The Friday we call "Good."

On this day we call "good," we Christian take time to remember that God so loved the world that He sent His only Begotten Son so that we might have life and have it abundantly. Jesus is God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God. And so today we remember that it was no ordinary man who died on the cross; no, it was God who died on the cross.

We are told in today's gospel that there was an eclipse of the Sun for three hour along with an earthquake. However, these words don't begin to begin to describe what it must have been like to been present at the foot of the cross. God is Killed, men commit that greatest crime "Deicide-the killing of God." The earth is not only shaken, it is shaken to its very core...The whole universe is affected...now we know how bad our sin is...it was our sin that put God on the cross...So momentous were these events of the crucifixion that the centurion and others were converted on the spot...surely this must be the Son of God...surely this must be God.

In our day this is a great indifference to the cross of Christ. This indifference is what most grieved our Lord as he hung on the cross. There was poem that was written after a man had witness the horrors of World War II and returned Home. He had seen the effects of man's sin in that war: He knew that War was a result of sin, of man's turning away from God...Now maybe after the horror of this war, man would in love, return back to the God who died on the cross for man...However, after he returned to His hometown of Birmingham England, He was appalled at the great lack of faith He encountered, appalled at the great indifference he encounter to the Cross of Christ and so indifference to Christ's love.. And so, he wrote the following poem:


When Jesus came to Golgatha they nailed Him to a tree.
They crowned Him with a crown of thorns, red where His wounds and deep.
For those were crude and cruel days and human flesh was cheap.

When Jesus came to Birmingham they only let Him die,
They would not hurt a hair on Him
they only passed Him by.

For men had grown more tender, they would not cause Him pain,
they only walk on by and left Him in the rain.
The winter rain that soaked Him through and through.

And when all the crowds had left the street
with no soul there to see
then Jesus crouched against a wall
and sighed for Calvary.

G. Studered Kennedy

It was the indifference of men, to His dying for them that caused Jesus so much pain; in the end it wasn't just men's sin that Killed Jesus, it was their indifference to His love...to Him. Just as there were those present at the foot of the cross who were indifferent to the supreme act of Love that Christ was showing for them, so too sadly still today.

I believe it is still the indifference of the hearts of man to His Love that most grieves our blessed Lord. He once told a mystic that He would go through his passion more than once for a single soul if He could move the heart of a single indifferent soul. How is man indifferent to the cross of Christ in our day? I believe it is shown most by the indifference to God's love that still keeps Him on earth in and through the Holy Mass.

At The Holy Sacrifice of the Mass we become the people who are at the foot of the cross...At. Mass we witness in faith Christ again pouring out His blood, His life, His love anew for love of men...At Mass we too are able to behold He who we have pieced as He is lifted up anew for us in the Holy Eucharist to behold. Will we be indifferent to the love of a God which leads Him to give Himself to us as His food. Will we refuse to give this God our love in return by offering ourselves to Him who has offered Himself totally to us.

Love himself is present at Every Holy Mass on the Altar at the consecration; love Himself is present in every tabernacle of the world; Love himself gives us Himself as our heavenly food; The greatest crime in this world today stems from the indifference of the hearts of men; Love is truly present in the Holy Eucharist...yet sadly, Love is not loved.

Faith opens the momentous events of Christ's Pascal Mystery, His passion, death and resurrection. By faith we can enter into them and even experience them. However, Faith is not enough, faith must be infused with Love, or it is dead faith. We must love the one who died for us and then rose for us...

Our love must not be sweet words it must be backed up with deeds, deeds of Love. These deeds of love must begin by being present, not only in body, but in mind, heart and soul as well before His true Presences in the Holy Eucharist. He is present to Us in love, we must be present to Him in love, in order that His Love can transform us and through us transform our world..

It was and is the indifference of Men to His Love which caused Jesus the most pain on Calvary; it is this indifference today which so grieves His Sacred Heart. Today, let us, you and me change this...let us never be indifferent to God's love which keeps Him in the tabernacle day and night waiting for men to visit, waiting for men to return His great love...waiting for you and for me to return His love....

Jesus Christ, after having given us all he could give, that is to say, the merit of his toils, his sufferings, and bitter death; after having given us his adorable body and blood to be the food of our souls, willed also to give us the most precious thing he had left, which was his holy Mother. (St. John Vinney).