This is one of the greatest events that has happened in the universe: that Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of the living God would be crucified & killed by the powers of the world and the demonic. This is an event that will not pass away into history but will endure forever in the risen Lord.
That is why Good Friday is among the most important days in the liturgical year. It is the source of our most significant act of worship: The Sacrifice of the Mass—the sacramental representation of Calvary that Jesus promised in Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel and instituted it at the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, the night prior to His crucifixion.
For over two thousand years the Holy Spirit has been guiding the Church into a deeper insight of the beauty and truth of that action which expresses the purpose of our existence. And that is an existence based of the belief, the celebrating, and the living of the Holy Mass, that is the death of Christ.
This can only be done by a deep participation in the sacramental action of the Mass. This time spent with Christ is a prayer that is personal and social. This is why the Church requires us to celebrate the Mass every Sunday. This Holy Sacrifice is celebrated every day of the year except on Good Friday, an excellent example of emphasizing the reality of our weekly celebration.
This brings us to another aspect of our discipleship; Jesus calls us to follow Him, to take up our cross and follow Him, to share in His Passion. Now we come to the existential significance of this article: that we might live out, within our lives, our catholic lives, a trial mirroring the Passion of our Lord. That union with Jesus’ suffering must be central in our spiritual lives. Against a darkening historical backdrop, the would-be Catholics of today must be ready to accept and embrace—in love, through prayer, especially the daily Mass and time before the Tabernacle—a mysterious imitation of Jesus’ own last week in their own lives. Jesus invites us to take up our daily cross and follow Him.
Fr. David DeLuca, MSC
