Good Friday reflection

Good Friday is the most intense and solemn day of the Church’s year.  

After 6 long weeks of Lent, today we remember Christ’s journey towards His brutal death on the cross; spelled out in chilling detail. Just before he dies, Christ’s cry of “my God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” immediately reminds us that Christ was wholly human. Subject to such brutal torture and seeing the world around him so full of suffering, Christ almost lost hope in God. 

However, this cry of despair, evoking Psalm 22, may also represent the enduring hope that never goes out – and the deliverance that can come after reaching the darkest moments of our lives. In calling out to God, the cry affirms an enduring faith in God (why else would you cry out to Him?).  

We can imagine today the people of Gaza, like the people of Ukraine, the DRC and Sudan, crying out just like Christ did. As bombs fall on schools and hospitals, as families are torn apart and neighbours fight with neighbours, women are raped and children forced to fight in militias, it is easy to understand how hope in God and deliverance can all but extinguish. 

Yet in the Crucifixion we are reminded that Christ stands in solidarity with the beleaguered and the broken. He knows suffering and oppression deeply. He feels the pain of the poor, embraces the suffering of persecuted and stands side by side with the innocent victims of war.  

This Lent, SCIAF’s campaign has focused on the long and slow journey towards peace in Colombia. The people of Colombia are still on that journey, yet progress has been made, and the most delicate of peace agreements holds back the worst of the violence. The symbol of our campaign on our WEE BOX this year, the Mutilated Christ of Bojaya, reminds us of the enduring hope in deliverance and unwavering faith in Christ. 

Through SCIAF and the donations of our supporters, working with the local church in Colombia, this faith in Christ has been rewarded – and we have stood by the people on their slow and painful journey towards peace. Today in Gaza, in Ukraine, in the DRC, Sudan and across the world candles of hope will never be fully extinguished thanks to the solidarity shown to the people in those countries from their sisters and brothers around the world. 

On the cross, Christ shows his deep solidarity with the poor and oppressed. Through the cross, we too can feel that deep connection and compassion. Inspired by the cross through charity, prayer and raising our voices, we make sure that hope for a better world never runs out.