My Friends, It is 6 PM here, Holy Saturday, two hours before our Easter Vigil mass. We have dinner in 40 minutes. Our weather has been rather warm this afternoon. At 1 PM I finished with my four people who have been here this last week for their 8-day retreats and then met with two others who come for occasional spiritual guidance, each for an hour, and finally an hour of skyping with a friend back in Michigan. Whew! Quite a full day. I will be brief here with my concluding reflections on the last words of Jesus, this time on his 7th and last saying. It is" "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." Luke 23:46 I have frequently given this text to retreatants to pray with along with the text from John, chapter 3, the second half of verse 34 and all of 35. The two together are like "bookend" statements about the Father and Jesus. Let me offer some reflections here, first on this statement and then on the saying of Jesus when He dies...................................................................... Early in Jesus' public ministry John the Baptist in chapter 3 of John's Gospel is said to have declared, "The Father did not spare the gift of His Spirit on His Son." In other words, the Father gave EVERYTHING to Jesus, SPARED NOTHING, giving all that He is and has to Jesus, all that His Holy Spirit of Love is. Nothing held back, all that could be given was given.............................................................................................................At the end of Jesus' life, the last thing He is said to have said is: "Father, into your hands I commend MY SPIRIT." Note that each gives to the other the Holy Spirit; the Father at the beginning of Jesus' mission; Jesus at the moment He finishes His mission. Everything Jesus had and was, He gave to the Father. At that moment His life among us was complete. He gave from His Divine depths, His Divine Spirit to the Father just as the Father gave from His Divine depths, His Divine Spirit. The mutual giving and receiving, the knowing and being known, the loving and being loved that took place between Father and Son is their relationship, is the Holy Spirit, the One who holds together the entire story and meaning of Jesus' mission, which is to bring us with Him into this same quality and dynamic of life where we are total given to each and all, giving who we are, our total selves. Like Jesus and the Father with each other, we are destined to give everything we have and are. Our everlasting joy will be characterized by this same kind and quality of exchange of total mutuality, by our knowledge of and total love for each other. It is more than we can imagine, but for those who long for God, who at times ache for this depth of relationship, they can see this possibility coming, as "through a glass darkly" and at a distance. ......................................................................So, in His final moment, with what breath He had left, Jesus made the most beautiful gesture any human can make with his or her life: loving completely to the end all that is of God, giving one's all. I think there is nothing more beautiful among us humans than being around someone who has this attitude, this way of living his or her life, and is so given, not self-centered at all, but again, so given. This was supremely so with Jesus. And the moment of His dying, the moment He says these last word are very, very beautiful to me. It seems to me we really do not become our full self unless and until we live with this kind of spiritual freedom and depth, free from all fear and self-centeredness, loving with our whole heart and mind, soul and strength............................................A very blessed and enjoyable Easter to all of you who read this. Bernie Owens