The place assigned for the Crucifixion was Golgotha, or the “Place of the Skull.” Legend has it that it was the burial place of Adam. Representations of the Crucifixion often show a skull at the foot of the cross to indicate that the new Adam was dying for the old Adam. But certainly, it was a place where dead bones were thrown after execution. Once on the hill, the executioners stripped Him of His garments, opening new wounds in His Sacred Body.
In all, there were seven distinct blood-sheddings; 1) the Circumcision, 2) the Agony in the garden, 3) the Scourging, 4) the Crowning with thorns, 5) the Way of the Cross, 6) the Crucifixion and 7) the Piercing of the Sacred Heart. This was the Heart that embraced us all close to Him because of love. After all He is the Divine lover, and He loved even those who did not mind and gave importance to His death on the Cross.
The Sin of Adam which inflicted the whole of humanity is a kind of sin that offended no one else but God himself. In the story of Creation, God placed man in charge of all other creature being the crowning glory of creation. God created all other things, before he finally created man, so that everything is prepared for the coming of man into the scene of creation. God so loved Adam and Eve, representing the whole of humanity, and he placed them in the Garden of Eden, a real paradise.
But since man was so filled of himself, he wanted to be like God. God forbade them to eat of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge, and this is the only prohibition that was given them. There were no speed limits, there were no laws regarding child abuse and violences against women and children, there were no laws to remind them about their duties and obligations to the government, there were no laws regarding drug abuse and whatever. The only the prohibition was… not to eat of the fruit of the forbidden tree. I wonder what kind of tree was that? Some pictures show an apple, but I think it was not an apple after all.
This single and only law was so hard for man to comply with. The reason is very much obvious because even up until this time this defect in man is still present. Man’s self-centeredness is the real problem. The tempter in the form of a serpent told the woman; “You better eat of the fruit of the tree because once you do, you will be like God and equally powerful as He is.” This temptation to be powerful drove the woman to give the fruit to the man who ate it and in turn gave a piece to his wife.
After eating the forbidden fruit, they realized that they were naked. Malice of sin entered the world because now they knew that they had transgressed God. They committed a sin against God and since it was God who was offended, so it needed another God to appease God. No amount of sorry and penance coming from humans can ever repair the damage that was committed against God if not another God who would do that thing in behalf of us, humans. It needed God the Son to appease God the Father and so, even before the creation story, it has been predestined that Jesus would have to undergo His dying on the Cross.
The birth of Jesus was pre-announced even in some Old Testament accounts. Before He was born of the Virgin Mary, the Archangel Gabriel foretold His coming. Even in His childhood, Christ know by heart that He has a mission to fulfill for His Heavenly Father, and for the sake of all humanity. His dying on the Cross was the fulfillment of His Mission. Salvation was regained and was won by Christ for all of us. Now, we have become sharers of His divine life, heirs of the Kingdom and children of God once again because of the Paschal Mystery of Christ.
The Sacred Heart of Jesus was pierced by a lance because of man’s sinfulness and that sin is self-centeredness and selfishness. After approximately 1992 years since the actual crucifixion, where are we now in our relationship to Christ? Our salvation is an actual thing for us to enjoy, though not readily, because we must work hard to achieve it, but where are we in our efforts to really make that salvation come alive in us?
I feel so discouraged by the fact that we are still slaves to our own self-centeredness. This is actually the root of the root of all sins, and this was the sin of Adam. The death of Jesus on the cross is not without merit because it has opened for us the doors of God’s Kingdom. However, we will only taste the blissfulness of heaven if we ourselves are freed from the darkness of our sinfulness. Our own effort to get closer to His Sacred Heart is also our resolve not to add wounds to His already wounded body. I hope we learn from the sin of Adam which hurled the whole of humanity into damnation and decide finally that our lives are indeed for Christ and His church alone.
May Jesus always keep us close to His Sacred Heart.