Today,
evangelist John tells us that Jesus' time «had not yet come»
(Jn 7:30). He is referring to the hour of the Cross, to
the precise and precious time of his submission for the sins of the
entire Humankind. His time has not yet come, but it is getting very
close. It will be Good Friday when our Lord will bring to its end his
Celestial Father's will, while feeling —as Cardinal Wojtyla
wrote— all «the burden of that hour, when the Servant of
Yahweh must accomplish Isaiah's prophecy, by pronouncing his “Yes”».
Christ
—in his continuous priestly longing— spoke many times
about this definite and determining hour (Mt 26:45; Mk
14:35; Lk 22:53; Jn 7:30; 12:27; 17:1). The Lord's life
will be completely dominated by the supreme hour and He will
long for it with all his heart: «But, there is a baptism with
which I must be baptized, and how great is my anguish until it is
accomplished» (Lk 12:50). And «before the feast of
Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world
to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the
end» (Jn 13:1). That Friday, our Redeemer shall hand
over into the Father's hands his spirit and, as of that moment, his
mission already completed shall become the mission of the Church and
of all its members, pushed by the Holy Spirit.
After
Gethsemane hour, after his death in the Cross and his
Resurrection, the life initiated by Jesus «underlies all
history» (Catechism of the Church, n. 1165). Life, work,
prayer, Christ's submission is being now made present in his Church:
it is also the hour of the Lord's Body; his hour
becomes our hour, the time to join him in the prayer of
Gethsemane, «always awake —as Pascal asserted— by
his side, in his agony, till the end of time». It is the
hour to act as living members of Christ. This is why «The
prayer of the Hour of Jesus always remains his own, just as his
Passover “once for all” remains ever present in the
liturgy of his Church» (Catechism of the Church, n.
2746).
