Good Friday

[cappie]

According to an ancient Roman tradition, while fleeing the city during the {persecutions of Nero, Saint Peter saw Jesus, who was travelling in the opposite direction that is, toward the city, and asked him in amazement, “Lord, are you going?” Jesus’ response was, “I am going to Rome to be crucified again.” At that moment, Peter understood that he had to follow the Lord with courage, to the very end. But he also realized that he would never be alone on the journey; Jesus, who had loved him even unto death, would always be with him. Jesus, with his Cross, walks with us and takes upon himself our fears, our problems, and our sufferings.

To those who, today too, wish to see Jesus, to those who are searching for the face of God, to those who received catechesis when they were little and then developed it no further and perhaps have lost their faith, to so many who have not yet encountered Jesus personally … to all these people we can offer three things: The Gospel, the crucifix, and the witness of our faith, poor but sincere. The Gospel: there we can encounter Jesus, listen to him, know him. The Crucifix: the sign of the love of Jesus, who gave himself for us. And then a faith that is expressed in simple gestures of fraternal charity. But mainly in the coherence of life, between what we say and what we do. Coherence between our faith and our life, between our words and our actions: Gospel, crucifix, witness.

God placed on Jesus’ Cross all the weight of our sins, all the injustices perpetrated by every Cain against his brother, all the bitterness of the betrayal by Judas and by Peter, all the vanity of tyrants, all the arrogance of false friends. It was a heavy Cross, like night experienced by abandoned people, heavy like the death of loved ones, heavy because it carries all the ugliness of evil. However, the Cross is also glorious like the dawn after a long night, for it represents all the love of God, which is greater than our iniquities and our betrayals. In the Cross, we see the monstrosity of man, when he allows evil to guide him; but we also see the immensity of the mercy of God, who does not treat us according to our sins but according to his mercy.

Jesus is united with every person who suffers from hunger in a world that … permits itself the luxury of throwing away tons of food every day. On the Cross, Jesus is united to the many mothers and fathers who suffer as they see their children become victims of drugs. On the Cross, Jesus is united with those who are persecuted for their religion, for their beliefs, or simply for the colour of their skin. On the Cross, Jesus is united with so many young people who have lost faith in political institutions because they see in them only selfishness and corruption; he unites himself with those young people who have lost faith in the Church or even in God because of the counter-witness of Christians and ministers of the Gospel.

Jesus accepts all this with open arms, and saying to us, “Have courage! You do not carry your cross alone! I carry it with you. I have overcome death, and I have come to give you hope, to give you life”

Do you want to be like Pilate, who did not have the courage to go against the tide to save Jesus’ life, and instead washed his hands, are you one of those who wash their hands, who feign ignorance and look the other way? Or are you like Simon of Cyrene, who helped Jesus carry that heavy wood, or like Mary and the other women, who were not afraid to accompany Jesus all the way to the end, with love and tenderness? Jesus is looking at you now and is asking you: do you want to help me carry the Cross?  How will you respond to him?

Again, the Gospel offers us the words that Jesus addressed to Nicodemus: “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son” John 3:16). In hearing these words, we feel within us that’ God loves us, truly loves us, and loves us so much! This is the simplest expression that epitomizes all the Gospel, all the faith, all theology: God loves us with a free and boundless love.

The Cross of Jesus expresses all the negative forces of evil but, also, the gentleness of God’s mercy. The Cross would seem to decree Christ’s failure, but in reality, it signals his victory. On Calvary, those who mocked him said to him, “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross” (Matt. 27:40). But the opposite was true: it was precisely because Jesus was the Son of God that he was there, on the Cross, faithful to the end to the loving plan of the Father.

When we look to the Cross where Jesus was nailed, we contemplate the sign of love, of the infinite love of God for each of us and the source of our salvation. The mercy of God, which embraces the whole world, comes from Cross.

The Cross of Christ contains all the love of God; there we find his immeasurable mercy. This is a love in which we can place all our trust, in which we can believe …. Let us entrust ourselves to Jesus, let us give ourselves over to him, because he never disappoints anyone! Only in Christ crucified and risen can we find salvation and redemption. With him, evil, suffering, and death do not have the last word, because he gives us hope and life: he has transformed the Cross from being an instrument of hate, defeat, and death to being a sign of love, victory, triumph, and life.