It is 10th April 2020. We celebrate the Good Friday. The readings are from Isaiah 52:13-53:12; the second reading is from Hebrews 4:14-16, 5:7-9; and the Gospel from John 18:1-19:42. Jesus was crying out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit” (Lk 23:46). Heaven and earth go silent in shock and bewilderment. Everything comes to a standstill. Nature reacts while part of the humanity remains inactive. Evil and sinful people waited and watched His death mercilessly. “If a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” (Jn 12:24). In the first reading the prophet Isaiah presents with the Suffering Servant, who died for our sins. It is not an emotional outburst God is interested witness in us today rather a spiritual emptying of our own anger, fear, anxiety and egoism as Jesus emptied everything on the Cross. What is blocking my mind, heart and home to let go off things, desires, relationship that harming closeness with God? The Gospel explains in detail the Passion and death of Jesus Christ. Our justification and salvation come from His only sacrifice on the Cross through His death. Having seen Him dying and the events that unfolded around made a soldier to confess his belief on Jesus as the Son of God. (Mk.15:39). During the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum (2014), His Holiness Pope Francis prayed, “Before the Cross of Jesus, we apprehend in a way that we can almost touch with our hands how much we are eternally loved; before the Cross we feel that we are “children” and not “things” or “objects”, as St Gregory of Nazianzus says, addressing Christ with this prayer: “Were it not for You, O my Christ, I would feel like a finite creature. I was born and I feel myself dissolve. I eat, I sleep, I rest and I walk, I fall ill and I recover. Longings and torments without number assail me, I enjoy the sun and how the earth bears fruit. Then, I die and my flesh turns to dust just like that of animals, who have not sinned. But what have I more than them? Nothing, if not God. Were it not for you, O Christ mine, I would feel myself a lost creature? O, Our Jesus, guide us from the Cross to the resurrection and teach us that evil shall not have the last word, but love, mercy and forgiveness. O Christ, help us to exclaim again: ‘Yesterday I was crucified with Christ; today I am glorified with Him. Yesterday I died with Him, today I live with Him. Yesterday I was buried with Him, today I am raised with Him’”. As He is lifted up on the cross, so let us lift up minds and lives to Him who saves us. May we spend some quality time in silence. Let us switch of everything we do and meditate on the passion of Christ any Gospel we like. It is also time to ask the Lord Jesus to deliver the world from this pandemic. “Christ Jesus… humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore, God has highly exalted him…” (Phil 2: 8-9). May we nail all our evil and sin on the Cross of Jesus to receive new life, hope and happiness from the Lord. May you remain blessed.

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