We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you.

Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world

Reading

Isaiah 53:4-7 New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised Catholic Edition (NRSVACE)

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases;
yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have all turned to our own way, and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth.

Meditation

Responsibility.  This has a double edged meaning – on the one hand it speaks of one who bears the burden for a particular situation or job.  And on the other hand, it speaks of someone who is at fault.  Both are at work here.  We bear the responsibility for our sins – no one else.  But it is Jesus who bears the burden.  In fact we should be most careful not to say that God laid the burden on him as if He was picking on Jesus as some special kind of victim – but it is God IN Jesus who takes on our burdens and takes on the responsibility of doing something with them.  Of leading, in other words and of providing a solution for us because responsible as we are for our own sins we do not have the power to deal with them.  They hang over us like a sword of Damocles.  It is God who ‘steps up’ in Jesus and relieves us of the burden through His love and compassion.  How do we deserve such a privilege?  What have we done to earn it?  Nothing!

Question

Jesus bore the weight of our sins silently and without rancour or resentment – do I bear with others faults, inadequacies, temperaments, weaknesses without judgement, and with love?  What do I need to be able to do this peacefully and joyfully?

Our Father………..Glory be……………Hail Mary………….

Prayer

Jesus, you are Lord and Master, and yet you take on our faults and take responsibility when we cannot.  Help us to find the grace of gratitude for such an amazing gift.  Amen.

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