GOSPEL POWER | JUNE 11, 2021 - FRIDAY | Solemnity of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus 

 Gospel: Jn 19: 31 – 37

Since it was the day of Preparation, the Jews did not want the bodies left on the cross during the sabbath, especially because that Sabbath was a day of great solemnity. So they asked Pilate to have the legs of the crucified men broken and the bodies removed. Then the soldiers came and broke the legs of the first and of the other who had been crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. Instead, one

of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and at once blood and water came out. (He who saw this has testified so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth.) These things occurred so that the scripture might be fulfilled, “None of his bones shall be broken.” And again another passage of scripture says, “They will look on the one whom they have pierced.”

Reflection

If we need any assurance that God will not spare anything  in order to save us, this episode on Calvary says it all. St.  Paul sums up its meaning in a single Greek word — kenosis — pouring out everything to the point of becoming empty. Such is  the love of God personified in Jesus Christ. He emptied himself of  glory to become Emmanuel — God’s presence in our midst, walking  with us the rugged and perilous paths of life, sharing our brokenness  and liability to death. Jesus, now lifeless on the cross after a long  agonizing torture, still pours forth blood and water. Not even death  can restrain him from totally emptying himself out, so that God’s  saving grace may fill us.

Prayer

Lord, wash away with the blood and water from your pierced side  whatever doubts still remain in our hearts that God loves us. Amen.