John Stanko

I got home from the UK on Tuesday and have been catching up and setting up my work for next week.  The weather has been cool; we even had some snow on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It always seems to get chilly around Easter, so this isn't unusual for Pittsburgh.  This is the first Easter since my mother passed away and I have thought of her a lot.  She always made a big deal about Easter.

Speaking of Easter, I remember Good Friday in the church we attended as a family when I was growing up.   It's name is St. John the Baptist Ukrainian Catholic Church.  I would attend service on Good Friday and it was a morbid event.  I won't go into all the details, but suffice it to say I always came home depressed (and rather dusty, since we had to crawl around the floor of the church in adoration of the crucified Christ).

Yet that experience helped shape me, as our childhood always does, and so I still stop and reflect on Good Friday, even if I don't participate in rituals of old.  Good Friday for you and me is an important day, for it was on that day that Jesus purchased our access to heaven. 

That makes Good Friday truly good, even though Jesus suffered the most agonizing death that man has even devised against his fellow man.  With that in mind, are you taking full advantage of what Jesus purchased on your behalf?  What;s more, is the truth of resurrection life and power also present in your life, work and walk?  If not, then the realities of Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday are just historical facts and not a real presence in your daily living.