Dad’s Lenten Blog

Thoughts during Lent

Tag: good-friday

  • Three Hours

     All  the suffering, all the tragedy, all the pain, all the heartache, all the failures, all the wars, all the injustices, all the unfairness, all the adversity, all the hatred, all the sickness and all the sin that was, is, and will ever be is summed up today.

    All of that was absorbed by Jesus Christ in those three hours hanging on the cross.

    Three Hours.

    Abandoned by His friends, beaten, whipped, Nailed to a cross with thorns ripping through his head. His pain. 

    In those three hours He took it all on.

    “My God, My God! Why have you abandoned me?”

    Sin is the separation between us and God. In those three hours, He took all of the sin of all men on His shoulders. Maybe for the first time in His life, He could feel that separation. And for Jesus that may have been worse pain of all.

    At 3 PM Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior died.

    What could possibly be like to be an apostle, standing there, staring at the cross? “ How could this happen to this innocent man? He was the Messiah. I watched his miracles. I saw him raise Lazarus from the dead. And now he’s gone”

    What was it like to be Peter. The leader, Jesus’s best friend. He denied even knowing Him, three times. The guilt, the shame, the pain of conscience. Peter’s world had just fallen apart.

    Of course, they would know in a few days that Jesus would conquer death and sin. 

    But today, Good Friday, we need to reflect on this perfect sacrifice.

    “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

    Jesus loves each of us so much. Unconditionally. So much that He was willing to offer His life for each of us. 

    So today, sometime between 12 and 3PM take a moment. Close your eyes and see Jesus on the cross. 

    Close your eyes and look up at the cross and see Him. All your fears, disappointments, pain, heartaches, errors, wrongdoing, and suffering are with Him. Its Ok and right to feel sad, to feel sorry, to feel like Peter. 

    Everything we are, everything we have, all whom we love and our path to eternal life in heaven is because of Him…….

    and those three hours.

  • 3 PM

    Why are Fridays singled out in Lent as different?

    Well, the obvious answer is that it reminds us of the day, Good Friday, Jesus died on the cross.

    But it is more than that during Lent. We are also called to fast and specifically abstain from meat. Back in the day when seafood wasn’t as available, this meant a real sacrifice at the table for adults and children alike.

    But we need to go deeper. Fasting, though so important, is just one sacrifice that we offer up. A physical reminder of real sacrifice. 

    Do any of us really contemplate the meaning of Friday? Many years ago in my 30’s, I read Saint Faustina’s diary, called “Divine Mercy in my Soul”. It is where the Divine Mercy Chaplet comes from. An incredible book. But there was one point in that book that stuck with me for a couple of decades. That was the Hour of Mercy……. 3 PM.

    It is the tradition of the church that Jesus died at 3 PM on the very first Good Friday. At the moment of his death, he bore the sins of all mankind. But more important, by giving his own innocent life, he opened up his Sacred Heart, the Fount of Mercy. Where no sin, even the worst of the worst is unforgivable when seeking His unfathomable mercy. 

    “ There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” 

    So for all of these years I set a reminder at 3PM. Back in the day it was a beep, and then just a pop-up reminder. But it was 3 PM every day. Maybe some of you remember seeing it. Maybe some of you joined me in that moment. But my prayer is just very simple. “ Jesus, my Savior, forgive me, a poor sinner”

    A couple of phone upgrades ago I got away from it. But its back ! You see everyday we need to be reminded of His love for us. His desire that we be with Him always. 

    So maybe set a reminder for 3PM on the next couple Fridays. And when that reminder goes off. No matter what you are doing, close your eyes for a second and picture Him there, on the cross. 

    And at the moment, believe deeply in your heart, that He did this for you.