"They will look at him whom they pierced" (Jn 19, 37). With these words the evangelist John closes his exposition of the passion of the Lord. Becoming a Christian means becoming a man, existing for others and existing from God. Looking at the open side of the crucified Christ, since this look is the intimate meaning of Good Friday. John thinks that the Church, deep down, takes its origin from the pierced side of Christ, even in a different way than how it has been expressed until now. He indicates that blood and water flowed from the wound in his side.
Blood and water represent for him the
two fundamental sacraments, Eucharist and baptism, which, in turn, mean the
authentic content of the essence of the Church. Baptism and Eucharist are the
two ways in which people enter the vital sphere of Christ. Because baptism means
that a person becomes a Christian, that he places himself under the name of Jesus
Christ.
The Eucharist means sitting at the
table with Christ, uniting us with all people, since by eating the same bread, the
body of the Lord, we not only receive it, but it takes us out of ourselves and
introduces us into it, thereby really forms his Church.
The open side once again becomes a
symbol of the opening that the Lord has given us with his death: the borders of
the body no longer bind him, the water and blood of his side flood history; for
having risen, it is the open space that calls us all. His return is not a
distant event from the end of time, but rather it began at the hour of his death,
when he left he reintroduced himself among us.
The sacraments of the Church are,
like the Church itself, fruits of the dead grain of wheat. Receiving them
requires us to enter into that movement from which they come. He demands of us
that self-losing, without which it is impossible to find oneself: "Whoever
wants to keep his life will lose it; but whoever wants to lose it for my sake
and for the gospel, he will find it."
These words of the Lord are the
fundamental formula of the Christian life. Ultimately, believing is nothing
more than saying yes to this holy adventure of losing oneself, which at its
most intimate core boils down to true love. In this way, the Christian life
acquires all its splendor from the cross of Jesus Christ; and the Christian
openness to the world, which we hear so much about today, can only find its
true image in the open side of the Lord, an expression of that radical love
that is the only one that can save us.
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