Daily Gospel Reflection for April 19, 2019

Today's Gospel: John 18:1—19:42 - Good Friday of the Lord's Passion The Passion is hard to handle. It’s a story of brutality and hatred. We hear it twice every year and become immune to it. It’s easy to distance ourselves from it. We forget that it wasn’t just the ancient Romans and Jews who crucified Jesus. It was and is, all of us. It’s me. I played a role in the death of Jesus. How often do we reflect on what happened? How often do we remember that Jesus was a person, a human like each of us and that during His torture, He experienced pain? It hurt Him to be scourged. The Passion doesn’t say much about the scourging but we should reflect on it. Scourging was beyond beating. The Roman soldiers struck Jesus with items that were designed to rip His skin from His body, to dig deep into His muscle and tear it. The crown of thorns was comprised of inch-long, needle-like thorns that dug into His skull. He carried a cross of hundreds of pounds up a hill and they used nails to attach Him to it. It’s hard to think of these things. When we reflect on what Our Lord endured for us, though, it gives us a glimpse into how much He loves us. He experienced a horror that no one should ever have to experience, all because He loves us and wants to spend eternity with us. That, my friends, is love.