They sat down and kept watch over him (Matthew 27:36)

This series of talks focuses on the seven words or sayings spoken by Jesus from the Cross.  The chief purpose of the talks is to provide material for self-examination and meditation. The most fruitful part, therefore, will be your use of a time of silence after each talk, a time which you will be spending alone with the Crucified.

If you give to him your mind and your heart then this time will bring you a deeper and perhaps a new understanding of the love of the Crucified for you; and that understanding will in turn deepen your penitence and increase your love for him.

“They sat down and kept watch over him there”.

Today we take our place at the Cross.  There are those in the world outside who, if they think at all, do so only to scorn like the passers-by on Calvary that first Good Friday.  But as then we would have chosen to be in the company of his Mother and St John, so now we wait in spirit at the feet of the Crucified.

Good Friday appeals only to those whose hearts are touched by the Saviour’s love.  The decorations and general atmosphere of the festivals of the Church provide sufficient outward show to attract the casual and the thoughtless.  There is, however, nothing outwardly pleasant or attractive about the desolation of Good Friday – only a grim, stark realism symbolised by the altar stripped and bare, except for the Cross.