Good Friday

 

"To my mind, this sacrificial aspect of the Eucharist is very much neglected in our catechesis, perhaps even more neglected than the Church’s teaching on the Real Presence. Yet this is the fullness of what it means to live a eucharistic life! The Eucharist wants to teach us to make our own lives a gift. We need to catechize people about this aspect of the Eucharist in order that they might fully live their Christian lives. This aspect of the Eucharist reveals to us the whole purpose of our lives, why we were created in God’s image. St. John Paul II loved to quote the Second Vatican Council, which taught: “Man, who is the only creature on earth which God willed for itself, cannot fully find himself except through a sincere gift of himself.” [4] None of us will be happy unless we learn to make a gift of ourselves. Isn’t this what Jesus taught when he said, “This is my Body given up for you”? St. John Paul II’s whole Theology of the Body is rooted here. So is St. Paul’s theology of living in Christ: “he died for all, that those who live might live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised” (2 Cor. 5:15); “I have been crucified with Christ, it is no longer I who live but Christ who lives in me” (Gal 2:19–20). " (from The Spiritual Life: How The Eucharist Catechizes about the Meaning of Life)

 

“O Lord, On this Good Friday, let us remember your eternal words, which served to free us from the clutches of sin: ‘it is finished.’ With this sentiment, you relinquished our earthly fears of life and death, and we humbly reflect on your bravery and pray to live in accordance with the Holy Spirit, which God has placed within you. We live each day with blissful gratitude for your sacrifices. Amen.”

(Reflection by Mary Jo Kriz)