Homily for Good Friday, Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
April 18, 2025
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
Throughout the Gospel we see the Apostle Peter reluctant and resistant to accept the Cross of Jesus. When he makes his confession of faith in Jesus as the Christ and Son of God and is entrusted with the keys of heaven, he is immediately and sharply rebuked by Jesus for rejecting Jesus’ key revelation that He is to be rejected, suffer, and die.
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Homily for Good Friday: Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
March 29, 2024
Saint Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
The heart of the mystery of the Cross that we enter together as the Church of disciples and believers in Christ is the singlehearted love of Jesus Christ. His singleheartedness is seen in the unity of His human will with His Divine will in loving obedience to the Father, an obedience unto death. We see His singlehearted love as He stands silent before the duplicity of the Sanhedrin and the craftiness of Pontius Pilate and the other friends of Caesar. We see His singlehearted love in answering the high priest about the truthfulness of His Gospel and the transparent integrity of His life for which He is slapped and mocked. We see His single-hearted love as He entrusts His Mother, who possesses single-hearted devotion to Him, to the beloved Apostle and vice versa. Finally, we see His single-hearted love as He hands over His Spirit for the salvation of all and for each and every human being — universal and particular love.
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Homily for Good Friday, Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
April 7, 2023
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, Texas
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
“Though He was harshly treated, He submitted and opened not His mouth; like a lamb led to the slaughter or a sheep before the shearers, He was silent and opened not His mouth.” Jesus does not say a lot in this Passion account; He speaks less as the Passion account moves more closely to His death. He is silent amid the angry screams and accusations made by the crowds; He is silent amid the scheming casuistry of the high priests; and He is mostly silent before Pilate. At one with Him in His silence is His mother, Mary. She stands with Him at the foot of the cross with the Beloved Disciple with an immaculate love that surpasses even the naturally powerful bond between a mother and her son.
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Homily for Good Friday
Celebration of the Passion of the Lord
April 15, 2022
St. Patrick Cathedral
Fort Worth, TX
Isaiah 52:13-53:12
Psalm 31:2, 6, 12-13, 15-16, 17, 25
Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9
John 18:1-19:42
The high priest interrogates Jesus in the account of the Passion that we have just proclaimed. The high priest questions Jesus about His disciples and about His doctrine. Jesus responds to the high priest, “I have spoken publicly to the world. I have always taught in the synagogue or in the temple area where all the Jews gather, and in secret I have said nothing. Why ask me? Ask those who heard me what I said to them. They know what I said.” The temple guard strikes Jesus and demands, “Is this the way you answer the high priest?” Jesus answered him, “If I have spoken wrongly, testify to the wrong; but if I have spoken rightly, why do you strike me?”
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