ARCHDIOCESE OF PHILADELPHIA

We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you
because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world.

Dear Friends in our Lord Jesus Christ,

In this Good Friday Passion Liturgy our reading from the prophet Isaiah speaks of Jesus in these words: "Like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny?"

As we celebrate the Passion that led up to the Death of Jesus, we are so fortunate because we already know His destiny. It has been revealed to us. It has been proclaimed to us. We celebrate the Passion and Death of Jesus from the vantage point of knowing that His destiny is resurrection and life. And, so, every detail of the Passion and Death of Jesus is part of His victory, part of His triumph over sin and death.

In the Cross that we venerate today we recognize the great sign of victory, the great sign of the power of Jesus who, through the wood of the Cross, defeated Satan and was glorified by His heavenly Father with new life in His Resurrection.

Another aspect to the Passion and Death of Jesus is the fact that His destiny is ours. His triumph is ours. His life is ours. In this spirit, and with this knowledge, we make our prayer today: "We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world."

As we listen to the prophet Isaiah, we reflect on so many details of the Passion. So many of the details were foreseen: "…it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured …. he was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins. Upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all."

In the fourth century, Saint Cyril of Jerusalem stated that the Church is proud of all Christ’s actions, but her greatest boast is the Cross.

Today, as Christian people, we boast of the Cross and, above all, of the love that inspired the Cross and motivated Jesus to ascend the Cross and to die on the Cross. And, as we look to Jesus hanging on the Cross, we remember why He was doing it: out of love for His Father and out of love for His Church.

In particular, His Death meant redemption for His Mother Mary and for all of us. The Death of Jesus took away the sins of the world and, in the case of Mary, it preserved her from all sin from the moment of her Immaculate Conception. His Death was a death of expiation, just as Isaiah had foretold: "...through his suffering, my servant shall justify many, and their guilt he shall bear…. and he shall take away the sins of many, and win pardon for their offenses."

We remember how Jesus spoke seven times before He died. We call those His "seven last words." Two of these words are exceptionally moving for us. Hanging on the Cross, Jesus spoke to His Mother and His Father. To His Mother, He reiterated His love, entrusting His apostle John to her and entrusting her to John. In effect, He entrusted the whole Church, each one of us, to Mary. And He entrusted Mary to all of us as our Mother. To His Father, at the moment of His Death, He said: "Father, into your hands I commend my spirit." All of this took place during the last moments of His life. And then Jesus died!

To repeat the words of Isaiah: "…who would have thought any more of his destiny?" But His destiny was in the hands of His Father; His destiny was resurrection and the fullness of life. Today the Cross remains the sign of triumph. It is the prelude of Christ’s glorious Resurrection. The Cross is the sign of life for Him and for us!

"We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, because by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world!"