Good Friday, the Defeat of Satan and of Sin
As usual for a Good Friday, today was beautiful. I woke up a little later than I had wanted, around 9:30 or so, and prayed the Office of the Readings. The Psalms were such great Passion Psalms, Psalms 2, 22, and 38. The Scripture reading was from Hebrews 9:11-28, talking about the new covenant established in His blood. And the Patristic reading was from Saint John Chrysostum, discussing the blessing of the water and blood poured forth from the side of Christ, the waters of baptism and the blood of the Holy Eucharist - from the side of Christ flowed the very life of the Church. I then made my way to the church and prayed morning prayer there. From noon till three the toll bells rang. It was somber and still, silencing my spirit and awakening me to this mystery of the crucifixion. Finally at 3:00 our Good Friday Liturgy began. The readings for the day were Is 52:13-53:12, Ps 31:2,6,12-13,15-16,17,25, Heb 4:14-16, 5:7-9, and the Passion Narrative from John 18:1-19:42. We had our full choir with our beautiful pipe organ, and the singing of the Psalm was particularly beautiful. During the first reading I was surprised at how new this reading always remains to me no matter how many times I hear it proclaimed. So many centuries before Christ and the Gospel of Christ's suffering is already being proclaimed. It is easy for me to understand how Jews today continue to be converted to the Gospel because of their own familiarity with the prophets. Readings like this one from Isaiah make it very difficult not to see Christ in them.
The Passion narrative, like it is done on Palm Sunday, is performed rather than simply proclaimed by a priest or deacon, and entails participation by the congregation as well as the priests, deacons, and lectors. I have to be honest, when reading aloud the parts, "We have no king but Ceasar," I was really struggling not to bust out into Jesus Christ Superstar. And when they read Pilate's line, "What is truth?" I was really waiting for him to follow with, "Is mine the same as yours?" But I digress.
We have a new pastor at our church and he is such a tremendous blessing. It is so refreshing to hear a priest truly speak about the reality of sin, about the reality of Satan, and thus truly proclaim the reality of Christ's victory. I was recently re-reading Fr. Gabriel Amorth's excellent book, An Exorcist Tells His Story, and in it he makes the great point that when we deny the reality of Satan and the demonic, when we just pretend that Satan is really just a metaphor for evil, and all sorts of other similar heresies, we are really denying the magnitude of Christ's death and resurrection - in other words, we are denying the true magnitude of salvation. Our new pastor gets this, and so he talked about sin, he talked about Satan, and he preached the victory that was won over them today on the Cross. It was also nice to hear a priest preach about indulgences from the pulpit, because indulgences simply highlight the reality of sin. Anyway, the homily was excellent.
After the homily we have the traditional Good Friday prayers of the faithful, which I always love. These General Intercessions of Good Friday are an ancient tradition of the Church, where we pray 10 special petitions, for the Church, for the Pope, for the clergy and the laity, for those preparing for baptism, for the unity of Christians, for the Jewish people, for those who do not believe in Christ, for those who do not believe in God, for those in public office, and for those in special need. The congregation is invited to kneel in silent prayer after each petition, and then upon rising again the priest prays a special prayer.
Next is the veneration of the Cross, where the faithful are invited up to a beautiful crucifix and invited to venerate the Cross in some way, usually by kissing Christ's feet or sometimes the wound in his side. This is the most moving part of the Liturgy, and it is not uncommon to see people moved to tears. My father was serving at Mass tonight (he is in the deaconate formation), and he told me that he himself filled up when I came up to venerate, my mother, and a few other people did. I was one of the first to go up as I was sitting near the front, and so I had a long time in silent meditation and prayer, and during this time I could not help but cry. To think about how great a sinner I am, and how I continue to betray Christ and crucify Him anew daily, and to know that He keeps loving me and continues to forgive me, this reality is very heavy indeed.
The heaviness is immediately lifted, of course, directly after the veneration, when we together pray the Lord's Prayer, and then receive His very Body in the Holy Eucharist. Thus the reality of the liberation of the Cross is made manifest, and the righteousness of Christ is indeed imparted to me. May he always be praised. Lord, we venerate your Cross and we give praise and glory to your holy resurrection. Through the wood of the cross joy has come to the whole world.
Thus concluded my Good Friday. I had planned on going to the Stations of the Cross at seven with my father, but I fell asleep. So I've spent the rest of the evening in prayer and doing some reading. Tomorrow I will be attending my favorite Mass of the year, the Easter Vigil, this time in the Extraordinary Form at Mater Ecclesiae in Berlin, New Jersey. I hope all are having a blessed and holy Triduum so far. May the abundant blessings and graces of this time fill us all with the liberation and joy of Christ. He has died for us, and with Him so too has sin been put to death, and Satan defeated once and for all. The time of great rejoicing is indeed at hand.