April 18.  GOOD FRIDAY.    The director handed out a newssheet to the families participating in the retreat. it read:

 NEWS OF THE WORLD,  Friday 18 April 2025. 

JESUS CHRIST CRUCIFIED AGAIN.

Our roving reporter interviewed Christ in his cell at St Francis’ Care Centre.   Showing her the wounds in his hands and feet, the gaping oozing wound in his side and with his face still bloodied he listed for her the crimes against God and humanity.    

RAPE, ABUSE, INFIDELITY, SEXUAL PROMISCUITY, VIOLENCE, WAR,MUTI-MURDERS, HIJACKING, FRAUD, CORRUPTION, ARMED ROBBERIES, BETRAYAL, BROKEN RELATIONSHIPS, ABORTION, ENVIRONMENTAL DEGRADATION, HIV/AIDS INFECTION, LACK OF COMPASSION, SELFISHNESS, GREED, LACK OF RESPECT FOR THE AGED, SICK AND DISABLED.

With tears in his eyes he quoted, “What they do to the least of these they do to me.”

Deeply moved she sat quietly for a while.  On an impulse she took off her scarf and gently wiped his face. At last she spoke.  “Why?”

As she waited for his response a voice resounded from the yard outside where the youth choir was practising for their traditional Good Friday dramatisation.

“Repent and believe the Good News. I have come that they many have life and have it to the full.”

And many voices rose in harmony.

“The spirit lives to set us free. Walk, walk in the light.

Jesus promised life to all.  Walk, walk in the light.

He died in pain on Calvary, to save the lost like you and me.

We know his death was not the end, he gave his spirit to be our friend.

By Jesus’ love our wounds are healed, the Father’s kindness is revealed.”

Jesus and Joanna looked at each other then quietly joined in.

“The Spirit lives in you and me.   Walk, walk in the light.

His light will shine for all to see.   Walk, walk in the light.”  

She got up, and leaving him in the darkened room walked out into the bright sunlight.

Discussion, sharing, action. The director posed the question, ”Redemptive love:  was there and is there, a human  and a divine dimension to Jesus love? “Does Jesus’ total gift of self ever come to an end?   Does love ever end?”    When reading the passion accounts in any of the gospels do so with a particular awareness of the ways that Jesus showed his love in spite of his pain and suffering.  (The large image of Jesus from the film The Passion fo Christ was painted by Priscilla Sun and hangs in St Catherine’s Anglican church in Bramley, Johannesburg.)   

Pope Francis:  Although the Scriptures preserve Jesus’ words, ever alive and timely, there are moments when he speaks to us inwardly, calls us and leads us to a better place. That better place is his heart. There he invites us to find fresh strength and peace: “Come to me, all who are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Mt 11:28). In this sense, he could say to his disciples, “Abide in me” (Jn 15:4).   Jesus’ words show that his holiness did not exclude deep emotions. On various occasions, he demonstrated a love that was both passionate and compassionate. He could be deeply moved and grieved, even to the point of shedding tears. DN 43-44   Devotion to the heart of Christ is not the veneration of a single organ apart from the Person of Jesus. What we contemplate and adore is the whole Jesus Christ, the Son of God made man, represented by an image that accentuates his heart. That heart of flesh is seen as the privileged sign of the inmost being of the incarnate Son and his love, both divine and human. More than any other part of his body, the heart of Jesus is “the natural sign and symbol of his boundless love”. DN 48