Good Friday

Good Friday
10 April 2020

In my homily yesterday at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper for Holy Thursday, my focus was on Jesus’ sacramental offering of himself even before he died physically.  And my hope for us is that we understand that Jesus truly and really offered himself in that First Holy Communion at the Last Supper.  There was nothing lacking in that offering of himself on Holy Thursday, even as he awaited the completion of that offering in the flesh on the Cross on that first Good Friday.  Yesterday’s focus was on offering.  Today’s focus is on consummation. 

At the point of his death our Blessed Lord spoke these words that we have translated into English: “It is finished.”  That is a translation of the Latin Vulgate biblical text.  In Latin the Lord’s phrase is: “Consummatum est.”  That phrase does indeed carry with it the notion that something is brought to completion.  And so our English text can rightly say, “It is finished.”  But I want to highlight something in the Latin as a point of attention for us today.  Looking at the root of the Latin there is not only a sense of completion but also a sense that something is being “brought all together.”  Still more, there is a root sense that something is “being perfected” or “being brought to its highest form.”  And this gathering together, this being brought to perfection, is not happening in isolation but together with something else, or with others.

With that in mind I offer this simple and brief thought for today.  We recall the enduring love of God for us and the depth to which He goes to save us.  Veiled in our flesh such that His glory as God is hidden, He goes still further and is veiled under brutal torture and disfigurement.  His glory and love is not recognizable and it is not recognizable because of our sin, our pride, and our rejection of him.  Do not hear in English “It is finished” to mean that a book or a story is closed, done, nothing more to happen.  Rather, consider the root meanings from the Latin.  The Lord completes his self-offering on the Cross.  In that sense, in the flesh, his offering is consummated.  But remember his act on the Cross, was to bring all together, to bring to perfection, and to do so not in isolation, but to bring others along with his offering.

Perhaps that can be a focal point for our experience this Holy Week.  Perhaps that can help us understand the ache and the longing in our hearts.  Our longing is about more than just desiring a return to normal.   Rather, it is a recognition that the Divine Heart of Jesus beats for us and pours out His love.  Our hearts receive that love if we will lift the veil of our sin, our pride, and our rejection of him.  Our hearts are brought together into his offering.  And that is why we long to receive him in Holy Communion.  Jesus’ self-offering is complete, it is finished.  But it is not the end of story… may we be determined to freely cooperate with him and to be brought together, to be brought into his perfect offering.  Receiving his grace and his love, may we go forth as disciples who seek to be co-workers with the Lord in bringing others souls all together into his self-offering for salvation.