Daily Gospel Reflection for April 3, 2015

Today's Gospel: John 18:1--19:42

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

Today in the Gospel, we read St. John’s account of the passion and death of our Lord, Jesus Christ. It was for this that the Son of God freely became man. It was through His passion and death, entered into willingly and lovingly, that He took away the entire sin of the world. Jesus, who was sinless, became sin in order that we may have eternal life.

Tradition states that in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus’ suffering was not out of fear of what was to happen. In fact, His suffering was the result of taking upon Himself the entirety of our sins. In profound obedience and humility, Jesus became poor in spirit so that He could atone for our sins.

This is why the cross is central to the Catholic faith: because it is through the Cross that Jesus became sacrifice and through the Cross that we are redeemed.

Johanne Baptist Metz wrote: the cross is the sacrament of poverty of spirit, the sacrament of authentic humanness in a sinful world. It is a sign that one human being remained true to His own identity, that He accepted it in full obedience.

Ponder:

We are called to live in imitation of Christ; therefore, we embrace the crosses that our Lord allows into our lives, and we offer our lives in atonement for the sins committed against Love.

Pray:

Dear Lord, I want to live in imitation of You. Give me the grace to take up my cross after You so that, like You, I may restore Love to a sinful world.

We thank our friends at The Word Among Us for providing our gospel reflection team with copies of Abide In My Word 2015: Mass Readings at Your Fingertips. To pray the daily gospels with this wonderful resource, visit The Word Among Us.

Copyright 2015 Terry McDermott