“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Lk 23:34).
In these few words, the love of God shines forth in an incomparable way. In the midst of His suffering, Jesus looks up to His Father and utters this prayer for the salvation of mankind. He knew that the Father would listen to Him and accept the sacrifice He was about to make. Jesus knows that His Father’s gaze rests on Him with infinite complacency. Where is there a son who fulfils his father’s will so perfectly? Where is there a son who, in his most difficult hour, intercedes for the whole of humanity, thus completing his Father’s work?
What a profound unity is perceived in this holy prayer between the Heavenly Father and His Son! It is a love that does not want humanity to be condemned. It is a love that knows the unspeakable suffering of being rejected by those whom He created with that same love. It is a love that never gives up and is the way to true life for all people. It is a love that is grounded in truth and is itself the deepest truth.
Our Heavenly Father wanted His divine Son to utter these words in order to offer salvation to all people through Him, thus fulfilling His deepest desire: to seek what was lost (Lk 19:10) and to bring home what was strayed.
It is now up to humanity to respond to this love, to allow itself to be saved by it and thus to follow the true path of peace: peace with God, peace with the neighbour and peace with oneself.