The litter of the Cross Reflections for the Holy Days GOOD FRIDAY

Good Friday

There is an awful lot of litter around the Cross

some suggest that Golgotha 

was a sort of rubbish dump.

But as we look around the Church on Good Friday

we see palms from Sunday, 

towels and bowls from Thursday's meal

snuffed candles from the altar of repose

where we watched begrudgingly 

with Jesus

for barely an hour (in the end I sat before the exposed Blessed Sacrament and finished my sermons for the devotional hour    ....it was a good thing to do even though last minute...but I had more than enough material; and maybe it had some cogency which I had been struggling with for a week)

But the litter!

Well the litter is the past.
If we read nothing else into the Passion story we read that it has left the litter behind.
It is very immediate ...it is today.
This is the only place we live.
And in this place we hear Jesus speaking.
He speaks to his Mother, he speaks to his closest friend
Intimate powerful words:
"Mum look after John"
"John look after my Mum!"
there is not much casuistry
to the thief alongside, worried about his eternal destiny
He speaks about Today.
"This day you will be with me in Paradise"
And to his God he speaks the profoundest words
that in the face of total and utter desolation
he can still say
"My God! My God!"

What is Jesus saying to me TODAY (not yesterday or tomorrow)?
As intimate as the words to John and his mother,
as death confronting as the words to his fellow victim
As profoundly faithful as his own words to our God!

We won't hear if we don't listen