“On what side, with whom would we have been, had we lived in Jerusalem under Pilate?”
LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: The practices associated with Good Friday are attested to by Egeria in the 4th century. The day gradually became a time of penance and fasting as the anniversary of the death of Christ. The name “Good Friday” possibly comes from “God’s Friday,” although the exact reason for the current name is unclear. The custom of venerating the cross on Good Friday probably originated in Jerusalem in the 7th or 8th century, and continues to this day in many Western Churches. Pre-sanctified Masses are referenced in the documents of the Quinisext Council, which was held in AD 692, which means the practice pre-dates the seventh century. The Council mentions pre-sanctified liturgies as occurring primarily during Lent.
From the light of Maundy Thursday we enter into the darkness of Friday, the day of Christ’s Passion, Death and Burial. In the early Church this day was called “Pascha of the Cross,” as it is the beginning of that Passover or Passage whose whole meaning will be gradually revealed to us at the end of this Triduum.
The Byzantine Christian observance of Holy and Great Friday, which is formally known as The Order of Holy and Saving Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, begins on Thursday night with the Matins of the Twelve Passion Gospels. Scattered throughout this Matins service are twelve readings from all four of the Gospels which recount the events of the Passion from the Last Supper through the Crucifixion and burial of Jesus. The commemorations continue with the liturgies that are Royal Hours, Vespers of the Taking-Down from the Cross, and the Lamentation at the Tomb.
The liturgy of the western church has its own drama with the Passion proclamation, Veneration of the Cross and Mass of the Pre-Sanctified. Perhaps the most striking for an observer is the veneration of the Cross which calls us to humility and to value and revere that which at face value is an artifact of the past or may have little value in the technology age. To revere a person or a moment in time or a symbol was a high value filled with meaning and significance for us because they often were transformative and transcendent to our every day experience. The Church offers us such a possibility on Good Friday when we revere and venerate the wood of the cross, because our Savior was nailed there, and gave his life for us there. In the liturgy of Good Friday we are offered the option to touch, kiss, bow, kneel or embrace the cross with the humility, penitence and devotion. We are also faced with a difficult reality as the mediation below reminds us.
MEDITATION OF THE DAY: Despite what people think, Good Friday deals not with the past alone. It is the day of Sin, the day of Evil, the day on which the Church invites us to realize the awful reality and power in “this world that sin has.” For sin and evil have not disappeared, but, on the contrary, still constitute a way of life for our world. It was as true in Jerusalem then as it is in Jersey today. No matter what local we find ourselves as we hear the Passion in today’s liturgy we must ponder this question: “On what side, with whom would we have been, had we lived in Jerusalem under Pilate?”
This is the question that cannot be avoided as one participates in the Passion proclamation. In this powerful story we are faced again with the harsh reality that the people of this world then and now make choices which means there is a preference of darkness to light, evil to good, death to life. That is the drama of life isn’t it? How we deal with these polemics that either tear life apart or renew it? In this story today we see the fullness of the incarnation which through this kenotic act Christ redeems us and makes us citizens of the City of God, a city of light and life. Good Friday should attract us not repel us because this is not about mere darkness and shadows but the reality, about grace and mercy, and about the reconciliation of God and man. That should grab and hold our hearts and souls.
PRAYER OF THE DAY: O God, who by the Passion of Christ your Son, our Lord, abolished the death inherited from ancient sin by every succeeding generation, grant that just as, being conformed to him, we have borne by the law of nature the image of the man on earth, so by the sanctification of grace we may bear the image of the Man of heaven, through Christ our Lord.
ANCIENT WISDOM/PRESENT GRACE : “When you make mention of the Cross are you silent about the dead who were raised, the blind who received their sight, the paralytics who were healed, the lepers who were cleansed, the walking upon the sea, and the rest of the signs and wonders, which show that Christ is no simply a man but God? To me you seem to do yourselves much injustice and not to have carefully read our Scriptures. But read and see that the deeds of Christ prove Him to be God come upon earth for the salvation of men…. –Saint Anthony the Great of Alexandria
Holy Week Discipline – Use The Passion of the Christ – as a tool to help you contemplate Christ’s suffering during these sacred hours. Discuss your reaction? How does this affect you and those you view it with?