Last word from the cross

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The sayings of Jesus on the cross (sometimes called the Seven Last Words from the Cross) are seven expressions biblically attributed to during his crucifixion. Traditionally, the brief sayings have been called «words».

The seven sayings are gathered from the four canonical gospels.^[1][2] In Matthew and Mark, Jesus cries out to God. In Luke, he forgives his killers, reassures the penitent thief, and commends his spirit to the Father. In John, he speaks to his mother, says he thirsts, and declares the end of his earthly life. This is an example of the Christian approach to the construction of a gospel harmony, in which material from different gospels is combined, producing an account that goes beyond each gospel.^[3][4]

Since the 16th century, these sayings have been widely used in sermons on Good Friday, and entire books have been written on theological analysis of them.^[3][5][6] The Seven Last Words from the Cross are an integral part of the liturgy in the Catholic, Protestant, and other Christian traditions.^[7][8] Several composers have set the sayings to music.

Overview[edit]

In the following table, the seven sayings are arranged according to their traditional order.^[9] However, all seven sayings cannot be found in any one account of Jesus’ crucifixion. The ordering is a harmonisation of the texts from each of the four canonical gospels. Three of the sayings appear only in Luke and three only in John. One other saying appears both in Matthew and Mark, and another («It is finished») is only directly quoted in John but alluded to in Matthew and Mark.^[3]

Quotations here and throughout this article are taken from the King James translation, except where otherwise noted.

Sayings of Jesus on the cross	Gospel of	Psalm
Matt.	Mark.	Luke	John
Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.			23:34
Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.			23:43
Woman, behold thy son! and Behold thy mother!				19:26–27
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?	27:46	15:34			22:2
I thirst.				19:28	22:16, 69:22, 42:1
It is finished.				19:30	22:32
Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.			23:46		31:5

Theological interpretations[edit]

Traditionally, these seven sayings are called words of:

1. Forgiveness,
2. Salvation,
3. Relationship,
4. Abandonment,
5. Distress,
6. Triumph, and
7. Reunion.^[1]

The sayings form part of the Stations of the Cross, a Christian meditation that is often used during Lent, Holy Week and Good Friday.

The Dominican author Timothy Radcliffe sees the number seven as significant, as the number of perfection in the Bible. He writes that as God created the world in seven days, «these seven words belong to God’s completion of that creation».^[10]

Historicity[edit]

James Dunn considers the seven sayings weakly rooted in tradition and sees them as a part of the elaborations in the diverse retellings of Jesus’ final hours.^[11] He does, however, argue in favour of the authenticity of the Mark/Matthew saying, in which Jesus seems to describe himself as forsaken by God. This would have been an embarrassment to the early Church, and hence would likely not have been invented.^[11] Leslie Houlden suggests that Luke may have deliberately excluded this saying from his gospel because it did not fit in with the model of Jesus he was presenting.^[3][6]

The seven sayings[edit]

1. Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do[edit]

Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.

— Luke 23:34^[12]

This first saying of Jesus on the cross is traditionally called «The Word of Forgiveness».^[1] It is theologically interpreted as Jesus’ prayer for forgiveness for the Roman soldiers who were crucifying him and all others who were involved in his crucifixion.^{[13][14][15][16]}

Some early manuscripts do not include this sentence in Luke 23:34.^[17] Biblical scholars such as Bart Ehrman have argued that it was omitted by some scribes because of anti-Judaic sentiment around the second century.^[18]

2. To day shalt thou be with me in paradise[edit]

And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.

— Luke 23:43^[19]

This saying is traditionally called «The Word of Salvation».^[1] According to the Gospel of Luke, Jesus was crucified between two thieves (traditionally named Dismas and Gestas), one of whom supports Jesus’ innocence and asks him to remember him when he comes into his kingdom. Jesus replies, «Verily I say unto thee…» (ἀμήν λέγω σοί, amēn legō soi), followed with the only appearance of the word «Paradise» in the gospels (παραδείσω, paradeisō, originally from Persian pairidaeza, «paradise garden»).

A seemingly simple change in punctuation in this saying has been the subject of doctrinal differences among Christian groups, given the lack of punctuation in the original Greek texts.^[20] Catholics and most Protestant Christians usually use a version which reads «today you will be with me in Paradise».^[20] This reading assumes a direct voyage to Heaven and has no implications of purgatory.^[20] On the other hand, some Protestants who believe in soul sleep have used a reading which emphasizes «I say to you today», leaving open the possibility that the statement was made today, but arrival in Heaven may be later.^[20]

3. Woman, behold, thy son! Behold, thy mother![edit]

When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.

— John 19:26–27^[21]

This statement is traditionally called «The Word of Relationship» and in it Jesus entrusts Mary, his mother, into the care of «the disciple whom Jesus loved».^[1]

Jesus also addresses his mother as «woman» in John 2:4.^[22] Although this sounds dismissive in English, the Greek word is a term of respect or tenderness.^[23][24] Catholic commentators, on the basis of these two passages, often connect Mary with the «woman» of Genesis 3:15, and the «woman clothed with the sun» in Revelation 12, and therefore see this title of «woman» as a justification for the veneration of Mary as a second Eve.^[25]

4. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?[edit]

And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

— Mark 15:34^[26]

And the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

— Matthew 27:46^[27]

This is the only saying which appears in more than one gospel,^[1] and is a quote from Psalm 22:1. In both accounts, the words spoken by Jesus have been transliterated from Aramaic into Greek, and there are slight differences between the two versions (Mark: Ἐλωΐ, Ἐλωΐ, λαμὰ σαβαχθανί; Matthew: Ἠλί, Ἠλί, λεμὰ σαβαχθανί). These differences are most probably due to dialect. Matthew’s version seems to have been more influenced by Hebrew, whereas Mark’s is perhaps more colloquial.^{[citation needed]}

In the verses immediately following this saying, in both gospels, the onlookers who hear Jesus’ cry mistakenly believe him to be calling for help from Elijah.

This saying is taken by some as an abandonment of the Son by the Father. Another interpretation holds that at the moment when Jesus took upon himself the sins of humanity, the Father had to turn away from the Son because the Father is «of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong» (ESV).^[28] Other theologians understand the cry as that of one who was truly human and who felt forsaken. Put to death by his foes, very largely deserted by his friends, he may have also felt deserted by God.^[29]

Others see these words in the context of Psalm 22 and suggest that Jesus recited these words, perhaps even the whole psalm, «that he might show himself to be the very Being to whom the words refer; so that the Jewish scribes and people might examine and see the cause why he would not descend from the cross; namely, because this very psalm showed that it was appointed that he should suffer these things.»^[30]

Although the gospel writers transliterate Jesus’s words as lama sabachthani, the phrase as found in Psalm 22 is lama azavtani (למה עזבתני). Azavtani translates as «left, abandoned, forsaken», but the word sabachthani is not found in any early Jewish texts. It may derive from zavah, meaning «to sacrifice, slaughter», in which case the word may have been chosen to emphasise the connection between the crucifixion of Jesus and the Passover sacrifice.^[31]

A. T. Robertson noted that the «so-called Gospel of Peter 1.5 preserves this saying in a Docetic (Cerinthian) form: ‘My power, my power, thou hast forsaken me!‘«^[32][33]

5. I thirst[edit]

After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst.

— John 19:28^[34]

This statement is traditionally called «The Word of Distress» and is compared and contrasted with the encounter of Jesus with the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4.^[1]

Only John records this saying, but all four gospels relate that Jesus was offered a drink of sour wine. In Mark and Matthew, a sponge was soaked in the wine and lifted up to Jesus on a reed; John says the same, but states that the sponge was affixed to a hyssop branch. This may have been intended as symbolically significant, as hyssop branches are often mentioned in the Old Testament in the context of the use of sacrificial blood for ritual purification.^[35]

This statement of Jesus is interpreted by John as fulfilment of the prophecy given in Psalm 69:21, «in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink»;^[36] hence the quotation from John’s gospel includes the comment «that the scripture might be fulfilled». The Jerusalem Bible cross-references Psalm 22:15: «my palate is drier than a potsherd, and my tongue is stuck to my jaw».^[37]

6. It is finished[edit]

When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

— John 19:30^[38]

This statement is traditionally called «The Word of Triumph» and is theologically interpreted as the announcement of the end of the earthly life of Jesus, in anticipation for the Resurrection.^[1]

The Greek word translated «It is finished» is tetelestai (τετέλεσται).^[39] The verse has also been translated as «It is consummated.»^[40] On business documents or receipts it has been used to denote «The debt is paid in full».^[41]

The utterance after consuming the beverage and immediately before death is mentioned, but not explicitly quoted, in Mark 15:37 and Matthew 27:50 (both of which state that Jesus «cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost»).

7. Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit[edit]

And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

— Luke 23:46^[42]

From Psalm 31:5, this saying, which is an announcement and not a request, is traditionally called «The Word of Reunion» and is theologically interpreted as the proclamation of Jesus joining God the Father in Heaven.^[1]

The words of Luke 23:46, or the fuller Psalm 31:5, have subsequently been attributed as last words of famous people, especially those considered pious Christians, such as martyrs or saints.^[43][44][45] These include
Philip the Apostle (died AD 80),^[46] Basil the Great (AD 379),^[45][47] Charlemagne (died 814),^[45][48] Ansgar (865),^[49] Thomas Becket (1170),^[45][50] Jan Hus (1415),^{[45][51][44][52]} Christopher Columbus (1506),^[45][53] Ludovica Albertoni (1533),^[54] Martin Luther (1546),^[55] George Wishart (1546),^[56] Lady Jane Grey (1554),^[44][57] her father Henry, Duke of Suffolk (1555),^[45] Thomas of Villanova (1555),^[58] Mary, Queen of Scots (1587),^[45][44][59] Aloysius Gonzaga (1591),^[60] Torquato Tasso (1595),^[44] Turibius of Mogrovejo (1606),^[61] John Bruen (1625),^[62] George Herbert (1633),^[45][63] Covenanters including Hugh Mackail (1666) and James Renwick (1688),^[45] and Christian Friedrich Schwarz (1798).^[64]

See also[edit]

• Musical settings of sayings of Jesus on the cross
• Stations of the Cross
• Aramaic of Jesus
• Crucifixion of Jesus
• Life of Jesus in the New Testament
• Three Hours’ Agony

References[edit]

Bibliography[edit]

• Butler, Alban (1866). The Lives of the Saints. Dublin: James Duffy – via Bartleby.com.
• Lockyer, Herbert (1975). Last words of saints and sinners. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Kregel Publications. ISBN 978-0-8254-3102-9.

Further reading[edit]

• Anderson-Berry, David (1871). The Seven Sayings of Christ on the Cross. Glasgow: Pickering & Inglis Publishers.
• Knecht, Friedrich Justus (1910). «The Seven Last Words on the Cross and the Death of our Lord» . A Practical Commentary on Holy Scripture. B. Herder.
• Long, Simon Peter (1966). The Wounded Word: A Brief Meditation on the Seven Sayings of Christ on the Cross. Baker Books.
• Pink, Arthur (2005). The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross. Baker Books. ISBN 0-8010-6573-9.
• Rutledge, Fleming (2004). The Seven Last Words From The Cross. Eerdmans Publishing Company. ISBN 0-8028-2786-1.

Every year on Good Friday, Christians meditate on the depth of Jesus’ sacrifice for us in suffering a humiliating, bloody death by crucifixion. It’s a time to dwell on what Jesus suffered for us, in all its pain and intensity, without rushing straight ahead to the good news of Easter, resurrection, and new life.

The Last Words of Jesus

One of the ways Christians have traditionally meditated on Good Friday is by reading and reflecting on the seven last words of Jesus from the cross. Luke records the final words of Jesus before he died on the cross:

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. (Luke 23:44)

Significance of Jesus’ Last Words

This passage is a moving account of Jesus’ dying words. When everything was said and done, Jesus’ work on the cross was all but complete, and his proclamation, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” finished the work. The significance of Jesus’ statement lies in a conversation he had with religious leaders about his role in God’s great plan:

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I make take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father. (John 10:14)

No one took Jesus’ life from Him. God had given him a specific task. That task was to lay down his life on behalf of the world (John 10:18).

Just as it was Jesus’ God-given task, it was also Jesus’ choice to lay down his life.

When we read of Jesus before his crucifixion, the gravity of this choice becomes even more apparent. In Luke 22:39, Jesus spends an intense evening in prayer, wrestling with the reality of the task ahead of him. Going so far as to ask God to remove the task, to make another way, Jesus ultimately concludes that God’s will must be done.

The Seven Last Statements of Jesus

1. Matthew 27:46 tells us that about the ninth hour, Jesus cried out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

2. “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34). 

«By interceding for His transgressors through this prayer, Jesus fulfilled the Old Testament prophecy foretold by Isaiah hundreds of years prior. This prayer, from upon the cross particularly, would have been a confirmation of His identity to those awaiting their beloved messiah, as described by the prophets of God.» (excerpt from Why Did Jesus Say «Father Forgive Them,» Amy Swanson)

3. “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise» (Luke 23:43).

Jesus was blameless, without sin, and was not guilty of such a horrific death, but two men who were guilty of their crimes hung next to Him that fateful day. Both men spoke to Jesus, but only one would die to be greeted into the promise of Heaven. The response of Jesus in this instance was profound to the criminal, as He promised this sinner that he too would enter the gates of Heaven to live in Paradise, not later but that day!» (excerpt from What Did Jesus Mean When He Told the Thief «Today You Will Be with Me in Paradise»? Cally Logan)

4. “Dear Woman, here is your son!” and “Here is your mother!” When Jesus recognized His mother standing near the cross with the Apostle John, He entrusted His mother’s well-being to John’s responsibility.  (John 19:26-27). 

«Jesus established a new relationship between His beloved mother and His beloved disciple. He said to her, «Woman, behold your son, for whom, from now on, you must have a motherly affection,» and to John, «Behold you mother, to whom you must pay a sonly duty.» And so from that hour, that hour never to be forgotten, that disciple took her to his own home.» (excerpt from Why Did Jesus Say «Woman Behold Your Son»?)

5. “I am thirsty” (John 19:28). Here, Jesus was answering the Messianic prophecy from Psalm 69:21: “They put gall in my food and gave me vinegar for my thirst.”

We might equate “thirsting” with Christ’s call to “hunger and thirst after righteousness” (Matthew 5:6). Another possible connection would be to link this statement with Christ’s invitation that all who are thirsty are invited to drink from the waters of life (Revelation 22:17). These interpretive links are not necessarily wrong. It is out of this place of physical exhaustion that Jesus declares his thirst. The hours spent in the sun, coupled with his physical pain, would have created mild, if not severe, dehydration. Jesus speaks of his own thirst out of a natural human need for sustenance and relief. On the cross, Jesus is physically thirsty.» (excerpt from What is the Meaning and Significance of Jesus Saying «I Thirst»?, Rev. Kyle Norman)

6. “It is finished!” (John 19:30). The work His Father had sent Him to do, which was to teach the Gospel, perform miracles, and achieve reconciliation for His people, was fulfilled. The debt of sin was paid.

«Jesus is saying in “It is finished” that the debt owed by man to his Creator on account of Adam’s sin is finally and forever dealt with. Jesus, with “it is finished,” is saying not only does He take away man’s sin, but now He removes it as far as the east is to the west, for is finished, done, signed, and sealed because of the blood of Jesus. When Jesus said, “It is finished” (John 19:30), He brought about the completion of all the Old Testament prophecies, symbols, and foreshadowing about Himself.» (excerpt from The Meaning and Significance of «It is Finished,» Dave Jenkins)

7. “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46) Jesus willingly gave his life.

«Because He was fully God and fully man, Jesus could have taken himself off the cross, remained alive, and exerted His divine authority. He chose not to do so. His divine nature means He intentionally had to choose to no longer hold onto life. This statement is a direct quotation from that passage of Scripture. In context, it appears: “For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me; you take me out of the net they have hidden for me, for you are my refuge. Into your hand I commit my spirit; you have redeemed me, O LORD, faithful God” (Psalm 31:3-5). » (excerpt from Beautiful Meaning Behind «Father, into your hands I commit my spirit,» Bethany Verrett)

Jesus faced the incredible task of laying down his life as a ransom for the world. This task was traumatic and overwhelming, but Jesus accepted it willingly. After hanging on the cross for three hours, Jesus finally gave up his own life. He was not helpless at the hands of those who crucified him—he alone had the authority to end his life. In Matthew 20:28, Jesus says, “The Son of Man came . . . to give his life as a ransom for many.” The crucifixion was Jesus’ plan, and it was his plan from before creation—he’s the Lamb who was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8).

But Jesus’ death is still death. It is still an abomination. Though Jesus submitted, this doesn’t mean everything was fine. The author of life was murdered by evil men (Acts 2:23). But Jesus yielded to the evil and injustice because he knew who was really in charge.

Saved by the Blood of Christ

The story doesn’t end here; there is hope we celebrate at Easter. But for now, let’s take a moment to acknowledge the suffering sacrifice of our Savior. You can give thanks to Jesus for his steadfast love and faithfulness that led him to lay down his life for you as a ransom.

According to Crosswalk.com, «Easter is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus from the tomb on the third day after his crucifixion. Easter is the fulfilled prophecy of the Messiah who would be persecuted, die for our sins, and rise on the third day. (Isaiah 53). Remembering the resurrection of Jesus is a way to renew daily hope that we have victory over sin. According to the New Testament, Easter is three days after the death of Jesus on the cross.»

Learn more about the History and Meaning of Easter 

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Justin Holcomb is an Episcopal priest and teaches theology at Reformed Theological Seminary and Knox Theological Seminary. Justin wrote On the Grace of God and co-authored with his wife Lindsey Rid of My Disgrace and Save Me from Violence. He is also the editor of Christian Theologies of Scripture. You can find him on Facebook, Twitter, and at JustinHolcomb.com.

Photo Credit: GettyImages/BulentBARIS

Learn more about the meaning and significance behind the Easter holiday and Holy Week celebrations:

What is Palm Sunday?
What is Maundy Thursday?
What is Good Friday?
What is Holy Saturday?
What is Easter?

At Easter, the Son of God took on the world’s sin and defeated the devil, death, and grave. How is it, then, that history’s most glorious moment is surrounded by fearful fishermen, despised tax collectors, marginalized women, feeble politicians, and traitorous friends?

In The Characters of Easter, you’ll become acquainted with the unlikely collection of ordinary people who witnessed the miracle of Christ’s death and resurrection. This FREE podcast provides a fresh approach to the Lenten season and can be used as a devotional or study for both individuals and groups. 

Now we turn to some of the lessons Christ poured out for us while He drained that cup of suffering for our sakes. St. Augustine brilliantly observed: “The tree upon which were fixed the members of Him dying was even the chair of the Master teaching.”

St. Thomas Aquinas admirably provides us with one of those lessons that Augustine gleaned from that teaching chair of the Cross. “Not without purpose did He choose the class of death, that He might be a teacher of that breadth and height, and length, and depth, of which the Apostle speaks (Eph. 3:18).”

As for the breadth, Augustine declares that the crossbeam of the Cross represents good works, since Christ’s hands were spread out upon it. The length of the Cross from the crossbeam to the ground, where it is planted, stands, and abides, represents the virtue of longanimity (bearing suffering patiently), which bears all things over time.

The Cross’s height from the crossbeam to its top held the head of the crucified Christ, who is the supreme desire and hope of believers. Finally, the depth of the Cross, hidden in the earth from view, holds it fixed like the root from which the entire tree grows, and this represents the depth of God’s gratuitous grace. Of course, Jesus taught us not only metaphorically through the wood of the Cross but also through the words that He spoke from that most painful teaching chair.

For centuries Catholics have pondered the rich meaning of Jesus’ seven last words from the Cross. These “words” are the seven brief sayings Jesus uttered while He hung on the Cross in utmost pain and loneliness. Let’s look at them, consider their Source and their context, and ponder how they might console and strengthen us as we bear our own immeasurably lighter crosses.

1. “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Christ’s first words from the Cross, in the earliest throes of His agony, are to ask God to forgive the very people who placed Him there. How many of us are lonely because of estrangement from someone once close to us whom we have refused to forgive or who has been unforgiving of us? Can we make a gesture to reach out to that person while our arms remain free to move? Even if we should be rebuffed, can we do as Christ did and pray that God will forgive that person — and us, too?

3. “Woman, behold, your son. . . .Behold, your mother.” (John 19:26–27)

Now imagine Christ’s loneliness as He looks down at His totally loving, devoted, and sinless mother, beside John, His “beloved disciple.” He knows how they share His tortures and will soon have to cope with His loss in their earthly existence, but He is anything but paralyzed by His distress. He wants those whom He loves to continue to love and care for each other in the most intimate of ways, as that between a mother and her child, a child and his mother. Of course, Jesus grants Mary as Queen of Heaven to be mother not only to John but to every man and woman on earth. She is as willing to fly to our aid today as she was to John’s on the day of Christ’s Crucifixion.

Centuries after that day, St. Thérèse of Lisieux would ponder the strength of the Blessed Mother in enduring so many sorrows, noting that, unlike all of us, Mary herself did not have a Blessed Mother to pray to (although, of course, she had her Son)! So, is there a lonely person in your life, perhaps someone bereaved of a parent, or a child, for whom you might step forward and offer love and support, as John and the Blessed Mother offered each other love and support?

4.“My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34)

Christ here echoes Psalm 22:1, which expresses the desolation He felt in His human nature. Here is Christ suffering. Here is another example of how we can join our suffering with Christ’s. In our loneliest hours, do we feel that we are forsaken not only by man, but by God? If so, can we still call out to God in prayer, expecting that He will hear us?

5. “I thirst.” (John 19:28)

Here is another reminder that Christ joined us in our humanity. The eternal Word who was in the beginning, who was with God, and who was God (see John 1:1) has agreed to take on the weakness, the cravings, and the gnawing of the human flesh of His creatures, for our own sake, and yet we let Him suffer.

Do we take much time to think of the lonely people in our lives for whom Christ died and of how they might thirst for attention? And we needn’t get too metaphorical, for sometimes the lonely are isolated and may experience physical thirst and hunger that we might help relieve. The Church has always recognized that we are not disembodied souls, but ensouled bodies and both elements of our unity are good and deserving of care. This is why she has long encouraged both spiritual and corporal (fleshly, bodily) works of mercy.

In fact, sometimes we spend so much time in the virtual, elec­tronic world that we forget that we all have bodies with needs we can help each other fulfill. When a text or an e-mail replaces a phone call, we have cut ourselves off from the recipient’s voice.

When a call replaces face-to-face contact, we have cut ourselves off not only from that person’s face, but from his or her body language, all those subtle ways that God has given us to communicate with one another by virtue of having bodies. When we connect only over distant airwaves, we can certainly suggest that a thirsty friend get a drink, but we are in no position to hand him one.

6. “It is finished.” (John 19:30)

What a relief Christ must have felt when His task, the most gruesome yet important task ever assigned on earth, was complete! He expressed it in these simple words: “It is finished.” Our own life task is clearly not finished.

What, then, will we do to establish new emotional and social connections and strengthen the ones we already have in our time left on earth before, God willing, we pass through the gates of heaven Christ opened for us by completing His mission on the wood of the Cross?

7. “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46)

These are the very last words Jesus breathed on earth before His spirit returned to His Father. Will our focus be on God in our last moment? It is, after all, “in Him that we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Are we willing to commit our spirits to God now? Such commitment to God, who is no mere abstract power or force, let alone an uncaring ruler, but is our Father, who has given His Son for our salvation, and who gives us His Holy Spirit to dwell in the temples of our bodies, cannot help but provide relief to our deepest feelings of loneliness, and motivation to reach out with His love to the lonely around us.

Let’s ask ourselves how we might unite our sufferings with Christ’s and, despite what may befall us, resolve to trust in Him and commit our spirits to the Father’s loving hands.

Editor’s note: This article is an excerpt from The Catholic Guide to Loneliness, which is available from Sophia Institute Press.

Holy Week intensifies our Lenten spiritual exercises, focusing us particularly on Christ’s Passion. From the Cross, he invites us to share in his sacrifice, so that we may in turn share in his glory.

The Seven Last Words of Christ from the Cross provide us a particularly direct invitation and can guide our meditation during these holy days.

1) “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).

These words could express the entirety of Jesus’s saving action. We all have crucified him through our sins, and yet he prays for us and offers his life for our forgiveness. His life itself is salvation, a rescue mission of love in which he allows himself to be rejected by his own people in order to draw them out of slavery. Having experienced his mercy, he calls his disciples to show it to others.Loving and praying for one’s enemies proves our love and manifests God’s love to others, passing on the forgiveness we have received.

2) “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
Jesus is not just offering forgiveness through his work of redemption; he is drawing us into a new creation, “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13). Through the gift of his life, he has created a new garden, an eternal paradise, watered from the blood flowing forth from his side. It is an everlasting “today” in God’s own eternal life. We are all in the place of the thief, and Jesus speaks to us personally from the Cross, calling us into this everlasting today with him.

3) “Woman, behold, your son! … Behold, your mother!” (John 19:26–27).

Jesus gives us everything, He offers us his own flesh and blood to eat. He sends us his own divine Spirit to dwell in us as a Temple, leading us to the Father in prayer. He also gives us his Mother as our own mother, as we are members of the Body to which she has given birth, asking us to take her into our home like John, the beloved disciple. In this act of love, he makes known to us that he holds nothing back, and his surrender of all is also a gift and invitation to us.

4) “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matthew 27:46; Mark 15:34).

Jesus is abandoned by the Father in that he has followed the Father’s will in being handed over to sinners. He is abandoned to death, even as he voluntarily takes on all the sin and suffering of fallen humanity, bearing this weight and offering himself as a sacrificial victim, a paschal lamb that we might be spared from eternal death. In this moment, he has never been closer to the Father. He likewise calls his disciples to take up their own crosses and to die to themselves, joining their own suffering to his abandonment on the Cross.

5) “I thirst” (John 19:28).

In his abandonment, Jesus reveals his thirst. He told his disciples at the Last Supper that he would “not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom” (Mt 26:29). He thirsts for this drink with us, this new cup of salvation that flows forth from his own side. He thirsts for us to join him in receiving his gift, to desire this gift more than anything else. This may be his strongest invitation from the Cross, calling us into the new wine he offers us in his hour that will transform us (see John 2).

6) “It is finished” (John 19:30).

In Latin, this phrase is “consummatum est,” which is rich in meaning. It refers to the debt being paid in full, the fulfillment of the Old Covenant, the completion of the sacrifice, the complete gift of self to the bride. In return, Jesus asks for the complete acceptance of this gift. He wants our whole life in return, not simply a portion of our thoughts, our affections, our time, and work. He invites us to say in return, I have given you all, the whole of my life, so we can say back to him at the end of our lives, “it is consummated.”

7) “Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit!” (Luke 23:46).

Jesus has given everything to the Father, including all of us. He will bring us to him, reconciling us to him and giving us adoption as sons in him, the Son. Everything Jesus said and did, he said was given to him by the Father. In this final word at the moment of his death, he shows us once again: everything is from and for the Father. This is the goal of his mission and his ultimate invitation for us: come to the Father with me, share in the Father’s life with me, rejoice in the Father’s love forever.

(Dr. Staudt’s column is syndicated by the Denver Catholic, the official publication of the Archdiocese of Denver.)