The cross is the sign of God's Love: Good Friday

Jesus showed His great Love on the Cross

My dear brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ,
After one noonday Mass in this holy week, one sister came to me and introduced herself to me and expresses her wonder for the beauty of the church and while we were talking she raised a question; Father, I still don’t understand Why Jesus Died on the cross? I just paused for a moment and asked her does she has any kid. She said she has a daughter. Then I asked her does she love her daughter! She said yes indeed. Then I asked will you sacrifice your life in case of danger to save your daughter. Yes of course. No doubt at all. Then I told her I do not have any better answer for your question. This is the same thing Jesus did for us by dying on the cross. Because he loves his children and he died to save you and me.
There is no meaning of cross if there is no love in it. The cross is the sign of God’s Love for us. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish.” He died for you and me so that we will live for ever in Eternity.
God showed His love on the cross and that love overflows from the Cross. One boy was carrying another boy on his shoulder but crippled and heavier than him. Some one felt sorry and asked him; “child don’t you feel heavy and burdened to carry him”? He replied “No Sir, He is not at all heavy for me, he is my brother”. Yes dear brothers and sisters wherever there is love you won’t feel the burden and heaviness of the cross you carry. Jesus did not feel the heaviness of the Heavy cross because He was carrying for us, for you and me, for our Salvation. His love for us made him to get up and walk even after the three falls.
Psalms, 102:6 says ‘I am like pelican of the wilderness”. The pelican is a bird of Egypt, living in the wilderness of the River Nile, from which it gets its name. It is devoted to its young. When it gives birth and the young begin to grow, they strike their parents in the face. But their parents, striking back, kill them. On the third day, however, the mother-bird, with a blow to her flank, opens up her side and lies on her young and lets her blood pour over the bodies of the dead, and so raises them from the dead. Could please show me any better sign for love than this cross???
The beatification ceremony of Maximilian Kolbe was presided by Pope Paul VI. Near the pope was seated a dignified looking man in his mid-fifties, wearing a plain business suit. Everyone was asking who he was and why he was sitting there so close to the Holy Father.
During the homily Pope Paul VI described the life of Maximilian Kolbe. He was a Polish Franciscan priest who was arrested by Nazis in February of 1941 for publishing unapproved literature. They sentenced him to hard labor at the Auschwitz concentration camp. In August of that same year a prisoner escaped. When he was not recaptured the Nazis took a reprisal. They lined up the other prisoners and picked out ten to die in the starvation bunker. One of the men selected was a farmer named Franciszek Gajowniczek. He was in Auschwitz only because he was Jew. When Franciszek was selected, he cried out, "My wife, my children!"
Hearing that cry Fr. Kolbe stepped forward. He said to the guard, "I am a Catholic priest. I have no family like this man. Allow me to take his place." The guard hesitated, but after a while agreed. Maximilian Kolbe, along with the nine others, was placed in the starvation bunker for a slow and agonizing death. After fourteen days, four were still alive and only one was fully conscious--Fr. Kolbe himself. The Nazis needed the starvation bunker for other prisoners so they injected Fr. Kolbe and the three others with carbolic acid.
The man seated next to Pope Paul VI was none other than Franciszek Gajowniczek. What Maximilian Kolbe did for that Jewish prisoner, Jesus has done for each one of us. He died in our place.
Mother Teresa asked her sisters before she died: "how can we last one day without hearing Jesus say "I love you." and she answered that question by saying, "it's impossible." In the Letter to the Hebrews, the author says, "We have not a God that is incapable of feeling our weaknesses with us, but we have one who has been tempted in every way that we are." (Heb 4:14-16) For us who believe, the Crucified Christ is not a sign of shame, of defeat, or hopelessness, but "is the wisdom and the power of God" (1Cor 2:24). Bring all you are suffering to his feet. Ours is the God of Calvary. Ours is the God of the emergency room, the AIDS hospice, the broken family; the God of failed relationships, fragile bodies, and shattered hearts. This is why Friday is "Good." God has been and remains in our darkest places, even in the places where we are sure God is absent. Can anyone match the simple but profound final words of Betsie Ten Boom, who was beaten to death by a guard in the Ravensbruck concentration camp? "We must tell the people," she whispered, "what we have learned here. We must tell them that there is no pit so deep that God is not deeper still."
When you study the literature you may come across the Greek Mythology of Prometheus. Zeus in his wrath denied men the secret of fire. Prometheus felt sorry for his creations, and watched as they shivered in the cold and winter's nights. He took fire from the heaven of the gods by stealing and brought it to men. He brought down the fire coal and gave it to man. He then showed them how to cook and stay warm. Zeus could not just take fire back, because a god or goddess could not take away what the other had given. Zeus punished Prometheus. He was carried to Mount Caucasus, where an eagle by the name of Ethon would eat his liver; it would grow back each day and the eagle would eat it again. This punishment was to last 30,000 years. About 12 generations later, Hercules passing by on his way to find the apples freed Prometheus. Prometheus suffered for his love for his creation in Greek Mythology. Each day Our Lord is breaking his body when we come for the Eucharist. There is no greater love than dying for your friends.
Jesus extended his hands on the Cross to embrace each and every one of us. In Rev. 3:20 says “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him and he with me. Yes dear brothers and sisters, Are we ready to open our hearts today for Jesus…
Pray often if you can The Serenity Prayer of Reinhold Niebuhr:
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; courage to change the things I can; and wisdom to know the difference.
Living one day at a time; Enjoying one moment at a time; Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace; Taking, as He did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it; Trusting that He will make all things right if I surrender to His Will; That I may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him Forever in the next. Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.