The time between 12pm-3pm on Good Friday is a time of sacred silence. Usually, we would be able to go to a Good Friday service and receive the Eucharist, but that isn’t happening this year because of COVID-19.
I wanted to put something together for myself and for my students to meditate on during this period. Christ spoke seven phrases from the Cross and it is a good thing to remember and meditate on them. So below, I’ve listed them along with prayers I think accompany them well.
Here is a pdf link if you want to print it out.
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. (Lk 23:34)
The first words from Christ’s mouth on the Cross show us the man He is. He forgives His persecutors because they don’t know the gravity of what they are doing. The soldiers are so warped by constantly inflicting death, they don’t know. Most don’t realize that He is God. Even though they will in three short hours. In prayer today, realize you can commit sin without thinking. If we want to be forgiven of that sin, we need to forgive others when they do the same to us.
Examine the events of the past week.
Did you hurt anyone unintentionally?
Did anyone unintentionally hurt you?
Forgive and (if you can) ask for forgiveness during these hours.
Today, you will be with me in Paradise. (Lk 23:43)
St. Augustine said, “One criminal was saved, do not despair. One criminal was not, do not presume.” In the two criminals, we have two sinners’ responses to Christ. One selfishly asks to be spared death. The other humbly asks Christ to remember him. We should also remember our sins we’ve intentionally committed, and entrust them to the mercy of God.
Examine your conscience.
Where have you sinned in your thoughts? In your words? In your actions? In failing to act?
Say the Act of Contrition.
My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? (Mt 27:46, Ps 22:1)
Christ is referencing Psalm 22. Every Jew recited the psalms regularly, so they would have finished the psalm in their heads. The psalm tells of David being mocked and beaten, but it ends with hope for the glory that will come. By these words, Christ is willingly experiencing the human emotion of abandonment but giving hope for rescue in the midst of it.
Read Psalm 22
What word or phrase sticks out to you?
What is God trying to tell you through those words?
Woman, behold your son. Son behold your mother. (Jn 19:26-27)
Mary’s presence at the foot of the Cross was no accident. It was necessary. Her presence was a reminder of His purpose: that the whole world should be without sin, just like her. In John’s Gospel, John calls himself “the beloved disciple” so we can put ourselves in his place. Christ says, “behold your mother” to all of us because He knows we need a spiritual mom.
Pray a Hail Mary slowly.
Ask Mary to bring you closer to her Son.
I thirst (Jn 19:28)
John records Christ’s thirst. He also records Christ weeping. Our Lord did not exempt Himself from any human experience, even death. Mother Theresa points out that Christ’s thirst here is not for water. It is for us. Christ desires nothing more than our love and devotion. He put Himself through a horrendous death just so we could spend eternity with Him. You wouldn’t be the first if you wonder: why did Christ choose this? Christ answered that question here: “I thirst.”
If you fasted today, how did that hunger affect your desire for food?
Do you desire Christ the same way?
It is finished. (Jn 19:30)
In between the last phrase and this one, Jesus is given a sponge soaked in vinegar on a hyssop branch. In the Passover in Exodus 12:22, hyssop is used to sprinkle the lamb’s blood on the doorpost. When Jesus says, “It is finished” he means the Passover has been fulfilled. From now on, His disciples will celebrate a heavenly Passover. The Israelites consumed an earthly lamb for earthly freedom. We consume an eternal lamb for eternal freedom
What word or phrase sticks out to you?
What is God trying to tell you through those words?
Father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. (Lk 23:46)
The Lord cast a great sleep on Adam and from his side took a rib and fashioned it into Eve (Genesis 2:21-22). That man’s disobedience caused sin to enter the world, but here on Calvary, the New Adam’s obedience brought life back into it. The Lord allowed the New Adam to fall asleep and from His side blood and water poured. The Church, the Bride of Christ, is formed not from dry bones, but from the living water of Baptism and the Blood of Christ. O Blood and Water which gushed forth from the Heart of Christ as a fountain of mercy for us, I trust in you.
Pray a Divine Mercy Chaplet.
Sit in silence for a moment.