The last phrases that Jesus said in his earthly life are a unique way to enter into the Mystery of Easter.
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Growing up, we kids worked on Good Friday — I mean, things like cleaning our rooms, tidying the house, taking out the trash. Mom said that because Jesus worked hard for us, we should work hard for Him. I had never heard about the age-old tradition of meditating on Jesus’ Seven Last Words until I entered the convent … but as we spent three hours in the solemn, bare church before the empty tabernacle, listening to the good father unpack the richness of Jesus’ final words from the Cross, it all seemed so fitting. Mom was right. The Sisters were right. There was just something right about entering into the labor of Jesus — entering right into His Heart — on the day when the world was turned upside down by Love.
Wherever you are this Good Friday, Jesus is laboring for your heart, and He desires to speak His word of love to you; indeed, His Words from the Cross are for you. As so many of the Gospel figures encountered Jesus in life and beheld him on the Cross, we too are called to encounter Him … now, in all the messiness and reality of our lives.
If you’re unable to go to your parish, or if you have time before the Good Friday service, I invite you to join the Sisters of Life, Bishop Gerardo Colacicco, and Frassati Fellowship NYC for the traditional Good Friday meditation on the Seven Last Words of Jesus on the Cross.
Featuring a reflection by Bishop Colacicco, prayer and original music by the Sisters of Life, Ignatian-style meditations from the bishop’s new book Beneath the Cross: Meditations on the Seven Last Words read by young professionals from Frassati Fellowship NYC, and intentional times of silent prayer, this afternoon retreat is a way to encounter the real, intentional, personal, merciful love of Jesus, and to enter into prayer more deeply this Good Friday.
To register: https://sistersoflife.org/events/goodfriday2021/
12:00-3:00 p.m. ET, Good Friday, April 2, 2021
Full schedule coming soon.
It will be broadcast on our YouTube Channel.
