“The urgent, decisive ‘now‘ that Jesus declares a day or two before his death reverberates throughout time and space and in our lives, this parish, our community and world. Jesus continues to suffer now in all those suffering in any way from the sins of humankind, including our own sins. Jesus is crucified again and again: in Ukraine as innocent people hide below ground and suffer unspeakable torture and death; as a black man is lynched while jogging; in a falsely accused person on death row; in swaths of land razed for profit. Jesus still suffers pain, rejection, loneliness, false accusations: as asylum seekers are transported in shackles on wrists and ankles for 10 or 20 or more hours to an immigrant prison in Georgia; in schools where children are bullied; as local children sit in a DFCS office with all their possessions in a black garbage bag; in homes and institutions where the sick and elderly suffer and die alone, sometimes because they cannot access adequate healthcare. Jesus is present in crucified and suffering persons and communities NOW.”
