Today we celebrate Good Friday, one of the greatest days from the beginning of the world
until the end of the world. And we call it Good Friday because on this day our Lord redeemed us
by his sacrifice, by dying on the cross, by offering his life to the Father in atonement
for the sins of men. And we rejoice this Good Friday, but our joy is meant to be a sober joy,
a joy tempered by mourning and fasting, by penance and prayer, because we know that our joy is not
pleasing to God unless it's accompanied by contrition for our sins and a firm purpose of
amendment. We should recognize in our sins the cause of the crucifixion of our Lord.
And when looking at our Lord on the cross, we should recognize that our joy is meant to be
and considering his great sufferings, we ask ourselves, why so much suffering?
Why did our Lord have to die such a terrible death for our redemption? And the answer is that
strictly speaking, he didn't have to. Of course, one tear shed by the God-man would have been enough
to redeem the whole world, and not only the whole world, but thousands of worlds.
So then why did our Lord choose to suffer in this way? And we see time and time again in the gospel
how it explicitly mentions that our Lord chose to suffer in this way. It was his own will.
He preached freely in the temple in front of those who wanted to kill him, and yet no one
laid a hand on him. He didn't have to. Of course, one tear shed by the God-man would have been enough
to redeem the whole world, and not only the world, but thousands of worlds. So then why did our Lord
choose to suffer in this way? And when looking at our Lord on the cross, we should recognize that
strictly speaking, he didn't have to. Of course, one tear shed by the God-man would have been enough
to redeem the whole world, and not only the world, but thousands of worlds. So then why did our Lord
choose to suffer in this way? And when looking at our Lord on the cross, we see time and time again in the gospel
how it explicitly mentions that our Lord chose to suffer in this way. It was his own will.
We see the same thing when he was in the Garden of Gethsemane. They came out, the band of soldiers,
with Judas at the front. And when he asked, who are you looking for? And he responded, I am.
They all fell back at his presence and at his power. So it was only according to his will
that they were able to lay hands on him, torture him, and crucify him in the way they did.
And so this reveals that the suffering of our Lord, every bit of suffering that he endured,
and his death, was all according to his will.
Then why did he choose to suffer in this way?
Why did he choose to suffer such great torment and such a terrible death?
For two reasons. The first being to demonstrate the immensity of his love for us.
And the second, in order to show us the horror of sin. What a great offense every sin is
in the sight of the divine majesty. Now our Lord wanted to demonstrate his love.
He didn't want to give us any reason not to love him. He came to give us eternal life.
And the way he did it was by suffering and by death.
He didn't want any of us to be able to say, our Lord does not understand how I feel.
He didn't want any of us to be able to lament in our difficulties.
And say that God doesn't understand.
And all of the sufferings that we see and that are given to us in the gospel account
that we see on the cross, those reveal to us only the external sufferings of our Lord.
The scourging, the crowning with thorns, the nails in his hands and feet.
But it speaks nothing of the interior sufferings.
We get a little bit of a glimpse of the garden of gethsemane.
When our Lord sweat blood.
We can only imagine the anxiety, the stress.
Or as our Lord said, his sorrow even unto death.
That he experienced.
We can only imagine the mental sufferings that our Lord endured.
And which are not given to us in the gospel account.
You can read.
You can read a little bit about them in the Revelations of the Mystics.
But still, we can never fully comprehend the intensity of our Lord's sufferings.
And all of this to show us his love.
Now, it also shows us the great horror of sin.
That is, for our sins, our Lord suffered these things.
We don't need to attribute them to the Jews of the past who rejected him.
Or to those men of the Old Testament.
But we should really look in the mirror and point the finger at ourselves.
And then look at the cross and say, that's my fault.
I did that.
And look at our Lord and know that he suffered that for the whole world, yes.
But also for me, personally.
And so we see as a response to these two reasons why our Lord suffered so much.
Our response should be one of love.
To return love for love.
To be willing to endure and suffer all things that the Father might will for us.
In order to show and prove our love for God.
And also, it should inspire us to do anything and everything to avoid sin.
To avoid it at all costs.
Even venial sin.
And so today, let's stand at the foot of the cross.
As we venerate our Lord hanging on the cross.
Let's stand at the foot of the cross with our Lady.
And ask her to give us the grace.
And to inspire us.
To inspire us with her love for God and her sinlessness.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
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