Good Friday

Yesterday we shared with Jesus in the foot washing and in his last supper. That sharing continues today as we participate in the mystery of his death. We stand at the foot of the Cross because there is really nowhere else to go. During today’s liturgy, we pray the solemn collects for the Church, the nations and the people of the world. We name the suffering, the messiness of our lives and of our world. We feel and enter into the isolation and abandonment of this day. We dare to ask ourselves the question that so often haunts us and haunts so many of our brothers and sisters around the world: “Where is God?” We ask it not so much looking for an answer but as a portal into the mystery of God’s absence.

And we do not stop there. We glory in the Cross of Jesus. We declare that joy has come to the world by virtue of his cross. We adore and bless Christ because by his holy cross he has given us life. We sing about the faithful Cross

This is the mystery and paradox of Good Friday. It means that there is more to this day than death. The cross is not the end. It is Jesus' entry into and presence with us in the last place we ever want to be. So today we take our share in him and with him that he might take his share in our hell, in whatever form it takes in our lives. Today Jesus is on the cross, death is there, and hell awaits. But Jesus presence tramples down hell. 

Photograph by Brother Brian. Reflection by Abbot Damian.