Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord 2024

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
March 29, 2024

My brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

During these days of Holy Week, we have accompanied Jesus and Mary and with them we have entered into the paschal mystery, the mystery of our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection, the mystery of his love for every one of us.

In our Lord’s passion, in his suffering in the garden, in his scourging at the pillar, in his crowning of thorns, and in his death on the cross — Jesus loves us to the end. He lays down his life for his friends, and there is no greater love than this.

Out of love for us, Jesus came down from heaven to share in our humanity, in the reality of our everyday lives.

Jesus knows what it’s like to work and to love, to have a family and friends. He knows what it’s like to be hungry and thirsty, to be tired and frustrated.

He knows what it’s like to be misunderstood and rejected. And in his humanity, Jesus knows what it feels like to be afraid in the face of suffering and death.

Jesus experiences everything out of love for you. Finally, as we have just witnessed in today’s Gospel, out of love for us, Jesus laid down his life on the cross.

The prophet Isaiah tells us today: “It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured.”

So when we see the cross, when we hear these words, we should understand: this is how much God loves us.

Then in today’s second reading today, we hear the promise of the paschal mystery, the promise of his love.

We hear: “Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered; and when he was made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him.”

So my brothers and sisters, as we know: Good Friday is not the end of the story. The cross leads to the resurrection. Good Friday leads to Easter Sunday.

By laying down his life for us on the cross, Jesus liberates us from sin and death! And by rising from the dead on the third day, he opens the way for us to find new life.

Jesus humbled himself, became obedient unto death on the cross, and the Father “perfected” him, and made him the way of eternal salvation for us.²

This is the promise of the paschal mystery! This is the “goal” of his love! To lead us to eternal life, to what the saints call “the love that never ends.”

Now today in a special way, Jesus is speaking to us from his cross. We heard his words today: “I thirst!”

He is speaking those words personally to each one of us. Jesus is not thirsting for water. Jesus thirsts for love. For your love and my love.

So Jesus is calling us today to open our hearts to accept his love, to accept his mercy and forgiveness.

He is calling us today to the foot of his cross, to stand with Mary, his Mother, and St. John. He is calling us to look upon his wounds and to see the love he has for us.

Jesus is inviting all of us to love him, and give our lives to him. Just as he has loved us, and given his life for us.

So, on this Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, let us stay close to the foot of the cross with him, and keep vigil with our Blessed Mother.

May she help us to open our hearts to the love of her Son, and to rise with him on Easter Sunday!