Tag: suffered

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Sermon Notes – The Face of Love

Good Friday – April 2, 2021

Father Peter Fitzgibbons

“The Face of Love“

Gospel:  John 18: 1-19:42

The temptation of the devil is fear.  Pontius Pilate was afraid. Really?  A Roman governor with a Roman army that had no objections to killing people? That was their job.  There were no cameras, no Miranda rights, and no defense attorneys.  He could have swept everything up, and nobody would have said anything, anytime.  He was afraid, although he didn’t realize why he was afraid.  He asked our Lord, “What is truth?” while he was looking at truth in the face.  The truth is a person – not an “it” but a “Who.”  Remember Philosophy 101: there is only one truth – not your truth – but THE truth.  Pilate said, “Ecce homo” – “Behold the man.”  In contrast, what did John the Baptist say when he saw Christ?  “Ecce Agnus Dei” – “Behold the lamb of God.”  John was not afraid. 

During His Passion, our Lord was scourged and was in absolute agony.  The Romans were very good at their job.  They had done this for centuries and knew how to prolong suffering.  So, no one can hear, no one can look at the crucifix, and no one can read accounts about the Passion and still say, “My sin doesn’t affect anyone. It only hurts me. It’s a personal sin.”  In one sense yes, but in another sense no.  “It’s just a small sin. It’s just a white sin kinda like a white lie.”  I studied theology, and I actually have the degree. The paperwork is somewhere.  When you look at the crucifix, you see the effects of sin.  But, you also see how much Christ loves us.  This is the face of love.  He suffered all of this just for you.  Not “you” in the general sense, but “you” in the particular sense.  “I suffered this just for you; that’s how much I love you.  My act of love is always before the Father for you.” This act of love never ends. This act of love is perfect, but can be even more perfect if we respond to it.  Follow Him and one day you will enjoy happiness in Heaven.

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Minute Meditation – God Loves Even Those Unlike Us

“ O almighty and merciful God, Lord of the universe and of history. All that You have created is good and your compassion for the mistakes of mankind knows no limits. We come to You today to ask You to keep in peace the world and its people, to keep far away from it the devastating wave of terrorism, to restore friendship and instill in the hearts of your creatures the gift of trust and of readiness to forgive.”—Pope Francis

Pope Francis never hesitates to turn the light of truth inward as well as outward. The Gospel, especially as John tells it, reminds us that Jesus suffered as much at the hands of those who shared his religious faith as he did at the hands of outsiders. Persecution happens because of misguided power, anger at perceived injustice, fear of those who are not like us, who don’t share our beliefs and sometimes even our opinions. What begins as a disagreement over ideas can be magnified and escalated into rejection, ostracism, violence, and even death. And it can—and does—happen among Catholics of different philosophies, between Catholics and other Christians, between Christians and those of other faiths. In today’s Gospel the Pharisees sneer at Nicodemus when they ask if he, too, is from Galilee, a rural region that the residents of Jerusalem considered backward and inferior. We do this even today. We think we know how people will behave based on what part of the country they’re from. We divide our own cities and towns into good areas and bad areas. We absorb the prejudices of lifelong citizens even when we’re new to an area. Often we wouldn’t think of going to another part of town because of what we think we know about it, often based only on what we hear from others. Spend some time today learning about another faith, another culture, another set of beliefs. Set aside as much as is humanly possible the division of us and them, me and other. Look at the world from someone else’s perspective. 

— from the book The Hope of Lent: Daily Reflections from Pope Francis

by Diane M. Houdek

//Franciscan Media//