Good Friday Liturgy Time Change and New Events

The Lord's Passion, 3pm

The liturgy for the Lord's Passion will be celebrated at 3:00pm, the traditional time for this liturgy to be celebrated. Download a new calendar. 

Reconciliation, 1pm-2:30pm

Confessions will be heard from 1pm-2:30pm. Download an updated calendar.

Stations of the Cross with Sung Stabat Mater, 2pm

We are also offering a prayerful and moving Stations of the Cross with a Stabat Mater performed live from the loft at 2:00pm.

Holy Week Liturgies & Info

About Good Friday

Good Friday is the anniversary of Christ’s crucifixion and death. The Gospel of John emphasized this day as the day of preparation for the Passover, with the lambs being slaughtered at noon, the hour in which Pilate presented Jesus to be crucified (Jn 19:14). The strong connection between Jesus and the spotless lamb would have been unmistakable to St. John’s Jewish and early Christian audience.

The Good Friday service usually begins at 3 p.m., the time of Christ’s death. The Gospel is the Lord’s Passion as recorded by St. John. It is important to note that the Good Friday liturgy is not a Mass. Nonetheless, Holy Communion is distributed from the reserved Sacrament of Holy Thursday. Good Friday has several other unique elements, including the solemn intercessions, which include prayers for the unity of all Christians and that the Jewish people and all other non-Christians may come to embrace the fullness of Christ’s truth. One might also recall the manner in which Jesus interceded on our behalf while on the Cross.

This is followed by the Reproaches, in which God addresses His people, asking why we have betrayed Him and remained faithless, despite all His works on our behalf. The Reproaches are sung, and are drawn from both Old and New Testament texts. The response to the Reproaches is a “Trisagion” (Greek for “thrice-holy”): “Holy is God! Holy and strong! Holy immortal One, have mercy on us!”

The Reproaches are sung during the veneration of a crucifix, whose image of Christ’s crucified body makes it a particularly fitting icon on this day. Churches that are privileged to have a sliver of the True Cross display it and allow the assembly to come forward and venerate it according to personal piety. This tradition is very ancient — in fact, there is a story from the early Church of someone coming forward to kiss a sizable portion of the True Cross, but instead biting a large chunk out in an attempt to steal a piece of this incomparable relic.

It is a fairly universal practice to observe the Stations of the Cross in the evening on Good Friday. The stations are also prayed on Fridays throughout Lent, and can actually be done on any Friday during the year. But the Good Friday Stations have a certain primacy for obvious reasons. In Jerusalem, Christ’s Way of the Cross is followed along its original path, called the “Via Dolorosa” (“Way of Suffering”) or the “Via Crucis” (“Way of the Cross”). In Rome, where pilgrimage to the historical sites was not possible, there are traditional “stational churches” that are meant to be visited — one on each day of Lent. In addition, many landmarks and relics were actually moved from Jerusalem to Rome, to facilitate devotion. An example is the “Scala Sancta” (“the Holy Stairs”), which are recognized as the steps Jesus stood on while at trial before Pilate, and which were brought to Rome from Jerusalem by St. Helena in the fourth century. Now found at the Lateran Palace, it is a common devotional practice for pilgrims even today to ascend the stairs on their knees and in prayer.

Our practice of placing 14 Stations of the Cross in our churches is a sort of combination of how devotion developed in Jerusalem and Rome. We walk from station to station as a type of pilgrimage, engaging in a deep and personal reflection on the sufferings of Christ.

When contemplating Good Friday, it is true that Christ’s death is an event of unparalleled tragedy and sorrow. However, the Son’s death on the cross is also His exaltation on the cross. In a very real sense, the cross is Christ’s throne, from which God has triumphed over sin. The remainder of the Triduum unveils the full reason for our joy.

By Brian MacMichael, Today's Catholic, 2011