One of the great graces of Good Friday is the simplest:
the time we take to face the Cross in silence.
Notice the absence of bells today.
The liturgy itself teaches us to be quiet before this mystery,
because the Cross confronts us with truths
we would rather not face.
Why did Jesus go to the Cross? No one forced Him.
As He said when arrested,
“Do you think that I cannot call upon my Father,
and he will send me twelve legions of angels?
But then how would the Scriptures be fulfilled?”
From all eternity — before the world began —
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit chose this path.
And yet we still ask: Why this? Why the Cross?
Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that because of the infinite dignity
of the Son of God, even the slightest suffering of His —
a mere scratch —
would have been sufficient to redeem the entire human race.
So why the brutality?
Why the full weight of rejection, torture, and death?
Because it reveals the extravagance of God’s mercy.
When the minimum would have been enough, God gave the maximum.
How can we ever doubt that He will continue
to give, and give, and give still more to those He loves?
The Cross is also a mirror.
We prefer to glamorize sin or minimize it —
to tell ourselves it doesn’t really hurt anyone.
But on the Cross we see sin for what it is: ugly, violent, and deadly.
The evil we see in our world — wars, cruelty, indifference,
the ruthless grasp for power — does not fall from the sky.
It springs from the human heart.
And each of us shares in that brokenness.
None of us can simply point the finger at “them.”
How often have we cried, “Someone must pay!”?
Someone did. And how.
Do you long for justice? There is your justice.
Do you hunger for revenge? There is your revenge —
not in more blood, but in the Blood that was poured out for you.
Are you angry at God? Look at the Cross:
this is His answer.
“By his stripes we are healed.”
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