Remembering the Love!

Friday, April 3, 2026

Good Friday

Is 52:13-53:12; Heb 4:14-16, 5: 7-9; Jn 18: 1-19:42

Good Friday invites us to contemplate the Divine love story from the cross. 

The meditation on the cross should begin with what the cross meant to different people. For Romans, the cross symbolized state punishment. As Paul would explain, the cross was a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles (Greeks) (1 Cor 1: 23). Some saw it even as a symbol of madness, while others could accept it neither as Christ’s humility nor as an example of his obedience to his Father. However, for Christians, the cross is a symbol of love. 

How is the cross a symbol of love for us?

Cross: The Pulpit of Love: The cross was the best pulpit from where Christ preached love. We may imagine that only love, and nothing other than that, would have compelled Christ to sacrifice his life, undergo the inhuman torture, and suffer the most humiliating death. An old anecdote tells us that when Christ was asked, ‘How much do you love me?’ he answered, ‘This much,’ and ‘stretched out his arms and died.’ The cross is the fullest revelation of God’s love for humanity. Christ’s powerful sermon was preached from the pulpit of the cross, not in words but in love.

Cross: The Measure of Love: In a very profound way, the cross redefines love. We often understand love as the desire to have or possess. But the cross teaches us that love is to surrender oneself for the sake of another. Since the cross teaches us the art of self-giving love without holding anything back, we cannot understand Christ’s love away from that sacrifice. Christ on the cross shows that love, in its highest form, means sacrifice. True love always involves some kind of dying. Hence, as we look at the cross where Christ submitted his life in love for us, we understand that love and sacrifice are inseparable. 

Cross: The Courage to Love: The cross teaches us to be courageous in love. Christ on the cross is not a helpless victim but a courageous lover who made a choice to love us even unto his death. Hence, we look at the cross not only to admire him but also to acquire his courage to become the same person in love for others. The cross demonstrates that to love is to make oneself weak and vulnerable. We must remember that it is not the nails, but his love that holds Jesus on the cross. This is why it was said of St. Francis of Assisi that ‘the crucifix was his Bible.’ He taught his fellow Franciscans to pray, ‘We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you, for by your holy Cross you have redeemed the world.’

This love hanging on the cross demands a response from the observers. We cannot remain indifferent to its powerful invitation. Looking at Christ’s selfless and unconditional love, we cannot but ask how we can repay such love.

The Venerable Archbishop Fulton Sheen wrote these powerful lines: 

‘Whenever there is silence around me 
By day or by night – 
I am startled by a cry. 
It came down from the cross – 
The first time I heard it. 
I went out and searched – 
And found a man in the throes of crucifixion 
And I said, ‘I will take you down,’ 
And I tried to take the nails out of his feet. 
But He said, ‘Let them be 
For I cannot be taken down 
Until every man, every woman, and every child 
Come together to take me down.’
And I said, ‘But I cannot bear your cry, 
What can I do?’
And He said, ‘Go about the world – 
Tell everyone that you meet –
That there is a man on the cross.’’

On Good Friday, we gaze upon the cross to see the Christ who wounded himself in love for us. This is why St. Ignatius of Loyola responded to the Cross of Christ, saying, ‘Do not let me run from the love which you offer.’

Let us contemplate that love of Christ that calls for imitating his selfless love.

Fr. Dhinakaran Savariyar