Good Friday Homily

Homily for Good Friday, 2020

April 10, 2020

He Has Borne Our Transgressions

            Imagine, for a moment, that you were suffering from this terrible disease which has so ravaged our world. Suffering, perhaps, to the point of death – in the ICU, on a ventilator, an inch from death. Then, standing by your bedside, came a perfectly healthy person who said, “Can I take that disease from you?” He touches your hand and you feel filled with life, and then you exchange places – this healthy man is hooked up to the ventilator, as you walk out of the hospital, completely cured.

            We all suffer from a disease worse than death. The disease of sin is far, far worse than coronavirus – for it will not just lead to the temporary death of the body, but the eternal death of the soul.

Consider – when we turn our back on God through sin, we turn our back on He Who is the Source of all life. Imagine an oasis in the desert – a little spring surrounded by palm trees and shade and life. As long as you stay close to the spring, the source of water, you will never be thirsty. But imagine someone saying, “Oh, I’m going to go find my own water, thank you very much – I don’t need this spring, I want to do it myself!” And they wander away, off into the desert…until they die of thirst. In the same way, when we sin, we say, “God, I know that You are the very source of every breath I take, that You are my Creator and the sustainer of my life, but I want to find my own life, apart from You.” And so we wander…and, finding no life in the things of this world or the desires of the flesh, we have embraced a living death.

Because of our sins, we all owed a debt of death. In offending the Lord and choosing against Him, we stood justly condemned to an eternity away from Him. We chose to go our own way, and say, “God, I don’t need You.” And this is the state of all of us – not a single one of us listening today is without sin. Not a single one of us is freed from the curse of death and separation from God that is the natural consequence of choosing our own way, apart from Him.

But God proves His love for us in this: that while we were still His enemies, while we were His rebellious children, while we stood condemned to eternal death, He chose to die in our place. He would take the penalty for our sins. He would pay back that debt of death that we owed but could not pay.

And through His death, we can now be reconciled to God. The river of life is now opened to us, through the pierced Heart of the Savior. We who were on spiritual life-support have now been restored to full health, by Him who took our deadly illness upon Himself.

Look at the Cross – if you have one at home, in your room, gaze upon it – and see the price paid for your salvation. Through His death, He has brought us back to life – in this world, and in the life to come.

I close with the beautiful prayer of St. Alphonsus Liguori – “I love You, beloved Jesus;

I love You more than I love myself. With all my heart I repent of ever having offended You.

Grant that I may love You always; and then do with me as You will.”