Good Friday 2022
April 15, 2022
Cathedral of Mary Our Queen
Introduction
Many years ago, as a college seminarian, I served as President of the Student Council. Although the powers of that exalted office were limited, I managed to say or do something that upset most of my fellow students. In the midst of all this, the seminary rector looked in on me to console me. But when I started complaining about my fellow seminarians and tried to defend myself, the rector cut me off, pointed to the crucifix hanging on the wall, and said, “That was his hour. This is yours!”
The hour of Jesus! How often we hear that phrase in Scripture. When Mary asked Jesus to assist the newly married couple at Cana, his response was, “…my hour has not yet come.” On several occasions, when Jesus offended the leaders of the people, they tried to arrest him, but could not do it – because ‘his hour had not yet come’. When Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph, he knew what would transpire there. St. John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus was aware that his hour had finally arrived, the hour when he would suffer, die, and rise for us and for our salvation.
“The Hour of Jesus”
Listening to and participating in the proclamation of the Passion, we enter into the “hour” of Jesus, his Kairos, as it is termed in Greek. It was for this hour that Jesus was born, this divinely appointed time, when, by dying to save us, he would reveal the depth of his Father’s mercy for us sinners, and indeed, for sinners of every place and time. In fulfilling the Father’s will, Jesus transformed the enigma of death into the means of our salvation, into the path to new life, new joy, new peace. Jesus underwent a death like ours, that experience which epitomizes our alienation from God and from others – and the ravages of sin – and made it the source of healing, reconciliation, eternal life and love.
During the hour of our redemption, this pivotal moment in salvation history, Jesus tasted death in its fullness – from the agony he suffered in the Garden, to the pain and humiliation to which he was subjected, to his experience of utter aloneness as he hung upon the Cross . . . “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” he cried out. This was the hour when the Incarnate Lord Jesus experienced the length and breadth and height and depth of human suffering. For his mission was not simply to offer a word of encouragement but to redeem every dimension of our humanity, including our suffering. For this reason, ancient Christian writers sing of the glory of the Cross, and the Church refers to this day as “Good” Friday – not to obscure Jesus’ pain and suffering, but rather to praise, adore, and thank the Lord Jesus for bearing our burdens, for taking on himself the punishment our sins deserve, and for overcoming our disobedience to God by his heroic and loving obedience. What Jesus accomplished in the hour of his death was nothing less than our salvation, and the salvation of all the world!
Our “Hour”
In our personal and professional lives, we will have many important moments that we might refer to as our “Kairos”, our own decisive “hours”. It might be proposing to one’s future spouse, the birth of a child or grandchild, an interview leading to a new job or a promotion, or the purchase of a house. Other decisive moments might include retirement, learning of a serious illness or the death of loved ones, and so it goes. All such events, all such “hours” in our lives leave deep imprints upon our souls and help to shape who we are and who are becoming. The principal reason for entering into Jesus’ hour, his Kairos, is to take up our cross – however light or heavy it may be – and to follow after Jesus, … entrusting to Jesus our joys and sorrows, our hopes and fears, … and asking him to transform them into the great liturgy of our lives, making the events of our lives ways and means of sharing in his own sacrifice of love on Calvary. As this happens, we take on more and more the image of Christ crucified such that the Father sees and loves in us what he sees and loves in Christ.
The succession of the hours, days, weeks, months and years of our lives is short, and the older one becomes the faster time seems to pass. As time goes by, we realize that while we have many important moments in our lives, there is one hour that we should focus on most of all. We speak of this hour when we pray the “Hail Mary”; we say: “Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” Our Kairos, the most decisive hour of our lives is the hour of our death. If we are honest, we will confess that we are not yet ready for the fullness of heaven, not yet ready to love as God loves or to love as the saints in heaven love. Our love is imperfect, often flawed, and sometimes non-existent.
We enter into the Kairos of Christ, the hour of his death so that when the hour of our death arrives, he will know us and welcome us, because we have loved others as he first loved us. Just as Jesus’ whole life was a preparation for the hour of his death, so too may our lives, whether they be long or short, prepare us for the hour of our death, for our definitive meeting with Christ, Savior and Judge. As sisters and brothers of Christ and as children of God the Father, may we beg for the Spirit’s outpouring of divine mercy on this Good Friday, so that, at the hour of our death, we will indeed be ready – or at least almost ready – for the fullness the life, love, and joy of heaven.
May God bless us and keep us always in his love.