Good Friday April 6, 2007
Good Friday
April 6, 2007
“He was a man of suffering”
Isaiah 53:3
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Jesus’ vocation was to die. He came to give his body and blood to us that we might live. He humbled himself by leaving the uninterrupted glory of heaven to make himself venerable to us and we crucified him. But love for his own life did not deter him from death. Jesus vocation was to die for you and I and he fulfilled his vocation. That is why, paradoxically, we call this Friday “Good”, because of the gift of eternal life Jesus gives in his vocation of dying for us.
The cross is the central symbol of our faith. It keeps bringing us back to Jesus’ vocation of dying for us. We must remember to remember the cross as much as we can in our lives. It is the “Good” of Good Friday that we need to conquer all the evil in our lives and the world. The cross is forgiveness, salvation and life and we go and go and go to the cross. We know the cross is the truth of our lives. It defines us. We meditate on it and it explains our life. It is in denying our selfish way of living and living for God alone, and in going through the suffering and dying in the way that we are all called to in following Christ, that we come to eternal life. Our vocation is him and that means the cross.
How can we remember the cross daily? A custom born in the church assigns 3 pm as the time of the Lord’s death on Good Friday. So, we can remember the Lord’s death every day at 3 pm and especially on Friday’s (the day and time assigned to Jesus’ death) at 3 pm by making the sign of the cross. And, every Friday can be a special day of devotion to the cross as we remember Jesus’ vocation. Perhaps we fast on Fridays and hold a cross in our hands with that free time to go deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is for us. There is no doubt a lot of telephone poles you go by each day. Near the top of a lot of those poles you can see a cross made out of the wood. Let the telephone poles you see each day bring you to the cross and all the “Good”, which, by the way is all the “Good”, pouring out through the cross of Jesus Christ. When you drive by the church or graveyard or you hear the ambulance or police siren, make the sign of the cross. When you go into the church or when you pray your personal prayers or grace before meals, you make the sign of the cross. Make the sign of the cross for every need and praise and, in doing so; come back to Jesus who tells us what everything is all about.
If Jesus’ vocation on earth was to die and we call ourselves followers of Jesus, the prospect of following him does not sound fun at all. If we are truly going to follow him then that means we have to die? That sounds great, Fr. John! I am with you! Let us follow Jesus and die! You are kidding? You can’t be serious? I am. Jesus says to us, “Come follow me and die.” We have to die to our own ways and live for him. We have to prefer eternal life with him to our own physical life if that is what Jesus is calling us to. This, my friends, is the suffering and death we take on when we take on our vocation of following Jesus in his vocation.
Like with gold, we are tested in the crucible of suffering and humiliation. The gold smith burns any impurities away in the ravaging fire. And how does he know when he has pure gold? When he can see his reflection in it. God, Our Refiner’s Fire, burns away the impurity of anything that is not his in us so that we might become holy. Our Refiner knows his job is complete when he sees and loves in us what he sees and loves in Christ. When he sees his reflection in us after taking us through all our suffering and death, his vocation for us is fulfilled.
They say the greatest form of compliment is imitation. Jesus says, “Come die to your ways that you might fully live for me. That is your vocation. Fulfill your vocation. Imitate me. Let me see me when I see you.”
Each year it is the same on the calendar. Good Friday always comes before Easter Sunday. Suffering and death before eternal life. Let us give Jesus the greatest compliment with our lives by imitating him with all that we are.
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
The cross is the central symbol of our faith. It keeps bringing us back to Jesus’ vocation of dying for us. We must remember to remember the cross as much as we can in our lives. It is the “Good” of Good Friday that we need to conquer all the evil in our lives and the world. The cross is forgiveness, salvation and life and we go and go and go to the cross. We know the cross is the truth of our lives. It defines us. We meditate on it and it explains our life. It is in denying our selfish way of living and living for God alone, and in going through the suffering and dying in the way that we are all called to in following Christ, that we come to eternal life. Our vocation is him and that means the cross.
How can we remember the cross daily? A custom born in the church assigns 3 pm as the time of the Lord’s death on Good Friday. So, we can remember the Lord’s death every day at 3 pm and especially on Friday’s (the day and time assigned to Jesus’ death) at 3 pm by making the sign of the cross. And, every Friday can be a special day of devotion to the cross as we remember Jesus’ vocation. Perhaps we fast on Fridays and hold a cross in our hands with that free time to go deeper into the mystery of who Jesus is for us. There is no doubt a lot of telephone poles you go by each day. Near the top of a lot of those poles you can see a cross made out of the wood. Let the telephone poles you see each day bring you to the cross and all the “Good”, which, by the way is all the “Good”, pouring out through the cross of Jesus Christ. When you drive by the church or graveyard or you hear the ambulance or police siren, make the sign of the cross. When you go into the church or when you pray your personal prayers or grace before meals, you make the sign of the cross. Make the sign of the cross for every need and praise and, in doing so; come back to Jesus who tells us what everything is all about.
If Jesus’ vocation on earth was to die and we call ourselves followers of Jesus, the prospect of following him does not sound fun at all. If we are truly going to follow him then that means we have to die? That sounds great, Fr. John! I am with you! Let us follow Jesus and die! You are kidding? You can’t be serious? I am. Jesus says to us, “Come follow me and die.” We have to die to our own ways and live for him. We have to prefer eternal life with him to our own physical life if that is what Jesus is calling us to. This, my friends, is the suffering and death we take on when we take on our vocation of following Jesus in his vocation.
Like with gold, we are tested in the crucible of suffering and humiliation. The gold smith burns any impurities away in the ravaging fire. And how does he know when he has pure gold? When he can see his reflection in it. God, Our Refiner’s Fire, burns away the impurity of anything that is not his in us so that we might become holy. Our Refiner knows his job is complete when he sees and loves in us what he sees and loves in Christ. When he sees his reflection in us after taking us through all our suffering and death, his vocation for us is fulfilled.
They say the greatest form of compliment is imitation. Jesus says, “Come die to your ways that you might fully live for me. That is your vocation. Fulfill your vocation. Imitate me. Let me see me when I see you.”
Each year it is the same on the calendar. Good Friday always comes before Easter Sunday. Suffering and death before eternal life. Let us give Jesus the greatest compliment with our lives by imitating him with all that we are.
Live the confronted life!
+Fr. John
posted by Patti @ 8:59 AM
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