Meditations for Holy Week: Good Friday

Apr 7, 2023 by Jill

 GOOD FRIDAY

LITURGICAL THEME FOR THE DAY: The events of Holy Week mark what T. S. Eliot called “the point of intersection of the timeless with time.” What happened one Friday in Jerusalem was not “once upon a time,” but once for all time. As Jews reenact the mighty act of God in saving his chosen people at the Exodus, so Christians are called to follow Jesus on his lonely trek from the Upper Room through Gethsemane to Calvary. On this day, we see the Son of God Himself, hanging on the cross on account of our sins. We are not only witnesses to the Holy Passion of our Good Savior, but we become participants in the story of our salvation.

MEDITATION OF THE DAY:

³⁶ Simon Peter saith to him: Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered: Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow hereafter. ³⁷ Peter saith to him: Why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thee. ³⁸ Jesus answered him: Wilt thou lay down thy life for me? Amen, amen I say to thee, the cock shall not crow, till thou deny me thrice.

Peter, while much loved by the Lord, and having been privy to the exchange regarding Judas, still doesn’t seem to get it! His desire for ‘insider knowledge’ supersedes his desire to simply listen to and obey the Lord. This leads him to an offer he would not have been able to keep, as his later actions attest. With knowledge aforethought, Christ provides an important lesson in foretelling Peter’s fear once the reality of Christ’s mission is revealed.

As we enter the Triduum Lenten season let us be reminded that while God gives us the tools to think, question, and probe for greater understanding, there are some things in which we are asked to follow the path ‘way’ that Christ has shown us.  Good Friday serves as a good reminder of that,

PRAYER OF THE DAY: Almighty God, we pray you graciously to behold this your family, for whom our Lord Jesus Christ was willing to be betrayed, and given into the hands of sinners, and to suffer death upon the cross; who now lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Holy Week Discipline – If you have not yet seen The Passion. See it. If you have, already , watch it again with others and come  face to face with what Christ encountered in the passion of Christ is we and others would not have eternal suffering.

ANCIENT WORDS/PRESENT GRACE: “Our actions have a tongue of their own; they have an eloquence of their own, even when the tongue is silent. For deeds prove the lover more than words”. — St. Cyril of Jerusalem

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