Reflections 2006
“Not My will, but Yours be done”

It is one year since our beloved Pope John Paul II was called home to his eternal rest. Last year, his death came during the octave week of Easter, as if to emphasise the victory of life over death. This year, the anniversary comes as we prepare to enter Holy Week, and a different aspect of those last days is recalled. We remember that last year, the Holy Father’s health prevented him from taking part in this week’s ceremonies. We also recall those final glimpses of him at his window in the days following Easter, and Cardinal Ratzinger’s memorable words at his funeral: “We can be sure that our beloved Pope is standing today at the window of the Father’s house; that he sees us and blesses us.”

For weeks there had been speculation in the media about why John Paul II was holding on to his office as Supreme Pontiff. People could see how he laboured and asked, “Why does he do it?” Why does he chose this weary path that leads to death rather than the freedom and comfort he could have in his last days if he just gave it all up? Looking back, we can see now that it was as if he was living out (as in a parable) the meaning of the words of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Not My will, but Yours be done.” (Luke 22:42) A Cross had been laid on his shoulders. Although it was not a Cross of his own choosing, he chose of his own free will to carry it to the end.

John Paul II was inspired and strengthened by our Lord Jesus who also carried His Cross until the end. One cannot say that Jesus had a ‘death wish’ or a ‘martyr-complex.’ In the Garden He prayed, “Father, if You are willing, take this cup of suffering from Me.” But He ended this prayer with the words, “Not My will, but Yours be done.” It was not His choice to suffer and die in this way, but it was of His own free will that He accepted His Cross. He said, “No one takes My life from Me. I lay it down of My own accord.” (John 10:18)

Recently, Pope Benedict explained the meaning of Lent to the priests of the Diocese of Rome. He cited the passage in Deuteronomy where God says to His people, “See, I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore, choose life.” (Deuteronomy 30:19)

To be a Christian is to choose to live in opposition to the anti-culture of death. Pope Benedict calls this “our fundamental option, the option for life.” This is so even when, to the world at large, the choice to carry the Cross seems like a choice for martyrdom rather than life, a choice for bondage rather than freedom. (Perhaps it can even seem like that to us at times, as we struggle under the weight of the Cross.)

The Pope told the priests of Rome that, to the world, it must seem as if “Christianity is a decision against life: with the Cross, with all the commandments, with all of the ‘no’s that it proposes to us, it closes the door of life against us. But we want to have life, and we choose, we opt, finally, for life by liberating ourselves from the Cross, by liberating ourselves from all these commandments and from all these ‘no’s; we want to have life in abundance, and nothing other than life.”

Perhaps those who have their own children can best understand what it means for human beings to rebel against the will of their Heavenly Father. Wise parents know how to give children just as much independence as is appropriate to their level of maturity. But children, whether they are toddlers or teenagers, are always straining against the will of their parents in the mistaken idea that if they can escape their parents’ limitations they will be truly free. But such freedom is an illusion. It has been proven again and again that healthy adults do not result from childhoods which lack clearly defined limits and expectations.

Just so, we will not find freedom or life if we wilfully refuse to submit to the will of our Father in Heaven. Such ‘freedom’ is a lie, a trick of the evil one. When personal autonomy is taken to include autonomy from our Creator, our lives lose direction and meaning. One’s very self and nature loses its focus. Depression, recklessness, and hollowness result. There is a paradox involved here, which Jesus put simply like this: “He who wishes to save his life will lose it, but he who loses his life for My sake will save it.” (Luke 9:24) Jesus did not seek to save Himself. On Calvary people challenged Him to “come down from the Cross” if He was the Messiah. Ironically, they said, “He saved others, but He cannot save himself.” In fact, Jesus was able to save the lives of others precisely because He chose to lose His own life.

Again, Pope Benedict said: “This is the ultimate meaning of the Cross: not to take life for oneself, but to give it.” John Paul II lived his whole life for others. In his younger years, he was devoted to his family, especially when he lived alone with his father. By entering the priesthood, he chose to live a life devoted to his people in Poland, and by accepting the Cross of the papacy, he chose to devote himself to the whole world. He truly was a tireless worker in the vineyard of the Lord.

During our Lenten pilgrimage, now drawing to an end, we have been invited to imitate our late Holy Father by entering into the self-sacrificing life of Jesus Christ. Quite likely we have failed along the way, but like all pilgrimages, it is especially when we stumble on the path that we need most to keep our eyes on the goal. When we fail, we accept the Father’s correction. We hear him calling us to repentance, to ‘turn again’ back onto the right path. We learn to say ‘no’ to our own will and ‘yes’ to the will of our Father. And in Christ we are assured that by walking this path we will live, even if we die. With Christ, we will reach the Easter dawn even if the road takes us through Good Friday.

+ Denis J. Hart,
Archbishop of Melbourne.