'Good Friday' Prepares Us For 'Easter'

Fr Paul Lelen Haokip *

Inmates of Children Church impress with their well prepared play of the crucifixion of Lord Jesus Christ on April 22 2012 :: Pix - TSE

Change is the welcome note to every ear. The feeling of dryness is giving way to an atmosphere of newness with the onset of Spring Season. The spring celebrations like Yaoshang, Cheiraoba, Easter, etc are feted to extol life in all its forms. Merely participating in the Lord's Supper/Washing of the Feet or your picture taken while you humbly wash someone's feet is not the crux of the Holy Week/Paschal celebration.

Sometimes it surprises me to realize that we call only one week of the year as "HOLY" while the rest have no specific names. Ultimately, Holy Week, Washing of the Feet and Good Friday etc are actually the alpha and omega of life. There is no pointed end in themselves.

HISTORY OF THE 'WAY OF THE CROSS'

"If anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me" (Lk 9:23). Good Friday means following the Way of the Cross Jesus walked more than 2000 years before. So strictly speaking, one can't celebrate a Good Friday without knowing the story of the Way of the Cross and devoutly following the same. Here is an abridged form of the history of the Way of the Cross.

Since earliest times, Christians living outside Palestine longed to visit the country where Jesus was born and lived, in particular, Jerusalem, where he suffered and died. If GOOD FRIDAY precedes EASTER, then we are remembering the ordeal of Jesus for sinful humanity. Good Friday can be universally celebrated because John 3:16 reads " For God so loved the WORLD that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life." This verse 'includes everyone' and 'excludes no one'.

For Christians, Palestine had always been "The Holy Land" and places like Bethlehem where he was born, Nazareth where he grew up, Capernaum – the centre of his public preaching, Mount Tabor where he was transfigured, the Upper Room in Jerusalem where he ate the Last Supper and instituted the Eucharist, Gethsemane where he sweated blood, Calvary where he died, the tomb closeby where he was buried and from which he rose from the dead, the Mount of Olives from where he ascended into Heaven, all of these and others came to be called "The Holy Places" dear to every Christian.

Journey in ancient times were far more difficult and risky than they are today, and few people could afford going on pilgrimage all the way to Palestine; yet we do have accounts of some people who went there, like that of Etheria, a pious and daring Spanish Lady, who visited the Holy Places less than 400 years after Jesus was born.

It is from her account of the journey that we came to know many details about the life and worship of the Christian communities then living in Palestine, of how the Holy Week, Easter and other religious festivals were celebrated in Jerusalem at the time.

To visit the Holy Land became still more difficult when the Moslems overrun the country in 638 A.D. Centuries later, Christian Kings from Europe sent military expeditions to rescue the Holy Land from the hands of the Moslems. Those expeditions were called "Crusades" and the soldiers taking part in them, "Crusaders". They painted their shields and iron battle-dress with the sign of the Cross.

The crusaders succeeded in conquering parts of the Holy Land and the Pope sent in the Franciscans, an order of monks founded by St. Francis of Assisi some years earlier to take care of the various shrines that had been erected in the Holy Places mentioned above. But the crusaders did not manage to hold on to their conquests for long; soon the Moslems regained control of most of the country. Today, Palestine is the home of three world religions – Islam, Christianity and Judaism.

On coming back home, the crusaders narrated what they had seen. Their narrations moved the hearts of Christians in Europe to devotions to the Passion, the Suffering and Death of Jesus Christ. This devotion to Jesus' Passion fostered in particular by the Franciscans, spread rapidly throughout the world.

As a way to help people recall to mind Jesus' sufferings, various scenes of his Passion were represented in churches or in small shrines out in the open. These were called "Stations" (=stops), for the people to go from one to another, stopping at each for meditation and personalization of one's beliefs.

The number of "stations" varied from place to place but soon the number was limited to 12, the last station representing the death of Jesus. Later on, two more stations representing the taking down of the body of Jesus from the cross and his burial were added, bringing the total number of stations to 14, as we commonly have them now. If you have not noticed, next time when you visit the Cathedral at Mantripukhri, you may count the various Stations of the Cross around the big church.

Nine out of the 14 stations are referred to in the Gospels: 1st – Jn 19:16, 2nd– Jn 19:17, 5th – Mt 27:32, Mk 15:21, Lk 23:26, 8th – Lk 23:27-31, 10th & 11th – Mt 27:35-36, Mk 15:24-25, Lk 23:33, Jn 19:23-24, 12th – Mt 27: 50, Mk 15:37, Lk 23:46, Jn 19:30, 13th & 14th – Mt 27:59-60, Mk 15:46-47, Lk 23:52-53, Jn 19:40-41.

The Gospels do not speak of Jesus' falls on his way to Calvary (stations 3, 6, 9), though no wonder that he fell, weak as he was after a whole night of abuse by the Jews and the blood lost at the scourging, nor of his meeting with his mother (station 4), though it is most likely that at least their eyes met more than once, as Mary was among the group of women following him. Station 6, narrating the incident of Veronica who wiped Jesus' face and was rewarded with his image imprinted on the cloth, has come to us through tradition.

Down the centuries, the Way of the Cross has led countless people to repentance. Meditation on the high price Jesus paid to save humanity move us too, to faithfully carry our own cross after him. Without the Way of the Cross, Jesus would have not reached Calvary to redeem us.

A REFLECTION FOR THOSE WHO COMMEMORATE 'GOOD FRIDAY'

The Easter Triduum consists of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. Each of these days begins liturgically not with the morning but with the preceding evening. The triduum begins on the evening before Good Friday with Mass of the Lord's Supper, celebrated with white vestments, and often includes a ritual of ceremonial foot washing.

It is customary on this night for a vigil involving private prayer to take place, beginning after the evening service and continuing until midnight. This vigil is occasionally renewed at dawn, continuing until the Good Friday liturgy.

During the day of Good Friday Mass is not celebrated in the Catholic Church. Instead a Celebration of the Passion of the Lord is held in the afternoon or evening. It consists of three parts: a Liturgy of the Word that includes the reading of the account of the Passion by John the Evangelist and concludes with a solemn Universal Prayer.

Other churches also have their Good Friday commemoration of the Passion. The color of vestments varies: no color, red, or black are used in different traditions. Colored hangings may be removed. Lutheran churches often either remove colorful adornments and icons, or veil them with drab cloth. The service is usually plain with somber music, ending with the congregation leaving in silence.

In the Roman Catholic Church, some Lutheran, and High Anglican rites, a crucifix (not necessarily the one which stands on or near the altar on other days of the year) is ceremoniously unveiled. Other crucifixes are unveiled, without ceremony, after the service.

This Friday is called GOOD not merely because Jesus died for us but because God came down to our level so that we can go up to His level. It will be GOOD only if we celebrate this day with good intention, good action – alms giving and penance for our sins and the multiple sins of the society (social sin). It would be of no use to participate in GOOD FRIDAY service/celebration sans the least intention to change. We are here on earth not just to get something but to enrich it before the final whistle of death is blown.

The greatest feast is Pascha (Easter), for the Orthodox Churches is calculated differently than in the West. Easter for both East and West is calculated as the first Sunday after the full moon that falls on or after March 21 (nominally the day of the vernal equinox).

However, whereas Western Christians follow the Gregorian Calendar in their calculations, the Orthodox calculate the fixed date of 21 March according to the Julian Calendar, and observe the additional rule that Easter may not precede or coincide with the first day of the Jewish Passover

When someone dies in our families, we keep vigil or gather around. Easter is the celebration of the Resurrection of Jesus. Daily, Jesus is crucified and scourged in the suffering of the masses. Jesus said "Whatever you do to the least of my brothers and sisters, you do it to me" (Matthew 25:45).

Are we just satisfied with mere lip service without the METANOIA – conversion of heart? After the church attendance, if you still go home without the real joy of the Lord, then your Good Friday was not so Good.