Homily Triduum Good Friday: Carrying the Cross in our daily lives

Homily for Good Friday 2019 

Introduction 

On this second day of our Sacred Triduum, we transition from the farewell that Jesus gave his disciples on the day before he died, to the actual day on which died.  And naturally, the focus of this day is the Cross, the means of his death, the means of our salvation.  In fact, today we do not celebrate the Eucharist.  We are not celebrating a Mass, but a service of the veneration of the Cross. 

Unfortunately the meaning of the Cross is not obvious to all, even Christians.  Archbishop Hughes tells the story of a young Catholic girl who lost her cross at a Church event and was thoroughly distraught. Her kind pastor decided to replace it and so bought for her another one from the local religious goods store.  But when he presented the brand-new crucifix to the young lady, she exclaimed, "what is the little man doing on my cross?"  Obviously for her, the cross was only an ornament, a piece of jewellery and not a symbol of our salvation. 

Scripture and Theology 

Even in the early days of Christianity, the Cross was not universally understood.  Writing to the Corinthians, St. Paul spoke about the scandal of the cross, saying, "The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Cor. 1: 18).  He called the cross "a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles."  But why do so many, then and now, fail to understand the meaning of the Cross? 

The cross was an instrument of torture and execution. Although our modern means of execution are still barbaric, at least they bring death swiftly.  The use of the cross, however, was meant to make people suffer before they died and was therefore reserved for the worst criminals.  I read somewhere that “The nails were driven through the nerve bundles between the wrist and the palm of the hand, so every time the criminal moved - which he had to do if he wanted to keep breathing - the nails rubbed against the raw nerves.”  The crucified person could hardly breathe and eventually died of asphyxiation.  And in the case of Jesus on the night before, he had been beaten and tortured; so he was physically weak, too weak even to carry the cross himself, needing the help of Simon of Cyrene. 

And so, you can understand why the Cross would be a scandal for some and foolishness for others, why that Catholic girl did not want a little man hanging on her jewellery.  After all would any of us be willing to have as ornaments, signs of our modern instruments of torture and execution: a noose, a little rifle, a tiny syringe, or a miniature electric chair?  Of course not!  For these are merely symbols of torture and execution and only that. 

Our cross, while also being a means of execution has a much deeper meaning than that.  On the cross Jesus gave himself completely to the Father for our sins.  The letter to the Hebrews in today’s second reading told us that Christians are lucky to have a high priest like Jesus, who is like us in all things but sin and yet through his ministry offers to us God’s mercy and help.  We are the beneficiaries of Jesus’ suffering and “he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”  Why?  Because every sin has a debt that must be paid for.  That is the only way justice can be restored.  But we sinful human beings could never in a million years be able to pay that debt on our own.  That is why we needed a God-man, one who was equal to God to settle the divine debt owed to God. 

The Cross is that great gift, that cancelling of our debt, that we have received from God through the suffering of Jesus.  Every time we see the cross we should be able to hold our heads high, no more shame, because our eternal debt has been paid and all we have to do is stay on the path that Jesus has paved for us. 

Christian Life 

As Christians, we must therefore carry our Crosses daily as Jesus instructed. 

We carry our Crosses literally, when we give honour to the symbol of the Cross, and for Catholics a crucifix – the one with the little man on it. 

• That is why we hang crosses and crucifixes in our homes, schools, hospitals and institutions, even at work, like at my doctor's office. 
• That is why we wear crosses around our necks as ornaments.  Even in Uganda, since people cannot afford expensive jewellery, they will settle for wearing the rosary because it has a cross at the end of it.  Also, all bishops wear crosses as part of their bishop attire. 
• And today, on Good Friday, we do something to the cross that is reserved only for the Blessed Sacrament; today and today only, we genuflect before the Cross in veneration, as we shall do shortly. 

And we do all these things, because of what the Cross stands for, our salvation. 

This veneration or esteem for the Cross must then be translated into the way we live our lives, carrying our crosses in our lives. 

Sometimes those crosses we carry are the people in our lives: the unruly teenager in our home, the unfaithful spouse, the abusive parent, the obnoxious neighbour, the rude boss, the lazy employee, the not-so-bright student – the list is endless.  Do we give up on them or do we patiently work with them the best we can, knowing that like Jesus we are carrying our daily crosses and going with him to salvation and hopefully taking them along with us? 

Sometimes the crosses we carry are physical suffering, often sickness, even very serious illness, sometimes terminal.  How do we deal with such a cross?  Do we lament in despair and give up our faith, because we are angry with God for putting us in such misery, or like Jesus do we ask God to take the cross from us, but in the end we say, “not my will, but let your will be done?” 

Sometimes like Simon of Cyrene, who carried the cross of Jesus, we too are called to carry the crosses of others.  In fact, we might say that in this respect, the best example is not Simon of Cyrene, but Jesus himself.  For the cross he carried was not his, but was ours.  As he carried our cross, so we should carry the cross for others, family, friends, even strangers.  We must especially help those people out there, trying to carry their heavy crosses by themselves.  They don't know that Christ has died for them, or they have forgotten it, or they are too frightened and ashamed to accept it.  What better way to thank Jesus for his gift than to lend that person a hand: to pray for them, to accompany them, to relieve their burden a little bit, to show them through our own confidence in God that there is hope, that Christ can give meaning to their suffering. 

Conclusion 

And that is why we call this day Good Friday!  What is so good about it, about suffering, about the Cross?  Like with other uses of the word "Good": Good Samaritan, Good Teacher, Good Shepherd, Good Friday is good because it is a necessary step in the history of our salvation.  Yes, we want the resurrection, we are looking forward to celebrating it tomorrow.  But without the Cross, there can be no resurrection, without Good Friday, there can be no Easter Sunday.