In life there is joy and peace, health and posterity. Yet all things end and loss and suffering enter into all lives. Jesus was hailed and loved and followed, and then he was cursed, hated and abandoned, even by his most trusted disciples. Betrayed by one, denied by another, the others scattered in fear of their lives. Only the women and John had the courage to be present at the horrible, undignified death of Jesus. His naked broken body there for all to see and mock. For those who loved him, it was the end of him, of his mission and all of their hopes…..yet they were there with him in his horrible death.
When Mary held his dead body, and they wrapped it in a shroud and then placed him in a dark, cold, empty tomb, what did she feel? Seeing her beloved child swallowed up in a bottomless abyss of darkness, left alone as the stone rolled over the entrance…like so many murdered, raped and imprisoned by unjust governments around the world, just another casualty in a world broken and often overcome with evil.
We see it today, the bombs, the killings in the name of God, the abuse of children by those who should be most trustworthy. In our poor that fill our world. The terrible wounds that keep many chained to a life of depression and fear and addictions. How we sin against one another, leaving deep scars that none can heal or at times healing not sought after.
Christ Jesus suffers today, in our children, in all who suffer injustice, who are on the fringe and yes in those who think they are on top of the world, but like all others, the cold dark eternal grave awaits them all. On the cross we see our death, the death of all, for all are one in Christ Jesus. Some out of love, others in rebellion, still others who hate him and many who don’t understand……yet for all he died. He took upon himself our sins and in that the ‘wrath’ of God. Sin destroys his children; Christ took that on to the point where he cried: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” He felt the absence of God, the wrath of God, yet did not despair, nor was he filled with hatred for those who pierced him…..he forgives all.
He is the Good Shepherd who leaves the 99 to see the straying sheep. I don’t understand, yet as I age, on some level I do, but then it sinks down deeper and I have to continue my journey in understanding Infinite Love. We know now that the story does not end in his death, but at the time, it was truly a permanent state as far as Jesus followers knew.
We often walk down dark lonely roads, we all suffer that none can really see, except one, He is the one who took on our lives, our sufferings and our deaths, for when we look upon the Corpus we see our very souls.
Br. Mark Dohle, OCSO
Holy Spirit Monastery
Good Friday 2016
