Good Friday | iPray with the Gospel

So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote a title and put it on the cross; it read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” … When the soldiers had crucified Jesus they took his garments and made four parts, one for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was without seam, woven from top to bottom; so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” … But standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. After this Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfil the scripture), “I thirst.” A bowl full of vinegar stood there; so they put a sponge full of the vinegar on hyssop and held it to his mouth. When Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished”; and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

John 18:1-19, 42

St Thomas Aquinas said his text book was the Crucifix. Certainly in the Cross we find the answer to all questions, the example of all virtue, the solution to every problem. Today I want to contemplate Your Passion slowly, thoroughly, in detail. Your Head bleeding with thorns. Your Eyes swollen. Your Cheeks bruised with blows. Your Lips broken and dry. Your Beard plucked. Your Face covered with Blood, sweat and spit. Your Torso torn up. Your Arms stretched open, dislocated and ripped. Your Hands pierced. Your Lungs waterlogged. Your gasping breath, Your pierced Feet, Your bruised Knees… And on top of that physical suffering I consider the moral one: Judas, Your friend, hanged. Your disciples hidden. People insulting, laughing and jeering at You.

My Lord, I can’t take Your sufferings from You but I can comfort You with my own sufferings and during the Holy Mass. That’s what Your Mother – My Mother – does; and John, and Mary Magdalene and Mary the wife of Clopas… and I. “The Blessed Eucharist is the perfect Sacrament of the Lord’s Passion, since It contains Christ Himself and His Passion”.

This article originally appeared on www.ipraywiththegospel.org. Reprinted with permission. Copyright © George Boronat.

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