Christ the Cornerstone

Good Friday is a day of sadness and rejoicing

Let us admire, congratulate, rejoice, love, praise, adore; because through the death of our Redeemer we are called from darkness to light, from death to life, from exile to home, from grief to everlasting joy. (St. Augustine).

Good Friday is the saddest day in the Church’s year. We are sad because we remember the intense suffering and humiliation of Jesus, and because we recall the bitter pain and death that he suffered for our sake.

As we learn in the first reading for the Good Friday liturgy (Is 52:13-53:12):

Though he was harshly treated, he submitted and opened not his mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, he was silent and opened not his mouth. Oppressed and condemned, he was taken away, and who would have thought any more of his destiny? When he was cut off from the land of the living, and smitten for the sin of his people, a grave was assigned him among the wicked and a burial place with evildoers, though he had done no wrong nor spoken any falsehood. (Is 53:7-9)

Good Friday is unquestionably a day of mourning and a painful reminder of just how cruel we human beings can be—not only to each other, but even to God’s only Son.

But paradoxically, Good Friday is also a day when we are invited to rejoice and give thanks. How can this be? We rejoice because by his wounds we were healed, and by his death we were given life everlasting.

Good Friday shows us that the Lord was willing to give up everything in order to gain for us the fullness of life. He freely chose to submit to the scandalous injustice of crucifixion in order to free us from the addictive power of selfishness and sin.

Good Friday makes Easter Sunday possible. The Way of the Cross is the way that leads us through the darkness and despair of death to the brilliant light and everlasting joy of the resurrection. There is no shortcut or bypass on the journey to heaven—no easier, softer way. There is only the Cross of Christ, and each of us must take up this cross and follow Jesus if we want to be one with him in the joy of heaven.

This is the consistent teaching of Jesus: “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 10:39). Jesus tells us by his words and his example. Whoever sacrifices selfish desires, ego-driven pursuits and the quest for admiration, wealth or power will find true and lasting happiness. Conversely, anyone who clings selfishly to these worldly goods will ultimately lose everything.

The liturgy for Good Friday understandably calls our attention to the suffering of Jesus, but it also acknowledges our reasons for joy.

During the Adoration of the Cross, for example, we pray:

We adore your Cross, O Lord, we praise and glorify your holy Resurrection, for behold, because of the wood of a tree joy has come to the whole world.

Joy comes into the whole world because of the self-sacrificing love of God’s only Son. His suffering makes true happiness possible. That’s why we venerate what at the time of Jesus was a hideous instrument of torture and death.

The events of Good Friday have transformed the injustice of this day into an experience of unqualified hope and joy. Our response is not a paralyzing grief or sadness, but a heartfelt act of worship that praises and glorifies the sacrifice that made Christ’s resurrection possible. And so, we can sing:

Sing, my tongue, in exultation
Of our banner and device!
Make a solemn proclamation
Of a triumph and its price:
How the Savior of creation
Conquered by his sacrifice!

We can rejoice, even in our sadness, because of the wondrous love of God. As St. Augustine taught, our Redeemer has opened the gates of heaven for us. The Crucified One has defied death and emerged victorious. He has led us out of darkness into his wonderful light. He has freed us from the prison of sin, and he has transformed our grief into everlasting joy.

Good Friday is a vivid reminder that the sins that were the original cause of Jesus’ passion and death continue today. The evils of injustice, war, abuse, indiscriminate killings, human trafficking, scapegoating migrants and refugees, and other unspeakable crimes against human life and dignity, continue to inflict pain and misery on the person of Jesus.

And, so, today’s sadness is real, but so is today’s joy: “For behold, because of the wood of a tree joy has come to the whole world.” †