Good Friday

GOOD FRIDAY MORNING

1) Repentance for Complicity in Christ's Betrayal (approx. 60 min) Read Lk. 22:39 through Lk. 23:26, but only after asking the Holy Spirit to answer these questions in the course of your reading:
1. In what way am I an accomplice in the betrayal and execution of the Lord?
2. Whom in the gospel narrative do I most resemble: the disciples asleep in the garden? the cowardly Peter? the irresponsible Pilate? someone else?
3. Write down the answers in your journal, if you keep one.
In response to the Spirit's prompting:
1. Pray a prayer repenting of the particular sins in your life that have made you an accomplice in the Lord's betrayal and execution.
2. Confidently ask the Lord to help you to root these sins out of your life.
3. Engage in any spiritual warfare necessary to dislodge the Enemy from the area of your life under consideration.
4. Finally, seal this process by a slow, prayerful reading of Psalm 51. You might even feel led to memorize a portion of it.

2) Putting on the Mind of Christ (approx. 30 min.)
Now that we have cast off the "mind" of darkness, we can put on "the mind of Christ."
1. Read Phil. 2:5-11 and consider how Jesus' humble self-offering on the cross was the perfect manifestation of his "mind."
2. Read Phil. 2:1-5, 14-15 and see how St. Paul commands us to have the same mind as the Lord.
3. Ask the Lord what particular characteristics of his mind he wishes to impart to you in a new way during these special days: humility? obedience? a new degree of service love? some other? Ask Him to show you how this is to be worked out concretely and practically in the present circumstances of your life. Write in your journal whatever the Lord tells you.
4. Say yes to what He wants to do in you and ask Him to make it happen by the power of His Spirit.
5. Use Psalm 116, one of the "Hallel" Psalms prayed by Jesus at the Last Supper, to express your gratitude to the Lord for freeing you from sin through his death and for bestowing upon you his mind.

GOOD FRIDAY AFTERNOON

The most solemn time of the whole Christian year is from noon to 3:00 PM on Good Friday since that was the time of the Lord's agony on the cross according to the Gospel of John. During this time, we should strive to honor the death of the Lord in the most personal and heartfelt way possible.
1. Meditate slowly and deeply upon Isaiah 52:13 through Is. 53:13. This is the song of the Suffering Servant.
2. Read Zech. 12:10 and respond with silent prayer of mourning and adoration. You may want to make use of "the Jesus Prayer" which consists of the following petition repeated over and over: "Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
3. In Jesus' time, the way to refer to a Psalm was not by its number but by its first line. Jesus' cry from the cross, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me," is the first line of Ps. 22. Read the entire Psalm slowly as if the whole thing were Jesus' prayer from the cross.
4. Meditate on Hebrews 9:11-28. This scripture relates how Christ the High Priest, by the shedding of his own blood, enters the sanctuary once and for all.
5. Read the selections from Melito and Ephrem. Use the thanksgiving prayer on the same sheet to help you express gratitude for what the Lord did for us through his suffering and death.