To be Broken and Given

He was born in a crib and died on a Cross. At birth, he had the company of animals and at death the company of two thieves. His birth was announced to the shepherds. He chose fishermen to be his apostles. He lived in Nazareth and was known as a Carpenter’s son.

“ You are the light of the world,” he said. The moment a light is lit, it begins to die. Light is light, only if it gives. The sun, a lamp, a torch, or a candle is not meant to be safely locked up for fear of death. Its identity is to give and give and gradually die.

Again he said, ”You are the salt of the earth“. Salt is meant to be thrown into boiling water. Only by losing its shape and size, it can give taste. It serves its purpose by dying and giving.

Again he taught, ”Unless a grain of wheat falls and dies it remains a single grain”. Only by going under the mud and losing its shape and colour, a grain of wheat can produce a hundredfold.

“ I am the bread of life”, he said. Unless bread is crushed and eaten it cannot bring life and health. He is the bread crushed for the life of the world.

The night before he died, “taking a towel, wrapped it round his waist”, he knelt,  and washed the feet of his friends, eloquently and powerfully, giving a lesson that that our life is meant to serve and to be given.

“He took some bread, gave thanks, broke it, and gave it”. This is the last sermon he preached, before his death, a  sermon in action. It is the summary of his life and preaching. He was chosen and consecrated by the Father, sent into the world to be broken, and given for the life of the world.

This is a summary of what our lives are meant to be - ‘chosen, consecrated, broken and given’.

The Cross was not a misfortune that came to Jesus at the end of his life. It was for this he was born. He was born onto a Cross. He lived in the shadow of the Cross, and the theme of the Cross is what he lived and taught, the Beatitudes are the victory anthem of those weighed down by the Cross, the stable, the salt, the light, the bread, and the grain of wheat, the towel, are all the Stations of the Cross.  Finally, when the Cross came, he embraced it and gave himself for all on it, and after three days the ‘Grain of Wheat’, sprouted and came forth, yielding a hundredfold for the life of the world. “ It is by giving that we receive, it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.”

                                                 -        Fr T.V.George sdb