Coming together in Christ

There are two bowls of water in the story of the Passion. One is Pilate’s, used to scrub himself of all responsibility. The other is the one with which Jesus bathes others, soaking them in lavish love.

The two bowls are always before us in life. Jesus shows us that when you take the side of the dispossessed, your spirit deepens and grows. When our self-obsession is reduced, your life expands and your horizon enlarges. To pick up the towel is not to become a doormat. We are called, not to serve people’s wants, but their needs. We serve others in the name of Christ. We share what we have, but, more importantly, who we are, especially with people who are rejected and alienated. They are the life presence that transforms us by showing us the heart of God, the prophets, preachers and provocative witnesses of the Gospel. They challenge us with questions that disturb and disquiet us, as they lead us into looking at the Passion and Easter with new eyes and hearts.

Easter invites us to remember the Lord when we gather as a community for the Eucharist. He entrusts his future in the world to us in the Church.

John Cullen, The Sacred Heart Messenger, April 2022