Holy Week Reflection, Good Friday, April 2
By: Rainey Trice, a seventh grader at St. Catherine’s
During this past year, I have witnessed hurt in our community, and our nation. We need to start recognizing our own pain during these times, and we need to take time to reflect on everything that’s happened to us and to others. All too often, I see judgement being passed, or hate from one to another, over issues such as race, culture, sexual orientation, religion, or political beliefs. Sometimes I’ll even find myself getting caught in judgement over something as small as someone not agreeing with me, rather than just listening and trying to understand where they’re coming from—putting myself in their shoes. I try to remind myself that God wants us to love and not hate, he wants us to find joy and not anger or judgement on somebody else’s heart.
At one of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s civil rights speeches, he said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” His profound message has such an impact on everything going on in our world today. We need to remind ourselves to respect the dignity of every human being, instead of trying to be right all the time. This reminds me of Reverend May’s sermon for Good Friday in 2019. He talked about how if we could take away everything we see ourselves as—straight or gay, American or Asian, white or black, conservative or liberal—if we could take that all away, what we’d find is “that you are the one for whom the Lamb of God, Jesus, laid down his life, for love. For love.” If we could do that, maybe we wouldn’t be so divided.