Good Friday Homily

Since the Passion from the Gospel of Saint John is a little lengthy, I decided (as I try to each year) to preach a short homily. Below is my homily from this year's Good Friday service.

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Saint John of the Cross once said, “He who seeks not the Cross of Christ seeks not the glory of Christ.” My brothers and sisters, this is the Hour for which Christ came – this is the Hour of His glory. Yet more does the Cross portray just the glory of Christ, but it also leads us to the Heart of Christ. That pierced Heart which continues to drown the world in mercy and compassion. – That loving Heart which calls all sinners to be reconciled to the Father. The Heart of Christ IS the Glory of God – and it is pierced and exposed for us on this day to seek it out and claim it as our own. In our remembrance, in our active participation of the events which bring us our salvation, we once again conform our lives to that of Christ’s – allowing our hearts to be joined with His, and in that joining, we seek to come to not only know, but ultimately experience the glory of Christ. And though we are repulsed at the sight of His Passion, we realize that the road to glory is not always beautiful, and that love is not always easy. The Lamb of God slain on the altar of the Cross shows us the true meaning of love and glory: laying down one’s life for others. This is the heart of the matter, for this is the Heart of God – that we would unite our hearts with His, so that His glory may become for us a living reality here, now. Today we seek the Cross of Christ so that we may once again unite our hearts to His, so that the glory revealed by the Passion and Death that Christ Jesus suffered – which we memorialize today – may be for us the ultimate reality by which we live our lives so that all hearts may be united to Christ’s. We adore You, O Christ, and we praise You – for by Your Holy Cross, You have redeemed the world.