The Goodness of Good Friday

I told a friend that Good Friday was my favorite day of the year. It is such a dramatic point in the Church calendar and in salvation history: That day in which God answered millions of prayers--but not necessarily in the way anyone expected. In similar timing, God asked me to take up a cross of cancer and radiation treatment in 2004. There are always uncertainties when surgery is involved, yet I had a wonderful surgeon and supportive friends. Radiation made me very sick, but Captain took off work to be Mr. Mom. Then I was required to remain in seclusion for week while the isotopes lost their power. The end of my quarantine came at the Hour of Mercy -- 3:00 pm on Good Friday 2004. It was wonderful to feel the hugs of my children again! That evening, we went to Church services and I was particularly moved during the Veneration of the Cross. When I was a child, this custom of publicly kissing the feet of Christ was embarrassingly uncomfortable. When I was grown, I understood better the meaning of "Come, let us worship" at the foot of the cross with Mary and the disciple whom Jesus loved. But as a cancer survivor, I approached the wood of the cross with a powerful intimacy. I knew Jesus had been with me all along, and I could willingly choose to kiss the cross in love for my Savior. When we join our sufferings to His, we don't always find the answers but we feel certain we are headed in the right direction. The goodness of His love also brings us healing on many levels.