PRAYER

My Most Glorious and Suffering Lord, it is Your Hour. It is the Hour by which You conquered sin and death. It is the Hour for which You came into this world, taking on flesh so as to offer Your precious life for the salvation of the world.

May I be with You, dear Lord, in these moments of suffering and death. May I, like Your Mother, John and Mary Magdalene, stand at the foot of the Cross, gazing upon the perfect Gift of Love.

My suffering Lord, may I see in Your Cross the most perfect act ever known in this world. May I see Love in its most pure form. May my eyes and soul look beyond the blood and pain and see Your Divine Heart, pouring forth Mercy upon me and upon the whole world.

Today I kneel in silent adoration of You, my God. I sit quietly, beholding the great mystery of our faith. I behold God, beaten, bruised, mocked, tortured and killed. But in this act, I see all grace and Mercy flowing from Your wounded Heart. Bathe the world in Your Mercy, dear Lord. Cover us with Your grace and draw us to new life through Your death. I love You, dear Lord. I love You with all my heart. Jesus, I trust in You

(Prayer from mycatholic.life)

READING

John 18:1-40

John 19:1-42

REFLECTION

We owe all we have to God. Every good and perfect gift has come from above. On this day, we remember the greatest gift God has ever given to us, God's son Jesus. We will never fully understand what Jesus endured because He experienced something none of us will ever have to: separation from God. Jesus, taking all of our sin, was abandoned by God. Darkness fell across the whole land as God turned from his sin-bearing Son. Christ took our punishment so that we could be saved. This is love. This is grace. As we eat and drink at the Eucharist table each week, may we truly be thankful for this gift.

LENT CHECK IN

Good Friday church services often end in total darkness, leaving worshippers to imagine their lives in the wake of the dark hours after Christ’s crucifixion. While functioning as a family in total darkness might not be practical, there is a way to practice living in darkness: go dark with your technology.

Some ideas for families to consider:

• “Unplug” and Turn off (and put away) all cell phones, tablets, game consoles and computers for a specific and realistic length of time for your family

• Reflect together on how disjointed, disconnected, lost, anxious, helpless or frustrated each family member feels without their devices. On that first Good Friday, many lives were turned upside down by Christ’s death: Mary, Martha, James, John, Peter, Andrew, just to name a few. For these people and the other followers of Christ,

Good Friday was more than just sad. It was a day of feeling anxious, lost, disconnected, frustrated, and helpless.

• Ask questions: How different would our worlds be if the story of God had stopped on Good Friday? What would life be like if grace, mercy, love, and forgiveness were not available to us?

Watch The Gospel of John (available on Netflix and YouTube)

Watch The Passion Live