Good Friday

Through the texts of Sacred Scripture and liturgical prayers we are called to Calvary to commemorate the redemptive Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. 

The Crucifix will be presented to us to adore. Adoring the Cross, we relive the journey of the innocent Lamb sacrificed for our salvation. We carry in our minds and hearts the sufferings of the sick, the poor, the rejected of this world; we will remember the “sacrificed lambs”, the innocent victims of wars, dictatorships, everyday violence, abortions.

 Before the image of the crucified God, we bring, in prayer, the many, the too many who are crucified in our time, who’d receive comfort and meaning in their suffering only from him. And nowadays there are many: do not forget the crucified of our time, who are the image of Jesus Crucified, and Jesus is in them. 

Ever since Jesus took upon himself the wounds of humanity and death itself, God’s love has watered these deserts of ours, he has enlightened our darkness.

 Let us make a list of all the wars that are being fought in this moment; of all the children who die of hunger; of children who have no education; of entire populations destroyed by wars, by terrorism. Of the many, many people who, just to feel a bit better, need drugs, the drug industry that kills… 

He enters into the abyss of suffering, he enters into these calamities to redeem and transform them. to free every one of us from the power of darkness, of pride, of resistance to being loved by God.

 By his wounds we have been healed (cf. 1 Pt 2:24), the apostle Peter says, by his death we have been reborn, all of us. And thanks to him, abandoned on the cross, no one will ever again be alone in the darkness of death. Never. He is always beside us: we need only open our heart and let ourselves be looked upon by him. 

Pope Francis

For today’s homily, please play the video file below:

For a commentary on John’s Passion narrative by Fr.Donald Senior, CP. seehttps://passionofchrist.us/commentary/