HOMILY FOR GOOD FRIDAY (CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S PASSION) (1)

HOMILY FOR GOOD FRIDAY (CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S PASSION)

THEME: THE CRUIFIXION AND DEATH OF JESUS….. “When Jesus had taken the wine, he said, ‘It is finished.’ And bowing his head, he handed over the spirit.”

BY: Fr. Francesc CATARINEU i Vilageliu
(Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain)

HOMILY FOR FRIDAY APRIL 15 2022

Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 18,1-40.19,1-42.

Today we celebrate the first day of the Paschal Triduum. It is therefore the day of the Victorious Cross, where Jesus Christ left us the best of Him: the Virgin Mary as mother, the forgiveness —for his executioners too— and the total trust in God Father.

We have heard it in the reading of the Passion transmitted by Saint John’s testimony, witnessed it in the Calvary with Mary, our Lord’s mother, and the other women. It is a narration rich in symbols, where every little detail has its significance. But today, the silence and austerity of the Church help us also to live in an environment of prayer, fully attentive to the gift we celebrate.

In front of this great mystery, first of all we are called to see. Christian faith is not the reverential relationship to a distant and even abstract God we know nothing about, but the adhesion to a Person, true man like us and, at the same time, true God. The Invisible one became flesh of our flesh and assumed to be a man until death, a death on the Cross. But it was a death accepted as a ransom for all of us, a redeeming death, a death that brings us life. Those who were there and saw it are those who communicated these feats and, at the same time, revealed the significance of Christ’s death.

In front of this, we feel grateful and admiring; we know the price of love: “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (Jn 15:13). Christian prayer is not meant to beg only, but —first of all— to gratefully admire.

Jesus is for us the model to imitate, that is, to repeat his attitude. We must be persons who love so as to be a gift for others, persons who trust the Father in the face of any adversity.

This contrasts with the indifferent atmosphere of our society; this is why we must bear a testimony bolder than ever before, as the gift of Christ is for all of us. As Saint Melito of Sardis says: “He made us go from slavery to freedom, from darkness to light, from death to life. He is the Paschal mystery of our salvation.”

+ Fr. Francesc CATARINEU i Vilageliu
(Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain)