I remember as a young seminarian hearing Pope Paul VI speaking before the General Assembly of the United Nations and declaring in French "Jamais, la guerre!"  "War, never again!"  I was impressed by the challenge of the words of this holy man to the men and women of the United Nations.  Was it possible for them to find a way for our world to cease warring against one another.

Today is Good Friday and similar words echo through my mind and my heart as I meditate upon Jesus who we have nailed to a tree.  "Scapegoat, never again!"  He was willing to become what we do to so many others in order to show us how very wrong we are.  We love to be over and against "the other"; we think that the only way we can cohere is to have a common enemy and so we are quite willing to scapegoat someone else so that we might appear to be right or better.

Today from the height of the cross, I hear Jesus shouting to our world, "Scapegoat, never again!"  We may be black or white or brown or yellow; we may be conservatives or liberals; we may be rich or poor; we may be gay or straight and we may be Christian or Jewish or Muslim; but we are all, yes all, beloved sons and daughters of our loving God and Father.  On this Good Friday as we gaze up at the crucified One, the One we scapegoated for our sins, can we agree........never again!