The Seven Last Words of Christ: The Seventh Word

"Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."

Luke 23:46

Bas-relief, Church of the Ascension of Christ in Bolshaya Nikitskaya Street,
"Church of the Small Ascension" (Moscow)

Christ Jesus, you had done nothing wrong (Lk. 23:41) and there was no deceit in your mouth, but you were condemned to death “by a perversion of justice” (Isa. 53:9, 8).  Righteous one, you suffered for us, the unrighteous (1 Pt. 3:18).  In you, the dawn from on high broke upon the shadow of death (Lk. 1:79), laying bare the dark recesses of human hearts, so you became a sign opposed by a generation under “the power of darkness” (2:34; 11:29; 22:53).  When “darkness came over the whole land...and the sun’s light failed” (Lk. 23:44–45), your righteous suffering threw the world's injustice into stark relief; even your executioner saw your innocence (23:47). 

Righteous one, when you were abused, you did not return abuse; when you suffered, you did not threaten; but you entrusted yourself to the one who judges justly (1 Pt. 2:23).  When you were “betrayed into human hands” (Lk. 9:49), you freely placed yourself into the hands of your Father.  When you—who were conceived by, lit upon and filled by, the Holy Spirit (Lk. 1:35; 3:22; 4:1)—commended your spirit to the Father, you were returning all that you are and have to the One who says to you, “‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased’.”*  

Child of the Lord’s handmaiden (Ps. 86:16; Lk. 1:38, 48), in the boundless depth of your self-offering, you perfectly express the prayer you gave your mother, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word” (Lk. 1:38).  Son of Adam, Son of God (Lk. 3:38), when you presented yourself, “with loud cries and tears,” to the One who was able to save you from death (Heb. 5:7), you were the perfect prayer.  “All the troubles, for all time, of humanity enslaved by sin and death, all...petitions and intercessions,” are gathered in your cry.†  In your last words on the Cross, your prayer is the gift of your self.

* Lk. 3:22.  Cf. Raymond Brown, The Death of the Messiah, 2:1068.

† Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2606.