Be done!

Be done!

by: Ivelisse Valentín-Vera

Mark 14:32-42

At this point in our pilgrimage towards Holy Week Jesus shows us the secret and also the public character of our struggles. Removed to our intimate spaces, we battle against all that threatens us so as not to give in to the temptation to yield to our will, which is not always aligned with God's will.

Rarely do we take these kinds of struggles into the public sphere, to share them with our friends, spiritual guides or loved ones. On occasion, when exposing our vulnerability, we have been disappointed by the lack of empathy and solidarity of those who accompany us. In short, we are ashamed of our own fragility.

That is why Jesus exposes our hidden struggles. While some are in pain, others sleep. Asleep in the face of the suffering of others, we become alienated from the reality that surrounds us, a reality that at some point will catch up with us. Watch and pray so as not to fall into temptation! Opening our eyes to human suffering brings us closer to it and lightens the burden of all. That is why Jesus is accompanied by his friends, "a stone's throw away", with enough distance to assume his own struggle and with enough closeness not to feel alone.

In this struggle, very intimate and at the same time exposed, Jesus exposes the nature of human finitude, of the limit of our possibilities. In doing so, he teaches us to trust in the Father and to wake up to the needs of others.

Pater mi, Abba, Pater, fiat! let it be done! Let it be done!

May this Lent be one of learning to be awake to the needs of others and to exercise our trust in the Father who is Abba because he is intimate and close. Into whose hands we can leap with confidence because he saves.

Fiat! Let it be done! Let it be done!