“God so loved the world that He gave His only Son”

 
“Yes, ‘God so loved the world that He gave His only Son’ (John 3:16). We admire — overwhelmed and gratified — the breadth and length and height and depth of the love of Christ which surpasses all knowledge (cf. Ephesians 3:18-19)! O Crux, ave spes unica!”[i]
 
We know and see that people are good and that people love. Many times we are amazed at the goodness and love of humans. Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen said,
 
“…if man can be so good, God must be infinitely better; that if man can love so much, God can love infinitely more? Shall we not say this, and find in the Cross of Calvary the perfect expression of love by an All-Perfect Being, of whom perfect condescension and sacrifice were required by naught in heaven or earth save by His own perfect and inconceivable love, which He now preaches from the Pulpit of the Cross? If we do say this, that He is very God of very God, and love is now reaching its climax in the redemption of mankind, then no longer can men say, ‘Why does God send men into the world to be miserable when He is happy?’ — for the God-man is miserable now. No longer can men say, ‘God makes me suffer pain while He goes through none’ — for the God-man is now enduring pain to the utmost. No longer can men say that God has a heart that cannot understand, for now His own Sacred Heart understands what it is to be abandoned by God and man as He suffers — suspended between the kingdoms of both, between heaven and earth, rejected by one and abandoned by the other. Now it is true to say of Love Itself that It is really dying for us, for greater love than this no man hath that a man lay down his life for his friend. For Calvary is not just a mere historical incident, like the battle of Waterloo; it is not something, which has happened — it is something, which is also happening. Christ is still on the Cross.”[ii]
 
SKIT – There is a man on the Cross[iii]
The following can be acted out as a skit or simply read and reflection upon.
 
Whenever there is silence around me
By day or by night —
I am startled by a cry.
It came down from the Cross —
The first time I heard it.
I went out and searched —
And found a man in the throes of crucifixion
And I said, “I will take you down”,
And I tried to take the nails out of his feet.
But He said, “Let them be
For I cannot be taken down
Until every man, every woman, and every child
Come together to take me down.”
And I said, “But I cannot bear your cry,
What can I do?”
And He said, “Go about the world —
Tell every one that you meet —
That there is a man on the Cross.”
 
There is no greater love than the Cross. Are we willing to tell every one that we meet about this great love? How can we tell people that there is a man on the Cross?
 
We honor, sacrifice, and love. The virtues of honor, sacrifice, and love are found in all of the greatest movies throughout time and in fact these virtues are what draw people to the blockbuster movies. These virtues and should remind of us Christ if we are Christian and for the non-Christian they should point to the transcendent reality of Christ. What are some examples of sacrifice and love in imitation of the Cross? 
 
SKIT - Short Story of St. Maximilian Kolbe
Pick 10 people.  8 Should be randomly picked, one person will be St. Maximilian Kolbe, and one will be the prisoner that was going to be put to death.  The quick story is this:  St. Maximilian Kolbe was a Polish Priest that was sentenced to the concentration camp (Hitler killed 1 million Polish Catholic, mostly priests and religious).  A prisoner tried to escape from St. Maximilian’s prison block but was caught.  To punish the person, the Nazis chose to send 10 prisoners from that block to the starvation cell, all 10 in the same cell.  The Nazi guards called the men by their number [in the skit you can call them by name], and they each stood up.  One man, when he was called began to cry and begged that he not be killed. He said that he had a wife and children.  St. Maximilian, moved with compassion, stood up quietly and then said, “I will take that man’s place.”  The guard said to him, “Who are you?”  Kolbe replied, “I am a Catholic Priest.”  St. Maximilian Kolbe showed the perfect example of Christ on the Cross; there is no greater love than to lay down your life for a friend.  This short skit of St. Maximilian can be semi-acted out; the 8 people do not have a speaking role. Maximilian Kolbe, the prisoner and the guard, would need to be planned and scripted.
 
VIDEO – Saint Maximilian Kolbe – Saint of Auschwitz

[i] Blessed John Paul II; Homily September 14, 2003
[ii] Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, The Divine Romance, the Pulpit of the Cross
[iii] Servant of God, Fulton J. Sheen, The Divine Romance, the Pulpit of the Cross