Good Friday in Ss. Peter & Paul’s Parish
|Good Friday
The Passion of Our Lord
The Church will be open for private prayer today from 10.30am to 2pm and from 4pm to 7pm, (for those living within 2km), please practice social distancing if visiting.
The Celebration of the Passion of Our Lord will take place at 3pm, in private, and will be led by Fr. Michael McManus Parish Priest of neighbouring Parish Kiltoom & Cam. Join us on line through our live stream Click here for live stream.
On this Good Friday day of fast and abstinence, the Church gathers in silence as we take up our prayer from the liturgy of Holy Thursday. The silence echoes more profoundly this year,
perhaps, than in any other year in our living memory. Yet in that silence sits our deepest truth. In the Passion, Christ has taken upon himself the sufferings and the sins of our world.
And Christ, and Christ’s love, has prevailed. The liturgy of the day has three key elements: the proclamation of the Passion, the Solemn Intercessions and the Adoration of the Cross.
Scripture tells us
Then they took charge of Jesus, and carrying his own cross he went out of the city to the place of the skull, or, as it was called in Hebrew, Golgotha, where they crucified him with two
others, one on either side with Jesus in the middle … Jesus knew that everything had now been completed, and to fulfil the scripture perfectly he said: ‘I am thirsty.’ A jar full of vinegar stood there, so putting a sponge soaked in vinegar on a hyssop stick they held it up to his mouth. After Jesus had taken the vinegar he said, ‘It is accomplished.’ And bowing his head he gave up the spirit. (John 19:17-30)
Joining us on Line
Deepening our Participation in the Broadcast Celebration
Before the broadcast begins:
• Gather with other members of your household, if you can.
• Place a cross on a table or in a sacred space, if you have one in the home, together with an unlit candle. If you don’t have a cross, you may be able to make a simple cross with something from the garden.
During the broadcast look out for the following:
• The liturgy begins in silence with the minister prostrating before the altar. During this prostration, you may wish to kneel or bow your head in prayerful reverence.
• The Readings of the day present us with stark and profound images, from the suffering servant of Isaiah to the account of Jesus’ passion. St Paul reminds us in the Second Reading that Jesus willingly undertook his suffering for our salvation. ‘Ours were the sufferings he bore, ours the sorrows he carried.’ What are the sufferings and sorrows you wish to bring to him as you listen to God speaking to you in these readings?
• The broadness of the Solemn Intercessions are a powerful reminder that God’s merciful love has no borders or limits. Nothing and no one is beyond the love of God. Unique to this year’s prayers is a particular one in light of Covid-19 Pandemic.
• ‘Behold the wood of the Cross, on which hung the salvation of the world; come let us adore’. This refrain during the Adoration of the Cross invites us to contemplate and adore Christ. The cross points to the Risen Lord. As you share in a broadcast liturgy, you and household members are invited to make a gesture of adoration towards the cross in the home. This might be a bow or a genuflection or other form of adoration. You may wish to hold the cross for a moment of contemplation. After you make your gesture of adoration, light the candle as a reminder that the risen Lord is with us and with our world in this time of trial.
• As you make your Act of Spiritual Communion take some time to welcome Christ’s sacrificial love to enter into your life and into our world at this present time, bringing God’s healing and peace.