HOMILY FOR GOOD FRIDAY
OF THE LORD'S PASSION
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1.Isaiah
52:13-53:12
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2.Hebrews4:14-16;
5:7-9
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Gospel:
John 18: 1-19:42
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" The crucifixion of Jesus"
Today we commemorate
and reflect on the mystery of the passion and death of our Lord Jesus Christ on
the cross and its place in the divine plan of salvation. What we are
celebrating today is of capital significance in the life of the church.
From the earliest times
this has been a day of mourning, due to the painful crucifixion and agonizing
death of our Lord. Many of the names given to it in the course of history draw
attention to this mournful aspect. The official, name of Good Friday was
attached to this celebration 1955
because it is the " Friday of Preparation for the Pasch." In the 3rd
century, Good Friday was known as the Pasch of the Crucifixion. However, St.
Ambrose called it " Day of Bitterness."
The symbol of the cross
is found in the pre-christian and non-Christian cultures where it has largely a
cosmic or natural significance especially denoting the four dimensions of the
universe. However, among the non- Christian cultures in early history, the
cross is an instrument of punishment for notorious criminals. As such, the
early Christians until the 5th century generally avoided representing the body
of Christ on the cross because both pagans and Jews saw an irreconcilable
contradiction in the Christians belief that a crucified man could also be God.
The early Christians were contended with displaying only the bare cross.
Thus, the cross which
has been an emblem of atonment, an instrument of torture, a sign of punishment
and evil, now becomes a symbol of victory, of redemption and of total
destruction of evil. It represents a victorious concretization of supreme good
and the finest symbol of the Christian religion.
It is pertinent to
underscore that from the earliest days of Christianity, no Mass has been celebrated
on Good Friday; instead the church celebrates the special liturgy in which the
account of the passion according to John is read, a series of intercessory
prayers are offered, and the faithful venerate the cross by coming forward and
kissing it. And this liturgy concludes with the distribution of Holy Communion.
In this celebration however,
- We listen to the
words of scripture and strive to understand the true meaning of his suffering
and death.
- We pray with his
spirit for the needs of the whole world.
- We worship the cross
as the sign of his triumph
-We enter into
sacramental communion with him who is our savior and our life. In this
connection, we can see that the parts of the Good Friday service corresponds to
the division of the mass: Liturgy of the word, Intercessory prayers for the
church and the entire world, Christians and non- Christians,
Veneration of the
cross, and Liturgy of the holy communion.
As we celebrate Good
Friday, we are reminded that the human Jesus, struggling to come to terms with
the reality of his predicament, echoes every human experience of suffering and
of loss, moreover, it reflects the complexity and confusion of emotions that
attend all those caught in the slipstream of pain, loss and death.
All who are suffering
in whatever form this Good Friday, all who struggle to make sense of what, by
any human estimate, seems to be senseless will find an echo of their pain in
the suffering of Jesus because the contradiction of the cross is that what it
represents, the suffering of Christ, continues to save and to heal and to
comfort.
Contemplating Jesus on
the cross brings comfort and resilience and strength to those who need it. And
it reminds us that it is through his
suffering that everyone and everything is redeemed, that the power and the
presence and promise of God are now accessible to us in our suffering and in
our need. Contemplating Jesus on the cross reminds us that in our present frail
and redeemed bodies we carry the saving power of God. Kiss the cross on Good
Friday, not for God's sake but for your own.
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