What have you been reflecting on today? (Good Friday)

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***In watching the Passion of the Christ today, I noticed that for the past few years of watching this, I tend to sob when it comes to the part where Peter turns on Christ…denying Him three times, (as Jesus told him would happen) Peter in shock and shame, just looks at His Lord, and runs off and falls in front of Mary, telling her he isn’t worthy. (of her comfort as she reaches out to him)

This scene…I think for me, represents in my own life, the times when I have turned my back on Christ, through my sin. Through our sins, we deny Him. It just struck me so very hard, today, and everytime I see that scene. How none of us are worthy.

What did you reflect on today?***
 
DH and I spent most of the day reflecting on how lucky we are to have running water. The well pump broke today at lunch and we had to call the well experts to come out and fix it.

We were expecting to have to replace the dang thing, to the tune of over 1K, but the guys pulled it up and found a broken wire, fixed it and ta-da–at about 10 percent of what we were expecting to pay. A Good Friday miracle. 😃

As I washed the dishes tonight I reflected on how only in the first world would we consider running water a neccessity, but it really does stop the household cold when you don’t have running water, as we found out during the hurricane last fall!
 
I went to my first Good Friday service. See what being unemployed does?? I spend a lot of time in church. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Kathy
 
The service today was beautiful. About and 1 hour and 45 mintues long. I got to reflect a long time on where my life/faith life has gone in the last 8 years since i got confirmed in college. I truly feel blessed and so not worthy.
 
The kids and I prayed the Stations at home today. We observed a few moments of silence at noon and 3 PM. Then we removed all of the crucifixes, religious paintings, statues, etc from the house and put them in a box until Sunday (sort of our version of “stripping the altar”, also reminding us of laying Jesus in the tomb) and the house feels somber, lonely, empty in that sense. We had some good discussion about Barabbas representing each of us, and also how Christ freely gave everything away including his clothing and his Mother. We spent some time thinking about Mary’s sufferings and how we can show our love of Christ by comforting those who are alone and hurting.

That’s what the kiddos and I have been reflecting upon today.
 
SarahR said:
The kids and I prayed the Stations at home today. We observed a few moments of silence at noon and 3 PM. Then we removed all of the crucifixes, religious paintings, statues, etc from the house and put them in a box until Sunday (sort of our version of “stripping the altar”, also reminding us of laying Jesus in the tomb) and the house feels somber, lonely, empty in that sense. We had some good discussion about Barabbas representing each of us, and also how Christ freely gave everything away including his clothing and his Mother. We spent some time thinking about Mary’s sufferings and how we can show our love of Christ by comforting those who are alone and hurting.

That’s what the kiddos and I have been reflecting upon today.
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***We prayed the Rosary together, too…
I really like what you are saying here…I hadn’t thought of that parallel between Barabbas and us. Thanks for sharing…I plan to share that sentiment with my kids!

My son who is 16, still grapples with ‘why did Jesus ‘have’ to go through such torture.’ I explained it, I think it sank in, but he still struggles with that aspect of our faith. I said by Jesus forgiving those who were executing Him, and torturing Him, He makes following Him quite hard. I said it would be easy to follow someone in all things, who took the easy way out…but Jesus doesn’t take any shortcuts to earning salvation for us. He died a most painful death, and on top of it forgives those who are causing the pain? Is it such a head scratcher why fogiveness is one of the hardest things to do? I think he gets it, I just think he wishes Jesus didn’t have to suffer. ***
 
Katie1723 said:
I went to my first Good Friday service. See what being unemployed does?? I spend a lot of time in church. It was a beautiful ceremony.

Kathy
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You’re in my prayers always, Kathy. I am glad you made it to a service today! Blessings come in mysterious ways. :o
 
beckers said:
The service today was beautiful. About and 1 hour and 45 mintues long. I got to reflect a long time on where my life/faith life has gone in the last 8 years since i got confirmed in college. I truly feel blessed and so not worthy.
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Me, too…thanks for sharing, beckers.
 
whatevergirl said:
My son who is 16, still grapples with ‘why did Jesus ‘have’ to go through such torture.’ I explained it, I think it sank in, but he still struggles with that aspect of our faith. I said by Jesus forgiving those who were executing Him, and torturing Him, He makes following Him quite hard. I said it would be easy to follow someone in all things, who took the easy way out…but Jesus doesn’t take any shortcuts to earning salvation for us. He died a most painful death, and on top of it forgives those who are causing the pain? Is it such a head scratcher why fogiveness is one of the hardest things to do? I think he gets it, I just think he wishes Jesus didn’t have to suffer. ***
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Rambling a bit here…I struggled with the question of how could God the Father require such brutality from His own Son. Sin is this destructive, yes, it is this ugly, but it still was an issue for me until the other day. I came across somewhere (maybe it was on this forum?? don’t remember…) where someone explained that Jesus didn’t have to undergo such violence, brutality, torture…but that He did it to best demonstrate to us, in the way we could understand, that God’s love is that great for us, that He holds nothing back from us.
We understand not wanting to die. We understand not wanting to be tortured, humiliated, having lies told about us, exhaustion, being abandoned by our closest friends, having to suffer because of someone else’s wrongdoing even when we are innocent, injustice, ingratitude, feeling abandoned by God… and Jesus is showing us that He, God understands this too. He willingly embraced everything that we are afraid of, that we run away from, to show us the depths of His love for us. We understand running away from this, and here is this Man willingly choosing it to show us His love.

In a nutshell, what helped me was to understand that Jesus didn’t have to, but it was the most demonstrative way to show us, in the way we can understand, that His love holds nothing back from us.

A very faulty analogy, but: a parent who sees their child have to accept chemotherapy and the resulting suffering while cancer ravages their body…if the parent could accept all of the sickness and suffering into their own body (so the child didn’t have to) and cure the child, what parent wouldn’t do that?

I hope this jives with Church teaching, btw! 🙂 Please correct me if it’s wrong!

adding: the kids are getting wild in the background, hope the rambling was semi-coherent! 🙂
 
Thanks for putting this thread up WG.👍 We all went to Stations, it was wonderful to be their with the family. No one has forgotten about no meat today, but the Fasting has not been that easy.😊
 
GratefulDad said:
Thanks for putting this thread up WG.👍 We all went to Stations, it was wonderful to be their with the family. No one has forgotten about no meat today, but the Fasting has not been that easy.😊
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I hate to admit, but I was a bit cranky today…I hardly ate anything…bowl of oatmeal in the am, and a small piece of bread in the afternoon…late dinner. It shows me how much we take food and everyday snacking, etc for granted. Glad you went to stations. 🙂
 
SarahR said:
Rambling a bit here…I struggled with the question of how could God the Father require such brutality from His own Son. Sin is this destructive, yes, it is this ugly, but it still was an issue for me until the other day. I came across somewhere (maybe it was on this forum?? don’t remember…) where someone explained that Jesus didn’t have to undergo such violence, brutality, torture…but that He did it to best demonstrate to us, in the way we could understand, that God’s love is that great for us, that He holds nothing back from us.
We understand not wanting to die. We understand not wanting to be tortured, humiliated, having lies told about us, exhaustion, being abandoned by our closest friends, having to suffer because of someone else’s wrongdoing even when we are innocent, injustice, ingratitude, feeling abandoned by God… and Jesus is showing us that He, God understands this too. He willingly embraced everything that we are afraid of, that we run away from, to show us the depths of His love for us. We understand running away from this, and here is this Man willingly choosing it to show us His love.

In a nutshell, what helped me was to understand that Jesus didn’t have to, but it was the most demonstrative way to show us, in the way we can understand, that His love holds nothing back from us.

A very faulty analogy, but: a parent who sees their child have to accept chemotherapy and the resulting suffering while cancer ravages their body…if the parent could accept all of the sickness and suffering into their own body (so the child didn’t have to) and cure the child, what parent wouldn’t do that?

I hope this jives with Church teaching, btw! 🙂 Please correct me if it’s wrong!

adding: the kids are getting wild in the background, hope the rambling was semi-coherent! 🙂
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***Sarah, no not incoherant…I’m right on the same page with you on this. Thank you for your insights here. ***
 
Thanks for the prayers Sharon. We can always all use them! Hope you and your family have a blessed Easter!

Kathy
 
I work at a nursing home and one of the resident’s daughter came in and did a Christian Good Friday service. It literally brought me to tears at points. She was very good with words and was describing in such detail all the ways Christ showed his love for us, what he was willing to go through, etc. She also sang some songs (wonderful voice). Granted, I am 7 months pregnant so a little emotional and unable to control it. I also left work to go to Mass with my husband who had the day off. It was very nice, although a solemn day for me.
 
I clean for my parish. My son (12) and I did our best to clean without talking. When we went into the church, there was a definate emptiness and sadness I could feel.
 
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