Resurrecting an old post: Good Friday Gift from Hilaire Belloc and Jacques Tissot

I wrote this in 2019 shortly after the Notre Dame fire. I find this crucifixion one of the most poignant. Mary reaching out to her Son is so like the gesture of a mother reaching for her baby who perhaps has climbed something that puts him in danger. Now her reaching seems to be a gesture of uniting herself to Him on the cross and begging to take His suffering upon herself. Surely the lance that pierced His side pierced her heart.

Death of Jesus by Jacques Tissot (1836-1902)

Our Lord and Our Lady
by Hilaire Belloc

Good Friday Reflection by Fr. Tom Collins

Jesus Carries the Cross, Titian

Editor's comment: Father makes important points. I've highlighted the ones that struck me personally. We are living in challenging times, but times that can make us saints if we cooperate with God's grace. May we never forget that "All things work together for good to those who love the Lord and serve according to his purpose." So let us rejoice in the Lord always, especially when He allows us to participate in the salvation of the world by uniting our sufferings to His own. 

WE PROCLAIM CHRIST CRUCIFIED

by Fr. Tom Collins

Fr. Tom Collins: Why Jesus Had to Undergo the Crucifixion

One of the most harsh yet central teachings of Christianity is that, in order to save us, Jesus had to undergo all the torments of His Passion and Death (Lk 24:26).

Good Friday: Can You Embrace the Sufferings in Your Life?

Matthias Grünewald

St. Paul tells us in the Letter to the Hebrews:

"More Freedom, Not More Thugs Running Our Lives"

When I watched this video I thought of all the thugs of the Passion: the Pharisees plotting and clamoring for crucifixion, the false witnesses lying about Jesus, the name callers screaming "Blasphemer! Son of Beelzebub!," the temple guards with their clubs and torches, the betrayer with his poisonous kiss, the cowardly authority too afraid of the mob to defend the Truth. They were all there and they are with us today on this Good Friday. 

Take aways from the video:

Make this "Good Friday" Truly Good: OPEN OUR CHURCHES!

We need priests like Fr. Vincent Capodanno. Would he run from the virus like our bishops are doing? Or would he look for ways to serve on the battlefield of the pandemic? 

A Good Friday Gift from Hilaire Belloc and Jacques Tissot

Death of Jesus by Jacques Tissot (1836-1902)

Our Lord and Our Lady
by Hilaire Belloc

They warned Our Lady for the Child
That was Our Blessed Lord,
And She took Him into the desert wild,
Over the camel’s ford.

Good Friday Silence

"But he was wounded for our iniquities, he was bruised for our sins: the chastisement of our peace was upon him, and by his bruises we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

How Are You Keeping Friday as a Traditional Day of Sacrifice?

It's Friday -- having fish for dinner?

When I was a child, every Friday of the year was a required day of abstinence unless it was a solemn feast day. It made sense to remind Catholics that Jesus died for us on "Good Friday" and to remember it once a week by giving up meat. I don't remember the year things changed in the U.S. but it was due to the bishops asking for an exception to allow Catholics to choose some other form of penance or a charitable practice on the Fridays outside of Lent in lieu of abstinence. But the Canon Laws pertaining to fast and abstinence are still in place and you can read them here.

Good Friday Silence

The light behind the cross reminded me of the star of Bethlehem. "I Am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End." This has special significance today when Good Friday and the Feast of the Annunciation coincide. We have come full circle. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for our salvation.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: The Passion in Great Art

Christ before Pilate by Toni Danchik

Ecce Homo by Caravaggio

Jesus Meets His Mother by Caravaggio

Christ on the Cross by Diego Velazquez

Jesus is Taken Down from the Cross by Rembrandt

The Pieta by Giovanni Bellini

Good Friday Silence

For my grandchildren: Love Jesus who loves you so much!

Good Friday Intercessions

It's funny how your mind works. During the Good Friday service this afternoon Nancy Pelosi kept popping into my head. During the passion, when the Jews responded to Pilate's question, "Shall I crucify your king?" with "We have no king but Caesar!" I thought of Nancy. Isn't that what she's saying when she thumbs her nose at Church teaching in favor of evil laws?

During the intercessions we prayed for those who do not believe in Christ and Nancy popped into my head again. I know, I know...Nancy professes to be a "devout Catholic." Real Catholics know that's impossible though.  If, at the same time, you are radically pro-abortion and a liberal extremist and claim to be "devoutly" Catholic, you just demonstrate cognitive dissonance (the ability to believe two mutually exclusive things at the same time). When the intercession came for those who don't believe in God, Nancy was nudged out by Richard Dawkins, but she may have been lurking in the background, since it's hard to imgaine that Nancy believes in any God but Caesar. Since the state is no God at all, that would put her roundly in the atheist corner with Richard.

Nancy has shown time and again that she knows very little about Church teachings on life and I'd say the same is true with regard to the Church's social justice teachings as well. Liberal policies are all geared toward giving the government more power, not the individual. The policies of liberals like Nancy do nothing to advance the dignity of the human person, but essectially make him a cog at the service of the state, a wage slave (and a debt slave who can never pay what is owed). If liberals get their way we will all be controlled by government from cradle (those who are lucky enough to get that far) to grave (to which we will be hastened by health care rationing).

Good Friday is an important reminder of our own sins. Yes, my personal sins put Jesus on the cross. That's why the congregation takes the voice of the crowd shouting, "Crucify him." But it's also a good time, as the intercessions illustrate, to offer our prayers for others. Nancy was on my mind and in my prayers today. We share a birthday and an alma mater. I wish we shared the same faith.

Good Friday Meditation in Pictures

O, my God, I am heartily sorry for having offended Thee. And I detest all my sins because I dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because they offend Thee, my God, Who art all good and deserving of all my love. I firmly resolve, with the help of Thy grace to confess my sins, do penance, and to amend my life. Amen.