In his meditations upon the seven last words of Christ, spoken from the cross, St. Robert Bellarmine (1542–1621) offers a series of reflective considerations most apt for this season, not only for the Christian, but for all who would think carefully on the meaning of life, death, and the universe. Particularly poignant in this, a time of irresponsibility—that is, a time in which every fault is deflected to some cause other than our own wills—is the following reflection on the sixth word, “It is consummated.” Here, Bellarmine contemplates the defeat of the devil and its consequences for our moral life.
There is another reason which St. Leo adduces, and we will give it in his own words. “If our proud and cruel enemy could have known the plan which the mercy of God had adopted, he would have restrained the passions of the Jews, and not have goaded them on by unjust hatred, in order that he might lose his power over all his captives by fruitlessly attacking the liberty of One Who owed him nothing” (Tract. sept. et nonag. 62). This is an exceedingly weighty reason. For it is just that the devil should lose his authority over all those who by sin had become his slaves, because he had dared to lay his hands on Christ, Who was not his slave, Who had never sinned, and Whom he nevertheless persecuted even unto death. Now, if such is the state of the case, if the battle is over, if the Son of God has gained the victory, and if “He will have all men to be saved” (1 Tim. 2:4), how is it that so many are in the power of the devil in this life, and suffer the torments of hell in the next? I answer in one word: They wish it. Christ came victorious out of the contest, after bestowing two unspeakable favors on the human race. First that of opening to the just the gates of Heaven, which had been closed form the fall of Adam to that day, and on the day of His victory He said to the thief who had been justified by the merits of His blood through faith, hope, and charity, “This day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43) and the Church in her exultation cries out, “Thou having overcome the sting of death, has opened to believers the Kingdom of Heaven.” The second, of instituting the Sacraments which have the power of remitting sin and of conferring grace. He sends the preachers of His Word to all parts of the world to proclaim, “He that believeth, and is baptized, shall be saved” (Mark 16:16). And so our victorious Lord has opened a way to all to attain the glorious liberty of the sons of God, and if there are any who are unwilling to enter on this way, they perish by their own fault, and not by the want of power or the want of will of their redeemer.
St. Robert Bellarmine 1618: The Seven Last Words from the Cross, 177-78.
“They wish it.” A simple statement and a hard truth. We wish not to be responsible for ourselves. But we are. We have the means to live better; we do not choose them. Unjustly we place blame on society or other forces beyond our control—genetics, upbringing, the economy, and so on. Yet choice remains always open to us. What choices will we make today, tomorrow? We perish by our own fault; the sting of death is removed. We may not wish damnation (or moral weakness) directly, but we pursue myriad desires that are not in keeping with our nature or our true good.
The way to the good, however, remains always open to us.
