Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord 2023

Most Reverend José H. Gomez
Archbishop of Los Angeles

Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
April 7, 2023

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,¹

Today in this solemn liturgy, we stand at the foot of cross, we meditate on the mystery of God’s suffering, the mystery of his love, which has no limits.

The prophet Isaiah says today: “It was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured. … He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins.”

“Our” infirmities and sufferings. “Our” offenses and sins.

Jesus endures this for all of us. There is no greater love than this.

On the cross, Jesus bears every burden for us — every evil and every sin, every sickness and suffering, every sorrow. He becomes weak, so we can overcome our weakness. He is crushed for our sins, so we can overcome our own sinfulness.

When we remember his sacrifice on the cross, when we meditate on what Jesus suffered by his passion and death, we realize how precious we are to God.

My brothers and sisters, we are loved with an everlasting love. Each and every one of us. So this is the mystery that we contemplate in his holy cross.

So today, we need to ask for the grace to allow this mystery to penetrate deeply into our hearts.

What can we possibly give him in return for a love so great? He dies for love, and he invites us today to live for love.

That is the beautiful reality that we commemorate today.

And as we know, today is “Good” Friday because, although Jesus must die, we know that in three days he will be raised from the dead.

It is “Good” Friday because by his death, death itself is conquered — and we can know the hope of the Resurrection.

We hear those beautiful words in the second reading: “So let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and to find grace for timely help.”

I have to share with you that these words are very special for me. Because as many of you may know I chose these words for my episcopal motto.

The cross is the throne of grace, the seat of mercy.

As we heard, when his earthly life had ended on the cross, his body was broken open, his heart was pierced by the soldier’s spear, and blood and water gushed forth as a fountain of mercy for us.

Jesus promised that “out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.”² This is the living water, the water of salvation, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

So Jesus longs to give that Spirit to us, to each one of us. As we just heard, some of his last words were these: “I thirst.”

Brothers and sisters, Good Friday calls us back to the heart of Jesus; we need to drink once more from his fountain of living water.

Jesus is not thirsting for water for himself. He is thirsting for our faith, for our hearts, for our conversion. Jesus thirsts for you and for me. He thirsts to give us his mercy, his life, the waters of salvation.

So, let us turn our hearts to Jesus today. Let us look at the cross and remember — this is how precious we are — I am to God. Let us look at the cross and say, “Thank you, Lord. Thank you.” 

In these three days, the days of our redemption, let us stay close to Mary our Blessed Mother, the Mother of Jesus and our Mother.

So let us ask her to intercede for us, that we be made worthy of the promises of the cross, and that we may know the joy of his Resurrection.