Reflect on the love that God has for you and thank Him.

GOOD FRIDAY  2019

Good Friday came early for the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in that horrific fire on Monday of Holy Week. The cathedral’s iconic spire has fallen. The roof has collapsed. The fire massive. “There will be nothing left,” a spokesman for Notre-Dame told the inquiring media.

When we saw on the news again and again how the spire fell from the top of the Cathedral, we can draw a connection with the Good Friday crucifixion of the bloody, broken and dying Jesus to the all-consuming fire of this most beloved cathedral.

But please God, the cathedral will be rebuilt.  It will rise again – even if like Jesus, it bears the wounds of the past.

Good Friday brings us before the cross of Jesus from which so many cathedrals including Notre-Dame and our St. Joseph’s Church take their shape.  The cross upon which Jesus died stands ablaze with the love of God for all of us.

As we look the devastation of this iconic Cathedral, we ask the question:  Can  the Church be saved?

Not thinking of the Church as a building but as the People of God, that is also the Good Friday question:  Cant the Church be saved?

It is in the context of our grieving over the ruins of this great cathedral, we proclaim again the passion account of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The last words spoken by Jesus on the cross were:   “It is finished.”  Jesus then bowed and gave up His spirit.

When Jesus spoke those final words, he wasn’t just saying, "This is the end of me" as if there was nothing else to do but to give in to his enemies and die. His last words weren’t a final surrender to the power of Satan as if to say, "You have won. I’m done for". These words don’t tell us that Jesus was dead now and that’s all there is to it. He is finished and so is everything that he stood for and promised during his earthly life.

Rather, is it most important to understand that Jesus is saying his mission of saving the world has been completed.  He has finished the task that God has given Him to do, and nothing can be added to what has been done.

What is it that is finished when Jesus says, "It is finished"?

Jesus' announcement from the cross, "It is finished" is clear and simple. Jesus has completed his mission. The reason why he came as a human has been fulfilled. He came so that you and I can have forgiveness and salvation. He came to give us the victory. He came to ensure that we would enter his kingdom and live forever.

That’s why we call today "Good Friday". It certainly wasn’t a good day for Jesus. He endured pain, soul-wrenching agony, hanging by the nails in his hands for hours, death on a rough wooden cross, for our sakes. We call today "Good Friday" because the cross is proof of the powerful love that God has for each of us. No one, not even God, would do something like that unless he truly loved us. Here we see a love that was prepared to endure the ultimate in order to rescue us.

The Good Friday liturgy calls to mind what happened historically to Jesus so long ago.  May the Good Friday liturgy also help us to call to mind the ways Jesus still suffers in the hearts of so many refugees, so many people who are hungry for food for their bodies and the food of love for their spirits. 

Today’s celebration must help us realize that Christ continues to suffer in many of our brothers and sisters. There are too many people that suffer hunger, cold, solitude and discriminations. Perhaps, we do not take note of them. So, our Good Friday liturgy must help us see them.

Also, Christ is suffering and dying in each of us because we are still tied to many things that imprison us. We continue to be slaves of our sins, habits and weaknesses.  This Good Friday, Christ calls us from the cross to a total change, and to be generous with our lives as he was with his for the sake of our salvation.

God did all this for us. He did all this because of his love for us.  Paul writes, "God has shown us how much he loves us—it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us! … We were God's enemies, but he made us his friends through the death of his Son.” That’s how much God loves us – Jesus died for us even though we don’t deserve it. His death has made us God's friends.

As we venerate the cross during our liturgy today, pray and ponder what Jesus has done for you through His death on the cross.  In our Good Friday prayer, we ask for the grace even to embrace the cross as we experience how we are called to be the followers of the crucified Christ.  How can we deal with the crosses and the sufferings of life?

We find meaning in the crosses of our life when we know in the depths of our hearts that the cross of Jesus is a symbol of love and a symbol of hope.   The cross brings to mind the sacrificial love of the one who hangs there. It is a clear proof of His love that He laid down His life for us and challenges to do the same for our brothers and sisters. 

As we venerate the cross during our liturgy today, pray and ponder about what Jesus has done for you through his death on the cross.  Think about the love that God has for you and thank him.