Brothers and Sisters,
Someone once told me that the Good Friday liturgy summarizes everything about why she is a Christian. Given the unwavering focus on the Cross that we find in the Good Friday liturgy, I can understand why that person felt that way. Over the course of nearly thirteen years as a priest, I have led the Good Friday service many times, but it never gets old. It also never fails to move me.
I find the concluding prayer particularly powerful:
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, we pray you to set your passion, Cross, and death between your judgment and our souls, now and in the hour of our death. Give mercy and grace to the living; peace and rest to the dead; to your holy Church unity and concord; and to us sinners everlasting life and glory; for with the Father and the Holy Spirit you live and reign, one God, now and for ever. Amen
I don’t know about you, but I think this is a very sincere plea. We pray for Christ to set his death between his judgment and our souls now and at the hour of death. We make that petition precisely because all of us are sinners, and none of us can withstand the judgment of God on our own merits. The good news is that Christ does set his passion, ll who trust in him. In Christ, and him crucified, we can withstand the judgment of God, because we’re accepted through his merits, not our own.
Keep that important truth central as we journey through Holy Week together. That’s what this week is all about.
In Christ,
Fr. Caleb