March 30, 2018 Good Friday
March 30, 2018 Good Friday
On this second day of the Triduum – a solemn day – a day of fasting, abstinence and prayer – we read the Passion of Our Lord from the Gospel of St. John, pray for the needs of the world, venerate the cross and receive communion. We come together today to remember the crucifixion and death of Jesus which is a manifestation of total self giving. Yes, our Lord died because of His deep love for us.
For the people witnessing the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus, it was yet another revolutionary put down by the authorities and the mighty Roman Empire. Yet the way St. John frames the narrative is the opposite--Jesus was in complete command of the situation. While to the outsiders Jesus appears helpless under the powers of authorities as he is bound, scourged, nailed, and buried, Jesus takes charge of the path of suffering from the time of his arrest through the events on Calvary. Jesus is subject to his love of his Father and his Father’s desire to reunite us to Him. Even as Jesus is tried by Pilate, it is Pilate who appears helpless and fearful as Jesus ominously informs Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above.”
We are all know that an earthly king wears a crown made of gold and jewels, but our King of kings and the Lord of lords wore a crown of thorns, a crown of suffering. His crown of thorns was a mark of his triumph and victory. We behold the Man, the Son of God and the Messiah, who was handed over for crucifixion and raised up on the wood of the cross for all people to see. Jesus surrendered himself to the Father’s will and the Father glorified him. That glory awaits us as well. Mother Teresa said, "True love is surrender. The more we love the more we surrender.” To surrender means to accept our everyday suffering, rejection, adversity, failure, frustration, fatigue, temptation, heartache, doubt, and discouragement.
A wise spiritual director told a young priest who had been lamenting all the difficulties of being a priest, “Why are you surprised? Isn’t that what the Lord promised to you? Where was Jesus Christ the Head and Shepherd of the Church, if not on the Cross? So why are you startled that you are configured to Christ on the Cross? Why are you shocked that there are setbacks, and frustrations, and temptations, and dryness, and opposition?” Our Lord was blunt with us when he said, “Unless you take up your cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.” Hardship, sacrifice, suffering, adversity, struggle —are necessarily going to be part of the life of the disciple. Jesus tells us that the cross is a sign of victory, obedience, love, selflessness, total dependence upon God. Whatever sufferings we endure — whether illness, death of a loved one, betrayal of a friend, losing a job, financial hardship — we do not endure alone. Be not afraid, Our Lord reminds us over and over again, of all the difficulties and sufferings we face. Our Lord will sustain us through our most difficult cross and give us the crown that awaits us in Heaven. As we venerate the cross this evening, let us recall the struggle we’re going through now and unite it to Our Lord’s cross.
For the people witnessing the arrest, trial, and crucifixion of Jesus, it was yet another revolutionary put down by the authorities and the mighty Roman Empire. Yet the way St. John frames the narrative is the opposite--Jesus was in complete command of the situation. While to the outsiders Jesus appears helpless under the powers of authorities as he is bound, scourged, nailed, and buried, Jesus takes charge of the path of suffering from the time of his arrest through the events on Calvary. Jesus is subject to his love of his Father and his Father’s desire to reunite us to Him. Even as Jesus is tried by Pilate, it is Pilate who appears helpless and fearful as Jesus ominously informs Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it had not been given to you from above.”
We are all know that an earthly king wears a crown made of gold and jewels, but our King of kings and the Lord of lords wore a crown of thorns, a crown of suffering. His crown of thorns was a mark of his triumph and victory. We behold the Man, the Son of God and the Messiah, who was handed over for crucifixion and raised up on the wood of the cross for all people to see. Jesus surrendered himself to the Father’s will and the Father glorified him. That glory awaits us as well. Mother Teresa said, "True love is surrender. The more we love the more we surrender.” To surrender means to accept our everyday suffering, rejection, adversity, failure, frustration, fatigue, temptation, heartache, doubt, and discouragement.
A wise spiritual director told a young priest who had been lamenting all the difficulties of being a priest, “Why are you surprised? Isn’t that what the Lord promised to you? Where was Jesus Christ the Head and Shepherd of the Church, if not on the Cross? So why are you startled that you are configured to Christ on the Cross? Why are you shocked that there are setbacks, and frustrations, and temptations, and dryness, and opposition?” Our Lord was blunt with us when he said, “Unless you take up your cross and follow Me, you cannot be My disciple.” Hardship, sacrifice, suffering, adversity, struggle —are necessarily going to be part of the life of the disciple. Jesus tells us that the cross is a sign of victory, obedience, love, selflessness, total dependence upon God. Whatever sufferings we endure — whether illness, death of a loved one, betrayal of a friend, losing a job, financial hardship — we do not endure alone. Be not afraid, Our Lord reminds us over and over again, of all the difficulties and sufferings we face. Our Lord will sustain us through our most difficult cross and give us the crown that awaits us in Heaven. As we venerate the cross this evening, let us recall the struggle we’re going through now and unite it to Our Lord’s cross.
