Starting on Ash Wednesday, Gulf Coast Catholic  will publish a seven-part series focused on each of the last seven messages of Jesus from the cross. The series is written by Father James Ruhlin, Pastor of Saint Michael the Archangel Catholic Church in Hudson Fl.

Hopefully this reflection will inspire you to contemplate the depths of the Lord’s message of love from the cross. 

“It is finished,” is the sixth word of our Lord from the cross. This phrase is used three times in Scripture: at the beginning of human history, at the end of time, and in the middle.

At the beginning of the Book of Genesis, we read: “So the heavens and the earth were finished” (Gen 2:1). At the end of time, we hear that phrase: “And there came a great voice out of the temple from the throne saying: It is done” (Rev 16:17).  Between these two extremes, we hear the words of our Lord on the cross: “It is finished” (John 19:30).

This sixth word of our Lord is a statement of peace. What is finished? The war against sin and evil for Christ’s work of atonement is completed. It is a victory; it is a consummation – something that could not be undone – peace with God. Jesus stayed on the cross until his work of redemption was finished. He would not compromise his Divinity; he would not compromise obedience to his Father’s will. Jesus would not minimize the horror of sin. In the sixth word, Jesus teaches us that no work is finished until we do it for the honor and glory of God.

From all eternity, God willed to make man to the image of His Son. After the fall of man, God in His Divine Mercy willed to restore man to his pristine glory. The instrument of our Redemption and of God’s love is the Cross of Christ. Only God could use the elements of man’s defeat as the elements of our victory. In the divine economy of redemption, the same three things that cooperated in the fall of man shared in his salvation. For the disobedient man Adam, there was the obedient man Jesus; for the proud woman Eve, there was the humble Virgin Mary; for the tree of the garden; there was the tree of the Cross. As the Lord was wrapping up this task of redemption, he cries out in triumph: “It is finished.” Jesus’ Passion avails us nothing unless we take up His cross and follow him. Sin is the great obstacle to the accomplishment of this task, for as long as there is sin in the world, Christ is crucified anew in our hearts. To sum up the importance of the sixth word of Christ from the cross, we can reflect on the following words from Archbishop Fulton Sheen:

“Dear Jesus, redemption is Thy work; atonement is mine, for atonement means atonement with Thy life, Thy truth, and Thy love.  Thy work of the Cross is finished, but my work is to take you down.”

Unless there is a Good Friday in our lives, there will never be an Easter Sunday. Unless we die to this world, we shall not live in the next. Unless we are crucified with Christ, we shall never rise with him. When we meditate on the crucifix, we discover three truths. First, if sin cost Jesus, who is Innocence, so much, then we who are guilty cannot take it lightly. Second, there is only one thing worse in all the world than sin and that is to forget that we are sinners in need of our Savior. Finally, more bitter than the crucifixion of our Lord is our rejection of that love by which we are redeemed.

This sixth word of our Lord is an invitation to embrace the cross in our daily lives so we can experience the fullness of God’s love in the Crucified Christ. Once we surrender ourselves, we make ourselves receptive. In receiving from God, we are perfected and completed. It is a law of nature and grace that only those who give will ever receive.

God bless,

Father Ruhlin