Good Friday
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The question of why it was God's will that Christ should suffer and die is an essential aspect of Christianity. Scripture repeatedly tells us that it was God's plan for Jesus Christ to suffer and die for our sins. Isaiah 53:11 says that "The Lord was pleased to crush him in his infirmity," and Jesus told his apostles over and over that he had to suffer, die, and rise on the third day.
However, it is easy to forget how strange this aspect of Christianity is. Why didn't God simply forgive us instead of having his son suffer and die? The answer lies in God's love and respect for us. Respect means acknowledging a person's excellence and being unwilling to diminish that excellence in any way. The greatest human excellence is our freedom, which allows us to choose our own character and eternal destiny.
To be truly free, the consequences of our decisions must matter, including the consequences of our bad decisions and sin. Just as in a game of chess, if every time we made a bad move, our opponent told us to take it back, we would not be truly playing the game. We would not be respecting our freedom because we would not be allowed to make the move we wanted and take the consequences. Respect for a free person means letting that person take responsibility for their decisions and deal with the consequences, good or bad.
God respects us too much to hit the reset button every time we make a bad decision and pretend it didn't happen. However, what happens when our decisions are so bad that we just can't deal with the consequences on our own? What happens when our bad choices result in physical and spiritual death? These are essential questions that remind us of the importance of Good Friday and Christ's sacrifice.
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The human situation after the Fall is a dire one because humans have a terrible capacity for destroying things they can't fix. For example, setting fire to a million-dollar home is easy, but lacking the resources to rebuild a million-dollar home makes it nearly impossible to repair the damage. This is precisely what happened with our first parents. They broke the relationship with God, which is of infinite value, and finite creatures lack the resources to rebuild something of infinite value.
Therefore, what we need is a human being who is willing to deal with the consequences of all humanity's bad decisions, to take responsibility for the misuse of human freedom. We also need God himself to restore the infinitely valuable relationship with the infinite God. And God did just that! He became a man without ceasing to be God. This God-Man dealt with all the consequences of our sin and restored our relationship with God. He did that simply because He loves us.
This is the essence of Good Friday and why it is such an important part of Christianity. God's love for us was so great that He became a man and willingly took on the consequences of all our bad decisions. Through His sacrifice, He restored our relationship with God, which we had broken through our own sins. And all of this was done out of pure love for us.
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Saints and scholars have always said that the reason for Christ's sacrifice on Good Friday is to satisfy God's justice and mercy, which are intrinsic perfections of God and essential to His character. We might say that the justice part is tied to God's respect for us and our freedom. Human beings dealing with the consequences of their own decisions is a matter of justice, and justice is what shows that we respect one another and take each other seriously. So when God is just with us, He is respecting our freedom. He shows His respect and justice by dealing with every single horrific consequence of human sin as Man. On the other hand, God's mercy is the expression of His love for us. Mercy prompts us to help someone and not abandon them to their own devices, to pity even those who do not deserve pity. Christ was willing to allow Himself to be tortured to death for our sake out of His boundless love, pity, and mercy.
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Our response to Christ's sacrifice on the cross is to take responsibility in love. We must first acknowledge that we were the ones who killed Him, as the Catechism states that "sinners were the authors and the ministers of all the sufferings that the divine Redeemer endured," and St. Francis reminds us that we still crucify Him with our vices and sins. By looking at the cross, we can see our responsibility and how Christ suffered for us out of love.
To be a fully responsible Christian who loves as Christ loves, we must join with Him in suffering. This means doing penance, giving alms, praying, and offering up the difficult things in our lives as atonement for the sins of humanity. As Jesus said, "If anyone would be my disciple, let him take up his cross, and follow Me." And as Paul said, "I rejoice in my suffering...and in my flesh I make up what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ."
Christ took responsibility and showed love by suffering well and willingly. As His followers, we should not hesitate to do the same out of love for Him and to help save the world He came to save at such a great cost.
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Jesus instructed St. Faustina to begin a Novena to His Mercy on Good Friday. He said to her: I desire that during these nine days you bring souls to the fountain of My mercy, that they may draw therefrom strength and refreshment and whatever grace they need in the hardships of life, and especially at the hour of death.
On each day you will bring to My Heart a different group of souls, and you will immerse them in this ocean of My mercy, and I will bring all these souls into the house of My Father. You will do this in this life and in the next. I will deny nothing to any soul whom you will bring to the fount of My mercy. On each day you will beg My Father, on the strength of My bitter Passion, for graces for these souls.
Faustina answered, “Jesus, I do not know how to make this novena or which souls to bring first into Your Most Compassionate heart.”
Jesus replied that He would tell me which souls to bring each day into His Heart. First Day - Today, bring to Me all mankind, especially all sinners, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me.
Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which (58) we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from it. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit. Oh omnipotence of Divine Mercy, Salvation of sinful people, You are a sea of mercy and compassion; You aid those who entreat You with humility. Eternal Father, turn Your merciful gaze upon all mankind and especially upon poor sinners, all enfolded in the Most Compassionate heart of Jesus. For the sake of His sorrowful Passion, show us Your mercy, that we may praise the omnipotence of Your mercy forever and ever. Amen