On this Passion Sunday, we stand again at the threshold of the Great Seven Days, this week of time that takes us to the inmost heart of the work that God has done for us through Christ his Son. As we prepare to hear the passion story of Jesus’ suffering as proclaimed by St. Matthew, I invite you to hear one sentence in particular. It is that word of our Lord from the Cross that is at once the most anguished account and the Gospel which comes to us from it: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46)

This word seems to be that utterance of Christ which we are most ready to understand and identify with. We can admire and worship the man who in the agony of crucifixion says, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do." Likewise, for the second and third words he sp…