It’s an honor to know Tom McDonald

Last updated on: December 28, 2014 at 10:11 pm by Mark Shea

It’s an honor to know Tom McDonald 2014-12-28T22:11:28-07:00 Mark Shea

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Here he is, doing what every Christian in the world should do in the face of human evil: taking responsibility and turning to God for mercy instead looking around for somebody else to blame.

One of the things that finally dawned on me a couple of years ago was that it was stupid to blame God for “demanding” the crucifixion of Jesus. The thing about the cross is that God handed himself over entirely to us and said, “Knock yourself out. I’m in your hands. What would you like to do?” It was the ultimate genie granting the ultimate wish. We had God, God almighty, right there in our hands and we had the opportunity of all lifetimes to respond in whatever way we possibly could. We, us, our race, all of us, in one accord, looked over the menu of possibilities and we, us, our race, all of us, decided it would be really fun and smart to beat the living hell out of him, twist a crown of thorns and ram it down on his head just for the delectable gratuitous cruelty of the thing. Then we, us, our race, all of us, in one accord, decide that wasn’t enough and so bestirred ourself to take the shocked victim and beat him some more as he carried some heavy lumber several hundred yards, pound some nails through his hands and feet, and settle down to watch the show as the flies bit him and he struggled for breath while he slowly underwent pulmonary edema.

It was entirely our choice to demonstrate just why *that* sacrifice was necessary to redeem our wretched fallen species. And we go on demonstrating it to this day. We broke the world. We did this. And now we blame God, or the Jews, or liberals, or Obama or whoever the hell else we can think of when the answer of the revelation stands staring us in the face: “through my fault, through my fault, through my own most grievous fault”.

CCC598 In her Magisterial teaching of the faith and in the witness of her saints, the Church has never forgotten that “sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured.” Taking into account the fact that our sins affect Christ himself, the Church does not hesitate to impute to Christians the gravest responsibility for the torments inflicted upon Jesus, a responsibility with which they have all too often burdened the Jews alone:

We must regard as guilty all those who continue to relapse into their sins. Since our sins made the Lord Christ suffer the torment of the cross, those who plunge themselves into disorders and crimes crucify the Son of God anew in their hearts (for he is in them) and hold him up to contempt. And it can be seen that our crime in this case is greater in us than in the Jews. As for them, according to the witness of the Apostle, “None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.” We, however, profess to know him. And when we deny him by our deeds, we in some way seem to lay violent hands on him.

Nor did demons crucify him; it is you who have crucified him and crucify him still, when you delight in your vices and sins.

Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.

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