Born in Quebec, raised in Fall River, and spending her final years in Woonsocket, Marie Rose Ferron (1902-36) is a much-respected and devout soul. To this day, La Petite Rose is revered by many for indications of a stigmata. On two occasions, however, the Diocese of Providence officially acknowledged her personal piety but resolved that there was no evidence of any supernatural occurrence. Rose’s grave in Precious Blood Cemetery and a shrine on Arnold Street in Woonsocket are accorded much respect. Although her former home is no longer open to the public, I once visited that residence on Providence Street, in the former Holy Family parish. Quite vividly, I recalled was a near life-size statue in her bedroom of the scourged Jesus Christ. There was not a bit of the figure’s plaster flesh that did not have a scar, a wound, or a gash.
Yet, as exaggerated as this art work might have been, the actual horror of Christ’s passion, crucifixion, and death cannot be overstated. “Bruised, derided, cursed, defiled, she beheld her tender child, all with bloody scourges rent.” The Stabat Mater’s lament is not hyperbole. Christ’s intense bodily sufferings firmly underline the horror of sin that demanded them and the love of Christ who endured them. A sinless Jesus assumed our weighty punishments! There is no better evidence of Christ’s love for mankind than his willingness to suffer on humanity’s behalf. And this while the human race was still in its sins! As St. Paul noted to Titus just before this Sunday’s second reading: “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, deluded, slaves to various desires and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful ourselves and hating one another.” (3:3) And still Christ identified with us, becoming sin, so to speak, in order to free us from our evil ways.
Certainly not as dramatic but nonetheless just as sincere was the identification of Jesus Christ with sinful mankind by his acceptance of John’s baptism at the Jordan River. The Baptist was attracting guilty mankind from a vast area and from a broad society: “He went throughout the whole region of the Jordan, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins (3:3),” writes St. Luke in this Sunday’s Gospel. And the preacher did not spare anyone’s feelings: “He said to the crowds who came out to be baptized by him, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?” (3:7) So the crowd that gathered by the river made no pretense of virtue. They were chest-pounding, hand-wringing sinners desperately admitting their need for healing, forgiveness and reconciliation. And these are the pack with whom Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, chose to throw in his lot by his acceptance of John’s submersion at Jordan’s bank. Yes, Christ’s wounds on Good Friday might have been more striking, but his sincerity at the river’s edge was just as intense. The baptized Christ united himself with sinful mankind; there would be no second thoughts.
Sunday’s second Scripture reading from the letter to Titus (2:11-14) offers the same instruction on the intense commitment Jesus made to redeem the human race: “The grace of God has appeared, saving all and training us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live temperately, justly, and devoutly in this age, as we await the blessed hope, the appearance of the glory of our great God and savior Jesus Christ, who gave himself for us to deliver us from all lawlessness and to cleanse for himself a people as his own, eager to do what is good.” Yes, Jesus found “godless ways and worldly desires” when he first encountered human society in Galilee, Samaria and Judea. Yet Christ did not shrink from his association with humanity’s “lawlessness.” No, the Master “gave himself for us to deliver us…and to cleanse for himself a people as his own.” He gave himself just as intensely at his baptism as he would at his crucifixion and indeed at every moment of his public life.
Jesus’ public commitment at the Jordan, pledging himself to be an undaunted Savior of sinful humanity, was vividly and audibly confirmed by Jesus’ fellow members of the heavenly Trinity: “After all the people had been baptized and Jesus also had been baptized and was praying, heaven was opened and the Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove. And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” (Lk3:21-22) Now indeed, with a Divine blessing, Jesus was to be mankind’s Redeemer and Savior, no matter the challenge. The sinful “brood of vipers” at the Jordan and the death-dealing wounds on Calvary would be no deterrent.
