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Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord

Scripture:

Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42

Reflection:

Today, Good Friday, we all stand together in community at the foot of the Cross.  We are not here to analyze or think; we are here to feel and experience the love only a crucified Jesus can bring us in the midst of suffering and death.  We are here to live the intimacy of a relationship founded in the simple, sure truth only a crucified Jesus can bestow in our world.

We are here with the “good thief”, the man crucified with Jesus who was embraced with the words of Jesus assuring him of a place in paradise.  We are here as people who have sinned and yet now, next to a crucified Jesus are assured of how much we are loved by God.  The arms of Jesus embrace each of us with love.

We are here with Mary, the mother of Jesus.  We are present as Jesus entrusts Mary and John with the loving care of each other.  Jesus asks us to care for each other in community at the foot of the Cross.  The arms of Jesus are extended as He entrusts us to include everyone in our community with love.

We are here with the centurion who recognizes the presence of God in the ultimate act of love, the death of Jesus.  We are present as Jesus extends love to a world longing for the embrace of God.

We are here at the foot of the Cross, joined by the good thief, Mary the mother of Jesus and a Roman centurion.  We are all, along with every person in our troubled world, indeed with all creation, joined in a loving embrace with each other and God at the foot of the Cross, with Jesus our life and our joy!

 

Terry McDevitt, Ph.D. is a member of our Passionist Family who volunteers at the Passionist Assisted Living Community in Louisville, Kentucky.

Scripture:

Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14
1 Corinthians 11:23-26
John 13:1-15

Reflection:

Our readings today bless us with a beautiful symphony of insights calling us to deeper reflection and awareness as we enter these sacred days of the Easter Triduum. Our Gospel proclaimed begins the book of Glory as the author of John presents Jesus in charge—fully aware—and ready to enter his hour—his glory and our own salvation.

Imagine for a moment, simply being in that room, hear the droplets of water being poured into the bowl, sense the bewilderment of the disciples as they wonder. Can you feel the silence and the anticipation, the questioning eyes moving from person to person? This was no ordinary meal; there was a new dynamic building around this unusual action of Jesus.

“As I have done for you, so you should also do” invites us to service of one another. If we ponder the posture of receiving, especially in light of the exchange between Peter and Jesus; wouldn’t most of us have the same reaction? “No, no, not me, Lord. I am not worthy and cannot accept your washing my feet. You are the Master, it cannot be so…” Washing the feet of another is an intimate act—a vulnerable act—maybe we shy away from it because it might just be too intimate. Feet are messy and many of us are self-conscious wanting to keep them covered, out of sight. Is there also a part of us which we keep hidden and do not feel ready to bring to the light for Jesus to wash clean? This is the night for liberation from all our messy places! So, like the Israelites who ate their meal alert and ready to run for freedom, we too have this opportunity. Every one of us; no one is exempt!

We come first to be nourished at the table of the Lord; our call to service is an expression of that love offered to us from Jesus who brings it from our Father. One Body, One Lord, Many Parts, All One. Can we live into this reality? Can we accept Jesus invitation and allow him to clean us all over?

Yes, there is the deeper invitation from Jesus—the bridegroom of our soul. We are called to take that deeper plunge in faith; to lean into the LOVE offered to us. To turn and notice this LOVE. This LOVE is not a feel-good experience it is a love…”to the end.” Total and complete; bearing all things.

I have always had a sense of gratitude that the community in Corinth didn’t understand how to come together to celebrate Eucharist. Imagine if they had understood it all, we would never have known what Paul knew about Jesus breaking and sharing bread and wine. Even the Israelites didn’t understand what was about to happen to them. They ran for freedom and got discouraged along the way. So, when we struggle to “get it right”, rest assured we are in good company!

May the Passion of Jesus Christ be Always in Our Hearts!

Jean Bowler is a retreatant at Mater Dolorosa Passionist Retreat Center in Sierra Madre, California, and a member of the Office of Mission Effectiveness Board of Holy Cross Province.

Scripture:

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Matthew 26:14-25

Reflection:

We are steeped this week in the drama of Jesus living out obedience to the Will of God, the Plan of God, i.e., “that they all be one….” No one is excluded from “one.” Jesus has been confronted for over three years in public for actions which brought the marginal, the condemned, the possessed, even the dead back into the “one”. We see Jesus’ non-violent manner of handling opposition, violence and betrayal. Not only Judas would run away from Jesus’ arrest and death, in the end only John would return, brought by Jesus’ Mother, Mary.

This road of nonviolence is taken by many of Jesus’ followers. Listen to one, now: “To our most bitter opponents we say: we shall match your capacity to inflict suffering by our capacity to endure suffering. We shall meet your physical force with soul force. Do to us what you will land we shall continue to love you, throw us in jail, and we shall still love you. Bomb our homes and threaten our children, and we shall still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and beat us and leave us half dead, and we shall still love you.  But be ye assured that we will wear you down by or capacity to suffer. One day we shall win our freedom, but not only for ourselves. We shall appeal to your heart and conscience that we shall win you in the process and our victory will be a double victory.” Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

This drama of love for what is best about humankind is played out in each of our lives. At the Table tomorrow evening, we will have the opportunity to place ourselves as baptized brothers and sisters in Christ upon that altar as we further along the sacrificial act which brings about unity in diversity. Judas took his own piece of bread, and left the others behind, in an aloneness which they would not be able to bear without His presence’ which now was within them. That same presence would be felt by the two on the road to Emmaus, when he would vanish from their sight.

Remain mindful of what he says and does throughout these days as He is mindful of us following on the road.

Fr. Alex Steinmiller, C.P., is the pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Birmingham, Alabama.

Scripture:

Isaiah 42:1-7
John 12:1-11

Reflection:

My family is facing a most difficult situation. My mother has been on a slope of gentle and gradual decline in her cognitive ability and memory for several years now.  But the trauma of my younger brother’s terminal diagnosis appears to have pushed her off a cliff into progressive dementia with extreme paranoia. Although it is not constant and she still has times of lucidity, she spends at least a part of each day terrified. One day she is convinced that “they” will make water pour from the ceiling and she will drown in the flood. On another day, she stands in the hall with her sneakers tied together to use as a weapon when “they” come to steal her money.  Clearly her fears are irrational, but no amount of logic or reason can resolve them. It breaks my heart to see this capable, intelligent woman who raised 10 kids with such competence devolving, at least at times, into a person we don’t recognize.

Interestingly, when I take a step back from my personal life and broaden the view to my country, I find myself feeling similarly. Paranoia is now running rampant, and “they” have become a source of great fear. In fact, there is a strong movement that attempts to defend our “Christian heritage and identity” by eliminating “them” from our midst. Jewish cemeteries are destroyed, mosques are burned to the ground, hijabs are ripped off, and people whose skin is olive, brown, or black are attacked and told to go back to “their own country.” Refugees fleeing for their lives who have already endured two years or more of vetting are told they can’t be trusted or admitted. Even Canadian church volunteers coming for two weeks to help in needy areas of the United States are blocked because border agents are afraid they are here to take American jobs. This view is all about grasping, not giving; hoarding, not sharing; keeping “them” out, not drawing everyone in.

Unlike my mother, who is imagining her demons, “they” are real people with lives, families, hopes, and dreams. “They” are fellow children of God, created and loved by the Creator. Labelling and fearing vast swaths of “them” on the basis of the actions of a few is the antithesis of everything we know about Jesus, whose life overflows with compassion, service, inclusion, self-emptying, and relationship. He is the suffering servant, refusing to break a bruised reed, bringing justice for all peoples and light to the world, serving, challenging, and sacrificing so others might be free. This is our call, too, and Pope Francis never tires of reminding us to stand with the poor, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and serve everyone no matter their ethnicity, religion, orientation, or class. I believe God cries as Jesus is crucified again in this “Christian” nationalist lust for power, riches, control, and exclusion.

I cannot cure my mom, but she has her entire family and a cadre of doctors working to treat her with a balance of medications (which are beginning to control the paranoia), the best possible living situation, and as much comfort and care as we can manage. In the national discourse, how can we Catholic Christians become the caring family and the medicine for these hurting and excluded people?

There is much to continue doing on the national stage – writing letters to Congress, protesting, supporting organizations of justice, and making our voices heard. Much more needs to be done on the local and parish level – asking for pointed homilies on the topic (which I have only rarely heard even when the readings point in that direction), starting or expanding parish initiatives of outreach and sponsorship, attending or hosting interfaith gatherings, learning the truths of Islam and Judaism, and publicly declaring inclusive views (for instance, we have a yard sign that reads, “Hate has no home here,” written in six different languages.) Perhaps the biggest thing we can do is ensure that we are meeting, interacting with, learning from, and supporting individual people of other cultures and faiths. Paranoia and fear is often driven out by personal interaction that allows us to see the “other” as a regular human being like ourselves. There is nothing like looking into the eyes of a hurting person and sharing our lives for driving out prejudice and false judgments.

The challenges are many, and they continue to build almost exponentially. It can feel disconcerting and overwhelming. Yet we dare not give up. Jesus didn’t, even in the face of opposition from powerful people. So as we enter this most Holy Week, may we find ever new ways to more faithfully live out the call of the Suffering Servant, standing for and defending our poor, persecuted, excluded, and unjustly treated brothers and sisters.

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.

Scripture:

Matthew 21:1-11
Isaiah 50:4-7
Philippians 2:6-11
Matthew 26:14-24:66

Reflection:

Welcome to Jerusalem

Our Liturgy today focuses on two points: Jesus entry into Jerusalem that we mark with palms and possibly a procession; and the reading of Matthew’s Passion. In one liturgy we put together the entrance and hear the death of Jesus. Our liturgies of Holy Week and the Paschal Triduum are not historical reenactments. We ‘mix and match’ in a sense. We let the mysteries of Passion seep into our lives however they can. We hear on Good Friday that this Jesus will rise, and at Easter the Risen One died for us. We see his wounds. His wounds are our wounds, and we can make his, ours.

The entry into Jerusalem shows us Jesus with those who have gathered along on this journey for the Passover. The apostles, perhaps without much enthusiasm, and the women of Galilee are there. It seems Bartimaeus joined the ranks in Jericho. And maybe more? The entrance into the Holy City doesn’t seem planned or well organized. Word would have have spread that Jesus approached. Would some of the city people hurried  to see Jesus? Would Nicodemus and the blind man cured at Siloam have found their way to the procession?

I am especially curious about the woman we met last Monday, the one dragged before Jesus for committing adultery. Jesus sent her away and told her not to sin anymore. I always hope that she was not scarred by the incredible cruelty and embarrassment that she was subjected to, that Jesus’ mercy was totally curative. I hope she was so moved by the encounter of love that she didn’t go far away. Instead maybe hiding in a crowd, avoiding pharisees, she stayed close enough to hear Jesus speak. Could  she have had a friend or two who kept her informed about Jesus? She met Jesus not on this trip to the Passover but at another time, the journey for the feast of Tabernacles, so time had passed. If she joined the crowd today maybe she fell in with some of the Galilean women and stayed with that group or offered some of them hospitably? Could she have stayed with them on Calvary, or maybe none of that but instead found her place on a city street in Jerusalem with other women who beat their breasts as Jesus passed them carrying the cross?

This year we might consciously let our palm procession begin when we leave for church and continue it when we set off after the liturgy to continue our day. Lent for some is a straight path to the gate of Jerusalem, for others we may have been turned around a few times, passed through darkness and silence, brightness and cacophony. This day mayhem surrounds Jesus as well as any number of interesting people with him. We come together with them. Like the two cured blind men, like Martha and Mary, like a woman who felt Jesus’ love in kindness and mercy, like the uncomfortable apostles and even poor Judas, we know Jesus is with us. We know him and have seen wonderful things because we have walked with him. Bigger surprises await us because our God is a God who loves surprises, and whose surprises best reveal love!

Welcome to Jerusalem. May the Spirit guide us and keep us alert to be with Our Lord.

Fr. William Murphy, CP is the pastor of Immaculate Conception parish in Jamaica, New York.

Scripture:

Ezekiel 37:21-28
John 11:45-56

Reflection:

Perhaps the film that made the most profound impact on me as a young man was “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest’ (1975) – the story of an recidivist criminal (Randal) who whilst guilty of serious crimes, has feigned mental illness in order to find a way into an ‘easier’ life of detention in an asylum rather than a regular jail. Randal manages to become a force for change within the institution and brings many of the inmates to life with his energy and daring escapades. Of course in this he challenges the authority of the ‘system’ and is in conflict with some of the principal officials in the asylum whose power he is threatening. These people conspire against Randal and actively seek his downfall rather than choosing to take note of the new life that he has brought to others by his ‘unorthodox’ methods – yet the changes he has brought about are for good, something they can easily observe before their own eyes.

The basic the plot may well sounds familiar to us, in that it mirrors dynamics that we are all too familiar with in our mediations on the life and mission of Jesus.

One imagines that ‘good news’ – new life and freedom for people – would be widely accepted any any society and at any period of history. Of course we know that such acceptance depends on what one understands as ‘good news’ too.

In the case of Jesus it is not so much that the chief priests and the Pharisees have chosen to ignore the good he is doing, and that the people are confirming by their allegiance, but that they choose to interpret it according to their own biased viewpoint. Where the people see ‘good’ the chief priests and Pharisees choose to see ‘danger’ and ‘threat’ to the nation’s well being! One does not have to look far beneath the surface to see that when they say that the “Romans will come
and take away both our land and our nation“, they are really fearing a loss of their own power!

Today, as we contemplate the scriptures, and move towards the end of our Lenten Journey, we see that the forces of opposition against Jesus are coalescing and that they have moved from mere ‘talk’ to actively planning his demise.

Note too that while we are rational beings, sometimes rational thought can be manipulated and misdirected – by self interest and greed – so that the truth is avoided. Such mechanisms often allow deeper, more  sinister motives to prevail and be  ‘justified’; leading many times to innocent suffering and the seeming triumph of evil.

Today’s readings invite us to live by the truth, to seek it above all, to be brave enough to put aside preferences and at times prejudices in order to see as God sees.

Let us embrace the ‘good news’ whenever and wherever the Spirit of the lord manifests it amongst us. Let us live as the people that have been called by God to walk in the light of the truth, and let us aspire to be worthy of the Lord’s promise: “My dwelling shall be with them; I will be their God, and they shall be my people”.

Fr. Denis Travers, C.P., is a member of Holy Spirit Province, Australia.  He currently serves on the General Council and is stationed in Rome.

Scripture:

Jeremiah 20:10-13
John 10:31-42

Reflection:

Sitting in the local Starbucks with a friend the other night, we talked about the movie currently showing in the Chicago land area “The Shack” based on the book by the same name written by William P. Young and published in 2007.  Both tell the story of parents and siblings who lose the youngest child of the family to violence and how each of them reacts to that. Mostly they blame themselves, thinking: “if only I had done this, my daughter, my sister would be with us today. Why did I behave as I did?” The main character, the father, blames and is angry at God for taking his precious little girl.

My mother died when I was ten and I spent the next 35 years of my life being angry. While I didn’t focus that anger on God, I might as well have. The anger finally came to an end in a therapist’s office where after six months of meeting for an hour every week the counselor confronted me with: “You’re angry, aren’t you!” I could no longer deny it, I was angry with my mother for dying. While that seems obvious to me now, it did not to the ten year old who could never get angry at his mother.

To say that life can be challenging is a gross understatement today as I suspect it was 2,000 years ago when Jesus walked the earth. Like the people in today’s gospel selection, I’ve seen miracles both in my own life and those of my friends, but I’ve also shared in their struggles. I hope I can be one of the many…“And many there began to believe in him.” (JN 10:42)

Dan O’Donnell is a Passionist Partner and a longtime friend of the Passionists.  He lives in Chicago. 

Scripture:

Genesis 17:3-9
John 8:51-59

Reflection:

In this time of Lent, we accompany those in our midst who journey toward Easter Vigil, when they will be washed in the waters of baptism. Part of that journey involves engaging in three Scrutinies – prayerful rites aimed at helping the Elect break down the obstacles that block them from God.

It is very easy to sit back and observe this process as if it doesn’t affect me. If I do so, I join the religious elite of Jesus’ day, sure of their own righteousness and their role in leading others to deeper faith, yet unable to see the logs in their own eyes. The Scrutinies are not just for those approaching baptism, but for every one of us.

I may, for instance, try to follow the “Lenten rules” precisely and scrupulously – making sure I fast on Fridays, giving more of my money and material possessions, and never missing my parish’s evening prayer services. Perhaps I go even farther – reducing my food consumption throughout the season, giving away enough that it hurts, and committing to increased daily prayer. All of these things are good, they yield great fruit, and we should absolutely do them. But following the rules, however sincerely, is not enough. In fact, Jesus dares to tell the religious leaders that despite their faithful devotion to the law, they do not know God. The covenant requires more.

Like the Elect approaching baptism, I need to invite God into the deepest recesses of my heart. I need to probe the hurts that lurk there unhealed, particularly those that cause me to act out, hurt others or hurt myself. I need to critique my sense of self-righteousness, especially with people I refuse to fully forgive, those I dismiss without taking the time to truly see them, or those I too easily pass judgment on. I need to see where prejudice or discrimination has subtly woven its way into my actions and attitudes. In all my relationships, including with people I love most, I need to determine how I can be less controlling, more lavish with praise, and more honest in my words.

Above all, I need to see more clearly what stands in the way of deeper intimacy with God. Often these obstacles, too, arise from my hurts, lack of trust, fear of losing control, and lack of time for silence and prayer. I need to strip away the masks and excuses, and once again humbly place my sinful yet beloved self at the feet of the merciful Lord to surrender my life and will. There is no law, rule, or precept that will profoundly affect my relationship with God like this kind of self-examination.

It is scary to undertake. It requires courage, integrity, and commitment. But that is what God seeks. We were created for the covenant, not just for the rules. This Lent, can we unlock our hearts and discover the Source of life in newer and deeper ways? If so, then as the waters of baptism splash down and envelop the Elect, those same waters will course anew through us, flowing freely where the Spirit wills, as together we joyfully proclaim the salvation of our God.

Amy Florian is a teacher and consultant working in Chicago.  For many years she has partnered with the Passionists.  Visit Amy’s website: http://www.corgenius.com/.