The Seventh Word: “Pater, in manus tuas commendo spiritum meum.”
“And it was almost the sixth hour; and there was darkness over all the earth until the ninth hour. And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. And Jesus crying out with a loud voice, said: ‘Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.’ And saying this, he gave up His spirit.”
—Luke 23:44–46
Saint Bonaventure’s Meditation on the Seventh Word
O Jesus, You are the way that leads to heaven,
Our saving victim, our safest harbor,
The liberating truth, and the light which illuminates the darkened mind.
You are the joy of our life and the delight of our hearts!
As You reached the end-point of Your life,
And departed from this world to go forth and claim victory from Hades,
You wished to demonstrate to us all the way which we, too, must take.
You desired to instruct all human beings—
Creatures who are fashioned from the dust of the earth—
How we should accept death when it comes to us.
Accordingly, You commended Your own sacred spirit
Into the loving hands of the eternal Father.
This final commendation, though not without deep melancholy
And tinged with dolorous pangs of mourning,
Was made with perfect confidence and trust,
As You said:
“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”
With bowed head, fixed to the wood of the cross,
And Your body bruised and bloody,
You gave forth Your celestial spirit.
At this, all the earth, seeing Your death,
Trembled in awe and grief.
Rocks split asunder and tombs burst open.
There was a great earthquake,
And the veil of the temple was torn in two.
The moon fled and hid itself away,
While the golden sun grew dark.
The earth wept bitter tears, and all of creation mourned, saying:
“Lo, I am overcome with grief,
For I see my Creator and Lord to succumb to death!”112
Saint Bonaventure’s Commentary on the Seventh Word113
It is noteworthy that, of the seven pronouncements made by Our Lord Jesus Christ as He approached His death, the Gospel texts say that three of these were said “in a great voice.”114 The first was when He said, “Father, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” The second was, “It is consummated.” And the third occasion was when He said His very last words, “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”
We may perhaps wonder why Christ cried out in a loud voice in these instances at the end of His life. Would it not have sufficed to have spoken quietly, and only in the depths of His heart? Let us meditate briefly upon this mystery, for it is filled with deep significance.
In the Epistle to the Hebrews, Saint Paul notes that Our Lord “offered prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears.”115 In His tears the true humanity of Christ is revealed, and the genuineness of the sufferings which He endured is made manifest.
But in the loud cries He made, His divinity is clearly shown. Other human beings, when they are in the throes of death, are typically not able to articulate loudly or clearly, because of the failure of their strength and the diminishment of their vitality. But Christ, even in the moments of death, was able to cry out in a strong and resonant voice. By this, He showed the divine nature of the strength which He possessed. For, though really dying, He did not cease, even for a moment, to be King of kings and Lord of lords, at whose command the very universe trembles!
Just as a victorious warrior cries out when He has conquered His foes or put them to flight, even so did Jesus cry out strongly when He had defeated death and sin. Just so did He exclaim forcefully and vociferously as He seized the prize of human souls from the underworld, and deprived hell of its pillage. And such was the power of His divine voice that it echoed thunderously even in the shadowy halls of hell, and overpowered the deepest recesses of the fiery abyss!
Yes, His almighty voice was able to silence the clamor of all humanity’s sins and vices, and to still the tumult of our restless hearts. With immense authority, it invites the whole world to the embrace of His divinity. By crying out in a loud voice at the same moment when He was giving forth His spirit, Jesus revealed Himself to be the true high priest, supplicating upon our behalf, even as He offers Himself as the sacrifice of atonement.116
“Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”
Note that these are the very last words uttered by Christ, articulated during the final moments of His life. They are, therefore, a summa of His doctrine and discipline, revealing His perfect and pure reverence and adoration of the unseen Father. For by these words, Christ shows that all His hope is placed in the Father, and He faithfully entrusts Himself to Him completely.
In commending His own soul to the Father, it is to be understood that He commends also the souls of all the righteous. For just as He is the first of the faithful to enter into the realms of the dead, with all others to follow afterwards, so He first entrusts His own soul to the Father, and thereby entrusts also the souls of all who will follow Him.
For it is in the loving hands of the Father that our safest refuge is to be found, and the most tranquil and secure abiding place for our souls. There, no pain or sorrow can ever touch us; and there, death and sin will no longer cast the malign shadows over our lives and hearts…
We are therefore instructed by the example of Christ upon the cross that we should also confidently commend our own souls into the Lord’s hands. This is certainly something to be done with the greatest and urgent fervor as we draw near the time of death, but it is something we should also do all throughout the course of each and every day, and throughout the entire course of our lives. We should frequently entrust to the Father our deepest selves, committing all that we are, all that we do, and all that we love, to Him alone.
Thus it is a wise and helpful practice to repeat these words very often and very sincerely, both in times of prosperity and health, and in times of adversity and peril. Let us thus unite ourselves always with Jesus in this wonderful prayer, saying: “Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit.”
Saint Bonaventure’s Prayer
O most lamentable death, over which all creation sheds its tears:
O sorrowful death, over which the cosmos weeps!
But death, also, most marvelous, which restores the dead to life:
Death most loving, by which the saints attain to glory!
Holy death and noble death, by which all guilt is erased:
Merciful and efficacious death, by which the prize of eternal life is won!
O stupendous death of Christ, let us be ever mindful of you:
Stir up our souls, and pierce our hearts with compunction.
Illuminate our minds with your holy light,
And instruct us in the ways of humility and love.
Save us from our sins, and lead us unto life eternal. Amen.117
Saint Bonaventure’s Hymn
Lord, Thou broke the chains that bound us,
Shattered darksome walls around us.
Lead us to eternal peace,
From our troubles, grant release.Thou once drained that bitter cup,
On the bread of tears did sup;
For our sins, thou deigned to die,
King eternal, Lord most high!Grant salvation to the world;
Let love’s banner be unfurled!
Save us from our sin and pain;
Free us from these mortal chains!From the cross’s torrid altar
Flowed forth freely blood and water;
Blood most noble, crystalline
Water, from Thy flesh divine.Sacrosanct and precious blood,
Bear us, in thy ruby flood,
To the wedding feast above,
To the banquet of pure love.
Jesus, who for love did die,
In the earth, entombed, to lie;
Teach our hearts to rest with
Thee, In Thy silence, rendered free.Death’s dark stream thou, bold, did sail,
Entered Sheol’s lightless vale.
In Thy slumber, grant us peace;
In Thy sleep, despair’s surcease.Help us, Lord, who gave Thyself
To restore our souls to health;
Lead us through the battle’s strife,
To Thine own eternal life.Endless glory to the Son,
With the Godhead ever one,
Christ who died to save the lost,
Gave his heart, love’s highest cost.118
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111 “Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit.”
112 From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domini in Cruce.
113 As noted previously, commentaries on the sixth and seventh of the Last Words are to be found within the works of Bonaventure. Bonaventure’s commentary is included here, rather than that of Arnold.
114 From Bonaventure’s Postillae super Lucam.
115 Hebrews 5:7.
116 See Hebrews 4:14–16.
117 From Bonaventure’s De Septem Verbis Domini in Cruce.
118 From Bonaventure’s Officium de Passione Domini.