Solemnity of the Most Holy Redeemer: The Crazy Love of God

Every third Sunday of July, Redemptorists all over the world celebrate the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer. Thus today, all churches, parishes and shrines all over the world under the care of Redemptorist has for its Sunday mass the solemnity of the Most Holy Redeemer in place of the 16th Sunday in ordinary time. This is with special permission from Rome.

All Redemptorists have four letters after their names – C.Ss.R. This stands for
Congregatio Sanctissimi Redemptoris. This is the official Latin title given to its Religious
Order. It can be translated into English as “Congregation of the Most Holy Redeemer,” more commonly called “Redemptorists.” On their coat of arms is written: Copiosa Apud Eum Redemptio – With Him There Is Plentiful Redemption.

Indeed, the Feast of the Most Holy Redeemer is an expression of joy and gratitude for the great gift of the Redemption. Consider the opening antiphon for this feast, which is taken from Isaiah 61:10 and Psalm 88:2.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, and my soul shall be joyful in my God.
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
and with the robe of justice He has covered me.

The mercies of the Lord I will sing forever:
I will show forth your truth with my mouth to generation and generation.

The dialogue between Jesus and Nicodemus in the gospel today reveals to us the beautiful truth of God’s redemption:

God so loved the world that he gave his only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life. …
God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world;
but that the world might be saved through him” (Jn 3: 16-17).

God’s redemption shows that how God relates to us is simple: God loves everyone, even those who are not lovable, God welcomes everyone as they are.

I remembeer a quote from St Alphonsus Liguori, in his book, The Passion and Death of Jesus Christ:

“Yes, my gentle Redeemer, let me say it, You are crazy with love! Is it not foolish for you to have wanted to die for me? But if You, my God, have become crazy with love for me, how can I not become crazy with love for you?”

God’s love for humankind is intense, indeed, crazy; in human standards, judging the way God loves us, one could easily say that God is a fool. God’s love is welcoming, always offering forgiveness, reconciliation and mercy despite humanity’s unworthiness, sinfulness, pride, belligerence and recalcitrance. In the infamous words of President Duterte, God is stupid.

God’s love and mercy is beyond human capacity.  It is manifested in the Crucified One, the One who ask God’s forgiveness for all those who maligned, scourged, crowned him with thorns and crucified him.

God’s crazy love shows us the way in which we have to reach out to others. To the extent that we ourselves will be called crazy and fools, we need to love others in abundance, unconditionally and beyond imagination. We are called to be God’s fools for God’s love and redemption.

What does it mean to live the crazy love of God in the face of the urgencies of our  contemporary world which is a deeply imbalanced world? On the one hand, there is a secure, sheltered, wealthy humanity, on the other hand, a humanity who is hungry and homeless, a humanity at the mercy of autocratic regimes, wars, powerful rulers, traffickers, a humanity at mercy of climate change – for which entire previously habitable zones are subject to rapid desertification, deforestation, devastating flood and typhoons.

Pope Francis insists that the political, economic and financial strategic choices in our times are the result of decisions that come from the heart of human beings who always have need of repentance and of being sensitized to a more supportive sense of justice and mercy. In other words, there is a need for a radical transformation of our socio-economic structures based on God’s crazy love for humanity. We need to transform our socio-political structures which benefits most of all thouse who are lost, weak, abandoned, deprived and least advantaged.

The redemption of God, however, ultimately concerns eternal life. God redeemed us not just for the brief span of our earthly life, but have marked us out for eternity. Thus, living God’s crazy love goes beyond our finite life here on earth. This also implies that our corporal works and spiritual works of mercy form a whole; they are distinctive and not separate; Jesus redemption is for the whole person.

Happy Feast Day of Most Holy Redeemer!

I am passionate about the intersection between new media and technology. I continue to research and apply new media in theology and vice-versa. I am also a fan of Our Mother of Perpetual Help and her continuing relevance in today's digital world.
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