10th April 2020
Good Friday
For today’s Gospel reading click the link below
Mass Readings
Friday in Holy Week is known as Good Friday. On Good Friday we remember and commemorate the Passion and Crucifixion and Death of Jesus Christ. It is a day of fasting.
There is no Mass on Good Friday because Christians keep the sombre and mournful atmosphere of the day. Jesus Christ has died. The Good Friday Service which begins at 3pm is considered to be the hour of His death. The Service of Good Friday consists of 4 parts: the Liturgy of the Word, Prayers of the Faithful (or Solemn Intercessions), the Veneration of the Cross and the Reception of Holy Communion.
The Body of Christ distributed on Good Friday would have been consecrated on Maundy Thursday.
On Good Friday, Christians remember the humiliation that Christ Jesus undertook for all of humanity. By dying a shameful death on the Cross, Jesus takes the suffering and sin of all humanity upon himself.
People often ask, given its purpose, why we call it Good Friday. In some ways it is like why we call this week Holy Week when it is not appreciably more holy than other weeks.
More than that! It is because our Good GOD extended His unconditional and unmerited forgiving love to each one of us through the Suffering, Passion and Death of His Only Begotten Son. (John 3:16)
The liturgy applies to Jesus’ descent into the night of death. The words of Psalm 23(24): “Lift up your heads, O gates; be lifted up, O ancient doors!” The gates of death are closed, no one can return from there. There is no key for those iron doors.
But Christ has the key. His Cross opens wide the gates of death, the stern doors. They are barred no longer. His Cross, his radical love, is the key that opens them. The love of the One who, though God, became man in order to die- this love has the power to open those doors. This love is stronger than death. -Pope Benedict XVI
Part 1: Liturgy of the Word
Good Friday Service begins with the priest prostrating and people kneeling. The action signifies the “abasement of earthly man” and the grief and sorrow of the Church.
At the beginning of the Passion account, it is Jesus who goes to the soldiers and guards and asks them – not once, but twice! – “Whom are you looking for?”….
At the end of the Passion account, Jesus, “aware that everything was now finished,” says “I thirst” (he chooses to drink the cup of salvation given him) and “It is finished.” He then “bows his head” and “hands over the spirit.”
The hour of Jesus’ crucifixion is a time for revelation of truth, not ignominy; it is a time for Jesus’ glorification, not defeat; it is a time for Jesus to choose to die for our salvation, not be a victim at the hands of disbelievers. The great mystery of Good Friday is that Jesus’ death returns Him to glory with the Father and brings us believers a share in that glory.
Verse at the Gospel Acclamation:
Christ was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised Him high and gave him the name which is above all names.
(Phil. 2:6-11)
The Liturgy of the Word helps us to focus that the Word of God (Jesus) which became flesh and dwelt amongst us (John 1:14) at Christmas, who discerned the Father’s will, has now become obedient even to death on the Cross.
In the 1st Reading, Isaiah points to Jesus as the suffering servant of God. (Isaiah 52:13 – 53:12)
In the 2nd Reading, Paul’s letter to the Hebrews reminds us that this suffering servant was like us in every way except sin, one who could feel our pain and suffering. (Hebrews 4:14-16; 5:7-9)
Jesus spoke of himself being lifted up on the cross and drawing us to himself. Jesus spoke of Moses lifting up a serpent in the desert during the Exodus when people rebelled against God and were being bitten by deadly poisonous snakes.
Many died – but those who looked at the bronze snake on a staff that Moses lifted up survived, they were cured of the effects of the snake bite. The cure which Moses provided was a miraculous spiritual event, it was God’s way of saving the people, all they had to do was trust in the cure provided.
That action of Moses became a visual demonstration of the final fulfilment of the Covenant by Jesus on the Cross. We all know the bad news, that humanity is poisoned by sin.
Fortunately there is also Good News, that Jesus is the antidote for sin. He becomes for us just like the bronze snake on a staff, when we look at Jesus on the Cross and put our trust in him we find God’s cure for all that is wrong in our world.
When the priest prepares the gifts of bread and wine, at the mingling of water with wine he says:
Priest: “By the mystery of this water and wine may we come to share in the divinity of Christ who humbled Himself to share in our humanity”.
There is no medicine which we can manufacture to cure the evil poison which infects humanity, but Jesus is the cure God has provided for the sin and evil. God looks at his poisoned world, but instead of condemning it, He provides the means whereby it can be healed and saved This is not something we do – it is entirely the work of God, his gift to us.
The symbolic and ritual gesture and words of Jesus at the Last Supper meal, “This is my Body.., this is my Blood..” has now become a reality. What happened on the first Holy Thursday and first Good Friday is now made truly and really present. (Anamnesis)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXMPNXXnCls -I will trust in you.
Part 2: Solemn Intercessions
The celebrant now leads the congregation in a series of solemn prayers, for all classes and needs of the Church and mankind:
I. For the Church,
II. the Pope,
III. the clergy and laity of the Church,
IV. those preparing for Baptism,
V. unity of Christians,
VI. Jewish people,
VII. those who do not believe in Christ,
VIII. atheists,
IX. all in public office
X. for all those suffering, died and helping in the current Covid19 pandemic
XI. and those in special need.
Christ died for all, and these great petitions, as it were, interpret the mind and heart of Christ as He hung dying on the Cross. We may therefore use these great prayers at other times during the year in order to expand our prayer intentions to conform to those of Christ and the Church.
Part 3: The Veneration of the Cross
It consists of the solemn unveiling of the Cross and its adoration by the Clergy and faithful. It is not only the crucified body of Jesus that is thus unveiled but also the glorious instruments of our redemption.
The veneration of the Cross recalls for Christians that the Cross of Jesus Christ became a sign of victory on Good Friday. The participation in the Way of the Cross helps Christians to associate themselves with the sufferings of Christ.
Through the Cross, Christ triumphs over sin. It is a victorious God whom we adore on the Cross.
At the Veneration of the Cross, The Reproaches is sung and appropriately sums up the paradox surrounding Jesus Christ. God’s love vs our sins.
THE REPROACHES
| Christ | Us |
| Manna | Scourges |
| Water | Vinegar |
| Royal sceptre | Crown of thorns |
| Exalted us | Cross |
Part 4: Holy Communion
Having adored the Cross, we now make ready to receive sacramentally, Him who hung on it for our salvation. Christ triumphed on the Cross, for by it He merited the resurrection for Himself and for us.
As a pledge of our resurrection, and thus as a foretaste of the Easter mystery, we now eat His life-giving Body.
Prayer Over the People
All depart in silence after the prayer. Christ is no longer present in the church in the Blessed Sacrament.
Until the Easter Vigil, Christians experience something of the great void felt by the apostles after the death of the Lord.
We have accompanied Jesus as he walked these last steps, we have stood alongside him as he was scourged, we have been by his side as he took the weight of the Cross on his shoulders, we have been with him as he fell three times only to get up again to continue his laborious journey. We were there as his hands and feet were cruelly nailed to the Cross and we stood gazing as he suffered his last agony and eventually gave up his spirit.
On this infamous hill, Calvary, Christ turns the tables on the whole of mankind and in the most extraordinary act of love he wipes our sins away and opens up for us the road to eternal life. He returns kindness for cruelty, forgiveness for brutality, life for death. Sad as we are, in our hearts we rejoice. We exalt because on that dreadful hill, Calvary, we were granted the greatest gift of all, full pardon, remission and absolution of all our sins.
Perhaps today we can reflect on the Cross or Crosses we carry in our lives:
- What personal sin/sins do I have that is separating me from God’s love?
- What pain am I carrying because of my failed marriage?
- What burden am I holding on to because of a broken relationship?
- What difficulties am I enduring because I have to look after elderly parents or children with special needs?
- What pain and suffering have I gone through at the sudden loss of a loved one?
- What frustrations I am going through with my long standing illness with no cure in sight?
- What anxieties are troubling me during this pandemic?
Do I believe that I can overcome any of these hurdles/burdens because Jesus Christ has already done it for me? Do I believe He walks and carries the Cross with me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98vDfIebJsw – Here in the Presence