Good Friday Reflection: By Fr. Alphonse Gollapalli
The power of Christ’s Blood:
Good Friday brings me an opportunity to re-live the passion and death of Jesus on the Cross. How I wish to have been with Jesus when he suffered. Not as an onlooker do I wish to witness; and not as one who feels pity for the unjust condemnation of a just man;but I wish to be there because of my longing to experience the passion, crucifixion and death along with Jesus.
The Way of the Cross is otherwise called “Via Dolorosa” in Latin means the “Way of Suffering or Painful Way.” I desire to be part of Jesus in his “Way of Suffering.” I want to bear the burden of the cross like the Simon of Cyrene who bore the cross under his shoulders for Jesus and shared his sufferings. I wish to be Veronica who wiped the face of Jesus and was rewarded the imprint of his disfigured face on the cloth. Could I be one of those pious women who wept for the Innocent Lamb who was led to the place of slaughter? Even amidst the weight of the cross and impending death, the Son of God comforted the lamenting women. Only God can do that. How I wish to be the penitent thief, Dismas. He repented of his sinfulness at the last hour and was rewarded paradise. I could at least be the soldier, later“Saint Longinus” who pierced the side of Jesus and when blood and water flowed said, “He was really the Son of God” (Mt 27/54).Or at least I wish to have been the Holy Lance that pierced his side andtriggered the Heart of Jesus, the source of Sacraments of Baptism and Eucharist.
I long to experience Good Friday in my desire to be crucified with Jesus on the cross. The 2nd grade students of Blessed Sacrament Catholic School drew some drawings in appreciation to my priestly ministry for them. Each child had excellent way of conveying its love and thanks in the figures they drew. One child drew a church and thanked me for leading in the building of the new church. Another child drew the chalice and host and said, “Thank you father because you do this for us.” Still another child drew a shining heart in which she wrote, “You are SPESHAL” But above all what attracted me most was that one child drew a bright yellow circular background and in the circle she drew a thick cross; and in the middle of the cross she wrote ‘father’ and ‘Jesus.’ Meaning that I am crucified with Jesus on the Cross. I earnestly pray that I wish to be more like what she intended me to be, Christ crucified. On this the Good Friday I am not just imagining the passion of Jesus; I am not just meditating on what happened very long time ago; I am living it here and now.
That is the power of Christ’s Blood. On this day Jesus shed his blood on the cross for me, which flowed like a river and washed my sins and the sins of all those who believe in him. The book of Hebrews says, “Moses took the blood of goats and calves, together with water and crimson wool and hyssop, and sprinkled the book and all the people, saying, “This is the blood of the covenant which God has enjoined upon you.” When Christ came as High Priest he entered the sanctuary not with the blood of goats and calves, but with his own blood, and achieved eternal redemption. For if the blood of goats and bulls and the sprinkling of a heifer’s ashes can sanctify those who are defiled so that their flesh is cleansed, how much more will the blood of Christ, who thorough the eternal spirit offered himself up unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works to worship the living God! That is the power of Christ’s Blood!