Archbishop Mario Alberto Molina, O.A.R., Archbishop Emeritus of the Archdiocese of Los Altos, Quetzaltenango – Totonicapán, offers us this profound meditation for Good Friday of the Passion of the Lord (April 18, 2025, Cycle C). On this day of grateful sobriety, it invites us to contemplate the cross as the throne of redemption and Christ as the Lamb who takes upon himself the sin of the world.
A day of recollection, gratitude and faith
This is a day of grateful sobriety, of faith-filled reflection, of generous prayer. The Son of God made man has given his life for us and has risen to conquer death; his own in the first place, and that of all of us who unite ourselves to him through faith and the sacraments.
This liturgy began with silent adoration with which we humbly presented ourselves before the Lord, imploring for ourselves the salvation that Christ offers us from the cross. We knelt before the amazement of the Son of God who humbles himself to death, even death on a cross. We are moved and impressed by the great love that has manifested itself in so much suffering and pain.
Jesus gives himself freely in his passion
The story of the Passion according to St. John has as its guiding thread the conviction that everything that happened is God’s explicit design. Jesus is neither caught by surprise nor overcome by circumstances. He goes out to meet those who come to arrest him and identifies himself by saying: “I am he”. As he utters these words, his persecutors fall to the ground. He is not a passive victim: he is sovereign in his passion.
When Pilate reminds him of his power to free or condemn him, Jesus replies, “You would have no authority over me if it had not been given you from above.” Pilate and the other actors in the drama, without knowing it, are fulfilling a design that overflows them.
At the final moment, only when Jesus realizes that everything has been accomplished, he bows his head and gives up his spirit. No one takes his life from him: he gives it up. Thus is fulfilled what was announced at the beginning of the Gospel: “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…”.
The cross, throne of redemption and source of life
Christ gives his life on the cross and becomes the Lamb who takes upon himself the sin of the world. The cross is no longer a torture, but a throne. Christ does not hang as the vanquished, but reigns from it with mercy. His bones are not broken, like the sacrificial lambs, but pierced with a lance. From his side flow blood and water: sacramental signs of the new life he offers us.
Isaiah and the Suffering Servant: figure of the crucified Christ
The prophet Isaiah, in the oracle of the Suffering Servant, clearly describes the mystery we celebrate today. This text, read as the first reading, was key for the first disciples to understand the meaning of Jesus’ passion:
“He endured our sufferings, he endured our pains… he was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our crimes. By his stripes we are healed.”
Wounded freedom needs redemption
Our freedom is weakened and sick. St. Paul expresses it this way in his letter to the Romans: “I want to do good, but it is evil that meets me… I do not do what I want, but 
what I hate”. And he exclaims: “Who will deliver me from this body that is leading me to death? The answer is clear: Jesus Christ.
He who does harm must make reparation. But how can we repair the damage done to God? The Son of God becomes man and takes upon himself the human suffering, becoming the bearer of the reparation that we could not offer. In this way, he enables us to receive forgiveness and healed freedom, to do good and to attain eternal life.
Christ obedient unto death, savior forevermore
Christ, during his mortal life, offered prayers and supplications with tears. He was heard, not because he avoided death, but because he was rescued from it in the resurrection. “He learned obedience by suffering” and became the cause of eternal salvation for all who obey him.
Therefore, the letter to the Hebrews invites us: “Let us approach the throne of grace with full confidence, so that we may receive mercy, find grace and obtain help at the proper time”.
Universal prayer: intercession for all humanity
The liturgy continues with universal prayer. If Christ died for all, we must pray for all: believers and non-believers, near and far. The Church prays that the salvation achieved by Christ may reach everyone through the proclamation of the Gospel, the witness of the faithful and the action of the Spirit.
“This is good and pleasing to God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1Tm 2:3-4).
Adoration of the cross: surrendered to the Crucified One
The central rite of this day is the adoration of Christ crucified. Although we speak of “adoration of the cross”, we do not adore the wood, but Christ represented on it. To him we direct our gratitude, our faith and our devotion.
Communion in his death, hope of resurrection
Finally, in communion with his sacramentalized Body, we unite ourselves to Christ to participate in his death and receive the nourishment of eternal life. That Body given is the seed of resurrection for us believers.