The Face of Mercy / Daniel Conway

Good Friday sorrow is sure path to Easter joy

Pope Francis knows that the Christian life, the via crucis (way of the cross), is hard. In fact, the pope tells us that our journey to heaven will not be like a smooth carriage ride. It will be more like riding in an old bus over rocky terrain with many obstacles in the road that require frequent detours.

The prime example, he says, is Christ himself. Our Lord’s journey to the joy of resurrection took many sorrowful twists and turns. It involved abandonment by his friends, rejection of him by the people he loved, and unspeakable pain, humiliation and torture. In order to rise, our faith tells us, Jesus first had to die cruelly and then descend into hell. So, when he invites us to “take up your cross and follow me,” he is not describing a vacation cruise but a tortuous journey filled with discomfort and danger.

When he addressed the crowds gathered in St. Peter’s Square just prior to Ash Wednesday, Pope Francis described this liturgical season as a time of penitence and mortification that is actually a journey of hope which directs us on the path toward resurrection. Good Friday is a symbol of Christian life—a difficult journey that leads to ultimate joy.

To better understand what this means, the pope says, we must refer to the fundamental experience of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt, in which the chosen people journeyed toward the promised land and—through spiritual discipline and the gift of the Law—learned the love of God and neighbor.

Sacred Scripture tells of a tormented journey that lasted 40 years, the time span of a generation, and that difficulties and obstacles represented continuous temptations to regret leaving Egypt and to turn back. But, the pope says, the Lord stayed close to his people who finally arrived in the promised land guided by Moses. Their journey, he explained, was undertaken in hope, and in this sense it can be seen as an “exodus” out of slavery and into freedom.

According to Pope Francis, “Every step, every effort, every test, every fall and every recovery makes sense within God’s design for salvation, because he wants life—not death—and joy—not pain—for his people.” The pope says that Easter is Jesus’ own exodus, his pass-over from death to life, in which we participate through our rebirth in baptism. By following Christ along the way of the cross, we share in his victory over sin and death.

In order to open this passage for us, Jesus had to cast off his glory; he had to humble himself; and he had to be obedient unto death on the cross. But Pope Francis is quick to point out, “This doesn’t mean that he did everything, and we don’t have to do anything. It doesn’t mean that Jesus went through the cross, and we will go to heaven in a carriage. That is not how it works. It’s true that our salvation is Jesus’ gift, but it is part of a love story that requires our ‘yes’ and our participation.”

As St. Paul teaches, “If we have died with Christ, we will rise with him” (2 Tm 2:11). The pathway to life is death. The joy of the resurrection can only come by way of the cross.

So Pope Francis teaches, “The moments of darkness, of failure, and also of sin can be transformed and announce a new path. When we have reached the base of our misery and our weakness, the risen Christ gives us the strength to lift ourselves up. If we have faith in him, his grace saves us!”

Pope Francis continues, “The crucified and risen Lord is the full revelation of mercy, present and active in history. This is the Easter message that still resonates today, and that will resonate throughout the time of Easter until Pentecost.”

The old bus that we are riding—during this Easter triduum and throughout our life’s journey—lacks comfort and many of life’s conveniences. But the path has already been cleared for us, and the direction it provides is certain. Christ has gone before us through the cruelty of Good Friday, and the utter silence of Holy Saturday, to the alleluias and joyful songs of Easter.

May we have faith in him, the risen Lord, and allow his grace to save us!
 

(Daniel Conway is a member of The Criterion’s editorial committee.) †