(Good Friday
2017: This homily was given on April 14, 2017 at St. Pius X Church, Westerly,
RI, by Fr. Raymond Suriani. Read Isaiah
52:13-53:12; also read the Passion Narrative of St. John.)
[For the audio version of this homily, click here: Good Friday 2017]
“From head to
toe” God loves us. That’s the powerful message
of the cross of Jesus Christ. We often
say that Jesus died to save our souls—and that’s right, he did die to save our
souls.
But not our
souls only! Our Lord poured out his blood on Calvary
2,000 years ago to redeem our bodies as well, since our bodies also suffer from
the consequences of sin—especially in physical death.
And our bodies
are destined to be raised up—resurrected—at the end of human history.
The bottom line
is that Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, has redeemed us in the totality of
our personhood: soul AND body. Or, to
put it another way, he’s redeemed each of us literally from the top of our head
to the tips of our toes.
And this is
visibly attested to by the wounds he suffered on Good Friday. You know, God could have chosen to redeem us
and bring us forgiveness in some other way.
As St. Augustine once said, “Other possible means were not lacking on
God’s part, because all things are equally subject to his power” (On the Trinity 8:10). And, as St. Thomas Aquinas put it, “It was
possible for God to deliver mankind otherwise than by the passion of Christ,
because nothing shall be impossible for
God (cf. Luke 1:37).”
But it was fitting
that the Lord redeemed us as he did. First
of all, it was fitting because with our wounded human nature we can all tend to
doubt the love of God at times—and the cross of Jesus makes the love of God
crystal clear: “Greater love than this nobody has, than to lay down his life
for his friends.”
And, secondly,
it was fitting that Jesus redeemed us in this way because the wounds he
suffered on Good Friday 2,000 years ago point us to the sins that we need to be
forgiven for and redeemed from today, in 2017.
His head, for
example, was crowned with thorns, for our sins of mind and speech: for the
angry thoughts, the violent thoughts, the lustful thoughts, the selfish and
greedy thoughts—and for the words that come out of our mouths because of those
thoughts.
In a sense you
could say that all these sins of thought and word can be forgiven, because of
that wound.
His hands were
pierced with nails, for all the sins we’ve committed with our hands. There’s an old saying, “Sow a thought, reap
an action.” Jesus’ head was crowned with
thorns for our bad thoughts, and his hands were wounded for the sinful actions
that proceed from those thoughts.
The skin of his
back was literally torn to shreds in the scourging they gave him before the
crucifixion. Because of those wounds we
can be forgiven for the times when we’ve turned our backs on God, and on
members of our families, and on other people in need.
His heart was
pierced with a lance, to bring us forgiveness for the times that we haven’t
loved God with all our heart; for the times we’ve put other things—and other
people—before the Lord; for the times we’ve missed Mass without a good reason;
for the days we’ve said we were “too busy” to pray.
And, finally,
his feet were nailed to the cross for the times we’ve failed to avoid the near occasion
of sin in our lives: for the times that our feet have taken us into—and not
away from—situations where we knew we’d be tempted to do things that we
shouldn’t do.
So today, above
all else, is a day to be grateful—extremely grateful. It’s a day to thank God for choosing to
redeem us in such a powerful and meaningful way. That gratitude, of course, if it’s real, will
ultimately lead us to repentance—and to the sacrament of Penance—to receive the
mercy that Jesus was wounded in these ways to give us.
Hopefully we
all do that on a regular basis.
I’ll conclude
now with a poem I wrote during Lent this year.
It summarizes, I would say, the message I just shared with you in this
homily. It’s entitled, appropriately
enough, “From Head to Toe,” and it goes like this:
A halo not of
light divine
But of thorns
to pierce his head—
For all my sins
of thought and word
Which I too
little dread.
Hands that
healed the sick and lame
And calmed the
raging sea—
Nailed for the
times my selfish hands
Have served
well only me.
His back is
torn to shreds with whips,
Leaving a
bloody mess—
For the times
I’ve turned my back on him
And my neighbor
in distress.
His heart
filled with a precious love
Which the world
cannot contain—
Pierced with a
lance because my heart
Is to its
passions chained.
His feet which
walked on water,
Now to a cross
are firmly bound,
For the many
times my feet have gone
Where sin I
often found.
From head to
toe his body
Hanging there
on Calvary,
Proclaims the
saving message that
God gave his
all for me.