Good Friday

Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16,5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

WE ARE SAFE NOT BY WHAT WE DO BUT BY WHAT CHRIST HAS DONE

At the beginning of today’s liturgy, the celebrant lay prostrate, in silence, before the altar. There were no introductory rites as at Mass, no entrance song. The altar is stripped The sanctuary is bare. A silent prostration. It is as if the grief and sorrow of the Church, as she contemplates the sacrifice of Christ, are so great, that only this ancient expression to our feelings. In silent awe the Churches grief-stricken at the foot of the Cross. For three hours the sun is darkened.

The natural lights of the heavens are extinguished, as the Light of the World hangs upon the tree, and dies thereon. All words at first seem empty and meaningless. God in the flesh has been tortured, crucified, mocked, taunted, and now has died. Christ has died and It seems as if evil has done its worst.

But this is just the beginning of a new life in life. When Jesus says on the cross, I thirst…It is finished. Christ gives a new dimension to the idea of suffering, that every suffering merits redemption so as long as we identify it and immerse it in the sufferings of Christ we become victorious at the end.

There is so much suffering in the world today and all these sufferings can be immersed in Christ through thanksgiving to God for giving us his only begotten Son as a perfect example of Holiness and Obedience to God our Father and we too need to surrender to God and live in true obedience to him every day.

In John 19:25-27, just before our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, He says to his mother. Woman behold thy Son…Son thy Mother. Jesus’ mother is a fantastic woman. She has tremendous courage. There was nothing in Mary that had no reference to Jesus. She has been a very strong woman from the beginning. By her Yes we are blessed. I am the Handmaid of the Lord let it be done to me according to your word. She is a very practical woman Her steps point to Jesus always.. We see her intercessory role in the miracle at the wedding at Cana.

Mary stood by her Son even when they found him in the temple, On Via Dolorosa (The Way of the Cross), she sees the mockery, the torture, and the beatings, she sees the wounds caused by the ugly weapons of pains and the only thing she does is to intimate herself through acceptance of God’s plan even when everything she had seem to be crashing down and the only thing she had is just this only son.

Whenever we behold the cross of Jesus and we see him he tells us Behold your mother. Does it mean that she becomes a test to those who are Catholics or not? When you reject Mary you reject Jesus for Mary is the great companion of Jesus Christ- the heart of the Mother, the heart of the Son. Our Lady gave us the Rosary which is the Mysteries of Christ her Son as a a great tradition. This is the greatest love story ever told written in the precious beads we meditate upon.

Late. Pope Benedict XVI as Cardinal and professor held in Salvation: More than a Cliché? that ‘Christ, God-made-man, is man’s only chance, his true and sole-sufficient redemption..’ Do not let the grace of Good Friday go away in vain. Please, I beg you. Do not be afraid of Jesus. No one loves you like Jesus.

No one loves you as he does. No one can lay his life for you like Jesus. St Thomas Aquinas says that “three things are necessary for the salvation of man: to know what he ought to believe; to know what he ought to desire; and to know what he ought to do.”(Two Precepta of Charity 1273). On that Cross, Christ gives Himself for us. In return, we must give ourselves to Him.

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That was an offering far too small;
Love is so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all.

PRAYER

We adore you O Christ and we praise you because, by your holy cross, you have redeemed the world. Redeem us by your love and grant us eternal life. Amen.

Fr Joseph Osho