
Good Friday- A Mother’s Call
Judea:
It was a quiet day.
Birds called and life went on.
Who would have thought,
On such a day that
The veil could be torn in two,
The earth could shake,
The tomb could await its faultless guest?
Here:
It is a peaceful day.
Birds call and old folk rest at home
Shakily but happily.
Young folk labour where they can,
Making ends meet.
Who would think,
On such a day that
Suffering continues,
Blood flows,
Women and men die both
Peacefully and in torment?
Judea:
Trial ended,
The path, the Via Dolorosa,
The way of suffering.
Walked as they tore at His beard.
They spat on Him.
They spat on love and peace,
And all that He challenged them to be.
Each step an explosion of nerve end agony.
His mother looked on wishing to take His place;
To end His suffering.
He walked on.
Here:
The way of suffering
Walked over and over.
The steps worn deep into the soil
Of our life journey.
We know the way of suffering.
We know His mother’s agony
As we watch on, willing the suffering
Of loved ones’ to be our own.
Yet, because He walked Via Dolorosa before us
We walk alone no more.
Judea:
Love raised high on a lowly tree,
Pierced, beaten, broken.
His mother wept
But could not hold Him as death approached.
At the ninth hour, he gave up his spirit.
Here:
We wait, in silent witness
Of the horror of pandemic and death;
Entombed ourselves
In our own troubles and worries,
Unable to hold those in the clutch of death.
“Why are we forsaken?”
We give up our spirit in grief.
Judea:
Buried secretly with barely a few to witness,
His mother wept and held His friends.
“He is at rest now.”
The emptiness resounded around the world.
But not for long.
She remembered his promise.
She sensed God at work.
His absence, temporary,
His return, imminent.
Here:
We are stricken with His mother.
We feel the pain she felt for all of us.
We hold each other.
We hear a Mother’s call to us: “remember His promise.”
And we are awake to her call
To His message of hope
We are awake and watching now.
Today is Friday but Sunday will come.


2 Comments
Laurence
Beautifully written and thoughtful contemplation. Blessings bro.
Theresa Kearney
Asking your prayers for a family. Grandson took his own life just before Christmas, now son-in-law in Mater on ventilator.
God bless all those on ventilators, as families wait in hope.
Beautiful words Jim. Thank you xx