A Homily for Good Friday, 2008
[A fresco of the Lord's Passion by Fra Angelico]
I am sure that most of you know who the actor Sir Alec Guinness is. For those who are more on the young side, he played Obi-wan Kenobi in the original Star Wars (Episode IV: A New Hope).
In one of his earlier movies, even though he was not Catholic, he played a Catholic priest. They were filming in a lovely old village in France, and one day, after many hours of filming, Sir Alec was walking back to his hotel through the village streets while still dressed in his priest’s costume. Suddenly a little girl ran up alongside him. Apparently she was on her way home after running an errand. Seeing the actor and thinking that he was a real priest, she skipped right up beside him, took his hand, and started walking along with him. She started chattering away to him as if she had known him all her life. The actor didn’t know French, so he didn’t know what she was saying, and he couldn’t say anything in response, but it didn’t seem to matter. The little girl chattered happily on for a couple of blocks, until she had to turn off to another street. Then she let go of his hand, waved goodbye, and skipped on home.
Sir Alec Guinness just stood there for a moment utterly amazed. He was intrigued by a religion that inspired so much confidence and joy. The little girl had mistaken him for a priest, and although she must have known that she had never met him before, she treated him as a life-long friend just because he was dressed as a priest. This experience not only affected how Sir Alec played his role in the rest of the movie, but it also was the first step on a path that eventually led him into the Catholic Church (I found this story on www.epriest.com, “Homily Pack for Good Friday”).
So, what is it about our Catholic Faith that inspired so much confidence and joy in that little girl, and so intrigued Alec Guinness that it eventually lead him to enter the Catholic Church? I think the answer is that God — the Creator of the entire universe — wants to be so close to us that He took on our human nature and experienced the absolute depths of human misery. Is there any way, after contemplating Jesus’ Passion and Death, that we can doubt this? As we heard in our first reading, the Prophet Isaiah did not doubt it, “He was spurned and avoided . . . a man of suffering, accustomed to infirmity, one of those from whom people hide their faces. . . .”
Haven’t we all felt like that at times? Since we live in a fallen world we have all been sick, betrayed, and hurt. And we have all caused pain in other people. Like the ripples in the waters, the effects of evil and sin have reached out and touched each one of us.
Jesus did not save us by eliminating suffering, rather He suffered WITH us and FOR us. Jesus came down to our level, and stepped into the middle of our pain and sorrow. Again Isaiah testifies to this, “It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings he endured.” By doing so, Jesus gives us an example of how we too are called to trust and love God, even in the midst of suffering.
You might be wondering how would all this lead to the confidence and joy that the little girl demonstrated with Alec Guinness, but if we really think about it, we will realize what this amazing truth of the Lord’s Passion and Death means. It means that we do not need to be perfect BEFORE we can be friends of God. It means that in Christ Jesus we can go right into God’s presence with all our sins and wounds and confusions and miseries. We can enter God’s presence just as we are — in, with and through Jesus Christ. Jesus did not stretch out His arms on the Cross to embrace just those who have never sinned, those who are already saints. No, He stretched out His arms on the Cross to embrace US! This is why St. Paul says in his letter to the Hebrews, “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”
Although we are rightfully saddened by the pain our Lord had to experience in order to save us from our sins, at the same time our hearts are also glad because we know that we are not alone in our suffering, and we will never be alone. Jesus is always near to us. His throne of grace is just a simple prayer away, and His heart is open to pour grace upon grace upon us.
It would be unjust to leave this church today without thanking God for this great gift. As we come up to the cross today to kiss it, let us do so with a smile of gratitude in our hearts.
But that is not enough. We need to remember that there are still many people who have still not received this gift. Just look around; as crowded as the church might be, there are still many people who are not here today. There are still many who have not heard the Good News; who do not know that they can confidently approach the throne of grace, and are suffering alone. Maybe we know someone like that. Maybe we know someone who is afraid to come to Christ. There is no better way to please our Lord and be His faithful disciple than by bring this Good News to that person.
From today until Easter all the tabernacles of the world will be empty, and all the altars will be bare. Where will these suffering men and women go to find the comfort of Christ’s love? If they have no place to go, we will have to GO to THEM. We will have to being living tabernacles and our hearts will have to be the altars where Jesus’ love comes down to earth, by loving our neighbors as Christ has loved us. Like that little girl, we must share the confidence and joy of our Faith with all those around us. Maybe like Sir Alec Giunness, that will begin their journey to Christ Jesus.
