In a somber Good Friday Liturgy March 29, Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory venerated the cross, commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus and said Christ offers each person an invitation “into His friendship and into an intimate closeness with Him.”
“He knows that friends may often disappoint, but His invitation for intimacy with each of us is always open and always available,” the cardinal said. “We are never far from the friendship that Christ wishes to establish or reestablish with those whom He loves.”
Marking the most solemn day in the liturgical year, Cardinal Gregory was the celebrant and homilist of the Liturgy of the Passion of the Lord held at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington, D.C. Several hundred people attended the liturgy. It was also livestreamed over various Internet platforms, and was followed by more than 300 people from across the United States and as far away as India and Uganda.
During the liturgy, the Passion of Jesus Christ as recounted in the Gospel of John was proclaimed.
“This Gospel narrative provides perhaps the most moving and humanly touching rendition of the drama of the Passion of the Lord,” Cardinal Gregory said. “It is the story of a man’s love for His friends.”
Noting that some followers of Jesus ran away after He was arrested and how Peter denied Christ, Cardinal Gregory said that “Good Friday is a day of truth … and we all need to admit the truth to ourselves that we are not better than the characters in the Gospel.”
The cardinal said that while most people probably believe they would be more faithful to Jesus than those recounted in the Gospel, “we are those who run away from Him, who deny Him, who ridicule Him, who misunderstand and even scorn Him.”
“The Gospel narrative is alive in us and among us now,” Cardinal Gregory said. “We may like to believe that we would make better, more loyal friends (to Jesus), but if we would honestly look at how we live and how often we stray from the Gospel’s directives, from the mandates of our faith ... because of our pettiness, harsh judgements of others, those wicked tongues of ours, and that hardness of hearts, not one of us may dare to suggest we make a better friend to the Lord.”
Despite that, the cardinal promised, Jesus is “a merciful and compassionate friend.”
“The Lord is constantly calling us to conversion and forgiveness no matter how serious the transgression we may have committed,” Cardinal Gregory said. “We Catholics know we can come back to God in the Sacrament of Reconciliation and the expression of sincere sorrow and remorse for our sins.”
Because Good Friday commemorates Jesus’s sacrificial death on the cross, it is traditionally marked by penance, prayer and public veneration of the cross by the faithful. It is a day of total abstinence from meat and also a day of fasting.
Masses are not celebrated in Catholic churches on Good Friday, and the liturgy did not include consecration of the Holy Eucharist. Communion was distributed from hosts consecrated the night before.
As part of the liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Matthew, solemn intercessions were prayed, including petitions for the Church, the pope, priests and ministers, catechumens, for the unity of the Christian faith, for those of the Jewish faith, for those of no faith, for those in public office and other intentions.
Prayers were also offered for the people in the Holy Land, Ukraine, Yemen and other areas of conflict that God would “grant them safety from harm, courage in the face of suffering” and to “banish violence swiftly from the midst of your people … so that we, who trust in your protection, may not fear the weapons of any foe.”
Prior to the veneration of the cross, Cardinal Gregory held aloft a crucifix and processed through the cathedral. Three times he intoned, “Behold the wood of the Cross, on which has hung the salvation of the world.”
The tradition of venerating the cross dates back to the late 4th century when St. Helena, the mother of Emperor Constantine, discovered while on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem a fragment of wood believed to be from Christ’s cross. The faithful came forward to reverence the fragment in a sign of respect, and the tradition continues to this day. At the cathedral, the faithful bowed or genuflected in reverence before the crucifix.
The Good Friday liturgy was preceded at noon by a reflection on the Seven Last Words of Christ by Paulist Father Yao “Jimmy” Hsu along with music sung by members of St. Matthew’s Schola Cantorum.
Keeping with the somber tone of the day, the liturgy ended solemnly with Cardinal Gregory and other participants departing from the altar in reverential silence.
Before departing the cathedral, the cardinal prayed to God that to those who have participated in the liturgy, “may pardon come, comfort be given, holy faith increase and everlasting redemption be made secure.”
The remainder of Cardinal Gregory’s Easter schedule is as follows:
On Holy Saturday March 30, Cardinal Gregory will celebrate a livestreamed Easter Vigil Mass at St. Matthew’s Cathedral at 8 p.m. (https://youtube.com/live/Vsv6e2tMhdU?feature=share)
Then on Easter Sunday March 31, the cardinal will celebrate a livestreamed Mass at the cathedral at 9 a.m. (https://youtube.com/live/fIEvDmNpfaM?feature=share)
Later on Easter Sunday, Cardinal Gregory will celebrate a noon Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that will be televised on the Eternal Word Television Network and livestreamed on the basilica’s YouTube channel that can be linked through the National Shrine’s website at www.nationalshrine.org.
