After an off-week last week due to the law school’s Spring Break, yesterday was the fifth gathering of the Lent Retreat in Daily Living at UST Law School. We began, as always, by giving the participants the opportunity to share in small groups something of their prayer experience over these past two weeks and addressing any questions or issues that arose.
I then gave a reflection on this week’s theme: The Seven Last Words of Christ. Jesus’ final teaching. As I suggested to my friend Mark Osler as I was preparing for this reflection, Jesus’ last words are a bit like a review session before the final exam of a course; taken together, these last words summarize what Jesus was about during his public ministry.
Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.
I assure you, today you will be with me in paradise
Woman, behold your son
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me
I am thirsty
It is finished
Father, into your hands, I comment my spirit
Many people spend time on Good Friday (which, amazingly, is a week from Friday!) reflecting on these words. My hope is that my talk, and the prayer material for this week, might aid you in that reflection.
You can access a recording of my talk here or stream it from the icon below. (The podcast runs for 19:18.) A copy of the prayer material for this week of prayer is here.
Creo en Dios! 