What will this Good Friday be like for Jesus?
We know that on that first Good Friday, He was mocked, beaten, tortured, nailed to a cross, and gave up His Life…after shedding every drop of His Precious Blood for our salvation.
Only a single apostle of the twelve remained with His Mother and the holy women, to witness His agonizing death.
But now, it is 2000 years later. What will Good Friday be like for Jesus? Will hundreds of millions of Catholics and other Christians fast and abstain? Will our churches be crowded to overflowing with loving souls who have come to remember, to express gratitude for His Sacrifice, to receive Him adoringly in Holy Communion?
Was Jesus sustained in His suffering by the awareness that all He did would not be in vain? When He Who is Love Itself freely handed over His entire Being to the torturers, was He comforted by the anticipation of all the love which would flow back to Him from myriads of souls in the ages to come?
Did He, Who so loved to call Himself the “Son of man,” clasp to His Sacred Heart the Divine dream that all men would accept the Infinite Mercy which flowed from His Wounds?
What will this Good Friday really be like for Jesus?
On Palm Sunday, our priest told us that extra parking had been arranged with a school down the street for the overflow crowds at the Easter Sunday Masses. Then he added wistfully, “Please try to attend some of the Easter Triduum services. The church is always half empty. Please come…”
Jesus is God. He knew it would be so….even 2000 years ago. Even as He suffered as no man has ever suffered, He saw the empty churches, the people celebrating with friends on their “holiday.” He saw “spring break.” He saw the indifference, the ingratitude, even the hateful blasphemies.
But He saw you too. He saw you on your knees, waiting to reverence the wood of the Cross. He saw you approaching to receive Him in Holy Communion. You comforted Him. Your love made all the difference.
And He knows you won’t forget about those who don’t understand yet. He hasn’t given up on them either. He won’t force them to accept Him, but He will accept your prayers on their behalf. In the Divine Economy of Love, He gives us His hands to unbind. Our love, prayers and sacrifices can merit graces which sweetly and mysteriously move hearts, while free will remains intact.
What will this Good Friday be like for Jesus?
The Savior of the world, burning up with Love, which is constantly rejected and trampled upon, sometimes pierces the veil between Heaven and earth to beg love from his creatures.
“Behold this Heart which has so loved men, but which is loved so little in return.” He sadly revealed to St. Margaret Mary.
To St. Faustina, He brought extraordinary promises of Divine Mercy to anyone who calls upon Him. “The flames of Mercy are burning Me….”
The Divine treasuries are empty now, it would seem. What else do you give, when you have given Your Only Begotten Son, the Beloved Son in Whom You are well pleased? What else do you do when You have watched Him being tortured to death by creatures who could not draw one breath without You? What do You do when You have come over and over again to the Saints, begging that they tell the world of Your Love?
What will this Good Friday be like for Jesus?
Let us make it a day of consolation for Him. Let us join our Blessed Mother at the Cross, and fall on our knees in adoration of her Divine Son. Let us slake His thirst for Love with grateful remembrance of all that He suffered for our sake. And let us tell Him what He most longs to hear: Jesus, I love You! Let us say it from the depths of our hearts, over and over again. Jesus, I love You!
And, Jesus gives wondrous gifts to those who come to the Cross! To His executioners, He gave forgiveness and begged His Father to pardon them. To the good thief, He promised Paradise. And to the faithful Apostle John, He entrusted His precious Mother.
He will not forget that we have come. On our last day, as we lie upon our final cross, He will come to us. He will hold us close and cover us with Love and Mercy. He will receive our last breath, our last word of love, and carry us away to His Father’s Kingdom.
What are you (and I) doing this Good Friday?
(First posted March 27, 2013)
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