Archbishop John's 2024 Good Friday homily
On Good Friday, Archbishop John reminded us that the Lord Jesus carried our faults and put our sins on His shoulders, because He loves us.
Homily for Good Friday 2024
St George’s Cathedral, Southwark
29th March 2024
The Belgian poet and writer Maurice Maeterlinck had a problematic relationship with the Catholic Church. It might seem somewhat strange, therefore, on this Good Friday to quote his 1909 poem Cantique. But as you hear the words, think of the passion and cross of Our Lord Jesus Christ. Close your eyes and hear the Lord Jesus speak to you:
To every weeping soul,
to every passing sin, I
open my hands full of grace,
surrounded by stars.
Sins cannot abide
when love has spoken;
souls cannot die
when love has wept
And if love loses its way
along terrestrial paths,
its tears will find me
and not go astray.
Today we face the distressing majesty of the cross. This is the wood on which our Saviour died. What looks like disaster is rescue. What appears as the end is a glorious beginning. But our hearts are heavy with gratitude.
Amidst the pain and anguish of our world, we fall silent before the Suffering Servant, lifted high. So disfigured, he looked no longer human. Battered and bloodied, here is the beloved Son of the Father; giving himself, becoming for all who obey him the source of eternal life.
The Lord Jesus carried our faults. He put our sins on his shoulders. Because he loves us. When you think of him on the cross, remember, it was on that cross he thought of you.
United to the cross of Christ are the people of our world whose lives are being torn apart by war and suffering. United to his cross are the victims of abuse, human trafficking, and torture. United to his cross are the voiceless, the abandoned, and the despairing. Every war-maker, life-taker, and dignity thief must stand before the judgement of Christ crucified.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, the Lord Jesus was betrayed by a kiss. That’s not what a kiss is for. A kiss is for loving, for healing, and for comforting. Our kiss, our veneration of his cross, today is an act of repairing love; a reparation for our sins and the sins of others. It’s a tangible prayer for the peace which warmongers refuse to seek. For the sake of his sorrowful passion we each carry within us to the cross a plea for mercy; mercy on us and on the whole world.
On his cross at Calvary, and to us now, the Lord Jesus opens his loving and merciful hands as a gift from heaven.
His broken body translates the divine language of love into the cancellation of sin. His tears unlock the well-spring of eternal life.
When our attempts to love miss the mark and fall short, his yearning will find us and bring us home.
To every weeping soul,
to every passing sin,
I open my hands full of grace,
surrounded by stars
Sins cannot abide
When love has spoken;
Souls cannot die
When love has wept
And if love loses its way
along terrestrial paths,
its tears will find me
and not go astray.
