Note on the Spirit's Groaning

When the Spirit prays in us, "intercedes with inexpressible groanings" as we "groan within ourselves" (Rom 8:26, 23), that voice within us crying out "Abba, Father!," I wonder if these groanings are not the echoes of Christ's agony in the garden (Mark 14:36: "He said, 'Abba, Father, all things are possible to you. Take this cup away from me, but not what I will but what you will.'"), or even the echoes of His dereliction on the cross, the words of His abandonment reverberating through His Spirit who now resides in us. For is not this Spirit, who was upon Christ in His Passion before being poured out upon all flesh, the one who enables our dying and our rising with Christ; indeed, our co-crucifixion with Him (Gal 2:19-20)? I wonder if the hidden "depths of God," which only the Spirit searches (1 Cor 2:10) include the depths of the Son's abandonment to Godlessness at Golgotha; those depths that endured and swallowed up all the sins of the world- all Godlessness- once and for all.

Pax Christi,