Good Friday

[OLHope]

It is at the midnight mark here in the midwest, and so will begin my 24-hour mandatory fast, as assigned by our by laws, we do the two regular size meals, as much water as needed, but we lock in the time from beginning to ending. Some people just do one large meal. Abstain from intimate relations. NO MEAT, I made an ooopsie on this one year, and my mother still never let’s me live it down, even if is was not on purpose.

Ironically, every year we would have a very rainy day planned. Somehow it will be that or overcast, let’s see what the heavens make of it. Lastly, no masses are done on this day, however many parishes will have a service at 3:00pm the hour of our Lord’s death. I went to a service so nice once with sad trumpets that I literally broke down in saddened anguish over it and the ability to relive the sorrowful mysteries as it blazed.

We all will experience some depths of despair and depression in our lifetime, use this day as a solemn reflection on the greatest sacrifice ever made unto us!

 

[ohioszo]

Morning Prayer at 9 AM. There will be an Ecumenical march, with cross, in my town, from one charity to another; noon. Passion Celebration at 1:30 PM. Stations of the Cross at 3 and 7 PMs.

 

[OLHope]

Morning Prayer at 9 AM. There will be an Ecumenical march, with cross, in my town, from one charity to another; noon. Passion Celebration at 1:30 PM. Stations of the Cross at 3 and 7 PMs.

Nice. Thanks for sharing your traditions in your town. We also happen to have many re-enactments and processions here as well. Anyone else have different events they do to commemorate Good Friday?

 

[maria2334]

My parish has Stations, followed by the Liturgy at 3pm. After that, there is a short procession with a statue of Our Lord’s body, carried by the servers. One of the young girls is chosen to be the Sorrowful Mother and she walks very close to the statue dressed as Our Lady and carring a crown of thorns and nails. The servers give short speeches on the seven last words or some stations, or some other appropriate theme, and are always very good. After that, the statue is placed in the narthex and guarded by servers until midnight.

 

[OLHope]

My parish has Stations, followed by the Liturgy at 3pm. After that, there is a short procession with a statue of Our Lord’s body, carried by the servers. One of the young girls is chosen to be the Sorrowful Mother and she walks very close to the statue dressed as Our Lady and carring a crown of thorns and nails. The servers give short speeches on the seven last words or some stations, or some other appropriate theme, and are always very good. After that, the statue is placed in the narthex and guarded by servers until midnight.

Sounds quite solemn and somber…I am sure it is quite well put together and a touching way to reflect on the day.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

I had planned to go to the Living Stations of the Cross at 3pm, but the silence of the day drew me in and I fell asleep. I plan to go to the Passion of Our Lord service at 7:30pm at the Church I went to last night for Holy Thursday. I’ve never been. My mom wants to go to the Living Stations at our regular Church, but I think the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified is much more important. I’m going to say the Stations of the Cross here at home and watch “The Passion of the Christ” again (I watched it last night even though I was dead tired).

 

[Holy_Anneliese]

We just got back from our Church. We had TL service from 12-3 (although it went quickly this year and actually ended at like 2:15-30) during which the Passion according to John is read aloud by three Priests, each one taking a different part (Narrator, Jesus, Other Voices) and then we had veneration of the Cross and Holy Communion.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

This new experience for me was so beautiful! I just returned from a lengthy (I’m not complaining at all) service in the OF. It lasted 2 hours and 15 min. It was unforgettable! The priests walked in quietly with the deacons and altar servers. They read the readings (the first in English, the second in Spanish), then the Gospel (someone in the choir narrated, the celebrating priest spoke the words of Jesus, the deacon did the other important voices like Peter and Pilate, and someone else in the choir did the minor roles). Then we did the long prayers and intercessions. After which, we stood and kneeled interchangeably while the deacon, altar servers and some laymen processed in with the wooden cross. I went up with the rest of the congregation to kiss the cross, which was a very spiritual experience for me. Afterwards, the cross was laid down in front of the altar with the procession candles and the main altar server (the Religious Education Director) and the deacon prepared the altar with very small clothes and retrieved the pre-consecrated Eucharist from the Altar of Repose. Everyone received the Eucharist, and the leftover hosts were replaced in the Altar of Repose. The priest said the concluding prayer and asked that the faithful leave in silence as if we were keeping quiet watch at the tomb of Jesus until Easter Vigil.

If you’ve never attended, you must go next year. It was worthy of comment.

 

[jwatza]

We had stations of the cross at noon, followed by the liturgy of the word, veneration of the cross, then Holy Communion. After the regular service, our priest led us in the first day of the Divine Mercy Novena which was sung by the choir. From 3:00-6:00pm our parish had a Shroud of Turin display available for anyone interested. It was a wonderful way to spend Good Friday.

 

[OLHope]

This new experience for me was so beautiful! I just returned from a lengthy (I’m not complaining at all) service in the OF. It lasted 2 hours and 15 min. It was unforgettable! The priests walked in quietly with the deacons and altar servers. They read the readings (the first in English, the second in Spanish), then the Gospel (someone in the choir narrated, the celebrating priest spoke the words of Jesus, the deacon did the other important voices like Peter and Pilate, and someone else in the choir did the minor roles). Then we did the long prayers and intercessions. After which, we stood and kneeled interchangeably while the deacon, altar servers and some laymen processed in with the wooden cross. I went up with the rest of the congregation to kiss the cross, which was a very spiritual experience for me. Afterwards, the cross was laid down in front of the altar with the procession candles and the main altar server (the Religious Education Director) and the deacon prepared the altar with very small clothes and retrieved the pre-consecrated Eucharist from the Altar of Repose. Everyone received the Eucharist, and the leftover hosts were replaced in the Altar of Repose. The priest said the concluding prayer and asked that the faithful leave in silence as if we were keeping quiet watch at the tomb of Jesus until Easter Vigil.

If you’ve never attended, you must go next year. It was worthy of comment.

Definitely! We kissed the cross, too. 7:30 Service, then re-enactment procession afterward.

 

[Rawb]

Our Parish joins with an Orthodox Parish in the city and four other ecclesiastical communities for an ecumenical walk from my parish to a theater downtown. It’s a three-quarter of a mile walk, and big cross is carried at the front of it by my parish’s youth group. There are a couple hundred people probably, and we sing “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom” the whole time. (I saw one woman going barefoot. It’s also kind of funny because at the starting prayer the leader said “In the name of the Father, and of the Son…” and the Catholics crossed themselves left to right, the Armenians right to left, the Presbyterians bowed their heads, and the non-denoms looked confused for a moment).

At the theater we have an ecumenical service with prayers, hymns, and sermons from our different ministers/priests/pastors.

After that I walked back to the Church and made it in time for the Good Friday Liturgy. The priests entered in silence and we had the readings and veneration of the Cross. I’ve never done that before, but it was beautiful. We finished with Holy Communion…adding it up I was at Church for four hours today.

There were Solemn Stations of the Cross tonight, but I fell asleep when I got home, so I didn’t go. I’m looking forward to Easter Vigil tomorrow.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

I’m looking forward to Easter Vigil tomorrow.

You and me both. I’ve not been to an Easter Vigil since I was a small child, so I don’t remember that much. This year, I’m certain, will be unforgettable! I’m going to Easter Vigil tomorrow night, and then I serve as EMHC at the Easter Mass at my regular Church at 11:30am. I can’t wait for the Vigil!

 

[Chatter163]

It is at the midnight mark here in the midwest, and so will begin my 24-hour mandatory fast, as assigned by our by laws, we do the two regular size meals, as much water as needed, but we lock in the time from beginning to ending.

Actually, canon law says that there is to be one meal and two smaller meals, called collations, that together do not add up to one full meal. There is no provision for “two regular size meals.”

 

[Joyful_1]

I had planned to go to the Living Stations of the Cross at 3pm, but the silence of the day drew me in and I fell asleep. I plan to go to the Passion of Our Lord service at 7:30pm at the Church I went to last night for Holy Thursday. I’ve never been. My mom wants to go to the Living Stations at our regular Church, but I think the Mass of the Pre-Sanctified is much more important. I’m going to say the Stations of the Cross here at home and watch “The Passion of the Christ” again (I watched it last night even though I was dead tired).

I wanted to watch “The Passion of the Christ” at least once this Lent, but I never was able to. The dillema is that my mom refuses to watch it because of the violence so I have to pick a time when there is no one else in the house for several hours and the only time that happens is on Sundays. I’m very disappointed. I wanted to watch it this afternoon after we got home from Church, but mom took a nap in the one room we have for watching movies.

I haven’t watched “The Passion” since Palm Sunday two years ago which was right before I entered the Church. You would think it would be disturbing on the obvious level, but it was especially disturbing for me because I didn’t cry! It was really a horrible thing to be sitting there watching that perfectly dry eyed. I thought I would be a basket-case! To this day I don’t know why that happened and I haven’t watched the movie since. I was praying that the next time I would be able to cry, but so far there has been no next time.

 

[yinekka]

A ‘G’ rated version of the Passion was made and should be available in the USA. Unfortunately it didn’t make it to Australia.

 

[CarmeliteGirl25]

A ‘G’ rated version of the Passion was made and should be available in the USA. Unfortunately it didn’t make it to Australia.

I’ve tried to find “The Passion Recut”, but my attempts have been unsuccessful. My mom wants to see it, because she’s never seen the movie before. I’ve got the full version in widescreen, but she said she wants to start out with the non-gory movie.

 

[CradleCath]

Nice. Thanks for sharing your traditions in your town. We also happen to have many re-enactments and processions here as well. Anyone else have different events they do to commemorate Good Friday?

I just returned home from our Good Friday services. They were very traditional & celebrated by our own pastor & the newly ordained priest who came from our parish. On Good Friday, the entire Church fixes her gaze on the Cross at Calvary. Each member of tries to understand at what cost Christ has won our redemption. In the solemn ceremonies of Good Friday, in the Adoration of the Cross, in the chanting of the prayers for the Church & the entire world, in the reading of the Passion, and in receiving the pre-consecrated Host, we united with all of humanity in sorrow for the crucified Christ & the part we played in his suffering.

After that, was Confession. The longest line I’ve ever seen, especially since our congregation is relatively small. I waited in line a full hour & there were still people waiting when I left. It was a beautiful service & I thank God that I found this new parish.

 

[curious_1_1]

My husband and son and I went to evening services for Good Friday tonight.

Hubby had to take son home about half way through (I think my 3 y.o. son might be coming down with a cold, so he wasn’t behaving as well as usual).

Despite little one being a disruption, it was a beautiful service (my first one in Catholic church ever).

Depending on how things go tomorrow around the home, I may check out Vigil services tomorrow night. If I am to join an RCIA class this fall, I’d kinda like to see what happens when you…um…“graduate” (sorry, I don’t know the right term).

Sunday will be with my mom

 

[Rawb]

Depending on how things go tomorrow around the home, I may check out Vigil services tomorrow night. If I am to join an RCIA class this fall, I’d kinda like to see what happens when you…um…“graduate” (sorry, I don’t know the right term)

Oh, you should go! It’s an amazing service. The Litany of the Saints is beautiful, and the symbolism of the Easter Candle, and then all the Candidates being Confirmed and Baptized, the whole thing is really beautiful.

I’ll pray for your son tonight! Hope you can go tomorrow.

 

[goforgoal]

CarmeliteGirl25 and anyone- Don’t feel so bad. I missed the “Way of the Cross” this morning 10:00 a.m. I slept in.

However, the previous night I did attend Mass on Maundy Thursday. My mom even had her foot washed

Well, I have to admit I was on here that is CAF until late. I (sometimes) don’t get a chance to come online until late…I was reading well actually Praying and I went on to YouTube to sing and say a few Prayers.

I am also reading “The Blessed Virgin: Her life and Her role in our lives” by Rev. Clifford Stevens and get this it is dedicated to the Carmelite Sisters in Santa Fe.

I also Prayed the Rosary. I usually listen to a Rosary on CD I got from our Parish garage sale it’s called “Mother of Mercy a Rosary for Healing” with Father Kevin Scallon and Dana. It doesn’t have the “Luminous Mysteries” though. However, I’ve been Praying the Sorrowful Mysteries throughout Lent.

I know there is no excuse and I truly do feel bad about it

Anyways, on to the question. I did Pray the Way of the Cross at home, I went to Church at 1:30 p.m.- The Seven Last Words Reflection and 3:00 p.m.-Passion of Our Lord.

Yes, it was a long service (no I’m not complaining). Our Parish Priest was dressed in black and red vestments. We were in silence as our Parish Priest and the altar servers entered, the Priest prostrated himself as we kneeled. He said the opening Prayer and we listened to the scriptures. The Passion was narrated. Then the Cross ( a relic of the true cross) was brought in by our Priest and two other men. They all raised the Cross three times. It was placed in front so all can venerate, bow, kneel, and kiss the cross. I kneeled, hugged, and kissed the Cross.

How wonderful for Him to give up His life on Calvary for me, for all of us.

Praised Be Jesus Christ