" (Lam. 3:24)

As His closest confidant and most beloved apostle, Jesus entrusted the care of His Mother Mary to St. John. He gave him this responsibility instead of relying on His own brothers..."For not even His brothers were believing in Him" (Jn. 7:5). The provision that Jesus has arranged for His Mother tells us how Jesus loved Her and His obedience to His Father's 4th commandment (Ex. 20;12). This also tells us that in this instance, Jesus did not show omnipotence as the Son of God, but as a Man, a Son who respects and deeply cares about His Mother's welfare after He is gone. We can apply this in our own lives if we make a concrete realization of His words "Follow Me"(Jn. 1:43). Jesus is our Lord, Savior and Teacher; moreover He is our Divine Leader, a Leader who have many times shown "Leadership by Example."

The thief's faith is so astounding because he feared God; accepting his fate due to his misdeeds, he nevertheless felt the presence of God's promise of forgiveness through his co-sufferer Jesus Christ. That day the thief received a free passport to the kingdom of God personally presented to him through the ensuring words of the Lord. The event gave an encouraging meaning to "faith", a "strong faith" coming from a desperate man who have gone through sinful natures in his life but at the last hour recognizes the "One" who will save his soul from the wrathful fire in hell.

Jesus' suffering and death on the cross were all in accordance to the fulfillment of the Scripture and in glorification to God's will. He willingly preferred death rather than disobey His Father. "He humbled Himself by being obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross."(Phil. 2:8) "And He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness."(1Pt. 2:24) Our incomprehension to His teachings led to His death though He always knew that all of these teachings will sink in our wandering minds until later. Jesus prayed for us so that "we may know God, the only true God, and His Son Jesus Christ whom He has sent."(Jn. 17:3)