May the Lord give you peace.
It is 29th March 2024. It is Good Friday – the celebration of the Lord’s Passion. It is the day of fasting and abstinence.
We reflect on Isaiah 52:13-53:12; Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; and John 18:1-19:42.
Suffering purifies our souls and makes us participate in the Passion of the Lord.
Focusing our attention on the Most Holy Cross of Jesus, we obtain strength to carry our own.
It is the Most Holy Cross of Jesus that widens our hearts to love those who wished us evil, broadens our minds to be inclusive, neutralizes the volcanic eruptions of emotions of egoistic and selfish choices, and energises our drooping spirit.
The emptiness and silence of the day help us process the roaring noise of the sin within ourselves.
The liturgy of the day begins with the Scriptures explaining the suffering and death of Jesus followed by the solemn intercession and prayers to Jesus on the Cross leading us all to venerate the Most Holy Cross of our Saviour Crucified and the offertory collection is reserved for the holy places and culminating in partaking of Holy Communion.
The liturgy of the day begins with silence and ends in total silence after Jesus surrendered His Spirit to God.
All the wounds and scares of sin are healed by the Blood of our Lord Jesus. We are saved, forgiven, and healed by the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus.
No one can suffer for our sins and carry our pains like Jesus.
No one can replace Jesus the way He loved us.
Our human love is oftentimes conditional, controlling, and compelling while the love of the Lord is ever unconditional, gentle, and never imposing.
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face.” (Jn.19:1-3).
No one would go through such humiliation to save us. The obedience of Jesus to the will of the Father remains unparalleled and unreachable by any person. (1 Pet.1:22). We can all make as many crosses as possible from the finest wood of the forest, but we still struggle to bring out another Jesus from the finest humanity.
Prophet Isaiah talks about the incomparable suffering of the Suffering Servant, who died for us all. “By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself.” (Is.53:11).
The responsorial Psalm commends, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Lk.23:46).
The Gospel gently reminds us that our sins crucified the most innocent one of God, Jesus.
The account of the Gospel of John presents the crucifixion as the culminating moment of our salvation even when humanity refused Jesus over Cesar and Barabbas.
In our daily encounter with the reality of life, the choices we make for or against Jesus can either crucify Him or humiliate Him.
We all need to fervently pray near the reposition of the Most Holy Eucharist today in our church. Let us spend quality to time in silence reflecting on all that is unfolding on Good Friday.
May the Lord kindly bless all of us to be blessed and healed by Him.
May you all have a peaceful and prayerful liturgical celebration.
May God bless you.
Fr. Peter Fernando, OFMCap.
Director, Office of Family Ministry, Apostolic Vicariate of Southern Arabia (AVOSA).Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.♣Website:https://reflectionsofpeter.org/.♣Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/samarpet