Friday, March 25, 2016

On Good Friday

 
 

Dear Fathers, Friends in Christ,
 
Isaiah 52:13---53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1---19:42

A few years ago, I was approached by a parishioner, who was having trouble praying the Sorrow Mysteries of the Rosary.She was bothered to think about everything that a Roman execution and extreme torture really entails. It was just too much for her. Even seeing " The Passion of Christ " movie about the terrible suffering  Jesus went
through was too much for her.
 
I said one thing to her:" Try to think of it as how much Jesus loves you."
 
That thought changed her prayer.
 
Just think: God chose to sacrifice his only Son, out of love for us. Jesus chose to be obedient to his Father, out of love for us. Jesus consented to all the humiliation and the excruciating pain, to the point of death, out of love for us!
 
So today, on Good Friday, as we walk through it all again during the reading of the Passion, let us remember one thing: In the end, it's all about God's mercy. It's all about God's love for us. With Isaiah in today's first reading, let us remember this:
 "He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon Him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by His stripes we were healed."
 
 
 
Father Ed Bakker,
Anglican Catholic Church / Original Province
Mission of Saint Aidan of Lindisfarne
Launceston,Tasmania Australia

No comments: