The Good Friday's Of Our Lives

Have you had an experience in life where there was a heavy dose of suffering, confusion, or desolation?

What was (is) your reaction? Saint Ignatius of Loyola, a 16th century saint and spiritual master had a way of approaching those moments or stretches in our lives of suffering and desolation. He said that “let him who is in desolation labor to be in patience…and let him think that he will soon be consoled.” (Portion of St. Ignatius’ 8th Rule).

It is hard to imagine what the Apostles must have felt after Jesus’ brutal death by crucifixion on Good Friday. “What about all the miracles I saw him perform?" How could he have so much Wisdom and yet not be who he said he was? I must have been taken for a fool to believe he was the Messiah. Surely, my life and family are now at risk. Where do I go from here?”

As we inch closer to that tragic, yet Good Friday, we have the grace of being able to see things from the other side of Jesus’ Resurrection and Glory. The Apostles didn’t. After Jesus’ death on the Cross, surely Peter, James and John must have thought about their experience on the mountain of Transfiguration and wondered how this could have happened to the Son of Man, wrapped in Heavenly Glory and appearing in a Theophany of Heavenly Glory with His Father and the Holy Spirit!

Yet, the same three Apostles must have also remembered seeing Jesus in excruciating agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, sweating blood. The mystery the Apostles encountered in Jesus’ earthly ministry is the same mystery we encounter on this 2nd Sunday in Lent, 2024 years after Jesus’ birth: The Son of God, the Only-Begotten Son of the Heavenly Father became one of His own creatures, to love, serve, save what was lost, namely every human soul ever created.

Like Peter, James, and John, we have times of real suffering. Let’s follow St. Ignatius’ lead and advice to trust in the consolation of Jesus’ redeeming love and Resurrection, knowing that in the Good Friday’s of our lives, Jesus is truly there with us to console us, and will give us the joy, peace, and happiness of His Resurrection and Heavenly Glory.

Fr. Ryan