“Why is the cross a glorification? Because it is the extreme expression of love; only a God most truly worthy of love and worship would and could undergo such radical self-sacrifice for our sakes.”

John Bergsma. "Good Friday." The Sacred Page. April 14, 2022

“Enter into the mystery of a God who loves us so much, that he gives his life to both pay the price of our sins and to demonstrate for us HOW to make good overcome evil. Go to church. Pray. Ponder. Love.”

Mary Ortwein. "Luke’s Story of the Passion." A Catholic Moment. April 9, 2022

“God, by his very nature, lacks nothing, needs nothing. Everything he does as Creator he does not for his sake but for ours, and yet he truly delights in creating us and holding us in being.”

Fr. Richard Ounsworth. "In the Heart of God." Torch. June 7, 2022

“could we not have the resurrection without the suffering and the dying?Evasion is not a way to salvation.”

Fr. Robert Ombres. "By Way of the Cross." Torch. September 6, 2021

"The Gospel points back to the time of the Great Exodus, when the Israelites were instructed to seek salvation from the pestilence of fiery serpents by raising their eyes to a bronze serpent, fashioned by Moses. Investing hope in works of art is a perilous business, as the Israelites would have remembered well from the incident with a golden calf. It was, after all, Moses himself who discovered this outbreak of idolatry as he returned..."

Fr. Oliver Keenan. "Looking Through." Torch. March 9, 2021

“Christians, like all other people, will suffer and die. Yet we will not do so alone, for the suffering Christ is with us...We can only overcome our fear of death and find healing for our pain if we are united with Christ on the cross.”

Fr. David Goodill. "Gripped by Fear." Torch. April 17, 2019

“At his Baptism, the Saviour chooses to be with us where we are, to enter into solidarity with us, sinners as we are”

Fr. Aidan Nichols. "Cleaving the Darkness." Torch. January 9, 2019

“In his human mind Jesus could see into the divine mind...Jesus was permitted to draw out from this vision certain things so as to handle them conceptually and teach them...They did include the saving power of his Passion, Death and Resurrection.What will be revealed to each of us at his or her death, and what will be revealed publicly at the end of time, is simply how we stand in relation to Christ’s Cross: are we with those who put him there and mock him, or have we joined him there by mercy and compassion?”

Fr. Richard Conrad. "Accomplished in Christ." Torch. November 14, 2018

“the cross doesn’t just show sin for what it is. It also definitively shows God’s response...God’s incompressible response to sin is love.”

Fr. Peter Hunter. "Love's Response." Torch. March 29, 2018

“Today the God of all creation tells us that those who do care for the poor, those who take a stand against injustice, those who seek to bring peace and yet suffer ,those are ones whose lives are acceptable to God.”

Fr. David Sanders. "When I Am Lifted Up." Torch. April 18, 2014

“the pettiness of much that passes for life and debate in the Church shrinks into an insignificance that is much to be desired. We must ask ourselves, What does the persecuted Church make of us?”

Fr. Aidan Nichols. "Peace on Earth?." Torch. August 18, 2013

“The first stage of overcoming the evil of death is to overcome our fear. This requires courage but the proper remedy for fear, in the Christian disposition, is not courage but hope.”

Fr. Euan Marley. "Facing The Cross." Torch. April 6, 2012

"In this Gospel we have Jesus talking in an unusual way to an unusual man. When we hear Jesus speaking, usually to crowds, it is loud and clear, even if he speaks always in parables. These are puzzles, simple stories, that we won't forget, but we have to grow to understand. John must have remembered this conversation with such an important person. The other occasion John remembered was the Last Supper discourse."

Fr. Duncan Campbell. "A Disciple." Torch. March 18, 2012

“Through the streets, among those to whom he is sent, he carries his cross – the throne of his glory...the power of this King comes not from below, but from above. Jesus is his own master and carries his cross himself, so that his triumph is made known.”

Fr. David Rocks. "The Triumph of the Cross." Torch. April 2, 2010

“Love is transforming, the source of all change in us. Without it we are dehumanised and can die. Jesus shows us that we are lovable enough to die for.”

Fr. Denis Geraghty. "'Good' Friday." Torch. April 10, 2009

"Jesus is near his end in the gospel of today. The acclamation of Palm Sunday is over and the crowds melt away. Jewish plotting for his arrest is stealthily working. What precipitates his words, 'Now the hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified', is the approach for the first time in his ministry of Greeks (Gentiles) seeking him out. It was 'to gather into one the dispersed children of God' that..."

Fr. Theodore Taylor. "Keeping Company with the Lord." Torch. March 29, 2009

"One of the most important words in St John's Gospel is 'glory'; right at the beginning we read that 'the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of a father's only son…' Jesus Christ is the revelation of the glory of the Father. And that glory is beheld especially when Christ is 'lifted up' on the cross. The kind of exaltation - of lifting up, of glorification..."

Fr. Richard Ounsworth. "We Beheld His Glory." Torch. March 22, 2009

“The Bible begins with Adam — The Man — rising up against God in the garden. To counter human pride, the new Adam obediently handed himself over in a garden...He was buried in a garden where, in his resurrection, he would re-fashion human nature in beauty.”

Fr. Richard Conrad. "The Promise of Eternal Friendship." Torch. March 21, 2008

“Before you cast the fire in righteous anger against others make sure you are willing yourself to take some of the same heat which Jesus felt in his baptism of fire”

Fr. David Sanders. "The Peace That Only Comes Through Fire." Torch. August 19, 2007

“the throne of David was established, when Christ reigned from a tree...There he taught the Torah in its completeness, which is the law of charity for us to learn through the grace of the Cross.”

Fr. Aidan Nichols. "Nowhere to Lay his Head." Torch. July 1, 2007

“People feared Jesus because he didn’t have a shadow side, and that meant he showed up the shadow side of those around him. This is not because Jesus was constantly pointing out people’s faults but because a bright light always makes the shadows sharper and easier to see.”

Fr. Peter Hunter. "Banishing the Shadows." Torch. April 6, 2007

“The pretensions of worldly kingship are mocked but as the crucified Christ reigns from the cross he reveals the self giving love of God and it possesses a power which can draw all men and women into his kingdom”

Fr. David Sanders. "Rulers of the Kings of the Earth." Torch. November 26, 2006

“it is the cross which stands as the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and is the tree of life”

Fr. John Farrell. "The Glory of Calvary." Torch. November 19, 2006

“The goodness of Jesus’s love and sacrifice at Calvary is immense, permanent and efficacious”

Fr. Robert Ombres. "What Happened on Good Friday?." Torch. April 14, 2006

"Palm Sunday is a mass of contradictions! It begins with a joyful procession of pilgrims, coming to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. That feast commemorated God delivering his people from slavery in Egypt. In each annual celebration God renewed his commitment to rescue his people from evil, and they renewed their commitment to him. In one such group of pilgrims the crowd proclaimed Jesus to be the son of David, who had come in the..."

Fr. Isidore Clarke. "The Royal Way." Torch. April 9, 2006

“The power of the liturgy of Good Friday comes from the silent gaze of him who bore ‘the weight of our sins on the tree.’”

Fr. Allan White. "The Silent Cross." Torch. March 25, 2005

“So we who come to the liturgy on Good Friday believing that this is the story of the death of the Son of God, a death that brings us freedom from death, a Passion that liberates us from sin, we Christians can hardly fail to be moved once again by this great mystery at the heart of our faith”

Fr. Richard Ounsworth. "The Whole Story." Torch. April 9, 2004

“So the Epiphany, as Matthew presents it to us, is not just about the fact that Jesus came for all peoples, but that Jesus came to die for all peoples: to die for their sins”

Fr. Benjamin Earl. "The Sign of the Star." Torch. January 6, 2004

“When we hide the image of God, we go on to defile, profane and destroy that same image which lives in the flesh of our brothers and sisters”

Fr. Allan White. "Behold, your King!." Torch. November 23, 2003

“In today’s passion John does not see the cross just in terms of suffering but also in terms of the power of God’s love. He sees the cross not only as an instrument of torture but also as a throne on which Christ sits as divine and majestic king”

Fr. David Sanders. "The Necessity of the Cross." Torch. April 18, 2003

"The desire to be met with acclaim seemingly runs deep - to be hailed as liberators, the streets of Basra or Baghdad lined with cheering crowds. Across the centuries those who wield power also want the glory. Roman governors and emperors long ago made an art form of their entry into the cities of the empire. You can still see on the arch of Galerius at Thessalonika how the civic notables lined up outside the..."

Fr. Richard Finn. "Parody or Reality?." Torch. April 13, 2003

“we will see the Son of Man coming with power and glory. This refers to the end, God’s final triumph over chaos and all that destroys human life. But it also refers to Jesus enthroned on the cross in glory.”

Fr. Timothy Radcliffe. "Stand Upright." Torch. December 3, 2000