I chose this Paschal passage because is not possible to find a better Christology�s summary. In this short passage, we have a profound reflection about what is the best way to talk about the Mystery of Salvation, Passion, Death, and Resurrection, as parts of the same event.

In the understanding of many Christians, at least in the collective imagination of the Latino communities, Good Friday is always a sad day. Most of the people want to express with sacrifice their gratitude to Jesus for his passion. In my tradition, Good Friday has a larger impact on personal devotion than Easter Sunday.

Since the first day I learned you call this day "Good Friday" in English, I've loved it because it is a refreshing title. In calling it Good Friday, it asks for us to be aware -- we are not only to commemorate the death of Jesus, sanctifying the pain and suffering, per se.

It is not only about the suffering and death. It is also about the "good" that happens. In the teachings of Christ, we come to understand that by his death, Jesus showed his great love for humanity and obtained for us every blessing and everlasting life.

(Photo: Bill Owen, Allegheny College)

Good Friday is not a sad day; instead, it is a good day for humanity. The main reflection for this day is that Jesus Christ, through his death on a cross, precisely got the real victory for us, which is Life Eternal, a gift from God.

Of course, we are to reflect on death today, but we should do so from God�s perspective and not from the concept this world imposes. For humanity, for Christians especially, eternal life is far more important that death; death is just the last earthly step to the fulfillment of our full realization of God.

I believe Good Friday reminds us we are to be in solidarity with our LGBT siblings who are crucified in some countries -- like Uganda, Belize, Honduras, Brazil, and Russia -- or with those currently crucified by poverty, incarceration, and HIV, as well as with other communities being persecuted unjustly. We must fight with them to obtain a resurrection from their situations.

(Art: Rafael Enriquez)

Leonardo Boff, in the book Passion of Christ, Passion of the World: The Facts, Their Interpretation, and Their Meaning Yesterday and Today, said:

To preach the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ today entails the following:

To commit oneself and all one�s energies for a world where love, peace and community of sisters and brothers, a world where openness and self-surrender to God, will be less difficult. This means denouncing situations that generate hatred, division, and practical atheism -- atheism in terms of structures, values, practices, and ideologies. It means proclaiming, and practicing -- in commitment, love and solidarity -- justice in the family, in the school, in the economic system, and in the political relations. The consequence of this engagement will be crisis, suffering, confrontation, and the cross. Acceptance of the cross, of this clash, this confrontation, is what it means to carry the cross, as our Lord carried it: it means suffering, enduring, for the sake of the cause we support and the life we lead....

To carry the cross as Jesus carried it, then, means taking up a solidarity with the crucified of this world -- with those who suffer violence, who are impoverished, who are dehumanized, who are offended in their rights. To carry the cross as Jesus carried it means to defend these persons, and to attack the practices in whose name they are made nonpersons. It means taking up the cause of their liberation, and suffering for the sake of this cause....

It is in MCC's very DNA to be the Human Rights Church. This year, we must embrace as never before this call to lead the way in living as justice-seeking people. Let's celebrate this Good Friday with the understanding that we are to be the voice for the voiceless and with the principal goal to share with everyone that another world is possible -- and another type of church is possible, too.

(Photo: franceshasso.net)

To be in solidarity with all who are crucified in this world -- that must be MCC�s business card. And our business is to offer life -- and life in abundance -- for all our siblings.

Pray with me. "Oh God, Universal Father and Mother, we ask that as we celebrate this Good Friday, we feel in communion with all humanity, looking to you as we seek the meaning of life. We cordially welcome all countries and religions who reflect upon and seek you."