Jesus Dies on the Cross

Jesus Dies on the Cross

"`If you're the Son of God, come down from that Cross.  Come down and we'll believe.'  Sure they will believe; they'll believe anything, just no Cross.  No mortification, no self-denial."  The shrill, piercing cry of the aging Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen ricocheted off the walls of the Church of St. Agnes, in New York City, on Good Friday, April 8, 1977.  He continued, "Many say `I'll believe anything!  I'll believe He's divine!  I will believe in His Church; I will believe in His pontiff, only no Cross! no sacrifice!'"

Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen said "George Bernard Shaw said of the Cross; `It's that that bars the way.'  Sure it bars the way.  It bars the way to hell!"  Could Archbishop Sheen see what was coming upon him, and us, full steam?  Could he see the suffering, our Lord Jesus would have to undergo at the hands of those who claimed to love Him?  In his last years, when he gave his most powerful retreats to priests, did the Lord give him an insight into the real Agony Jesus suffered in the Garden, the real Agony He suffered on the Cross: the Agony of the great Apostasy, which would take hold so strongly in our Church towards the end of the Twentieth Century?  Is that why he cried out so painfully for his Lord, Who is tortured so terribly, by those who love Him?

The walk to Calvary would have been devastating for anyone, but for Jesus, Who had received mortal wounds twice that day, from the crown of thorns, and again from the scourging He received from the Roman guards, it had to be pure agony!  By all that's right, He should have been mercifully dead before arriving at the top of this hill.

Our Savior was stripped of His tunic.  He was thrown to the ground.  Nails - blunt, huge nails more like flat-head spikes were pounded into His Hands and Feet.  The pain was unbearable, but Jesus said yes with His silence.  [We were present at a Passion Play and the actor who played our Lord cried out in agony, as the soldiers pounded each nail into His Precious Body.]  Did You cry out, Jesus as they pierced Your Hands with nails - Hands that had healed, Hands that had reached out to love us, Hands that had welco

Open by Steve Bailey