GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday is called “good” because it is filled with goodness. In the liturgy of Good Friday, we remember the supreme sacrifice of Jesus Christ. He showed to us the depth of God's love and did the greatest service to humanity by submitting himself to a shameful death on the cross. In this way, he freed us from sin and death and saved us. Thus, the death that came through Adam and Eve is defeated by the death of Christ. The disobedience, pride and deceit of man against God is reciprocated by the obedience, humility and love of God, which restored man’s relationship with God. Such is the goodness we witness in this holy day.

Today's liturgy gives emphasis on the centrality of the cross in the Christian life. Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me Mt 16:24)." Charles W. Everest's song written in 1833 beautifully encapsulates the place of the cross in our Christian life: 'Take up your cross', the Saviour said, 'If you would my disciple be; deny yourself, forsake the world, and humbly follow after me.' Take up your cross - let not its weight Fill your weak spirit with alarm; His strength shall bear your spirit up, and brace your heart, and nerve your arm. Take up your cross, nor heed the shame nor let your foolish pride rebel; Your Lord for you the cross endured to save your soul from death and hell. Jesus Christ shows to us the indispensable presence of suffering in Christian discipleship. This reminds us that we have to be open to the sufferings in this world as our response to Christ’s call to follow him.

But suffering is only a means and not the end of following Christ. Death on the cross was only Christ’s passageway towards his glory and exaltation. The crosses we bear are simply our means towards our own resurrection. Our sufferings may appear too heavy for us to bear, but remember, Christ suffered first. He knows the feeling of being mocked, humiliated, wounded, and killed. He knows what we are undergoing. Be assured that he is with us in everything that we are undergoing. We can even offer our sufferings and pains for the salvation of our souls and of others. In this way, our sufferings and pains attain a new dimension. They become one with Christ's suffering; a suffering that is salvific.  

However, as Christians, we ought not to overemphasize suffering to the point of treating it as the be all and end all of being Christian. It a means that we are the people of Easter morn. Good Friday ought to lead us to Easter Sunday.