Playboy is no passion play

One of my nephews told me a few years ago that he wanted to see Mel Gibson's "Passion of the Christ" because of the violence. I told him this was a pretty bad reason. It seems a little like telling your mom you only read Playboy for the pictures of naked women. Either way, you're just picking out what someone else will find objectionable.

I never saw the movie, but I like the passion story. The movie seemed too violent, even though the meanness is sort of what attracts me to the story. I know that we as Catholics are supposed to feel energized and revitalized by Easter and the resurrection, the triumph over sin and death, blah blah blah.

That stuff really just makes me sad. God can come back from the dead but can't heal me? God can triumph over untold numbers of sins but can't triumph over Freidriech's ataxia? Won't seems like the real word.

That's not for me. I am a Good Friday Catholic. I don't know if there are any others out there who get some happiness from Good Friday. Not because Jesus dies and evil seemingly wins. Don't worry, Mom, I am not that far gone.

Happy is too strong a word, I guess. I am relieved that some part of the Trinity knows exactly what it feels like to be human and to hurt.

Maybe Jesus didn't smack his knee on the tiled bathroom floor when he was standing to pull up his pants, but he did fall. Our situations differ much more than that, but I know that he felt pain, fear, anger, abandonment by his God and his friends. And I also realize that I am being a bit of a drama queen by comparing my situation to Jesus'.

But that is why I still have faith in God. Not because Jesus rose from the dead, not because he forgives sin, but because Jesus knows what it feels like to be forsaken.