The Sixth Word: “It is finished.”

This episode of the St. Josemaria Institute Podcast centers on the profound theological and spiritual significance of Jesus' final words on the cross: 'It is finished.' The meditation explores the moment when Jesus, having endured the Passion, voluntarily surrenders his spirit, not out of defeat but as the completion of his redemptive mission. The host unpacks the symbolism of the sponge and hyssop, the lance thrust into Christ's side producing water and blood, and the iconographic shift from Longinus and Stephanon to Mary and John flanking the cross—representing the Church and the Synagogue, the Old and New Covenants. Drawing on Fulton Sheen’s poetic insight, the episode emphasizes that 'it is finished' means not an end, but a fulfillment—consummatum est—marking the completion of salvation history. The reflection extends to the Christian life as a continuous 'punching in' to the clock of sanctification, where every moment, even suffering, can be offered in love and transformed into merit. The episode concludes with a call to savor life's challenges, not with frustration, but with purpose, recognizing that our work is never truly finished until we hand over our lives to God, just as Mary received Christ’s body into her lap in the Pietà.