• The Passion Narrative that we just read brings us face to face with the darkest elements of humanity. Through this story we are shown the horrible power of our sins.

• Indeed, my brothers and sisters, we must never get comfortable with our Lord’s Passion, nor must we allow ourselves to take our Lord’s suffering and death for granted.

• Isaiah the prophet reminds us that: “it was our infirmities that He bore, our sufferings that He endured.” As we console ourselves with the fact that Jesus lovingly suffered for us, we must remember that He also suffered because of us, and Christ’s wounds reflect the sickness of our sinfulness.

• In looking upon the marred, beaten, broken, and crucified body of Jesus, we see the effects of our sins – not simply upon the One who has taken our sins upon Himself, but we see as well in His wounds a symbol of the devastation sin wreaks in our souls.

• Sin is a destroyer. It maims, it wounds, and it robs us of the beauty we possess as children made in the image and likeness of God. Sin is a sickness that can kill us.

• Yet despite the pain we rightly experience today in looking upon our Savior whom we have crucified by our sins, we call this Friday “good,” for it is through our Lord’s suffering and death that we are given the opportunity to share in His eternal glory.

• Copyright 2011 by Reverend Timothy S. ReidReverend Reid is pastor of St. Ann’s Catholic  Church in Charlotte, NCBy faith we know that the misery of human sin is only part of today’s story, for our Lord’s Passion also shows us the power of suffering borne with love.

• In his letter to the Romans (6:8), St. Paul wrote: “If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Christ.” It is this fundamental Christian belief that we hold fast to, especially on this day in which we memorialize our Lord’s death on the cross.

• But as St. Paul tells us, to live with Christ, we must die with Christ, which means we must share our Lord’s willingness to suffer.

• You see, my brothers and sisters, there is no such thing as a comfortable Christianity. By its very nature, Christian discipleship is painful and even death-like precisely because it requires imitating Him who suffered and died for us. It requires the cross.

• While we may not suffer and die as did Jesus, a Christian’s willingness to suffer and die must be whole-hearted and open to whatever it is that God wills for us.

• For most of us our sufferings will consist mainly of the normal everyday sufferings that come from embracing the demands of our vocations. They will come from the sins committed through our own stupidity and self-centeredness, as well that of others.

• For most of us our willingness to die will be expressed by the taking on of voluntary penances and sacrifices so as to die to self. Not all Saints are called to be martyrs.

• Ultimately, our willingness to suffer and die in union with Christ on the cross must be firmly rooted in a desire to follow God’s will no matter what the cost. Even more so, our willingness to suffer and die in union with Christ must be firmly rooted in LOVE.

• Our Lord’s death on the cross shows us the power of suffering offered in love: namely, it reverses the effects of sin. Again in his letter to the Romans (6:23), St. Paul teaches us that the wages of sin is death, but Christ’s suffering and death bring us life!

• And when, out of love, we are willing suffer and die in union with Christ – even in the smallest of ways – we reverse the effects of sin in our lives: we break free from the slavery sin causes, the virtues begin to grow, and we make reparation for our sins.

•Ultimately, we participate in our own redemption, as well as the redemption of all mankind. It is for this reason that we venerate and kiss the cross today. It is for this reason that today is a very good Friday indeed. By God’s grace, may we all suffer well.