GOOD FRIDAY 2011

GOOD FRIDAY 2011

My dear Brothers and Sisters,

What is so good about Good Friday? Is it called good because a good man was killed? It would better be called then bad Friday! Is it called good because the Son of God was put to death? It would better be called then the worst Friday! We call it good Friday because when man is bad, God is good; when man is at his worst, God is at his best. Juliana of Norwich, the fourteenth century English mystic, was once kneeling in prayer before a large crucifix. She beheld Jesus hanging in pain and asked: “My Lord, does it please you to hang on the Cross for me?” Jesus looked at Juliana with tenderness and with a faint smile on his lips, he replied: “My dear Juliana, it pleases me very much. It is not the nails in my hands and feet that support the weight of my body but the love in my heart for you!” If ever we doubt God’s love for us, all we need remember is Good Friday where goodness died to save you and me. What Jesus once said to Juliana of Norwich he says to you and me today.

“If anyone wishes to be my disciple, let him deny himself, take up his cross daily and follow me.” The difficult texts of the gospel are not necessarily the ones we do not understand. They are rather the ones we understand only too well but find hard to practise. There is really only one way to follow Jesus. There is really only one way to be his disciple – that is the way of the Cross. All other so called short-cuts lead us nowhere! We want a plastic Jesus, a Jesus with flowing golden hair; a Jesus with rouge daubed cheeks and painted lips; a Jesus with flashing blue eyes and a silken gown; a Jesus with well manicured soft hands. The real Jesus, the Jesus of the gospel is always a Jesus with the Cross. We want the crown but not the cross; we want to share in his glory but not a sip of his bitter cup of suffering; we want an Easter Sunday without a Good Friday. That is why Jesus has so few real followers; so few faithful friends. We want a comfortable Christ. We want a Christianity made easy. We want a gospel without sweat, blood and tears. That is why we are so miserable because if we look for Jesus without the Cross we are sure to find the Cross without Jesus!

All of us have a cross to carry, a burden to bear, a weakness that weighs us down. It may be a physical ailment that has turned chronic; it could be a psychological anxiety that is eating into us; it could be a spiritual malaise with which we have been struggling. Jesus is not asking us to lead the way. He goes ahead. We need to follow Him and draw inspiration from his example. We need to carry our cross. We need to bear it with love because its burden becomes lighter only when we carry it with love in our hearts. Even more, we need to unite our cross with the Cross of Jesus for our own sanctification and for the salvation of the whole world. A woman, very young in spirit, was celebrating her 100th birthday. “What is the secret of your long life?” she was asked. With a mischievous twinkle in her eye, she held out the glass with the sparkle and bubble of champagne in one hand and in the other she held the Cross on which were inscribed the words attributed to Thomas A Kempis, the author of The Imitation of Christ. They read “Carry your cross and the cross will carry you!” Real wisdom indeed that comes not only with advancing years but also with the experience of deep suffering. The more you love, the more you suffer!

We take a moment of quiet prayer as we contemplate the Cross. “Its love is unquestionable; its power unconquerable; its impact unmistakable, its meaning undeniable; its sacrifice incomparable, its price unimaginable; its depth immeasurable, its absence unthinkable” (Roy Lessin) - that old rugged Cross, the emblem of suffering and shame. We must love that old cross, where the dearest and best, for a world of lost sinners, like you and me, was slain. Amen.

[St. Tudwal Church, Barmouth – Msgr. Alex Rebello (736 Words)]