He risked his life, all he got back was…
One night a fisherman heard a loud splash. A man on a nearby yacht had been drinking and had fallen overboard. The fisherman leapt into the cold water and rescued the man and revived him with artificial respiration. Then he put the man to bed, and did everything he could to make the man comfortable. Finally, exhausted by the ordeal, the fisherman swam back to his own boat. The next morning the fisherman returned to the yacht to see how the man was doing. "It's none of your business," the man shouted defensively. The fisherman reminded the man that he had risked his life to save him. But instead of thanking him, the man cursed the fisherman and told him that he never wanted to see him around again. Commenting on the episode, the fisherman said: "I rowed away from the yacht with tears in my eyes. But the experience was worth it, because it gave me an understanding of how Jesus felt when he was rejected by those he saved."
Mark Link in 'Journey'
Today's Gospel presents a mortal conflict between good and evil, a battle between the Prince of Peace and the prince of this world. Good Friday is a day of paradox because an instrument of death becomes the source of life. It is also a day of mystery because the sinless one became as sin; a day revealing mankind at its worst and God at His best. Ultimately on this day love conquers death. Jesus on the cross transforms the curse of the cross into an instrument of blessing and eternal life. In the Gospel we hear an account of the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John. There are several facets of the passion we could successfully reflect upon: The agony in the garden and the fearless confrontation of Jesus with those who came to arrest him. The triple denial of Peter in the presence of a maid servant. The trial before Caiphas in the Pretorium and then his confrontation with Pilate, and the lingering unanswered question: "What is the truth?" We could meditate on the Way of the Cross and his final moments on the cross. We could ask the questions: Why did the Father permit the Son to suffer? Why does God seem to abandon Jesus? Does God abandon his people, his beloved when they suffer? For that matter is the Father oblivious to the passion of his Son and to all his sons and daughters who even now suffer in the world today? While God does not reveal always his power, he always gives us the assurance of his comforting presence. We want God to be a powerful God, one who does away with all suffering. In Jesus' suffering and dying on the cross, we see as it were, an impotent God, a God who is made vulnerable precisely because he loves us, is ready to suffer with us and for us.
Thy Will, Not Mine
Robert Grant's short story The Sign concerns a young man called Davidson. He wants to be a writer and has just mailed his first novel to a publishing house. Filled with fear about the publisher's decision, he goes outside and paces back and forth in an orchard. It was Holy Week. His thought went back and forth between Christ and himself, like a needle and thread: to Christ in the garden of Gethsemane kneeling in prayer, and to himself in the orchard; to Christ preparing for the supreme agony of hanging by nails, back to himself and his book with Dow Press. He stopped and said."Thy will, not mine." But then 'a bolt of awareness' struck him. He really didn't mean what he said. What he really meant was that he wanted God's will to be done if it coincided with his own will and worked out 'right', to the joint glory of the pair of them, God and Davidson. And for the moment he was nauseated. Then he sat down and cried.
Mark Link in 'Journey'
Closed Doors
In the musical Sound of Music Sister Maria, when confronted with a momentous decision which was to change the entire course of her life, spoke the well-known line of assurance: "When God closes a door, somewhere he opens a window." Millions of Christians who have faced many 'closed doors' (heartaches, trials and disappointments) in their lives will raise up a hearty 'Amen' to her confident expression of faith. In fact, many of the world's great have achieved their most heroic accomplishments in the face of 'closed doors'. John Milton wrote Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained after having been afflicted with total blindness. Beethoven wrote some of his greatest music, including his Ninth Symphony, after he was almost completely deaf.
Anthony Castle in 'More Quotes and Anecdotes'
Ready to Die
The final sermon that Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. preached before he was assassinated was the famous "I have been to the mountaintop" sermon. In it he declares, "I have seen the Promised Land, I am not afraid to die, I am ready to meet my Maker." He preached this sermon in the evening; he was killed the next day. Was it coincidence that he preached those words the day before he died? Or could he have had some mystic prevision of his death? It is said he preached that sermon very often, possibly a hundred times throughout the country. Andrew Young says: "The reason that he could preach that sermon so often was that he was always ready to die." He knew that death would come any moment because of the challenge that he was continually presenting to the conscience of America. He lived life fully and fearlessly. He was convinced of the rightness and goodness of what he was doing that he wasn't afraid to die. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had found something worth dying for. And so he lived passionately. He had something worth living for. In the crucifixion Jesus did not especially teach us how to die. He taught us how to live -fearlessly and passionately. The great message of the passion of Jesus is to live passionately.
Anon
Toyohiko Kagawa was born in Japan to well-to-do parents. He was converted to Christianity and renounced his treasure and buried himself in the slums of his native land. He developed cataracts on both eyes; his lungs became tubercular; his frame developed a stoop. He suffered much. Towards the end of his distinguished life he came to one of the seminaries to deliver a lecture. When he was finished, one of the first year seminarians turned to another of the freshly-arrived juniors and remarked, "you know, he didn't say much, did he?" A woman standing nearby overheard and moved between them and set the matter right. She said, "A man on the cross doesn't have to say much."
John Pichappilly in 'The Table of the Word'
Harvard psychiatrist and author Robert Coles tells of interviewing a little black girl during the early years of the Civil Rights Movement in the South. The little girl was subjected to a great deal of harassment. Hate words were scrawled on nearby walls and fences along her street, and threats were made to her family. On her way to school each day she was subjected to catcalls and harsh stares and obscene gestures. At school she was shunned by white students. All of this amounted to a lot of pressure for anyone, much less a small child. During a visit to her modest home, Coles asked the girl how she kept her composure. Good book Christian that she was, the little girl replied that she knew all the Bible stories of holding fast to God no matter what people did to you. She knew what they did to Jesus and how he held fast. And so she just put everything in the hands of Jesus, she said. He was her rock. Still, that didn't make the pressure any less. People of honour like this student, whistle-blowers, those who sacrifice jobs and livelihood to hold on to principles; all bear the heavy cross of dry martyrdom.
William Bausch in 'The Word -In and Out of season'
Nothing More to Give
Some years ago, divers located a four-hundred-year-old ship off the coast of Northern Ireland. Among the treasures found on the sunken ship was a man's wedding ring. When it was cleaned up, the divers noticed that it had an inscription on it. Etched on the wide band was a hand holding a heart. Under the etching was this inscription: "I have nothing more to give you." Off all the treasures on that ship, none moved the divers more than that ring and the beautiful inscription on it. The words on that ring, "I have nothing more to give you," could have been written on the cross of Jesus. For on the cross, Jesus gave us everything he had. He gave us his love. He gave us his life. He gave us all that one person could give to another. He had nothing more to give us.
Anonymous
Mark of the Nails
A father wanted his son to realize the importance of making wise choices and their consequences. And so if his son made a bad decision, he'd give him a hammer and a nail to take out and pound it into a fence. Every day the son went through the whole day making good decisions, he'd let him go out and remove one of the nails. Until the boy was fifteen there were always two or three nails on the post -seems he'd be nailing new ones just as fast as he'd pull out others. The youth started to mature and make better decisions till one day all the nails were removed from the post. That was when his dad said, "I want you to notice something about the fence." Looking at the fence the boy realized that though the nails were removed there were some holes where the nails were driven in and removed. His dad said, Son, I want to tell you something about bad choices or decisions. Even though you may be totally forgiven from your bad choices or decisions, there are remaining effects, the consequences of those choices and decisions; just like the holes in the fencepost."
Brian Cavanaugh in 'Sower's Seeds of Christian Family Values'
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From Fr. Tony Kadavil:
1) “But you wear a cross.” On her first night there, the head counselor said that three of the boys had asked to escort her to dinner. Alone! How would she handle it if all three decided to act out at once? She swallowed hard. She desperately needed this job so she fought back the panic and walked with her charges to the dining hall. They passed through the cafeteria line as tantrums and fights erupted around them. Fortunately none of her boys exhibited any kind of behavioral outburst. They made their way to a table in the center of the busy cafeteria and the boys took their seats. Margaret picked up her fork and was about to take the first bite when she noticed that all three boys were staring at her. "What's the matter?" she asked. Aren't you going to ask a blessing?" asked eight-year-old Peter. "I didn't think I was supposed to," she responded. "This is a state school, isn't it?" "Yes," said David, his blue eyes brimming, "but you wear a cross." Her grandmother's words surged to the surface of her memory. "Never forget what this cross means," her grandmother said. "We thought that meant something," said Roman, clearly disappointed. "It does. Thank you for reminding me," Margaret said, as she bowed her head, no longer afraid. (CATHOLIC DIGEST, Feb. 92, p. 64) Margaret learned something about sainthood that day. Saints trust in God and God alone for their ultimate security. Saints submit their will to the will of God. Saints stand firm and witness to their faith.
2) What’s that plus sign doing up here? A young Jewish girl visiting a Catholic church for the first time, was puzzled at the cross on the altar. She asked her Catholic friend, “Marie, Why do you keep that plus sign on the altar? That’s one wrong understanding – the cross as a plus sign. It is an equally distasteful idea that the cross is the I, the capital “I” crossed out. The truth is that cross is “I” stretched out - reaching down into the ground of being, up in the infinity of becoming, and out toward as many others as it can touch. With the Cross as a plus sign shaping our lives, we can live while we wait, knowing that a) renewal comes through rejoicing; b) grace is communication by gentleness; c) peace comes through prayer; and d) attitudes produce action.
3) You took my parking space at church: One day, a man went to visit a church; He got there early, parked his car and got out. Another car pulled up near the driver got out and said, “I always park there! You took my place!"
The visitor went inside for Sunday school, found an empty seat and sat down A young lady from the church approached him and stated, "That’s my seat! You took my place!" The visitor was somewhat distressed by this rude welcome, but said nothing. After Sunday school, the visitor went into the sanctuary and sat down. Another member walked up to him and said, “That’s where I always sit! You took my place!" The visitor was even more troubled by this treatment, but still He said nothing. Later as the congregation was praying for Christ to dwell among them, the visitor stood up, and his appearance began to change. Horrible scars became visible on his hands and on his sandaled feet. Someone from the congregation noticed him and called out, "What happened to you?" The visitor replied, as his hat became a crown of thorns, and a tear fell from his eye, "I took your place.”
*****From the Connections:
THE WORD:
John’s profoundly theological Passion account portrays a Jesus who is very much aware of what is happening to him. His eloquent self-assurance unnerves the high priest and intimidates Pilate (“You have no power over me”), who shuttles back and forth among the various parties involved, desperately trying to avoid condemning this innocent holy man to death. Hanging on the cross, Jesus entrusts his mother to his beloved disciple, thus leaving behind the core of a believing community. He does not cry out the psalm of the abandoned (Psalm 22); rather, his final words are words of decision and completion: “It is finished.” The crucifixion of Jesus, as narrated by John, is not a tragic end but the beginning of victory, the lifting up of the Perfect Lamb to God for the salvation of humankind.
HOMILY POINTS:
Today, Jesus teaches us through his own broken body. As a Church, as a community of faith, we are the body of Christ — but a broken body. We minister as broken people to broken people. The suffering, the alienated, the unaccepted, the rejected, the troubled, the confused are all part of this broken body of Christ. In God’s unfathomable love, the broken body of Christ is forever transformed into the full and whole life of the Risen Christ.The cross repulses us and shames us, confronting us with death and humiliation, with the injustice and betrayal of which we are all capable. But the cross is also the tree of life through which we are reborn. The tree of defeat becomes the tree of victory; where life was lost, there life will be restored. The tree of Good Friday will blossom anew, bringing life, not death; bringing light that shatters centuries of darkness; bringing Paradise, not destruction.
As Jesus’ cross becomes a means of transforming death into life, we are called on this Good Friday to use the crosses that we shoulder in our lives as vehicles for “resurrection” in the Jerusalems and Golgothas of our own time and place.
Jesus is crucified every day in the betrayals, condemnations, and crosses taken up and endured by the poor, the sorrowing, the sick, the grieving and the dying -- but the “goodness" of Good Friday gives us reason to hope, reason to carry on, reason to rejoice. By the grace of the Risen Christ we can transform our crucifixions into Easter victories.
Today, “truth” stands in front of us in the figure of the humiliated Jesus, the suffering Jesus, the ridiculed Jesus, the crucified Jesus. Right in front of us is the truth about a God who loves us to a degree we cannot begin to fathom; a God who refuses to give up or reject or destroy his beloved creation — a creation that has hardly lived up to its promise; a God who humbles himself to become one of us in order to make us like him, to realize that we have been created in his image, created by his very breath blown into our hearts.
This Good Friday is God’s calling us to a second Exodus journey, marked in the slaying of his Son, the Lamb, who becomes for us the new Passover seder — today is our exodus from the slavery of sin to the freedom of compassion and forgiveness, our “passover” from this life to the life of God.
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From Fr. Jude Botelho:
In today's first reading Isaiah paints a startling portrait of the suffering servant of Yahweh. This suffering servant has a dignity about himself and his spirit is intact and unbroken in the midst of all that he suffers. Physically he was abused and reduced to a subhuman condition: In the face of all that he suffered there is no bitterness, no anger, no resentment, no complaint. Isaiah, describing the suffering servant, gives us a model of how a Christian is called to respond to suffering. Jesus embraced the cross and transformed it into an expression of love for all human beings. The cross, the object of death can become the object of life for ourselves and others, if it is embraced with faith and with love.
The Kiss
I stand by the bed where a young woman lies, her face post-operative, her mouth twisted in palsy; clownish. A tiny twig of the facial muscles of her mouth, had been severed. She will be thus from now on. The surgeon had followed with religious fervour the curve of her flesh; I promise you that. Nevertheless, to remove the tumour from her cheek, I had cut the little nerve. Her husband was in the room. He stands on the opposite side of the bed, and together they seem to dwell in the evening lamplight, isolated from me, private. Who are they, I ask myself, he and this wry-mouth I have made, who gaze at and touch each other so generously, greedily? "Will my mouth always be like this?" she asks. "Yes," I say, "it will be. It is because the nerve was cut." She nods and is silent. But the young man smiles. "I like it," he says, "it is kind of cute." All at once I know who he is. I understand, and I lower my gaze. One is not bold in an encounter with a God. Unmindful he bends to kiss her crooked mouth, and I am so close I can see how he twists his own lips to accommodate her, to show her that their kiss still works.
Richard Selzer in 'Stories for the Heart'
Today's Gospel is a gospel of paradox: it presents a mortal conflict between good and evil, a battle between the Prince of Peace and the prince of this world. Good Friday is a day of paradox because an instrument of death becomes the source of life. It is also a day of mystery because the sinless one became as sin; a day revealing mankind at its worst and God at His best. Jesus on the cross transforms the curse of the cross into an instrument of blessing and eternal life. In the Gospel there are several facets of the passion we could reflect upon: The agony in the garden and the fearless confrontation of Jesus with those who came to arrest him. The triple denial of Peter in the presence of a maid servant "You are not one of the man's disciples, are you?" He said "I am not." The trial and then his confrontation with Pilate "Are you the king of the Jews?", and the lingering unanswered question: "What is the truth?" We could meditate on the Way of the Cross and his final moments on the cross itself leading to his painful cry, echoed by all who suffer: "My God, my God why have you forsaken me." We could reflect on the first words of Jesus on the cross pleading for forgiveness for his people. Jesus becomes the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world. He breaks the chain of violent response to injustice by offering forgiveness instead of vengeance. By accepting his passion and enduring his cross he earns redemption for all mankind. Forgiveness and reconciliation are offered to all who seek them.The glory and the power of the CrossSir John Bowring, Governor of Hong Kong, once visited the Macao peninsula in the south Chinese coast, and was much impressed by the sight of a huge bronze cross towering on the summit of a massive wall. The wall and the cross were the only remains of a Cathedral built by the Portuguese, which was destroyed by a storm. This beautiful sight of the metal cross from the sea inspired him to write a hymn that made him more famous. He wrote: "In the cross of Christ I glory, Towering over the wreck of time, All the light and sacred story, Gathers round his head sublime." -Today, we are gathered around the mighty shadow cast by the Cross of Christ. The Cross towers over the wrecks of time and around it is gathered all the light of the sacred story. Hanging on the Cross, disowned and deserted by his friends, mocked by his foes, Jesus died a very lonely and excruciating death. What made Jesus court this lonely and excruciating death? It was His love. Jesus loved us so much that he stretched out his hands and died upon the Cross. This is the wonder of His glorious love.
John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies'
Looking for forgivenessThere is a Spanish tale of a father and son who had become estranged after years of bitter strife. The son finally ran away. Finding that his son was missing, the father became heartbroken and set off to find him. He searched for months to no avail. Finally, in a desperate effort, the father placed an ad in the city newspaper. The ad read: Dear Paco, Meet me in front of the bell tower in the plaza at noon on Saturday. All is forgiven. I love you. Your Father. That Saturday eight hundred Pacos -men and boys -showed up at the plaza looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers.
Anonymous
Life of ChristArchbishop Fulton Sheen was a great writer and orator. He had written more than fifty books. His most famous book is 'Life of Christ'. In the preface of this book, he gives the reason why he had written that book. He wrote: "Some books are written in answer to one's questions; other books are written to question answers already given. But this book is written to find consolation in the Cross of Christ. For about ten years I endured great trials, I plunged into the life of Christ and found strength, meaning and consolation in the Cross of Christ."
John Rose in 'John's Sunday Homilies'
Beautiful in life and deathSome things in life are too beautiful to be forgotten, but there can also be some things in death that are too beautiful to be forgotten. What can one say of a 24 year old girl who dies for others? She was beautiful, she was brilliant, she loved life and people. That was the reason she died. Her name was Mary Frances Houslay popularly known as Frankie. She worked as an air hostess for National Airlines. It was on January 14, 1951 that Frankie flew on a trip to Philadelphia, never to return again. Just as the giant wheels of the DC-4 touched the runway, it burst into flames. Frankie opened the emergency doors and tried to save as many as she could. She managed to save eleven people before she recalled seeing a four-year old baby in one of the rear seats. Her name was Brenda Joyce. Frankie dragged herself along and went in search of Brenda. As the flames reached the fuselage, the plane exploded! In the wreckage the rescuers found Brenda in the arms of Frankie. Brenda was alive but Frankie was dead.
Elias Dias in 'Divine Stories for Families'
The Tent of RefugeIn the Hashemite kingdom of Jordan, two Bedouin youth got into a fight, tumbling to the ground in their fury. One boy pulled out a knife, plunging it fatally into the other's chest. In fear he fled across the desert, fled from the slain boy's vengeance-seeking relatives, fled to find a Bedouin's sanctuary, a 'tent of refuge', designed by law for those who kill unintentionally or in the heat of anger. At last he reached what might be termed - the black-tented encampment of a nomad tribe. The boy flung himself at the feet of the leader, an aged sheik, and begged him: "I have killed in the heat of anger; I implore your protection. I seek the refuge of your tent." "If God wills," the old man responded, "I grant it to you, as long as you remain with us." A few days later the avenging relatives tracked the fugitive to the encampment. They described the assailant to the sheik and asked. "Have you seen this man? Is he here? For we ask for him." "He is here," said the sheik, "but you will not have him." "But he has killed and, we the blood relatives of the slain boy, will stone him according to the law." The sheik raised his voice, "You will not as long as he remains with us." "We demand him," the relatives declared. "No! The boy has my protection," said the sheik. "I have given my word, my promise of refuge." "But you don't understand," the relatives implored. "He killed your grandson!" The old man was silent. No one dared to speak. Then in visible anguish, with tears searing his face, the old man stood up and spoke ever so slowly, "My only grandson -is he dead?" "Yes, your only grandson is dead." "Then..." said the sheik, "then this boy will be my grandson. He is forgiven, and he will live with us as my own. Go now; it is finished."
Walter J. Burghardt in 'Sower's Seeds of Christian Family Values'
