Good Friday....

Years ago, when the movie, The Passion, came out on DVD John bought me a copy of it. Seemed like the right thing to have in the DVD collection after all. I had reservations about seeing it. After all, the movie is never as good as the Book and I had already read it. I feared it be like Mad Max meets the cross and I was not so sure I would appreciate the director's vision.

John was working swing shift that Good Friday so after the kids went to bed, I popped it in to watch. I curled up on the couch and watched as Jesus was in the garden, and I immediately fell asleep. I woke up after the resurrection. Honestly, who falls asleep during the Passion of our Lord? Oh, right. Okay. I was in good company at least!

Often in the body, you will hear those who complain about seeing a crucifix and that we should not have them in our homes. "He isn't on the cross anymore! It did not end there!" True, but something did end there?

What ended on that cross was the power Satan had over all of us. The cross is the reminder of what He did for me on Calvary. I can't look at images in movies or even a crucifix on a wall and not be moved at the suffering Jesus endured for me. For you. Glory.

I have a crucifix over my kitchen stairs. The story goes that when my dad was a very little boy, his mom had wanted to have a crucifix in the house but they were tough times and food was a priority over such things. As it would happen, their parish was getting new crucifixes for the classrooms and anyone who wanted an old one could come and get it. She took my dad by his pudgy, little. hand to Saintrosalyma Church (St. Rose of Lima for those who don't speak Brooklyn) and got the crucifix that is now in my home.

Each year on Good Friday, Dad would lovingly take the pewter figure of Jesus off that cross and polish it. He would have to re-nail it to the cross. I could barely watch. Just the symbolic gesture made me shiver. I remember Him explaining to me that, for him, it was a constant reminder of what our faith means. Jesus did this for us. Today it's my turn to clean. Perhaps it will be a lesson for my own children.