Good Friday Lenten Reflection

Please read the gospel for the day, John 18:1-19:42

Today the Lord will be crucified. Jesus will die. In the Gospel of John today we read the story of Jesus’s betrayal, His interrogations by the Caiaphas and Pilate, and His crucifixion and death on the cross. This a unique short period of time for the church, and especially for those disciples in the moment, where we embrace a somber attitude. It's unique because every Sunday is a recelebration of the resurrection of Jesus and throughout the year, we celebrate how Jesus conquered death. But in these couple of days, we act as if He is truly dead. We embrace the disciples’ sorrow and confusion of seeing Jesus taken and put to death. Having followed Christ for three years, seen many miracles, and come to love Him deeply, they must have had terrible pain and confusion at seeing Him dead. Live today well by entering into that sorrow. Celebrating Easter Sunday and the resurrection of Jesus will be more joyous the more we embrace Good Friday. Jesus must die before He is resurrected. 

So I encourage you to embrace His death in a couple of ways. Give large amounts of time to prayer today, meditating on the crucifixion of Jesus. Jesus died around 3 in the afternoon, the hour of mercy, so make that a time of prayer as well. Enter into fasting as well as a sign of sorrow. I highly recommend practicing silence today. Take away noise, music, and unnecessary conversation to embrace a somber attitude and dive deeper into prayer. Prepare for His resurrection by respecting what it cost and remember that we put Him on the cross. Be sorrowful today but be hopeful for Christ has a plan and everything He did was to fulfill the scriptures. He died to save us, and He comes back to be with you.

 Imagine yourself at the foot of the cross while Jesus is being crucified. What do you say? What does He say?

My name is Nick Farmer, and I am a first-year missionary with Catholic Hoos. I graduated from George Mason last year with a degree in Civil Engineering. I’m from Sterling Virginia. One of my favorite saints is Isaac Jogues. He was a French Jesuit priest that set out to evangelize the Iroquois Native Americans in the 1600s. After being captured by some Mohawk Native Americans he was tortured for a year in which they cut off all his fingers. He was released and returned to France, but after deep prayer realized his place was still in the New World, so he returned to those Iroquois and those Mohawks who then killed him. He is part of the group of Canadian Martyrs or North American Martyrs.  I like to play golf and frisbee golf.