| | Sacrificial Nature | | — Fr Peter M.J. Stravinskas | | | Q: During the Easter homily, our pastor told of an incident that occurred on Easter Sunday, when someone spray-painted (in reference to God the Father and Jesus the Son) the outside wall of the church with the following, “How could a father kill his own son?” Although the pastor went on to address this question, his explanation (somehow) was lost on me, probably due to my inability to follow along in the abstract. To me, this question is a profound one, and I wonder how you would answer.
A: In reality, of course, the Father did not kill His own Son; sinful human beings did, and, as the Council of Trent reminded us, we continue to do so every time we sin.
There is a very deep theological issue here nonetheless related to divine love, and that is this: God the Father loved us so much that He |
| sent His only Son to live and die for us, and the Son desired to make His Father’s will so completely His own and loved us so much, that, in fact, He freely, willingly and lovingly gave His life for the human race. This is the mystery of God’s love not the story of a vindictive God who would demand a pound of His only Son’s flesh. Thus did the Father hope, literally, to “love us” into loving Him. True love, of the sacrificial nature, has a transformative power, and when we are not moved to conversion by it, that is a signal that our hearts are still hardened and far from God. People who have not had this experience of the Father’s mercy towards us can only see vengeance and wrath, and they end up misunderstanding the most critical truth of the Christian Faith.
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