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It is good Friday, one of the holiest days of the year.
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Our Lord gave everything for us.
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He died on the cross for us on this day.
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It is only fitting that we take the day to reflect upon what it is He offers us and
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to gear our minds towards our sacrifice so that we may truly appreciate the great victory
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of Easter for the victory over death.
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We cannot have Easter without Good Friday, as Fulton Sheen once said,
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here is a Good Friday homily by St. Augustine.
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When Pilate had judged and condemned the Lord Jesus Christ at his judgment seat, they took
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him about the sixth hour and led him forth, and bearing his own cross, he went forth to
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that place which is called Calvary, but in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him.
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He was going therefore to the place where he was to be crucified, Jesus bearing his own
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cross, a great spectacle.
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But then to impiety a great sport to look upon, to Pilate an exceedingly great mystery,
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impiety sees in it a great display of ignominy, piety a great strengthening of faith, impiety
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looks on, and laughs at a king, bearing, instead of the scepter of sovereignty, the wood
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Pilate looks on and sees the king, bearing that cross for himself, to be fixed thereon,
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which he would thereafter fix even on the brows of kings.
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An object of contempt in the eyes of the empires, it the same thing in which later on the hearts
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of the saints will glory.
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Just to St. Paul, who one day will say, God forbid that I should glory put in the cross
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of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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The Lord commanded that very cross by bearing it on his shoulders, and for that cradle candle
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which was to be lighted and not to be put under a bushel, the Lord bore the candlestick.
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The human race was lost by sin, for all men coming from Adam had sinned in him.
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One alone was born without sin, and he delivered from the yoke of sin.
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He was made man in order to heal our wounds afflicted by sin.
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The Jews were as sick as all other men in the world, yet their pride made them believe
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that they were not in need of the physician, and their disease was so much more than curable
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as their pride by which it was caused, led them to despise him who had come to cure it.
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But they were not contented with despising him, they even put him to death, yet at the
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very time they took his life he fulfilled for them the duties of a physician.
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They struck him, and he cured them.
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He felt the effects of their madness, but he abandoned not the stick.
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They who surrounded Jesus Christ, they bound him with robes, buffeted him, struck him
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with a reed and overwhelmed him with insults and blasphemies.
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Lastly, they asked him juridical questions, condemned him and nailed him to the cross, yet
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he still remained their physician.
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You have seen the character of them in their madness, now consider the character of their
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Father, he cried out, forgive them for they know not what they do.
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Blinded by their rage and envy, they shed the blood of their physician, and the physician
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shed his own blood to cure them of their blindness and fury.
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And in that intention that his blood might flow for them, he cried out, father, forgive
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them for they know not what they do.
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And Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
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The divinity of Jesus Christ was hidden under the veil of his humanity.
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This humanity suffered all the insults and mockery of them, whilst his divinity allowed
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free scope to their fury.
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He saw, then, that all things were finished, that no more required to be done before he
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should receive the vinegar and give up the ghost, and that this also might be accomplished
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what was foretold in the scripture.
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And in my thirst, they gave me vinegar to drink.
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He said, I thirst, as if it were.
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And thing you have left undone, give what you are.
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For those that took him were themselves the vinegar, degenerated as they were from the
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wine of the patriarchs and prophets, and filled like a full vessel with the wickedness
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This godless people did all these things, and a compassionate Christ suffered them.
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This blinded people knew not what they were doing, but Jesus knew what was done, and why
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it was done, and he wrought what was good through those who were doing what was evil.
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When Jesus therefore had taken the vinegar, he said, it is consummated.
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What was finished, save all that the prophecies had foretold so long before.
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Then because nothing remained that yet was to be done before, he died, as he had the
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power to lay down his life, and the power to take it up again, now that all was accomplished
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for the accomplishment of which he was waiting.
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He bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
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Who so sleeps when he will, as Jesus died when he pleased?
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Who so lays aside his garment when he will, as he put off his flesh when he would?
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What traveler departs from a place when he pleases, as he departed this life when he pleased?
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Therefore, what must we hope or fear to find his power as a judge, if it was so great
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Bless the words of Saint Augustine, teaching about our Lord's sacrifice on the cross, on
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this solemn day of good Friday.
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May his words remain in our mind for today.
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Let me know what you think of this in the comments, please, hit like and subscribe if you
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It does help, sharing this on social media helps too, and always pray for the church.
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I'm Anthony Stein, Ave Maria.