Good Friday of the Lord's Passion

Readings of the Day

Good Friday is the one day a year when no Catholic Mass is celebrated.  We reserve the Eucharist from the Holy Thursday liturgy and have a communion service, but we give up our participation in the incredible sacrament when heaven touches earth to commemorate the solemn nature of the day and Jesus’ overwhelming sacrifice.  This year, public Masses have been cancelled across the country for much of Lent, and to me it’s felt like an extended Good Friday.  I am cut off from receiving the Eucharist, the source and summit of my faith, and one of my most intimate connections with God.  It has felt very hard indeed. 

And yet, reading the scripture for today, the theme that hits me over and over again is “surrender.”  The prophet Isaiah foretells Jesus’ behavior as silent and submissive.  In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus goes with the soldiers freely, and prevents his followers from drawing swords.  In front of Pilate, he refuses to defend himself, because his kingdom is not of this world.  He gives up his connection to his mother, and he gives up his life to the Father.  This is not pain for its own sake, but allowing suffering to be part of God’s salvific plan.

The challenges each of us face in this time of pandemic can be a way to enter into the suffering of the Passion.  We know that our physical isolation contributes to greater health in our community, and that the events and plans that we cancelled are allowing essential workers to have a lower risk of infection.  But on a deeper level, this is a chance to “offer up” our suffering and unite our struggles to those of the cross.  There will be salvation at the end of the journey.  As the psalmist reminds us in these dark moments, “take courage and be stouthearted all you who hope in the Lord.”  I need that reminder, especially on Good Friday, that I am called surrender to the less pleasant parts of life to pave the way for the life God has in store.

Sheila Herlihy, ofs, is Coordinator of Justice and Charity at the Church of the Incarnation in Charlottesville, Virginia, and a member of the CCUSA Parish Social Ministry Leadership Team.

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