And it is just at this point that the Crucifixion becomes something very close and personal between the Crucified and us.  He came into this world to save the souls of us sinners and to bring us back to his Father; and the price of his coming was the Crucifixion.  So by the sins which we have committed we share in the responsibility not only for his mission to save us, but also for the Crucifixion to which that mission inevitably led.

If we had never sinned at all, then we could stand aside with a clear conscience and say “the Crucifixion had nothing to do with me”.  But we cannot say that.  It was because we sinned that he came and was crucified for coming.

Our love for him, therefore, will find its expression this Good Friday in our personal penitence for our sins of thought, of word and of act. And as we contemplate the Crucified we can truly say:

“Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee.
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee:
I crucified thee”. (1)