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Good Friday reveals the Church
of living stones
BILLY ISENOR, OFM, Special to
the Western Catholic Reporter
May 9, 2011
For the
Franciscan Friars, the Outdoor Way of the Cross is significant. It
was 31 years ago when we started the Outdoor Way of the Cross in
Edmonton (along with a few others). But the tradition, started by
Franciscans, goes back centuries.
Our provincial, Dennis Vavrek and I were talking about how this
event has set the tone for our Easter celebrations from the past to
present. Something transformative happens when you gather 1,000
Christians — people of all faith traditions, all ages, and all
economic and social statuses — to pray and consider how God invites
us to lay down our lives for others today.
The theme was appropriate. It was about the need for healing in our
world. Japan has been wounded from the onslaught of earthquakes and
tsunamis, war continues to bring unrest, and global political and
economic tensions have threatened our security and safety.
In our churches, people are desperately hungry for the good news and
how it applies to their everyday lives. In some ways this event
testifies to the hunger of the people for God incarnate today. Old
friends reunited, new friends made, and our Lord and Saviour was
present were two and three gathered in his name. God’s love was
evident through our prayer and our journey through the stations of
our Lord’s Passion.
Linda Winski (the wisdom figure and the brains behind the event) and
I were talking and concluded that there is something special about
walking the streets with brothers and sisters in the inner city,
raising our prayer to our Creator into the open skies, praising and
asking for love and mercy for the less fortunate.
I thought to myself that this is the Church of living stones, not
that of mortar and brick. The most important component to Church is
not the building (even if it is glamorous), it is not the ministry
and it is not even the ritual (although all these things are
important).
PEOPLE AND THEIR FAITH
The most important
element to Church is the people and their faith and worship
together. God brings all our traditions and practices together for
one purpose — to unite a people marked with the God-image in one
body and one Spirit in Christ.
We are invited by God to bring that Gospel and this communion to
everyone. I talked to many people about their experiences of this
event. Many expressed that somehow they were touched and transformed
that they had experienced Church. What we are doing with this prayer
is collecting of the living stones of faith to build Christ’s
Church, whereby, we share our kerygma. In other words, we share how
our crucified and Risen Lord has manifested the Gospel in our lives
by building, worshiping and sharing with others our new life and
love of God by inviting others to sit at God’s banquet of love.
I find it amusing when the media comes to this event. They wrestle
with the idea of what we’re doing, but this year they really figured
it out — Christians remember what Jesus Christ does for us out of
love and how God’s passionate love for us continues today.
We are called to consider how we receive this gift and how we share
it with others, especially with the poor, with people of other
faiths, with other cultures, within our country and within the
humble beginnings of our homes.
GOD LIVES
Good Friday marks the incomprehensible nature of God’s love and why
it is such Good News. Easter Sunday is the resurrection of new life
for us, and the revelation that God is truly alive and always loving
us right here and now. The sign of the cross is none other than the
symbol of God’s love for us and desire to be with us.
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