"Christmas and Easter can be subjects for poetry, but Good Friday, like Auschwitz, cannot. The reality is so horrible it is not surprising that people should have found it a stumbling block to faith." ~ W.H. Auden"
Archbishop Fulton Sheen answered W.H. Auden’s view on Good Friday with the simple statement that without Good Friday in our lives, there can be no Easter Sunday. It is a painful truth that most of us would like to avoid. It’s horrific to think about the heart-wrenching events of Good Friday. Yet, despite them, followers of Christ have held the day sacred and holy for two millennia. Somehow, goodness comes from evil. Salvation comes from obliteration.
The most terrible things that have happened always yield to something transforming. I think about The Holocaust with its ghastly images and unimaginable misery. The devastation cannot be undone. But from the ashes of horror came a homeland for Israel, a bond of friendship among nations. There have been the awakening gifts of inhumanity from Elie Wiesel, Anne Frank, Viktor Frankl, and so many others.
We have been challenged to change. I also think about the people who have terminal diseases that could suffer in silence, but rather, rise up to give a voice to cures and better treatment. They give us hope when we would be hopeless.Good Friday is only good when it carries us to an empty tomb.
"This is a day of reflection and acceptance. Let me be open to goodness."
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About the Author
In a career spanning over four decades, Robert Kenneth Jones has been an innovator in the treatment of addiction and childhood abuse. His blog, An Elephant for Breakfast, testifies to the power of the human spirit to overcome the worst of life’s difficulties. We encourage you to visit and share this rich source of healing, inspiration, and meditation.
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