EIGHTEENTH LESSON
Good Friday.
"And Jesus crying with a loud voice said: Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit."—ST. LUKE 23:46.
Good Friday!—Ah! what a mournful day!... What painful remembrances it recalls to our minds! How grieved in heart do we not feel today, when we think of our blessed Saviour's death! And yet we must not forget, my children, that this day of mourning is at the same time a thrice-blessed day for us. Jesus Christ's sufferings grieve us, it is true; they make us shed tears, but nevertheless they redeem and save us. For thee, O Lord! the hour of sacrifice was awaited with joy, so great was thy desire to offer thy life for the salvation of men. Oh! while meditating on thy sufferings, let us try to penetrate the deep mystery of thy exceeding love, and to fill our hearts, O my God, with the deepest gratitude.
The night had been spent by our Lord, my children, in the midst of the most terrible outrages. At daybreak, the chief priests and ancients of the people held council against Jesus, that they might put him to death. And they brought him bound, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then Judas, seeing that our Lord was condemned, repented of his crime, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and ancients saying: "I have sinned, betraying innocent blood." But they answered: "What is that to us? look thou to it." Casting down the pieces of silver in the temple, Judas then, not finding in his heart that confidence in God which alone can inspire true repentance, despaired and hanged himself.
My children, when Jesus appeared before the governor, the latter, after having questioned him, finding he could convince him of no crime, sent him to Herod. From all Herod had heard of Jesus, he had long eagerly desired to see him, and hoped to witness some miracle or other; so he put a number of questions to our Lord, who did not vouchsafe to answer any of them: then he was treated as a lunatic, a madman, and became the laughing-stock of Herod's Court; every one loaded him with mockery and insults; and he was sent back to Pilate.
The divine Saviour was thus dragged along from street to street, from tribunal to tribunal, in the midst of insulting out-cries. Of all the sick and maimed he had cured, the afflicted he had consoled, the poor he had helped, not one lifted up his voice to defend him. All disowned him, and even united with his enemies to insult him. At least one might suppose his beloved disciples would appear to assist or deliver him? Where are they? Alas! my children, Jesus is betrayed by one, denied by another, forsaken by all! O my Saviour! there is no kind of affliction thou hast not wished to bear for our salvation, and no doubt not the least cruel of thy sufferings were those caused by the desertion of thy friends, and the ungratefulness of those whose benefactor thou bast been!
Pilate, fully convinced of the innocence of Jesus, considered how he could deliver him. It was the custom every year, on the day of the feast of the Pasch, to grant at the petition of the people a free pardon to whatever prisoner the people should by their right choose. At that time there was in prison a man named Barabbas, accused of having committed murder.
When all were gathered together, Pilate said: Whom will you that I release to you, Barabbas or Jesus that is called the Christ? It was already for our Lord, my children, a great humiliation to be compared with a criminal, but think what he must have felt on hearing this malefactor preferred to him! For the princes of the people, having excited the multitude against Jesus, all exclaimed; "We want Barabbas!"—Pilate saith to them: "What shall I do then with Jesus that is called Christ?"—"Let him be crucified!"—"Why, what evil hath he done?" But they cried out only the more saying: "Let him be crucified." Then Pilate, seeing that he could not prevail against them, asked for some water, and washing his hands before the people said: "I am innocent of the blood of this just man: look you to it." And the whole people answering said: "His blood be upon us and upon our children!"
Alas! my friends, this guilty wish has been but too well granted. Proscribed, persecuted during a long number of centuries, the unhappy Jews, are even to the present day without a country they can call their own: they are all wanderers on the face of the earth.
Pilate then released to them Barabbas, and having scourged Jesus, delivered him unto them to be crucified. But the fury of the enemies of Jesus was not appeased, and before crucifying him, they loaded him with fresh insults. The soldiers of the governor, taking Jesus into the hall, scourged him and put a scarlet cloak about him; then platting a crown of thorns, they thrust it on his adorable head; then they struck him with a reed, and spitting upon him, they bowed down before him, and mocked at him, saying: "Hail, King of the Jews!" After having thus mocked our Lord, who remained calm and patient, his enemies laid a heavy cross on his shoulders, and led him on to Calvary to be crucified. His poor body, worn out by pain, covered with bleeding wounds, sunk under the burden of the cross. A man from Cyrene named Simon, who was passing on the road, was stopped and forced to carry the cross of Jesus.
Our Lord was followed by a great number of people, and by women who wept and showed great sorrow. Turning towards them he said: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves!" Let us also, my children, if on this day our heart feels moved at the remembrance of such suffering, let us weep over ourselves, over our sins, which were the cause of Jesus Christ's sufferings.
At last our Lord reaches the place of execution, my children; His clothes are taken off; He is laid on the cross; He is nailed to it by driving large nails through His hands and feet, and the cross is set into the ground, between two other crosses, on each of which a thief is crucified. All those who passed by blasphemed against the Saviour; His meekness, His resignation, the agony He endured, could not disarm their wrath. Now from the sixth hour until the ninth there was darkness over the whole earth. About the ninth hour, the excess of his sufferings wrung from Jesus this heart-rending lamentation: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" But Jesus forgets His own sorrows to think of us. He sees His poor bereaved mother, and the well-beloved disciple, standing at the foot of the cross. So mustering all His strength, our Lord showing St. John to Mary said to her, "Woman, behold thy son." Then turning to St. John, showing Mary he said: "Behold thy mother." And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own house; since that moment also, my children, and thanks to this precious legacy of our dying Saviour, Mary loves us as her children, and we love her as our mother.
Death was fast approaching, and Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, bowed his head, saying: "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit,"—and he expired.
At the same instant, the veil of the Temple was rent in twain, from one end to the other, the earth quaked, tombs burst open, and all nature was convulsed.
Ah! my children, words cannot express the feelings this picture ought to excite in our hearts. The tenderest of friends, our Redeemer, expires in torments for our salvation. We are the culprits, and it is he who bears the penalty we have incurred. Our sins and His love are the cause of such numberless sufferings. Let us remember this at the foot of the cross on this day; let us reflect on this every day of our life, so as to cling forever to Jesus Christ, so as to renounce sin, for which He atones in such a cruel manner.
Good Friday is the only day of the year on which no Mass is said. The morning service begins by the reading of a lesson, taken from holy Scripture, and in which Moses explains the ceremony of the Paschal Lamb, which we may consider as a figure of our Lord's sacrifice. Another lesson, taken from Isaias, contains to the fullest extent all the particulars of the Passion of Jesus Christ, so that while reading it one is led to imagine that it is rather the narrative of an eye-witness, than a prophecy, so minutely are the slightest circumstances related therein. These lessons are followed by the chanting of the Passion according to St. John. Thus, my children, the Church sets before us one after the other the Passion as figuratively related by Moses, the prediction of the Passion by Isaias, and the narrative of the Passion by St. John. This reading of the Passion is followed by several prayers for the different orders of the Church, for the king, or head of the government in Catholic countries; for those who suffer or who are in affliction, for heretics, pagans and Jews. On this day on which our Lord dies for all men, the Church believes she can ask for boundless graces and implore Him for her enemies. And in this manner she also wants to show us that no culprit, be he ever so criminal, should despair of obtaining his pardon by the merits of the death of Jesus Christ.
These prayers are followed by the adoration of the cross, a very touching and ancient ceremony. You understand, my children, that it is not the cross we adore, but our Lord who died on the cross, and whose sacred wounds the faithful respectfully kiss. Then the clergy go in procession silently, to adore the holy host placed in the tomb, and which after this adoration is taken from thence for the priest's communion. Vespers are then recited, not sung.
In the evening after Tenebrae, it is the custom in France, to sing the Stabat Mater in the chapel where the Blessed Sacrament reposed. The Stabat, my children, is one of the most beautiful and most moving hymns of the Church; it tells of the cruel sufferings endured by the Blessed Virgin at the foot of her divine Son's cross, and the feelings inspired by this hymn, piously end the sad emotions of this day.
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