Good Friday

Reflection

“‘For this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.  Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to My voice.’ Pilate said to Him, ‘What is truth?’”  This exchange in Jesus’ interrogation by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate has a special relevance for students, faculty, and staff engaged together in study, teaching, and all the services that support the mission of this college community:  “to testify to the truth.”  For Jesus, this mission meant the ultimate testimony, accepting the Cross.  He could have dodged it.  He could have avoided the confrontations with the authorities who monopolized the temple, or reaching out to the “unclean” whose demons imprisoned and isolated them, or choosing weak and confused disciples who, over and over, resisted any word from Him about a cross on the horizon, or this interrogation now before Caesar’s cynical agent.  “What is truth?” the agent asked.  It should have been a sincere question.  It is, in the end, the only question.  But Pilate made it a taunt.   “The way, the truth, and the life,” stood before Him and offered Him “the way, the truth, and the life.”  Too risky, thought Pilate, let’s not go there.  And us?  Isn’t every Good Friday a time for us who hear the Passion read (especially on a college campus) to stand with Jesus, in the faith that His Cross is not the defeat of Truth but its victory?

 Prayer
Lord Jesus, whose Cross points through the Good Friday darkness to the light of Easter morning, keep us on the way with You, all the way with You.  Amen.

Fr. Richard Berube, S.S.E. ’66, Emeritus Professor, Religious Studies

 Scripture
First Reading: Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-17, 25
Second Reading: Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
Gospel: John 18:1—19:42

Daily Scripture readings can be found online at the USCCB website