the hour<\/em>\u201d where his glorification starts in his Passion and leads to his resurrection.<\/p>\nGod did not pick just any hour for Jesus\u2019 Passion.\u00a0 He picked the time of the Passover.\u00a0 As our first reading states, God placed the Passover at the head of the Jewish calendar.\u00a0 In the Passover, the story of God leading them out from Egypt is celebrated with the sacrifice of lambs. Now, our sacrifice is not the sacrifice of animals but that of Jesus himself.<\/p>\n
Tonight, we are just eight days from the beginning of the Easter Triduum.\u00a0 In less than four days we will become our celebration of Holy Week with the blessing of the Palms and the reading of the story of Jesus\u2019 Passion.<\/p>\n
On Sunday, we will hear Mark\u2019s version of the Passion.\u00a0 Then, on Good Friday, we will hear John\u2019s version.\u00a0 So, rather than read the whole Passion tonight, I selected these five verses from Matthew\u2019s telling of the Passion to lead us into a discussion of what is depicted in the Stations of the Cross.\u00a0 Tonight, I want to look specifically at stations #10-12.<\/p>\n
In what I just read, Jesus is stripped of his garments.\u00a0 This is depicted in the 10th<\/sup> station.\u00a0 The stripping is part of the mockery they show to Jesus.\u00a0 Imagine standing naked for all to see.\u00a0 It would have also made the scourging worse as the cords hit bare flesh.\u00a0 It was humiliating and painful.\u00a0 Yet, Jesus endured it for us.\u00a0 He did it so we would not have to bear the punishment for our sins.<\/p>\nI want to take this image of Jesus naked and reflect on what it is that we wish to cover up.\u00a0 On the surface level, I don\u2019t imagine any of us want to stand unclothed before a crowd.\u00a0 That would be humiliating and\/or defy all modesty but that is not the \u201cexposing\u201d that I want to look at now.<\/p>\n
Picture yourself standing before God.\u00a0 He is looking at you but not at your physical body but at your soul.\u00a0 Your soul is fully exposed for God to see.\u00a0 He can see the love you hold in your soul.\u00a0 He can also see your sin.\u00a0 Your sins are fully exposed before God.\u00a0 How embarrassing!\u00a0 But we do not need to fear this!\u00a0 Jesus comes to take away the sin of the world!<\/p>\n
Next, let us turn to the 11th<\/sup> Station where Jesus is nailed to the Cross.\u00a0 Nails are driving into his hands and feet as he is hung upon the Cross.\u00a0 Imagine the pain of the nails being driven through your flesh and bone.\u00a0 Imagine the weight of your body on the Cross pulling against the nails.\u00a0 How terrible!<\/p>\nWho is it that drives the nails in?\u00a0 We generally blame the Romans and\/or the Jewish officials for this.\u00a0 If this was strictly a human activity the blame would fall to them. Yet, we know that Jesus\u2019 life wasn\u2019t really taken from him.\u00a0 He freely handed it over.\u00a0 He did so for our sins.<\/p>\n
Some of you are probably familiar with Mel Gibson\u2019s movie, The Passion of the Christ<\/em>.\u00a0 In an interview, Mel Gibson talked about the scene where the nails were driven into Jesus.\u00a0 In making the movie, Mel Gibson made sure he was the one who drove the nails in as he knew it was because of his sin that Jesus gave his life.\u00a0 Are we any different?<\/p>\nNow we turn to the 12th<\/sup> Station where Jesus dies on the Cross.\u00a0 Jesus endured so much for us.\u00a0 How can we call it Good <\/em><\/strong>Friday?\u00a0 Because of the \u201cgood\u201d it accomplishes, our salvation.\u00a0 This is the purpose for which Jesus came.<\/p>\nIf you read the latter part of chapter 11 in John\u2019s Gospel (verses 45-53), you hear about the Sanhedrin plotting to kill Jesus.\u00a0 In that conversation Caiaphas said, \u201cIt is better for you that one man should die instead of the people, so that the whole nation may not perish<\/em>\u201d (John 11:50).\u00a0 He said this to justify their plot against Jesus.\u00a0 He was right but not in the way he thought.<\/p>\nNow, I hope I haven\u2019t depressed you too much talking about how badly Jesus was treated. \u00a0Jesus did this willingly because \u201cGod so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life<\/em>\u201d (John 3:16). \u00a0The love Jesus shows is what we need to focus on.<\/p>\nGod sent Jesus to die for our sins out of love.\u00a0 It was out of his love that God set his people free from slavery in Egypt.\u00a0 It is out of his love that Jesus sets our free from our sins.\u00a0 This action of Jesus\u2019 love is what makes Good Friday \u201cgood.\u201d<\/p>\n
We must never forget the sacrifice that Jesus makes for us<\/em><\/strong>.\u00a0 It is not solely an action of the past.<\/p>\nLook at the altar!<\/p>\n
What do you see?<\/p>\n
Do you see a piece of bread on display?\u00a0 Stop looking with your earthly eyes!<\/p>\n
What is upon the altar?<\/p>\n
Jesus!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThere have been those who think Catholics make a false idol of the bread in the monstrance but our adoration tonight flows from Jesus\u2019 own words at the Last Supper.\u00a0 He held the bread and proclaimed, \u201cThis is my body that is for you\u2026This cup in the new covenant in my blood\u201d <\/em>given up for us.<\/p>\nThe belief in the Real Presence of Jesus is not a human invention.\u00a0 It is from Jesus\u2019 own words.<\/p>\n
What does this have to do with Good Friday?\u00a0 At the Last Supper Jesus speaks of his body and blood being given up for us.\u00a0 When are they given up?\u00a0 On the Cross.\u00a0 So, hearing Jesus\u2019 words, \u201cdo this in memory of <\/em>me\u201d every time we celebrate Mass, we celebrate the Sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.\u00a0 As we gaze upon the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance tonight, we see God\u2019s love.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Homily for March 2018 Holy Hour Exodus 12:1-8, 11-14 Psalm 22:8-9, 17-18, 19-20, 23-24 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 Matthew 27:27-31 On Sunday we heard Jesus say, \u201cThe hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.\u201d (John 12:23).\u00a0\u00a0As I said on Sunday, \u201cthe hour\u201d where his glorification starts in his Passion and leads to …<\/p>\n
Continue reading ‘Stations #10-12 – Homily for March 2018 Holy Hour’ »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[26,82,302],"tags":[423,425,422,424],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pMTPk-DP","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2469"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2470,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2469\/revisions\/2470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}