Why did Jesus cry out: My God! My God! Why have you forsaken me? just before He died?

[The_Leprechaun]

Why, exactly?

This is a very good thread…very informative…great contributions from all…
Thank You
The Leprechaun

 

[JimmytheButcher]

Why, exactly?

Bishop Sheen once wrote that it was so even the Atheists would have someone on the Cross. It was something similiar… I think it might have been along the lines ‘the day God became an Atheist…’

It’s a objectionable notion at first, but if not taken to an extreme is quite re-assuring.

 

[centurionguard]

As was pointed out to me on these threads some time ago, I don’t think it is unreasonable to think that Jesus felt the desolation of the cross, and in feeling that desolation he cried out to his Heavenly Father.

-Tim-

Given the fact their were two certain aspects to Jesus’s life; His human side and ("His Divine side Something to be grasped at").

Saint John of the Cross speaks about The Dark Night of the Soul.
(“Jesus lived the Dark Night of the Soul His entire life up to His last breath on the Cross”)
Psalm 22 and the Prayer of Christ from the Cross
beginningtopray.blogspot.com/2010/03/psalm-22-and-prayer-of-christ-from.html

Psalm 22

Dominus regit me. God’s spiritual benefits to faithful souls.

[1] A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. [2] He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: [3] He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake. [4] For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. [5] Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!

[1] Ruleth me: In Hebrew, Is my shepherd, viz., to feed, guide, and govern me.

[6] And thy mercy will follow me all the days of my life. And that I may dwell in the house of the Lord unto length of days.

 

[Evan]

Psalm 22

[1] A psalm for David. The Lord ruleth me: and I shall want nothing. [2] He hath set me in a place of pasture. He hath brought me up, on the water of refreshment: [3] He hath converted my soul. He hath led me on the paths of justice, for his own name’s sake. [4] For though I should walk in the midst of the shadow of death, I will fear no evils, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they have comforted me. [5] Thou hast prepared a table before me against them that afflict me. Thou hast anointed my head with oil; and my chalice which inebriateth me, how goodly is it!

I believe your quote is Psalm 23 rather than Psalm 22. Although, Your weblink is to Ps 22.

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[centurionguard]

I believe your quote is Psalm 23 rather than Psalm 22. Although, Your weblink is to Ps 22.

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Your correct; it does seem strange now that you mention it.
I quoted the biblical passage from the Douay-Rheims Catholic Bible here: drbo.org/chapter/21022.htm

In the NAB its Psalm 23

 

[NeedImprovement]

An excerpt from several of Bishop Sheen’s reflections ( - might not be exactly the one you’re thinking of JimmytheButcher, but it has some of what you mention [great article linked in post # 4 Marty1818 ] ) :

From: **THE SEVEN LAST WORDS, Most Reverend Fulton J. Sheen **;pgs 31-36
[Alba House publishing, NY]

1 of 2

My God ! My God ! Why Have You Forsaken Me ?

When our Blessed Lord spoke this fourth word from the Cross , darkness covered the earth. It is a common remark that nature is indifferent to our griefs. A nation may be dying of famine, yet the sun starts and plays upon the stricken fields. Brother may rise up against brother in a war which may turn poppy fields into Haceldamas of blood ; yet a bird, safe from the fire and shell chants its little song of peace . Hearts may be broken by the loss of a friend ; yet a rainbow leaps with joy across the heavens making a terrible contrast between its smile and the agony it shines upon. But the sun refused to shine on the Crucifixion ! The light that rules the day, probably for the first and last time in history , was snuffed out like a candle when, according to every human calculation, it should have continued to shine. The reason was that the crowning crime of man, the killing of nature’s Lord, could not pass without a protest from nature itself. If the soul of God were in darkness, so should be the sun which He had made .

Truly, all was darkness ! He had given up His Mother and His beloved disciple, and now His Heavenly Father seemingly had abandoned Him. “Eli, Eli, lamma sabacthani ? “ “My God ! My God ! Why have You forsaken Me?” It is a cry in the mysterious language of Hebrew to express the tremendous mystery of a God “abandoned” by God. The Son calls His Father, God. What a contrast with a prayer He once taught: “Our Father Who art in Heaven!” In some strange, mysterious way His human nature seems separated from His Heavenly Father, and yet not separated, for otherwise how could He cry “My God, My God” ? But just as the sun’s light and heat can be withdrawn from us by the intervening clouds , though the sun remains in the sky , so there was a kind of withdrawal of His Father’s Face in the terrible moment in which He took upon Himself the sins of the world. This pain and desolation He suffered for each of us, that we might know what a terrible thing it is for human nature to be without God, to be deprived of a Divine Remedy and Consolation. It was the supreme act of atonement for three classes of people: those who abandon God, those who doubt the presence of God, and those who are indifferent to God.

He atoned first of all for atheists, for those who on that dark midday half believed in God, as even now at night they half believe in Him. He atoned also for those who know God, but live as if they had never heard His Name; for those whose hearts are like waysides on which God’s love falls only to be trampled by the world ; for those whose hearts are like rocks on which the seed of God’s love falls only to be quickly forgotten ; for those whose hearts are like thorns on which God’s love descends, only to be choked by the cares of the world. It was atonement for all who have had faith and lost it ; for all who once were saints and now are sinners. It was the Divine Act of Redemption for all abandonment of God , for in that moment in which He was forgotten, He purchased for us the grace of never being forgotten by God.

( continued ...)

 

[NeedImprovement]

(… continuation)

From: **THE SEVEN LAST WORDS, Most Reverend Fulton J. Sheen **;pgs 31-36
[Alba House publishing, NY]

2 of 2

It was also atonement for that other class who deny the presence of God; for all those Christians who abandon all effort when they cannot feel God near them ; for all who identify being good with feeling good; for all those skeptics beginning with the first who asked, “Why has God commanded you?” It was reparation for all the haunting questions of a doubting world :

“Why is there evil?”
“Why does God not answer my prayers?”
“Why did God take away my mother?”
“Why” … “why” … “why” ?

And reparation for all those queries was made when God asked a “why” of God.

Finally, it was atonement for all the indifference of the world which lives as if there had never been a crib at Bethlehem or a Cross at Calvary ; it was atonement for all who shake dice while the drama of the Redemption is being enacted ; for all those who feel themselves as gods beyond all duties of worship and religion, yet bound by none. I suppose that after these twenty centuries the indifference of our modern world is more torturing and crucifying than the pains of Calvary. One can well believe that a crown of thorns, and that steel nails were less terrible to the flesh of our Savior than our modern indifference which neither scorns nor prays to the Heart of Christ.

Prayer

Jesus! You are now atoning for those moments when we are neither hot nor cold, members neither of heaven nor of earth, for now You are suffering between the two ; rejected by the one, abandoned by the other. Because you would not give up sinful humanity, Your Heavenly Father hid His Face from You. Because you would not give up Your Heavenly Father, sinful humanity turned its back on You, and thus in holy fellowship You found a way to unite us both. No longer can anyone say that God does not know what a heart suffers in abandonment, for now You are abandoned. No longer can anyone complain that God does not know the wounds of an inquiring heart which feels not the Divine Presence , for now that sweet Presence is seemingly hid from You as well. . . .