The Passover of Our Lord Jesus Christ

the reserved sacrament.

who was more than a man. It is this Jesus, the God-Man, who gives us the courage to carry our cross, as it consists of all our worries and personal problems, our troubling family secrets and sense of emptiness which we’ve managed to keep to ourselves, eclipsed from those who surround us. But we can’t keep secrets from God. No matter how hard we pretend that everything is okay—God knows what’s really going on.

In the second part of the liturgy, we venerate the Cross. In the fifth century, St. Cyril of Jerusalem encouraged veneration of the relic of the true Cross which had been discovered by St. Helena in the third century. In time, relics of the true Cross were obtained by many faith communities throughout Christendom. Since most of us do not have access to relics of the true Cross, there evolved the practice of venerating the Crucifix. It’s a custom that the Church observes only on Good Friday.

The third part of the day’s liturgy is Communion from the sacrament that has already been consecrated. This goes back to the fact that in the early Church, when no Mass was celebrated on weekdays, people received Communion from

Of all the liturgies celebrated by the Church throughout the year, what we do on Good Friday comes the closest to what it would be like to worship as Christians in antiquity.

At the heart of what we do today and every day stands the once-forall sacrifice of expiation, the life-line of the Church from which all grace flows: the sacrifice of Calvary. And what makes this Cross so meaningful, so victorious over sin and death is not the wood but the man on the wood,

Since nothing is kept hidden from the God who mournfully watched, as his only Son suffered and died for us, but who, three days later, had the last word which, in retrospect, transformed a bad Friday into a Good Friday, then why not let God into our hearts? Why not ask God to take away the pain which weighs on us like the beam which straddled the shoulders of Jesus? If God can take something horrific, like the execution of his Son, and make it the vehicle of our salvation, then God can surely help us. Why? God loves us. He knows when we are on the brink of giving up, moving on, ending it all. Don’t give up! Don’t give in! Give it over, to God! That’s what Jesus did! And we all know what happened next!

Father Comandini is managing editor of “The Catholic Spirit.”