 of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Seeking our lady's intercession, let us pray. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Saint Joseph, pray for us. Good morning brothers and sisters. In continuing and coming very shortly to the conclusion of the seven last words of Jesus Christ, the Sunday, the fifth Sunday of Lent, we speak about the sixth, the second to last statement that Jesus made from the cross. Now before I tell you which one that was, there is some disagreement among biblical scholars and theologians about which is the sixth and which is the seventh. There are reasonable arguments for having one in either place. And I have my reasons why I am certain that this is the sixth one. And I will not explain them today. That will be for later homily. But just trust me on this one. You'll see later on. But the sixth and penultimate statement of Jesus on the cross is also from the Gospel of John and it follows directly the sermon I gave last week on Jesus' statement by thirst. And I want to read to you again reviewing what we read last week from the Gospel of John and then finishing off with this sixth statement of our Lord. After this, aware that everything was now finished, in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, Jesus said, I thirst. There was a vessel filled with common wine. So they put a sponge soaked in wine on a sprig of hyssop and put it up to his mouth. When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, it is finished. It is finished. You know, we can look at these words in a very simple and practical way and say, Jesus is just referring to the fact that he's about to die. My life is over. My life is finished. And sure, technically, that's on some level what he meant. But we know that Jesus doesn't waste words. And if he's going to speak in this profound moment in his life, there's going to be a deeper meaning. It's very important that we seek to study the Scriptures in order to understand the deepest meaning of what our Lord is trying to teach us. So what is finished? If it's not just his life, what is finished? To know that, we have to actually return to the beginning of the Gospel of John. In chapter four, Jesus, in speaking with his apostles, says this, my food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. To finish his work. Jesus is telling us that at this moment on the cross, right before his death, he has now accomplished the work of his father. The reason why he was sent into the world. And we all know what that is. It's to save us from our sins. It's the work of salvation. So here is Jesus proclaiming that after he has taken the wine that was soaked on the sponge, he tells everyone around it is finished. It's complete. I have done the work of my father. Salvation is accomplished. Obviously that alone is profound that at this moment we recognize from the words of the Savior, the completion of the act of redemption. But if you just look at the words in their English translation, you're also going to miss something even more profound about this statement. We necessarily have to go back to an older translation. I think it's easiest to use the Latin. Because in Latin, Jesus actually said on the cross. Consumatum est. Simple translation. It is consumated. You know anything about that word? You know the mystical language that Jesus is employing. He's not saying I've just kind of completed the task like a job that God has set out for me. He's telling us exactly what kind of task job it is. And we use this word consumate in reference to the love between a husband and a wife. It's nuptial language. When a husband and wife come here before the Lord, well, when a couple comes here before the Lord and exchanges their marital vows, that's when they enter into the sacrament of matrimony. However, until that matrimonial commitment is consumated, the marriage is actually not valid. This is church law until the law that they expressed in words is then completed in action. It's not valid. And it can be dissolved. Here is Jesus who's lived his life, especially in his public's ministry the last years, preaching his words of love and truth. In a sense expressing his vows to his bride, the church. He's saying, this is how I love you. But he also tells his bride how she's supposed to love him too. You know, he speaks her vows too. And so there's this exchange of vows, but the marriage is not consumated yet. Not until the cross. And here is Jesus finally giving himself body, blood, soul, and divinity to his bride. He has held nothing back from her. He has given everything. And once everything has been offered, then he cries out consumatum est. It is consumated. This is beautiful language. And we see it played out every time that we come to celebrate holy mass. Here is Jesus consumating his love to his church by once again offering his body and blood. And we become one flesh with him in the holy Eucharist. The great mystery of our faith. It's a mystery of nuptial love between God and his holy people. It's a challenge for us to see God's love for us in a nuptial way because when we think of our own marriages, they're never this perfect. Right? We may have intended those vows when we first expressed them here in the church of our Lord. But how often do we throughout our marital life take back that love or withhold the full gift of self? In essence, contracept our love for our spouse. We do this all the time. It can be in any way. I'm just too tired to listen to you now. It's a lack of gift holding back. It just takes too much to be patient with you right now. Again, a lack of love. We struggle so much with understanding God's nuptial love for us because on our own, we could never have that love for our spouse. So we doubt that he has that kind of love for us. And that's the mistake. We know by faith the extent of his love that he has and never will withhold any degree of love from us. He has given us everything. And that's the model for our love, right? For all of our loves, it should be as complete a gift and offering. And so on this day in which we recall these most holy words of our Lord, we remember what they mean, Jesus expressing how much he loves us, how far he has gone to redeem us and draw us to himself, how he has consummated his love for us in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.