Good morning, good people. May the Lord give you peace, health, and healing on this Good Friday. It is 18th April 2025.
Is our love for others merely a feeling, or is it a series of sacrifices?
Today is Good Friday, the most solemn day of the Christian calendar. It is a day of fasting and abstinence, a time to enter deeply into the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We reflect on Isaiah 52:13–53:12; Hebrews 4:14–16; 5:7–9; and John 18:1–19:42.
A young boy once visited a monastery on Good Friday. As he gazed at the large crucifix in the chapel, he asked the old monk beside him, “Why would anyone let themselves be hurt so badly?” The monk replied, “Because sometimes love bleeds, and only those who truly love are willing to be wounded for others.” The boy sat quietly, tears forming in his eyes. That day, he understood that love is not a feeling—it’s a sacrifice. Pope Francis reminds us, “The Cross of Christ invites us also to allow ourselves to be smitten by his love, teaching us always to look upon others with mercy and tenderness, especially those who suffer.”
On this sacred day, suffering is not meaningless—it purifies our souls and allows us to participate, even in a small way, in the redemptive suffering of Christ.
As we gaze upon the Most Holy Cross, we receive strength to carry our own crosses. It is this Cross that widens our hearts to love those who have wished us evil, expands our minds to include even the rejected, and quiets the volcanic emotions stirred by ego, pride, and selfishness.
St. Gemma Galgani reminds us, “If you really want to love Jesus, first learn to suffer, because suffering teaches you to love.” The silence and emptiness of Good Friday are not voids to be filled, but sacred spaces where we process the noise of sin within us.
The liturgy begins in silence and ends in silence, reflecting the solemnity of the moment when Jesus surrendered His spirit to the Father.
In the Passion according to John, we witness the humiliation, suffering, and death of Christ, the Innocent Lamb of God. We hear: “Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.
The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe and went up to him again and again, saying, ‘Hail, king of the Jews!’ And they slapped him in the face.” (John 19:1–3)
Who else but Jesus would suffer such indignity and shame to save us? His obedience to the Father is unmatched and unparalleled. As St. Peter reminds us, “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” (1 Peter 2:22)
Even if we could craft crosses from the finest wood in the forest, we could never create another Jesus. His self-giving love is unconditional, gentle, and never imposing—so different from the often conditional and controlling love of the world.
The Prophet Isaiah proclaims: “By his sufferings shall my servant justify many, taking their faults on himself.” (Isaiah 53:11) And the Responsorial Psalm resounds with trust: “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46)
We are reminded that it is our sins that nailed Him to the Cross. The Gospel of John presents the crucifixion not as a defeat, but as the glorious culmination of salvation.
Even though the crowd chose Caesar and Barabbas, the eternal choice remains ours every day: Do we choose Christ or the world? Let us spend fervent time in silent adoration before the Most Holy Eucharist, present at the altar of repose.
Let us reflect deeply on this sacred day, offering our own sufferings in union with Christ. Let us honour Christ today not only with our prayers but with transformed hearts—ready to forgive, to serve, and to love without conditions.
May you have a peaceful and prayerful Good Friday. God bless you all.