_{Holy Spirit Catholic Church
Homilies}

_{Good Friday:
Veneration of the Cross (c) 2010}
 

Good Evening! And I mean it. It is a good day, a great day. And you know why. Our God loves us this much! (The Crucifix!) It's really quite amazing when you stop and think about it . . . that God would die for God's people. It's almost beyond comprehension. And it could be argued that it is the most profound idea (reality for us Christians) in the history of religious thought. (The Crucifix!) God loves us so much that he was willing to do that, willing to go that far, endure that much.

Part of it is that we often have a distorted view of God. We just do. Some of us see God as a disinterested creator. He made the universe but now just sits back and watches us mess it up. Others of us see God as someone ready to pounce on us, looking for any reason to treat us harshly. Others of us spend our lives trying to get God to love us. And some of us are so sick of all the demands placed on us by God that we want to look God in the face and shout, "That's easy for you to say. You don't have to live it!" And all of these ideas are so far from the truth. The truth is what you see on the cross. Don't have to live it? He chose to live it, to its fullest, without counting the cost.

And what is just as incredible is that Jesus did it for everyone. Everyone! The good and the bad, the old and the young, the believers and the skeptics, the lovers and the haters . . . everyone who has ever lived and all those yet to be born. No one is excluded from God's love. No one. Not one single person. Ever!

And when we think about our responsibility as Catholic Christians to pattern our lives after Jesus, to live lives in imitation of him, the task seems completely overwhelming. It just doesn't seem possible, does it? I'm supposed to live my life like this? (The Crucifix!) Me? Broken, weak, fearful, sinful me? I could never do that. Never!

And when we say that, we're right, in a certain sense. Not one of us is perfect as Jesus was perfect. We all make mistakes. We all act selfishly at times. We all sin. And if we had to do it on our own . . . love this much (The Crucifix!) on our own . . . it would be utterly impossible. But we don' t do it on our own. We can't.

It is precisely because God loves us that much that we are able to love at all. This is what we share in by our baptism. This is what transforms us at this altar when we receive the Lord's Body and Blood. This is the well from which we drink every time we hear God's Word proclaimed. The love we are asked to pour out on others is not ours. It is this same love we see as we gaze upon the Cross. And it can never run out. It is endless. It is eternal. It is holy.

And yet despite our deep desire to love the Lord, we fail at times. And others fail us. Yes, we are a broken people in need of healing, wholeness, and forgiveness. We often experience disappointment, unfulfilled dreams, fractured relationships, illnesses, sin, and even death. And sometimes, when things get really bad, we ask ourselves, "Where is God? Why is this happening? My God, my God why have you forsaken me?"

And when this happens let's remember the cross. (The Crucifix!) Does this look like a God who is playing games with us? Does this look like a God who doesn't care? Does this look like a God who doesn't know what we are going through, who is not interested in what happens to us?

The answer should be obvious. The cross (The Crucifix!), the sign of our salvation, is a great sign to us that no matter what the circumstances we find ourselves in, Jesus is there . . . from our greatest sufferings to our greatest sin. If God is willing to go there (The Crucifix!), God is willing to go anywhere, and be with anyone . . . even us!

So today, Good Friday, let's take our whole selves, the parts of us we proud of and the parts we never want to bring to light, let's take the good and the bad, the joys and the sorrows, the blessings and the bitter disappointments, and leave them at the foot of the cross. Let's leave them right there, the sign of God's unconditional love for us, trusting that the Lord will never allow us to walk this journey alone.

Father, into your hands we commend our spirits!