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So forever will I tell: in 3 hours, Christ suffered more than any sinner ever will in hell... There’s something you gotta see, journey with me. It’s approximately 30 A.D. In the land of Israel- the city of Jerusalem. But on the outside there’s screams and loud cries. Through faith, this scene can be seen without eyes. The mean shout lies and seem to sound wise. As we inch through the crowd, we need to be cautious. A Roman execution, men on three crosses. But all the focus is on the one in the center. The gate closes behind you-...

MOSCOW, April 17 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian Orthodox Church is observing Good Friday on April 17, with church services dedicated to Jesus Christ's crucifixion and burial. This day is considered the most sorrowful day of Holy Week and of the liturgical year, with the Savior crucified and accepting his death on the cross to save people from sin. John's Gospel says: "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." There is no liturgy in Christian churches on Good Friday. In Orthodoxy, an...

I served as Deacon at the solemn “Celebration of the Lords Passion”. This frail couple approached. The wife could barely walk without her husband’s loving firm support. As they drew closer, I could see that the husband’s face was filled with deep wrinkles, the kind of love lines etched in the face from suffering borne with grace. His head was covered with unkempt white hair and framed with a coarse white beard. His eyes were filled with pure love for his beloved wife whom he assisted so tenderly as she came forward to venerate the Holy Cross.Her eyes were distant...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,At the end of his dramatic Passion narrative, the Evangelist Saint Mark tells us:  “The centurion, who stood facing him, saw that he thus breathed his last, and said: ‘Truly this man was the Son of God!’” (Mk 15:39).  We cannot fail to be surprised by the profession of faith of this Roman soldier, who had been present throughout the various phases of the Crucifixion.  When the darkness of night was falling on that Friday so unlike any other in history, when the sacrifice of the Cross was already consummated and the bystanders were making haste to...

Pope Benedict XVI last night attacked the rise of aggressive secularism in Western societies, warning them that they risked drifting into a 'desert of godlessness'. He used his Good Friday meditations to compare deliberate attempts to remove religion from public life to the mockery of Jesus Christ by the mob as he was led out to be crucified. 'Religious sentiments' were increasingly ranked among the 'unwelcome leftovers of antiquity' and 'held up to scorn and ridicule', he added. 'We are shocked to see to what levels of brutality human beings can sink,' said the Pope at an evening ceremony at...

Thought some of you might be interested in seeing some pix from this year's Stations of the Cross at the Franciscan Monastery of the Holy Land in America located in N.E. DC Getting ready for the Stations   Little Sisters of the Poor waiting on station 1   Some of the brothers getting ready   And there comes the Cross. BTW, as a matter of trivia, there is a relic in the cross; however, no, I don't know what relic (if somebody knows, please share it with the rest of us)   And starting off with the first station: Jesus...

“The Light Shines in the Darkness” (John 1:5)Tonight we are doing the traditional Good Friday evening service called “Tenebrae.” The Latin word, “tenebrae,” means “shadows” or “darkness.” This is the Service of the Shadows, the Service of Darkness--increasing darkness, as the service goes along. This reminds us of the darkness that came over the land when Christ was hanging on the cross, the great darkness that occurred when the author of life was put to death. And then his lifeless body was placed in the tomb, and night fell, and all was darkness and shadows. The loud noise at the...

Good Friday. Countless thousands of people of Warsaw attended the Way of the Cross through the streets of the city led by the soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces carrying the Cross of Jesus.  

“Righteous Sufferer, Passover Lamb” (John 19:31-37)“Jesus, I will ponder now on your holy passion.” And there is so much to ponder! The gospels go to such length to describe the suffering and death of Christ--so many details, such deep and profound insights to be gained--that we could spend many a Good Friday pondering the Passion of Our Lord. Today we will focus on just one of these details, and as we ponder its significance, we pray that God will give us new insight into our Savior and strengthen our faith in him. In his account of the crucifixion and death...

The headline on the Washington Post review sums it up: “‘Passion’ Is A Gory Take On A Gentle Teacher’s Violent End”. Somebody’s confusing their Gospel with Godspell. A few days before the “violent end”, the gentle teacher had been hurling tables around in the temple. And, even if you overlook the rough stuff, rhetorically Christ was as forceful as He was gentle. That’s the real argument over The Passion Of The Christ. It’s not between Christians and Jews, but between believing Christians and the broader post-Christian culture, a term that covers a large swathe from the media to your average...

Pope Benedict XVI will tonight attack the rise of aggressive secularism in western societies, warning them that they risked drifting into a 'desert of godlessness'. The Bavarian-born Pontiff will use his Good Friday meditations to compare deliberate attempts to purge religion from public life to the mockery of Jesus Christ by the mob as he was led out to be crucified. He will say said that 'religious sentiments' were increasingly ranked among the 'unwelcome leftovers of antiquity' and held up to scorn and ridicule. 'We are shocked to see to what levels of brutality human beings can sink,' he will...

The Good Friday—Easter Sunday Question How do the biblical three days and three nights after Jesus Christ's crucifixion fit between Friday afternoon and Sunday morning? Or do they? by Wilbur Berg Consider these important facts. First, Easter Sunday is traditionally revered as the day of Jesus' resurrection—although the Bible clearly states that He had already risen before Sunday dawned in the city of Jerusalem.Second, even though Good Friday is generally observed as the traditional day of His crucifixion, Christ Himself told the disciples that He would be in the grave for all of three days and three nights. How can...

I served as Deacon at the solemn “Celebration of the Lords Passion”. I had just carried the Cross into the waiting assembly chanting three times: “This is the wood of the Cross, on which hung the Savior of the world,” at which the assembly responded, “Come Let us worship.” This frail couple approached. The wife could barely walk without her husband’s loving firm support. As they drew closer, I could see that the husband’s face was filled with deep wrinkles, the kind of love lines etched in the face from suffering borne with grace. His head was covered with unkempt...

In one of his encounters with the Pharisees we read these words of Jesus, "Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.” (Mark 10:18) At first they may seem enigmatic, yet upon prayerful reflection they provide a framework for scratching the surface of the mystery which the whole world pauses to recall on Good Friday. In Jesus Christ we see the human face of God, “Good” Incarnate revealed in the purity of a love which no man or woman could ever see until His Incarnation. In His great voluntary gift of Himself which culminates in...

I am a Christian, and I cannot let this day pass without telling the meaning to Christians of this day. Today is "Good Friday," a day which is very significant to all Christians. It would seem odd that a day which remembers the death of Jesus Christ on a cruel cross is called "Good" Friday. But the Bible teaches that Jesus went to that cross as the Great Sacrifice for the sin of every person. As the Bible says, "He who knew no sin, became sin for us." You see, Jesus came into this world for the express purpose of...

~ It Is Both Good Friday and Finally Friday!! ~ Canteen Mission Statement Showing support and boosting the morale ofour military and our allies militaryand family members of the above.Honoring those who have served before. STRIKE POSITION U.S. Army Spc. Andrew Soria points out the position of a mortar strike to Staff Sgt. Eddie Adradi, fire support noncommissioned officer, during a practice live-fire at Nishagam District Center, Konar province, Afghanistan, March 17, 2009. The soldiers are assigned to the 6th Squadron, 4th Cavalry Regiment. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. Matthew C. Moeller AFGHAN ASSIGNMENT U.S. Army soldiers load onto...

Who voted in the worst President EVER in the history of mankind? Barack in '08. Broke in '09. President Obama already has signed a book deal. It’s going to be about how he’s made TOUGH decisions in his first 100 days. The chapter on how he made those "tough" decisions will be called ROCK, PAPER, SCISSORS. At a biker tattoo contest, the winning biker had tattoos of Joe Biden, Barack Obama and Colin Powell on his butt. Biden was on the left cheek, Powell was on the right cheek and Obama was in the middle. "Blessed are the young, for...

There are many signs these days that America is turning her back on the God who allowed her to come into existence to begin with. There are even worse signs that it is intellectually lazy Christians that are giving over large matters of substance to the entirely secular of our day, deceived in their own thinking, and caring not that they are becoming heretics to their own confession of faith.

An unusual large galaxy with a shape bordering between spiral and elliptical has been spotted by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. NGC 7049 sits in the southern constellation Indus, and is the brightest of a cluster of galaxies, a so-called Brightest Cluster Galaxy (BCG). Typical BCGs are some of the oldest and most massive galaxies, which provide excellent opportunities for astronomers to study the elusive globular clusters lurking within. The halo, a ghostly region of diffuse light surrounding the galaxy, is composed of myriads of individual stars and provides a luminous background to the swirling ring of dust lanes surrounding...

Good Liturgy is not a reenactment of something that happened over 2000 years ago but an actual participation in the events themselves. They are timeless and made present in our Liturgical celebrations and our reception of the Sacraments. Every Liturgy is an invitation to enter into the sacrifice of Calvary which occurred once and for all. It is re-presented at every Altar in every Holy Mass. Our Holy Week invites us to participate in the timeless Paschal Mystery, the saving life, suffering, passion, death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Over the course of this Holy Week we attend the Last...

ROME, JAN. 27, 2009 (Zenit.org).- Dialogue between Jews and Christians is a sensitive issue, and there have been many misunderstandings about the new Good Friday prayer for the Jews, says a scholar in the matter. According to Father Michel Remaud, director of the Christian Institute of Jewish Studies and Hebrew Literature of Jerusalem, the Good Friday prayer for the Jews used in the "extraordinary rite" is not a prayer for their conversion, but rather a prayer for the Jewish people. He said the text approved by Benedict XVI does not say "Oremus pro conversione Judæorum" (Let us pray for the...

ewish groups around the world have condemned Pope Benedict XVI's new version of a Catholic Good Friday prayer. SPIEGEL ONLINE talks to prominent German rabbi Walter Homolka about why the prayer is insulting to Jews and discusses alleged anti-Semitic tendencies within the Catholic Church. Rabbi Walter Homolka: "The Catholic Church does not have its anti-Semitic tendencies under control." Around the world, millions of Catholics are celebrating Good Friday, when they commemorate the crucifixion of Jesus Christ. But for many Jews, this year's ceremonies leave a bitter aftertaste, due to a controversial new version of a prayer that many claim is...

The worshipers had gathered to mark the 14 Stations of the Cross, which portray Jesus Christ's final journey from condemnation to burial. Two drummers softly kept a slow beat as six men in violet shirts carried a large white cross over their shoulders. All around them, men and women marched in white shirts that read "Keep Families Together." Other marchers held signs saying "Stop the Raids." Three young people held a large canvas banner with the words "Justice for Immigrants." The Stations of the Cross, an annual ritual enacted on Good Friday, is a solemn contemplation about the death of...

March 21, 2008 Remembering Good Friday By Stephen Alexander  The crucifixion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, dramatically and clearly, sets Christianity apart from every other religion in the world. No other prophet or founder of any religion ever gave his life purely for the sake of sinners - not Buddha, not Confucius, not Muhammad, not any of the 230,000 gods of Hinduism. No one else has ever risen from the grave, demonstrating for all time that HE, Jesus, has Power, even over death."It is Finished." John 19:30 "Father, into Your Hands I Commit My Spirit." Luke 23:46 On that 1st...

Psalms and incense filled the air of the Holy City of Jerusalem on what is known as Good Friday, as thousands of Christian pilgrims from around the world prayed along the traditional route Jesus took to his crucifixion. The faithful, several of them bearing large wooden crosses, walked in procession along the cobblestoned streets of Jerusalem's Old City, following the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Suffering, where Jesus is said to have carried the cross on which he was later crucified by the Romans. "This is where Jesus suffered, and we are following in his footsteps," said Flora Seguirante, a...

A host for a Milwaukee-based radio talk show, Crosstalk America, says she will be leading a protest against the city's local newspaper, the Journal Sentinel for publishing on Good Friday an advertisement for an explicit sex show being highlighted as part of "The Res-erection" tour. The advertisement is for "Puppetry of the P----," which is to appear next month at the city's Miramar theater. The ad features two men, partly in silhouette, who appear to be nude, and whose privates are covered by "The Res-erection Tour!" slogan. "As a long time reader of the Journal Sentinel and a national Christian...

President & Mrs. Bush are spending Easter Weekend at Camp David. Presidential Message: Easter 2008 [Note how refreshing this message is—after hearing “sermons” from those that are more interested in preaching hate than the Gospel of Christ.] "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies." John 11:25 Laura and I send greetings to all those celebrating the joyful holiday of Easter. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ reminds people around the world of the presence of a faithful God who offers a love more powerful than death. Easter commemorates our Savior's...

Love is stronger than death. That is why this Friday is so good. Love Incarnate died for each one of us and transformed the door of death into the portal of everlasting life and communion.

“The Big ‘Why’ Question” (Matthew 27:45-46)Why? The question is as profound as it is short. Why? Who, what, when, and where--those are usually easy to answer. But “why,” that is the big question. That’s the case today with our Gospel reading. Who? Jesus of Nazareth, a Roman governor and soldiers, the Jewish religious leaders. What? Jesus is beaten, mocked, and crucified. When? On this day we call Good Friday, close to 2000 years ago. Where? A place called Golgotha, just outside Jerusalem. But then the question, “why,” that’s a little harder to answer. Why did things happen as they did?...

Good Friday To You All!!!   Good Friday, also called Holy Friday or Great Friday, is the Friday before Easter (Easter always falls on a Sunday). It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus at Calvary.  Six Things About Life I Learned from the Easter Bunny:Don't put all of your eggs in one basket. Everyone needs a friend who is all ears. There's no such thing as too much candy. Everyone is entitled to a bad hare day. Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits. Some body parts should be floppy.  Believe it or not, the following announcements actually appeared in...

Thousands of Christians from all over the world crowded the stone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City to mark Good Friday, retracing the route Jesus took to his crucifixion. Nigerian Christian pilgrims, one waving an Israeli flag, attend a mass prayer at Hulda steps in Jerusalem's Old City, Tuesday. Photo: AP Some pilgrims carried large wooden crosses as they walked down the Via Dolorosa, or Way of Sorrows, stopping at 14 stations that commemorate events that befell Jesus as he was led to his death. Many pilgrims prayed in the ancient Church of the Holy Sepulcher, traditionally the site of Jesus'...

The Seven Last Words of ChristA Reflection by Fred Schaeffer, SFO     "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) "Amen I say to thee, this day thou shalt be with me in paradise." (Luke 23:43) "Woman, behold thy son...Behold thy mother." (John 19:26-27) "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Matt. 27:46) "I thirst." (John 19:28) "It is consummated." (John 19:30) "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." (Luke 23:46)  "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." As Jesus spoke these words, he looked down from the cross...

ROME, MARCH 13, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The voice of Chinese Christians will be heard through the Way of the Cross Benedict XVI will lead in the Colosseum this Good Friday. That is because the Pope asked Cardinal Joseph Zen of Beijing to write the meditations for the traditional celebration. Cardinal Zen told ZENIT that "preparing the meditations for the Way of the Cross in the Colosseum is a task that requires a lot of commitment, but I have not doubted in accepting it, because I understood immediately that with his invitation, the Holy Father wanted me to bring to the Colosseum...

ROME, MARCH 11, 2008 (Zenit.org).- Answered by Legionary of Christ Father Edward McNamara, professor of liturgy at the Regina Apostolorum university. Q: Could a layperson, with the diocesan bishop's permission, licitly preach after the Gospel at the Good Friday liturgy, since it is not a Mass? -- C.F., Oakland, California A: Laypeople may preach on certain occasions. The 2004 instruction "Redemptionis Sacramentum," in No. 161, states: "As was already noted above, the homily on account of its importance and its nature is reserved to the Priest or Deacon during Mass. As regards other forms of preaching, if necessity demands it...

PARIS (Reuters) - Rebel Catholic traditionalists who champion the old Latin mass have accused Pope Benedict of caving in to "foreign pressures" by dropping negative comments about Jews from a rare prayer in the Church's official language. The Society of Saint Pius X (SSPX), which was expelled from the Church in 1988, denounced the change in a Good Friday prayer that it said was one of the oldest in Christianity, dating back to the third century. On Feb. 5, the Vatican revised the prayer, removing a reference to Jewish "blindness" over Christ and deleting a phrase asking God to "remove...

From the Italian daily Corriere della Sera: Italian Rabbinical Assembly: "Pause for reflection in the dialogue" with CatholicsThe opinion on the change of the Good Friday prayer: "An abandonment of the very conditions for dialogue" ROME - And now, a rupture. The Italian Rabbinical Asseembly considers necessary a "pause for reflection in the dialogue" with Catholics after the modification of the Good Friday prayer for the Jews. And it underlines that the modification decided by Pope Ratzinger is "an abandonment of the very conditions for dialogue". The Assembly states so in a note signed by its president, Rabbi Giuseppe Laras.

A Papal Masterstroke Pope's Good Friday Prayer Reinforces Infallible Church Teaching Christopher A. Ferrara REMNANT COLUMNIST, New Jersey (Posted 2/05/08 www.RemnantNewspaper.com)The reports were true: The Pope has changed the traditional Good Friday prayer for the conversion of the Jews.  But, amazingly enough, the change is another positive development in this papacy, although I would never have thought so until I actually read the text of the new prayer. First of all, there is only one thing we need to know about the revised prayer in order to assess whether it is good or bad for the cause of the...

The Pope's attempt to make a Good Friday prayer less offensive to Jews has sparked a row that could set back inter-religious relations by decades, Jewish leaders have claimed. In changes to the contested Latin prayer for the conversion of Jews that were announced today, the Vatican removed a reference to Jewish "blindness" over Christ and deleted a phrase that asked God to "remove the veil from their hearts". But the new version of the prayer still says Jews should recognise Jesus Christ as the saviour of all men and still has an underlying call to conversion they wanted omitted....

Vatican City, Feb 5, 2008 / 02:00 pm (CNA).- Today the Vatican's Secretary of State issued the anticipated changes to the prayer for the Jews used in the Good Friday Liturgy celebrated according to the Roman Missal of 1962.This new prayer, which is to be used this Lent, is a simple prayer for the Jewish people, that they may discover the salvation brought by Jesus. The previous version was regarded as offensive by some Jewish organizations.The version in force until today did not contain the reference to the Jewish people as "perfidious" because it was suppressed by Blessed Pope John XXIII. However, the prayer found...

The following from tomorrow's edition of the Osservatore Romano (first the original, then my translation): Nota della Segreteria di Stato Con riferimento alle disposizioni contenute nel Motu proprio "Summorum Pontificum", del 7 luglio 2007, circa la possibilità di usare l'ultima stesura del Missale Romanum, anteriore al Concilio Vaticano II, pubblicata nel 1962 con l'autorità del beato Giovanni XXIII, il Santo Padre Benedetto XVI ha disposto che l'Oremus et pro Iudaeis della Liturgia del Venerdì Santo contenuto in detto Missale Romanum sia sostituito con il seguente testo: Oremus et pro Iudaeis Ut Deus et Dominus noster illuminet corda eorum, ut agnoscant...

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has decided to modify a controversial prayer for the conversion of Jews, an Italian newspaper reported on Friday. Il Giornale newspaper said this would involve at least the removal of a reference to Jewish "blindness" over Christ but the changes could be more extensive. A Vatican source said he expected changes to be announced before Good Friday on March 21 this year, but had no details. Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate Christ's death. The Vatican had no official comment on the report. Controversy arose last year when the Pope issued a decree...

The President and First Lady are at their ranch in Crawford Texas and there are no new photos of them today but silent_jonny kindly sent me links of photos from yesterday that he did not post so we do have some "new" photos for today - Many thanks Jonny, much appreciated. Today the Vice President was interviewed on the Rush Limbaugh Radio Show today Click here for the transcript Today Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Peter Pace brief reporters at the Pentagon. Enjoy your visit to Sanity Island

On Good Friday Christians remember the day that Jesus was killed put on the cross. This is the reason why the cross is an important sign for Christians today. There are crosses in churches and many Christians wear a cross on a chain. It is is pecular to the English language to call it Good Friday one theory is that it was originally God's Friday in the same way the good bye was originally God be with you. Another theory is, but there is very little evidence for this, that good and holy were once one and the same word....

“From the Cradle to the Grave” (Luke 23:50-56)In the Nicene Creed we confess that Christ “was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate. He suffered and was buried.” Likewise in the Apostles’ Creed, we say that Christ “suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried.” Now the suffering, the crucifixion, and the dying we spend a lot of time thinking about during these days of Lent. But the last part, the burial, we don’t think about too much. There aren’t many hymns about it. In fact, the only hymn in any of our hymnals specifically devoted to the burial of...

When did it come to the point that being a Christian meant caring about only two issues,­ abortion and homosexuality? Ask the nonreligious what being a Christian today means, and based on what we see and read, it's a good bet they will say that followers of Jesus Christ are preoccupied with those two points. Poverty? Whatever. Homelessness? An afterthought. A widening gap between the have and have-nots? Immaterial. Divorce? The divorce rate of Christians mirrors the national average, so that's no big deal. The point is that being a Christian should be about more than abortion and homosexuality, and...

A Sermon for Sunday : The Rediscovered Country For some time now I've secretly reinitiated my personal studies for the Priesthood. A number of things have also driven me to entertain and undertake some other projects and tasks that might be considered related in this respect. For instance for about a year or so now I have secretly undertaken the writing of Sermon material. I haven't really written any real sermons, just small religious exposition pieces, since I was in college, but for about a year now I’ve been gathering material and writing some rough drafts for the production of...

One Sad But Holy Day A Meditation on the Death of Jesus One Sad But Holy Day But far be it from me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ - Galatians 6:14 RSV He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised...

(2007-04-06) — While Christians around the world gather for so-called “Good Friday” observances, an intelligence analyst studying primary source documents challenged the “irrational exuberance of the true believers,” and said his research to date indicates things did not go according to plan. “At this point, you have a leader in whom a lot of people had placed their hopes, who failed miserably,” said the unnamed source who is in the process of translating and exploiting the documents. “There’s no progress — no movement at all. It’s a classic case of a bad plan, poorly executed. A rational person would ask,...

SAN PEDRO CUTUD, Philippines - Seven devotees were nailed to crosses on Good Friday in a northern Philippine village where the rites drew thousands of tourists and spectators. ADVERTISEMENT The Lenten ritual is opposed by religious leaders in the Philippines — Southeast Asia's largest predominantly Roman Catholic nation. But it has persisted to become one of the country's most-awaited summer attractions in San Fernando City's San Pedro Cutud village. The devotees' palms and feet were attached to wooden crosses with 4-inch nails soaked in alcohol to prevent infection after a nearly mile-long walk to the mound, each carrying a wooden...

Good Friday To You All!!!   From the earliest times the Christians kept every Friday as a feast day; and the obvious reasons for those usages explain why Easter is the Sunday par excellence, and why the Friday which marks the anniversary of Christ's death came to be called the Great or the Holy or the Good Friday.   Easter marks the Resurrection of Jesus three days after his Crucifixion. Sandwiched between the 40 preparatory days of Lenten penitence and the seven weeks of Eastertide, it is the most important and most joyous holiday on the Christian calendar.   Easter, like...