DAILY- HOMILY

APRIL 2, 2010
GOOD FRIDAY OF THE LORD'S PASSION

ISAIAH 52:13--53:12
Look, my servant will prosper, will grow great, will rise to great
heights. As many people were aghast at him -- he was so inhumanly
disfigured that he no longer looked like a man- so many nations will
be astonished and kings will stay tight-lipped before him, seeing what
had never been told them, learning what they had not heard before. Who
has given credence to what we have heard? And who has seen in it a
revelation of Yahweh's arm? Like a sapling he grew up before him, like
a root in arid ground. He had no form or charm to attract us, no
beauty to win our hearts; he was despised, the lowest of men, a man of
sorrows, familiar with suffering, one from whom, as it were, we
averted our gaze, despised, for whom we had no regard. Yet ours were
the sufferings he was bearing, ours the sorrows he was carrying, while
we thought of him as someone being punished and struck with affliction
by God; whereas he was being wounded for our rebellions, crushed
because of our guilt; the punishment reconciling us fell on him, and
we have been healed by his bruises. We had all gone astray like sheep,
each taking his own way, and Yahweh brought the acts of rebellion of
all of us to bear on him. Ill-treated and afflicted, he never opened
his mouth, like a lamb led to the slaughter-house, like a sheep dumb
before its shearers he never opened his mouth. Forcibly, after
sentence, he was taken. Which of his contemporaries was concerned at
his having been cut off from the land of the living, at his having
been struck dead for his people's rebellion? He was given a grave with
the wicked, and his tomb is with the rich, although he had done no
violence, had spoken no deceit. It was Yahweh's good pleasure to crush
him with pain; if he gives his life as a sin offering, he will see his
offspring and prolong his life, and through him Yahweh's good pleasure
will be done. After the ordeal he has endured, he will see the light
and be content. By his knowledge, the upright one, my servant will
justify many by taking their guilt on himself. Hence I shall give him
a portion with the many, and he will share the booty with the mighty,
for having exposed himself to death and for being counted as one of
the rebellious, whereas he was bearing the sin of many and interceding
for the rebellious.

HEBREWS 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Since in Jesus, the Son of God, we have the supreme high priest who
has gone through to the highest heaven, we must hold firm to our
profession of faith. For the high priest we have is not incapable of
feeling our weaknesses with us, but has been put to the test in
exactly the same way as ourselves, apart from sin. Let us, then, have
no fear in approaching the throne of grace to receive mercy and to
find grace when we are in need of help. During his life on earth, he
offered up prayer and entreaty, with loud cries and with tears, to the
one who had the power to save him from death, and, winning a hearing
by his reverence, he learnt obedience, Son though he was, through his
sufferings; when he had been perfected, he became for all who obey him
the source of eternal salvation

JOHN 18:1--19:42
After he had said all this, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed
the Kidron valley where there was a garden into which he went with his
disciples. Judas the traitor knew the place also, since Jesus had
often met his disciples there, so Judas brought the cohort to this
place together with guards sent by the chief priests and the
Pharisees, all with lanterns and torches and weapons. Knowing
everything that was to happen to him, Jesus came forward and said,
'Who are you looking for?' They answered, 'Jesus the Nazarene.' He
said, 'I am he.' Now Judas the traitor was standing among them. When
Jesus said to them, 'I am he,' they moved back and fell on the ground.
He asked them a second time, 'Who are you looking for?' They said,
'Jesus the Nazarene.' Jesus replied, 'I have told you that I am he. If
I am the one you are looking for, let these others go.' This was to
fulfil the words he had spoken, 'Not one of those you gave me have I
lost.' Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high
priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. The servant's name was
Malchus. Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back in its scabbard; am
I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?' The cohort and
its tribune and the Jewish guards seized Jesus and bound him. They
took him first to Annas, because Annas was the father-in-law of
Caiaphas, who was high priest that year. It was Caiaphas who had
counselled the Jews, 'It is better for one man to die for the people.'
Simon Peter, with another disciple, followed Jesus. This disciple, who
was known to the high priest, went with Jesus into the high priest's
palace, but Peter stayed outside the door. So the other disciple, the
one known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the door-keeper and
brought Peter in. The girl on duty at the door said to Peter, 'Aren't
you another of that man's disciples?' He answered, 'I am not.' Now it
was cold, and the servants and guards had lit a charcoal fire and were
standing there warming themselves; so Peter stood there too, warming
himself with the others. The high priest questioned Jesus about his
disciples and his teaching. Jesus answered, 'I have spoken openly for
all the world to hear; I have always taught in the synagogue and in
the Temple where all the Jews meet together; I have said nothing in
secret. Why ask me? Ask my hearers what I taught; they know what I
said.' At these words, one of the guards standing by gave Jesus a slap
in the face, saying, 'Is that the way you answer the high priest?'
Jesus replied, 'If there is some offence in what I said, point it out;
but if not, why do you strike me?' Then Annas sent him, bound, to
Caiaphas the high priest. As Simon Peter stood there warming himself,
someone said to him, 'Aren't you another of his disciples?' He denied
it saying, 'I am not.' One of the high priest's servants, a relation
of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, said, 'Didn't I see you in the
garden with him?' Again Peter denied it; and at once a cock crowed.
They then led Jesus from the house of Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It
was now morning. They did not go into the Praetorium themselves to
avoid becoming defiled and unable to eat the Passover. So Pilate came
outside to them and said, 'What charge do you bring against this man?'
They replied, 'If he were not a criminal, we should not have handed
him over to you.' Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves, and try him by
your own Law.' The Jews answered, 'We are not allowed to put anyone to
death.' This was to fulfil the words Jesus had spoken indicating the
way he was going to die. So Pilate went back into the Praetorium and
called Jesus to him and asked him, 'Are you the king of the Jews?'
Jesus replied, 'Do you ask this of your own accord, or have others
said it to you about me?' Pilate answered, 'Am I a Jew? It is your own
people and the chief priests who have handed you over to me: what have
you done?' Jesus replied, 'Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my
kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my
being surrendered to the Jews. As it is, my kingdom does not belong
here.' Pilate said, 'So, then you are a king?' Jesus answered, 'It is
you who say that I am a king. I was born for this, I came into the
world for this, to bear witness to the truth; and all who are on the
side of truth listen to my voice.' 'Truth?' said Pilate. 'What is
that?' And so saying he went out again to the Jews and said, 'I find
no case against him. But according to a custom of yours I should
release one prisoner at the Passover; would you like me, then, to
release for you the king of the Jews?' At this they shouted, 'Not this
man,' they said, 'but Barabbas.' Barabbas was a bandit. Pilate then
had Jesus taken away and scourged; and after this, the soldiers
twisted some thorns into a crown and put it on his head and dressed
him in a purple robe. They kept coming up to him and saying, 'Hail,
king of the Jews!' and slapping him in the face. Pilate came outside
again and said to them, 'Look, I am going to bring him out to you to
let you see that I find no case against him.' Jesus then came out
wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe. Pilate said, 'Here is
the man.' When they saw him, the chief priests and the guards shouted,
'Crucify him! Crucify him!' Pilate said, 'Take him yourselves and
crucify him: I find no case against him.' The Jews replied, 'We have a
Law, and according to that Law he ought to be put to death, because he
has claimed to be Son of God.' When Pilate heard them say this his
fears increased. Re-entering the Praetorium, he said to Jesus, 'Where
do you come from?' But Jesus made no answer. Pilate then said to him,
'Are you refusing to speak to me? Surely you know I have power to
release you and I have power to crucify you?' Jesus replied, 'You
would have no power over me at all if it had not been given you from
above; that is why the man who handed me over to you has the greater
guilt.' From that moment Pilate was anxious to set him free, but the
Jews shouted, 'If you set him free you are no friend of Caesar's;
anyone who makes himself king is defying Caesar.' Hearing these words,
Pilate had Jesus brought out, and seated him on the chair of judgement
at a place called the Pavement, in Hebrew Gabbatha. It was the Day of
Preparation, about the sixth hour. 'Here is your king,' said Pilate to
the Jews. But they shouted, 'Away with him, away with him, crucify
him.' Pilate said, 'Shall I crucify your king?' The chief priests
answered, 'We have no king except Caesar.' So at that Pilate handed
him over to them to be crucified. They then took charge of Jesus, and
carrying his own cross he went out to the Place of the Skull or, as it
is called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him with two
others, one on either side, Jesus being in the middle. Pilate wrote
out a notice and had it fixed to the cross; it ran: 'Jesus the
Nazarene, King of the Jews'. This notice was read by many of the Jews,
because the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and the
writing was in Hebrew, Latin and Greek. So the Jewish chief priests
said to Pilate, 'You should not write "King of the Jews", but that the
man said, "I am King of the Jews". ' Pilate answered, 'What I have
written, I have written.' When the soldiers had finished crucifying
Jesus they took his clothing and divided it into four shares, one for
each soldier. His undergarment was seamless, woven in one piece from
neck to hem; so they said to one another, 'Instead of tearing it,
let's throw dice to decide who is to have it.' In this way the words
of scripture were fulfilled: They divide my garments among them and
cast lots for my clothes. That is what the soldiers did. Near the
cross of Jesus stood his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife
of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala. Seeing his mother and the disciple
whom he loved standing near her, Jesus said to his mother, 'Woman,
this is your son.' Then to the disciple he said, 'This is your
mother.' And from that hour the disciple took her into his home. After
this, Jesus knew that everything had now been completed and, so that
the scripture should be completely fulfilled, he said: I am thirsty. A
jar full of sour wine stood there; so, putting a sponge soaked in the
wine on a hyssop stick, they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had
taken the wine he said, 'It is fulfilled'; and bowing his head he gave
up his spirit. It was the Day of Preparation, and to avoid the bodies'
remaining on the cross during the Sabbath -- since that Sabbath was a
day of special solemnity -- the Jews asked Pilate to have the legs
broken and the bodies taken away. Consequently the soldiers came and
broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with him and
then of the other. When they came to Jesus, they saw he was already
dead, and so instead of breaking his legs one of the soldiers pierced
his side with a lance; and immediately there came out blood and water.
This is the evidence of one who saw it -- true evidence, and he knows
that what he says is true -- and he gives it so that you may believe
as well. Because all this happened to fulfil the words of scripture:
Not one bone of his will be broken; and again, in another place
scripture says: They will look to the one whom they have pierced.
After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus --
though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews -- asked Pilate
to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they
came and took it away. Nicodemus came as well -- the same one who had
first come to Jesus at night-time -- and he brought a mixture of myrrh
and aloes, weighing about a hundred pounds. They took the body of
Jesus and bound it in linen cloths with the spices, following the
Jewish burial custom. At the place where he had been crucified there
was a garden, and in this garden a new tomb in which no one had yet
been buried. Since it was the Jewish Day of Preparation and the tomb
was nearby, they laid Jesus there.

REFLECTION
For our salvation, Jesus suffered unbearable agony, betrayal,
injustice, pain, humiliation, death on the cross, burial in an
unmarked grave and rejection from the very people He came to redeem
from damnation. What have we done to deserve all the suffering and
death of our Lord and Savior on the cross? Theologians tell us there
is nothing man can do to deserve the death of Christ on the cross. The
writings of Pope Benedict XVI tell us that our salvation is purely a
gift, out of God's love for us. The least we can do is to gratefully
accept and reciprocate God's love for us by loving Him back and loving
our neighbors as ourselves as He wants us to do.

It is interesting to note that the soldiers sent by the High Priest to
arrest Jesus "drew back and fell to the ground" when they heard Jesus
tell them "I am he." War-scarred soldiers falling to the ground just
on hearing a "criminal" say I am he? These soldiers, however, were
Jews who have been taught that when Moses asked God what was God's
name which he would tell the people of Israel, God answered him "Say
this to the people of Israel, `I AM has sent me to you.'" When the
Jewish soldiers heard Jesus tell them "I am he", they were struck with
the fear of God whom they saw in the person of Jesus. The soldiers
feared that they were arresting God to be crucified.

PRAYER REQUESTS
We pray …
… for a deep and profound respect for life, especially for the
unborn.
… for the speedy recovery and healing of
- Jessy
- Jo Marcelo
- Jun Lee
- Cesar Galang
… for the eternal repose of the soul of
- Gaudencio Ogatis
Eternal rest grant unto him and may perpetual light shine upon him.
May he and all the dearly departed rest in peace.
… for all the prayer intentions in the MTQ Dailyprayer Diary.
- Birthday: Celine B. Banaag
- Birthday: Henry Tan
- Birthday: Jason Roy Pacheco
… for the healing and peace of all families

Finally, we pray for one another, for those who have asked our prayers
and for those who need our prayers the most.

Have a good day!

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