[00:00] Christ loved His own until the very end. Today on Good Friday we behold the great thing our Lord and Savior has done for our

[00:34] sake and for our eternal salvation. Saint after saint after saint has said that if there is one thing we can do to grow in our love for God, to grow in our hatred for sin, to grow in our capacity to carry our own cross, it is to meditate frequently on the Passion of our Lord and Savior.

[01:09] Our Lord Himself says to St. Faustina, "Remember My Passion and if you do not believe My words at least believe My wounds." You know in Sacred Scripture we hear our Lord's words, "Be not afraid, your sins are forgiven, come to Me." We hear our Lord's words, but the reality is at times we still struggle.

[01:47] His words can be misunderstood, His promises can be doubted, but His wounds are concrete objective evidence. "Remember My Passion and if you do not believe My words at least believe My wounds." This is why we have to frequently meditate on the Passion of our Lord.

[02:20] When the soul is dry, when the mind is confused, when guilt is heavy, shame is loud, scruples attack, past sins accuse, and when God feels far away, when we doubt His words, we can still believe His wounds, objective cost of our eternal salvation.

[02:51] He tells St. Faustina, "Remember My Passion." We need to build our spiritual life on the solid foundation of what God has done for us. The fact of His crucifixion, nobody can change that. We need to build our spiritual life on that unshakable foundation. And our Lord says, "If you do not believe My words," He actually anticipates our fear,

[03:26] our fragile trust, our scruples, our wounded memory. He anticipates all of that and He offers His wounds as an apology. It's an apologetic for His merciful love. "At least believe My wounds." It's as if He's saying, "Do you doubt that I forgive?"

[03:57] "Look at My nails." "Do you fear that I do not love you?" "Look at My thorns." "Do you think your sins are too much?" "Look at My pierced side." The risen Lord chose to keep and bear His wounds. He rose in glory, but He still keeps His wounds, why? Our Lord does not erase His wounds because He wants them to remain visible.

[04:32] Because in times where we do not believe His words, we can at least still believe His wounds. Remember, when He appeared to His apostles, He showed them His hands and His wounds, His side. Do you remember when Thomas doubted? He did not give him an argument. He showed him His wounds. "If you do not believe His words, at least believe His wounds."

[05:09] And this is what we do today on Good Friday. We behold the wood of the cross, the price of our salvation, and we look at His wounds. And to do that, we need to be united to the Blessed Virgin Mary. We need to stand with our Lady at the foot of the cross, to contemplate, to meditate on the great thing our Lord and Savior has done for us.

[05:44] To enter His wounds, to receive His mercy, and allow the concrete evidence of His wounds to shape our trust. Let us ask our Lady for that grace to experience for ourselves what He calls the length, the width, the height, the depth of Christ's love for us. Praise You, Jesus and Mary.