Readings - http://www.usccb.org/nab/042211.shtml
Today we are celebrating the second day of the Triduum in which recall the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ. And every year we approach these days differently. Each year, we arrive at this celebration, this commemoration a year older and hopefully a year more mature. And perhaps because this year today, Good Friday, was so dark - it started raining at noon and continued until about three - it seemed that even Heaven and Earth were weeping on this day, this year, here in Chicago. ...
Okay, how does this day, Good Friday, strike me this year? Perhaps what impressed me most this year was the reading we read the end of the Via Crucis in Spanish that we celebrated here each Friday evening during Lent.
Then we would here a passage from St. Paul's Letter to the Romans in which Paul pointed out that there are only few people would be willing to give their lives for someone else, but if it involved someone "good" perhaps one could find people who’d be willing to sacrifice their lives for that person. But St. Paul noted that Christ showed of his love for all of us by giving his life for us, even though we didn’t deserve it, even though we were still sinners, still weakened by sin. And this really struck me this year.
When Jesus came here, became incarnate, became one of us, and then walked with us, we believe that he did so to show us that God is concerned about us and wants be part of our lives. Today on this day when we remember Jesus' Death on the Cross, we remember just how much Jesus loved us, just how far he’d go to continue to accompany us ... up until our own death, AND HE DID THIS EVEN THOUGH WE DIDN’T / DON’T DESERVE THIS, didn’t/don’t deserve such kindness or support.
But that is exactly what we remember today, God’s love for us, and His to accompany us even when we don’t deserve it, even when we’d perhaps prefer to be alone in our sadness or difficulty. And we are invited to respond to this kindness.
So this let us _give thanks_ to God who came here to look for us, and who after finding us wants to walk with us throughout our whole lives -- in good times and in bad – and even when perhaps we don’t we don’t even want him to.
Why does God do this? He does this because he loves us. We are his children and he wants to be part of our lives so that we can be part of His life, and be part of it forever.
So especially on this day, when we remember Jesus’ death for us, let us give thanks to a God who loves us so much. Amen.
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