This Friday is GOOD because...

+ J. M. J. +

Homily Outline for Good Friday

In our human experience, we often encounter places, circumstances, experiences, from which it seems God is absent, or at minimum very distant.

We grieve, we mourn, we are sad

We fail, we are discouraged, we despair

We sin, we hurt others, we hurt ourselves, we are hurt by others

We get sick, our loved ones experience illness, we encounter death

We struggle to believe, we doubt, God seems to be silent

We pray, we struggle to pray, we cry out and it seems no one is listening.

On Good Friday, every one of these mysteries, all of these dark places are present, in the liturgy, in the readings, in our hearts. Where is God?

This Friday is GOOD because God is here, He is in the midst of all of this with us, and the end of our liturgy today is not the end of the story.

In our solemn intercessions, we place before God the needs of the whole world, our own needs.

In our Adoration of the Cross we bow before the mystery of God made man encountering even our mortal death

In our Holy Communion we receive the fruit of the sacrifice, to sustain us through the coming hours of waiting, to sustain us in our fast, to prepare us for the joy that comes on the other side of death.

+ A. M. D. G. +