Every Catholic Man - Sunday Gospel Bible Study
Learn more about how a man can grow in happiness at EveryCatholicMan.com, including daily Gospel devotions from the Mass for every day of the year. The EveryCatholicMan.com podcast can help a man draw closer to Jesus Christ, learn the Catholic faith and grow in happiness by becoming a better Catholic Son and Catholic Father. In every episode, a man can hear the Gospel reading from the Holy Catholic Mass, hear what Jesus is accomplishing, discover what can lead a man to be more awed by Jesus Christ, grow in happiness, learn from the Catechism, and take action to practice what Jesus and the Catholic Church is teaching in the Gospel. Matthew James Christoff is a Catholic convert and evangelist of Catholic men. Matthew's extensive work to help Catholic men draw closer to Jesus Christ and grow in happiness can be found at EveryCathoilcMan.com. At EveryCatholicMan.com can find daily Gospel devotions from the Mass for every day of the year and a comprehensive set of tools that can help a man grow in holiness and happiness. Matthew is a co-founder of the Catholic Men's Leadership Alliance and HeroicMen.com, the founder of the New Evangelization Project and CatholicManNight.com, and is featured in the Knights of Columbus Into the Breach Video Series. Matthew's professional career includes being a strategy consultant for Fortune 50 companies and a brand manager in a major consumer products company. Matthew has a Masters in Theology from the Augustine Institute, a Masters in Business and a Civil Engineering degree from Purdue University. Matthew is married to his childhood sweetheart, has four married adult children and grandchildren.
Every Catholic Man - Sunday Gospel Bible Study
Episode 251 - Jesus is Crucified and dies on the Cross - Friday April 18, 2025 - Jn 18:1-19:42
Jesus willingly enters into His Passion for the salvation of mankind. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by building the Virtue of Sacrifice so he can heroically sacrifice to build Christ’s Holy Catholic Church and by seeking the Gift of Piety from the Holy Spirit so he can have a deep personal contrition when he denies God in his life.
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Jesus willingly enters into His Passion for the salvation of mankind. Every Catholic man can grow in happiness by building the Virtue of Sacrifice so he can heroically sacrifice to build Christ’s Holy Catholic Church and by seeking the Gift of Piety from the Holy Spirit so he can have a deep personal contrition when he denies God in his life.
Liturgy
Holy Week – Friday – The Passion of Our Lord – Jn 18:1-19:42
Commentary
Anticipated from the Fall in Eden and coming into glorious reality on Good Friday, God’s Divine Mercy is released in The Passion of Christ (Latin, passionem, meaning, “suffering”, “enduring”). As a Divine Person, His suffering is infinite in worth, far surpassing the accumulated cost of all mankind’s sins across time. Jesus’ sacrificial choice to do the Father’s will establishes the New Covenant in which men who repent, are baptized, and ardently adhere to the teachings of the Holy Catholic Church, are saved and will enjoy eternal life with God in Heaven.
The Incarnation is Jesus’ deliberate pilgrimage to the Cross and Jesus retains complete control: Jesus anticipates His Passion and goes to Jerusalem to meet it; Jesus does not avoid capture as He so easily did multiple times (Lk 4:30, Jn 7:45); Jesus knows Judas has betrayed Him but does not retreat; Jesus’ utterance of the Holy Name (“I AM”; Jn 18:5) knocks several hundred soldiers to the ground; though He easily defeats His enemies in every verbal debate throughout the Gospels, Jesus does not debate the Jewish leadership or Pilate; though He has the power to quell raging storms and raise the dead, He does not resist beating, mocking, scourging, or the Crucifixion; He declares victory from the Cross (“My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?” is a shorthand reference to the total victory of Psalm 22); before dying, Jesus declares, “It is accomplished” (Jn 19:30).
Jesus’ accomplishment on the Cross is astounding: He drinks the 4th Cup of His Passover, which began at the Last Supper, establishing the Eucharist; His Kingdom is established; His Holy Catholic Church is established and will convert and save multitudes of people from eternal death; His enemies’ defeat is complete as Satan is defeated, death is defeated, the Jewish leadership/Temple sacrificial system will fall in 70 A.D., and the Roman Empire is converted to Christianity in 312 A.D. Jesus’ accomplishment in His Passion surpasses every human imagining or endeavor.
Be awed by Jesus Christ
Be astounded at Jesus, the Divine Priest, as He established the Sacrament of the Eucharist, an idea that no man could conceive or achieve: Person of the Trinity, He establishes the Passover ritual which was rigorously observed for 1200 years in preparation for His Passion; He conceives of the astounding idea to feed mankind across millennia with His Glorified Body and Blood in the Eucharist; He heroically becomes the sacrificial Lamb of God to offer every willing soul the opportunity for salvation; He continues to be truly present in every parish Tabernacle, and allows men to be in actual union with God in the Eucharist.
Heroically sacrifice to build Christ’s Holy Catholic Church
Realize: On this Good Friday, consider the necessity for every Catholic man to sacrifice himself in faith to build Christ’s Holy Catholic Church.
Believe: Reflect upon the stunning and saving sacrifice of Christ’s Passion (CCC 599-630).
Pray: Jesus, Lamb of God, help me build the Virtue of Sacrifice (a part of Justice) so I continually seek to imitate You by making small and large sacrifices to build Your Kingdom.
Have deep contrition when you deny God
Realize: Peter, personally formed by Jesus for three years, spectacularly failed Him during the Passion; it is not surprising that every Catholic man denies Jesus in some way each day.
Believe: Reflect upon Peter’s Denial (CCC 1429, 1851).
Pray: Holy Spirit, give me the Gift of Piety so I feel deep sorrow and contrition when I deny You and help me long to receive the forgiveness of Christ in the Sacrament of Penance.