Good Friday
On this day, Christians all over the world commemorate Jesus’s crucifixion. We celebrate Good Friday. But is this really a day to celebrate?
Dear friends
In Jesus we have a person who is like no other human. We find someone who gives of himself to others in a way no other ever has. God incarnate healing people from their fears and freeing them from their guilt. It is Jesus, who truly fulfills the vision of mankind who lived this vision of love and peace.
Throughout the centuries an uncountable number of people have been tortured even crucified. People have been left to rot on the battlefield, lives taken away through terror, through viruses, people who have starved to death. And with each death, a little bit of hope seems to vanish. For many people, the cruelty of Good Friday destroys the vision of love and peace, God’s vision of mankind. The events of that day are enough to leave even the most rational person emotional. These emotions are reflected in the liturgy of holy week: The church bells are silent and there’s no music. The lights are dim and the church echoes with a resounding sadness. The service begins in silence; the priest prostrates himself, calls to mind the atrocity of that day. All the readings are filled with lamentation.
Isn’t it interesting that we do not sink back in despair, on the contrary we celebrate this atrocity, we celebrate Good Friday! Why? Because life is stronger than death? Because Easter offers us hope? When? When is it coming? Tomorrow? On Sunday? Or some day in the future?
No! my friends, Easter is now! Easter is today! We celebrate Easter on Good Friday! Because life is stronger then death. We experience it in nature. Nature is rising from the grave, blooming and prospering all around us to new life. And against all odds we too can experience that a new awakening is possible even in our lives.
Friends, for the two millenniums Christians all around the world have been reliving and retelling the story of this man who died on the cross and rose from the death into new life.
Jesus has risen, he lives right here, he lives right now, he lives today! Of course we do celebrate our faith on Easter morning; however we begin this celebration on Holy Thursday and carry it through the Easter Triduum. And we continue to celebrate throughout the year in every Mass, every time we come together to celebrate the holy Eucharist!
Within the liturgy of Good Friday there are signs of Easter! Let’s have a closer look:
We celebrate the passion and death of Christ! We usually listen to the passion story which is filled with brutality until the bitter end, until “darkness came over the whole land….
But we do celebrate life! Life that is not destroyed but is raised to new glory. Then my friends, we venerate the cross, here in good Shepherds the faithful cover the cross with red roses, a sign of spring, a sign of new life: On Good Friday – Easter. Our Easter journey continues with the Easter vigil, which is strongly linked to Good Friday with all its sorrow and death. The Easter candle, per se the symbol of light and life, shows the stigmata of Jesus. During the blessing of the water the risen Christ who is found in this symbol of the Easter candle lowers himself in the depths of the water and transforms it into the water of life. And as day breaks our church becomes filled with the power of the resurrection as the bells once again ring, the sound of music can be heard and all is well, as life blossoms with the promise of spring.
My dear friends, currently we find ourselves living in a very difficult and challenging time. As we celebrate Easter this year, either alone or with our close family members, let us be reminded of this: Even though our life is surrounded by death or the fear of, remember that every death is abolished by the very life we celebrate in these days.
Stay home, stay healthy.
God bless, yours Fr. Urs