Good Friday: Jesus, the LIFELINE suffers with us today

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Today, on Good Friday, we contemplate Jesus, our Lifeline, on Mount Calvary being crucified for treading the path of kenotic (self-emptying) love, of ultimate justice and reconciliation - a day of silent listening. If we appropriate the Marga of Jesus, cross and death are inevitable. The suffering and death of Jesus is not only an event of the past. Today as we look around with our eyes of faith, we notice that Christ is being crucified in the crucified of this world - people who are exploited discriminated against, excluded and denied of their dignity. All faith traditions affirm that God listens to the cry of the poor, and God is close to those who suffer for ‘justice and reconciliation’. Our Lifeline, with an empathetic tone, says, “I am with you” and “I suffer with you”. When we are in distress, God who is our mother and father is distressed (Isa 63:9).
Corona wakes us up from our slumber. First, we are invited to hear the cry of our ailing planet, groaning for liberation (Rom 8:22); second, ‘we were not shaken awake by wars or injustice across the world, nor did we listen to the cry of the poor’, the migrants, women, and children; we remained anesthetized with ways of thinking and acting with misplaced priorities; that took us away from the roots of our belonging as brothers and sisters of common humanity. (Pope Francis, Urbi et Orbi,27/03/20); third, this virus is also an indication of our distancing from God, our Lifeline (Col 1:21; Rom 8:7) and a call to trust in Him.
I am not alone in my suffering in the Corona lockdown. My suffering is an ‘interconnected reality’ - me, the other, creation and God. God’s marga (Way) to break this lockdown is ‘to suffer with’, in self-suffering love as in Calvary. “In hopeless situations of pain and suffering, God never abandons
his children but rather remains close to them” (Pope Francis).
(Note: this prayer and reflection is from 'Online Retreat 2020: The Lifeline - in solidarity with...' of the 5th Day, provided by the Jesuit Conference of South Asia (JCSA).  



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