Abp. Aymond on Good Friday: Let Jesus help us carry our cross

Archbishop Gregory Aymond
St. Louis Cathedral
Good Friday Homily

If we see something too long, it can become commonplace and actually lose a sense of meaning. Sometimes I wonder if that has happened to the crucifix. We see it everywhere – around the neck, on bracelets, jewelry, tattoos, in our homes. Because we see it so often, maybe it’s become commonplace and loses that sense of profound meaning.
 
So I ask us today on this Good Friday, let’s try to look at that crucifix as if we have never, ever seen one. How would we describe it?
 
A man hanging from a piece of wood on a tree. The man seems to be in excruciating pan, wearing a crown of thorns. Nails have been hammered into his hands and feet. He’s bleeding and has been whipped like a criminal. For someone who didn’t know what the crucifix was, that could well be the explanation.
 
We know that Jesus’ physical pain was beyond words, but let us remember this afternoon for a few moments that the pain was not just physical; it was also emotional. He felt betrayed and alienated because Judas sold him for 30 pieces of silver. Peter denied knowing him. And as he was being crucified, the disciples drifted off, one by one, because of fear of being associated with him. They humiliated him and stripped him of his clothes to crucify him. But they also tried to strip him of his human dignity.
 
This man, hanging on a tree, suffering physically and emotionally. What does this mean? This cross, and this man nailed to it? The man on the cross, as we know, is God’s son.
 
His death on that cross reconciles all humanity for all ages to the Father because of the fall of Adam and Eve. This man hanging on the cross offers us forgiveness and mercy. Forgiveness and mercy are not something we have earned or deserved. They are Jesus’ gifts to us in his passion and death.
 
As he is hanging on this tree, he assures us that we are loved and that God forgives ours sins and that he is going to prepare a place for us in the Father’s kingdom.
 
We can be assured that in the time of Jesus there was no stay-at-home mandate. The streets were crowded. People were everywhere to look at this spectacle, the person, this son of God, who has been misjudged, who has been condemned, who has been killed. Yes, he is offering himself for the sins of the world. No longer would the blood of goats or calves or other animals be offered to God as sacrifice. Once and for all, the New Covenant happened. Jesus offered himself, and his suffering and his death led to new life.
 
As we gather spiritually, this celebration of Good Friday gives two invitations to you and to me.

The first: We are invited to stand at the foot of the cross with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Look at the pain in her face and her heart. And then look at Jesus again and tell him how much you appreciate the fact that he loved us even unto death. Let us not forget that on that Good Friday we were in the heart of Jesus as he was hanging on Calvary, and today, 2,000 years later, you and I are still in his heart as he calls us by name. Stand there and look at him. Look at his pain. Look at his mother’s pain, and simply say to the Lord Jesus, “Thank you. Thank you for your passion and death. Thank you for remembering me.”
 
Secondly, as we stand at the foot of the cross, he speaks to us. He says to you and me, “If you wish to be my disciple, take up your cross and follow me.” Jesus bore his cross. It was a wooden cross. But he says that if you and I truly want to follow him, then we have to take up our own cross and follow him.
 
Our cross is not wood, and there have been no nails driven through our hands and feet, but it is a cross. May I ask that each one of us name the heaviest cross that you are carrying right now.

There’s one cross, and it’s a big cross, that we all share, and we know what it is – the coronavirus, which has affected us in the United States, certainly us in New Orleans, and across the world. So many thousands and millions of people carry this cross. 
 
As we remember this cross, and as you and I continue to carry the cross – and it’s heavy – we pray for those who are ill, for those who may die. We also express as our cross a tremendous fear for our protection, as we wear masks and practice social distancing. We pray for those loved ones who have gone before us in death because of the virus.

What is a very heavy cross for each of us? That feeling of insecurity. What about my job? What about finances? What about school? What about the kids? How will I care for my family? What about the loneliness and the isolation that I now feel?
 
That’s a cross that you and I bear. We bear it differently, but it's the same cross, because our way of life has changed.  Do you and I believe that this cross – the coronavirus and the other crosses that we bear – will eventually lead to new life in the Lord? That’s what Jesus believed, and that’s what he calls us to believe. 
 
Perhaps there are other crosses that are unique to each one of us. Maybe that cross could be another person in our life or family tensions or being lonely or having an addiction or a feeling of depression or a situation over which we have no control. We all have our crosses, some big, some small. And besides those crosses in our own personal life, we have the virus.
 
As Jesus had Simon of Cyrene to help him carry his cross, we are reminded that our cross, too, can lead to life. 
 
The cross makes nice jewelry, but today, let’s not worry about the jewelry. Let’s stand at the foot of the cross quietly and just look at the face of Jesus. As he begins to speak to you and to me, calling us by name, he looks at us in his pain and he says, “You know, you are forgiven. You are loved. And whatever your sin is, no matter how great it is, however much you may not forgive yourself, in my sacrifice, I bring you mercy, and you have not earned it. It is a gift.”

Then he goes on to say to you, “You know, Simon helped me carry my cross, and my mother stood there and gave me comfort.”

Then Jesus asks a question to each of us: “Would you let me help you walk to Calvary?”