NOTES for Luk 23:42-43

There is such a concept as a "moment of truth." It is an instant when a veil seems to fall from our eyes, and we suddenly see something as it really is. It is not always a pleasant instant, but blessed is the one who has experienced it; he will always seek this authenticity and will not agree to any deception.

The "wise" thief, as he is commonly called in Tradition, experiences a moment of truth just before death on the cross. Suffering terrible torments of pain and suffocation, he looks at Jesus, suffering in exactly the same way, naked, torn, bloodied, dying, and sees in Him... the King and Lord. And not an ex-King who has lost His Kingdom and is perishing, but the coming King entering the fullness of power. This is an astonishing insight, the acquisition of faith that reveals the Truth. Therefore Jesus answers him that today he enters paradise, that fullness of life which God has prepared for all who believe in Him and in the Son sent by Him. In essence, the essential difference of Christianity and of Christians is that we all become disciples of Jesus of Nazareth when with the heart we grasp the glory of His Kingdom in His Cross.