Blanca Amigot González | The Rosary Network
As I lived this year’s Easter Week in the silence and emptiness of the city of Madrid, I came to a realization. I was on my way home after praying Stations of the Cross on the morning of Good Friday, when I began to ask myself, “What does this time mean to me? How does this relate back to my life? What does this time from the moment of The Lord’s Passion until the Easter Vigil have to do with me?” I began to really reflect on what had just happened and most importantly, on why it had just happened.
Jesus Christ is not alive because He is killed by the people. He is dead in the tomb, and as a result, all of the tabernacles of the world are empty. The day is quiet as it mourns the death of the greatest one.
That’s when I say to myself, “But, I didn’t yell out ‘Crucify Him’, I didn’t put a crown of thorns on His head, or nails on his hands and feet. I didn’t make Him carry a Cross, and I surely didn’t deny Him three times.”
Or… did I? Do we not? Surely not intentionally directly at Him. I mean, what kind of humans would we be right now if we participated in such a cruel, violent, and horrific crime? I think this parable from the Gospel according to Matthew relates this back to us entirely:
Matthew 25:31-46
‘When the Son of Man comes in his glory, escorted by all the angels, then he will take his seat on his throne of glory. All nations will be assembled before him and he will separate people one from another as the shepherd separates sheep from goats. He will place the sheep on his right hand and the goats on his left.
Then the King will say to those on his right hand, “Come, you whom my Father has blessed, take as your heritage the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you made me welcome, lacking clothes and you clothed me, sick and you visited me, in prison and you came to see me.”
Then the upright will say to him in reply, “Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you drink?
When did we see you a stranger and make you welcome, lacking clothes and clothe you? When did we find you sick or in prison and go to see you?”
And the King will answer, “In truth, I tell you, in so far as you did this to one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did it to me.”Then he will say to those on his left hand, “Go away from me, with your curse upon you, to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you never gave me food, I was thirsty and you never gave me anything to drink, I was a stranger and you never made me welcome, lacking clothes and you never clothed me, sick and in prison and you never visited me.”
Then it will be their turn to ask, “Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty, a stranger or lacking clothes, sick or in prison, and did not come to your help?”
Then he will answer, “In truth, I tell you, in so far as you neglected to do this to one of the least of these, you neglected to do it to me.”
And they will go away to eternal punishment, and the upright to eternal life.”
This parable relates the Passion of the Lord back to us as it allows us to see that what we do for others is directly what we’re doing to Jesus. When we’re loving our neighbor, we are loving Him too. We are healing His wounds, helping Him carry the cross, taking away a little bit of His pain and loneliness, and kissing His feet.
However, it is also all of those times that we don’t love, that we don’t care for, or accompany our neighbor, that we are and were hurting Jesus. All of the time that because of our selfishness, our pleasure, our personal goals, our pride, and our ego, we neglect and hurt the reputation of others who needed us.
Others that with our love, would have otherwise been better off. All of the times that we loved ourselves rather than the one next to us, we are neglecting Jesus, and similarly, we are hurting Him at the cross.
So, with that in mind, and with a true desire to love Jesus and to dry His wounds, and kiss His feet at the cross, we pray to Him that we love one another, especially when it is the most difficult, and when we’re going to have to humble ourselves, and put ourselves last (just like He did). We ask Him that until the Easter Vigil, He give us the spirit of truly regretful sinners who promise to, from now, love Him through others.
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Blanca Amigot González is one of the two daughters of María Blanca González de Amigot
