From scandal to salvation, the Cross stands at the center of our faith journey. Today's Good Friday reflection delves into the profound paradox that defines Christianity – how an instrument of torture became the trophy of victory, how death gave way to eternal life.
Father Patrick Troadec's powerful meditation from "Toward Easter" guides us through the theological significance of Christ's final words: "It is consummated." We explore how Jesus fulfilled all prophecies as the true Lamb of God, becoming the new fruit attached to the tree of the Cross, thereby reversing Adam's disobedience in Eden. The Cross transforms before our eyes into a throne of glory, a tribunal of forgiveness, and an altar of sacrifice.
The traditional Good Friday liturgy reveals this mystery through its ritualized unveiling of the cross in three stages, symbolizing how the message spread from fearful disciples to the Jewish people after Pentecost and finally to all nations. This progressive revelation invites us to deepen our understanding of the meaning of the Cross in our lives. As St. Vincent de Paul reminds us, "God is more pleased when one meditates on the passion of his Son than when we fast for a year."
Four practical resolutions anchor this meditation: maintaining gentleness in adversity, reading the prayers of Good Friday slowly, making a reverent Sign of the Cross, and periodically touching the Crucifix of our rosary in gratitude. These simple practices help transform intellectual understanding into lived spirituality. Whether you're attending today's solemn liturgy or creating space for personal reflection, join us in contemplating the price of our salvation and discovering how the darkest day in history became our brightest hope.
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Episode Transcript
Sancte.
Sancte, amare morti necradasnos.
(00:20):
Good morning everyone.
Good morning on this goodFriday here in Lent, day 44.
No, sorry, day 45.
(00:42):
And it is Good Friday today.
So we will be talking about theprice of our salvation, the
price paid by Christ On this day2000, some years ago.
So I imagine you've all seenone or two of these prior, but
(01:08):
in case you are joining todayfor the first time, these are
all from the reading andmeditation is from toward easter
by father patrick trodek.
Link is in the descriptionbelow and uh, throw up an image
on screen.
So you just listen and we'regoing to get going here.
Good Friday, the price of oursalvation From the Passion.
(01:31):
According to St John, chapter19, verse 30.
When Jesus had taken thevinegar, he said it is
consummated.
And, bowing his head, he gaveup his spirit.
It is consummated, that is tosay, all has been fulfilled the
(01:54):
prophecies of the Old Testament,the law and its Paschal Lamb.
The curtain of the temple maynow be torn because Jesus is the
true Lamb of God.
Come to earth to take away thesins of the world.
There is no other.
Adam, in his pride, haddisobeyed by plucking the
(02:14):
forbidden fruit from the tree ofparadise, the new Adam, gentle,
lamb, humble and obedient, evento death.
Jesus becomes the new fruit inallowing himself to be violently
attached to the tree of thecross.
There he is brutally lifted upfrom the earth, nailed to his
(02:35):
throne of glory.
The cross the cross scandal forthe Jews.
The cross folly for the pagans.
The Cross trophy of victory ofthe Son of God.
The Cross glorious instrumentof our salvation.
(02:59):
Yes, fulfilled is the oracle ofDavid who had said to the
nations in his inspired poemsGod will reign by the wood.
Lord Jesus, help me to see inthy cross the throne of thy
kingdom, the tribunal where thouforgivest, the altar where thou
(03:19):
immolatest thyself, the pulpitfrom which thou preachest to me
the abandonment of my soul intothe hands of thy Father.
Zeal for souls, forgetfulnessof injuries, merry in piety, the
liturgical offering and perfectpurity.
O Jesus, teach me to venerateand to love the image of Thy
(03:44):
cross Each time I see itrepresented.
Help me to remember how much Iought to thank Thee for having
given Thy life for me.
After the Holy Eucharist, thereis nothing on earth more worthy
of respect than the cross.
I will render it today a homageof adoration which is directed
(04:07):
toward thee, my Savior.
Thy divine blood washed it andit opened the gate of heaven to
faithful souls.
I want to imitate thee today,especially in maintaining
gentleness and meekness in theface of contradictions.
(04:31):
And now a prayer taken from theVexilla Regis, the Vesper's Hem,
for Passion Tide, in the nameof the Father, the son and the
holy ghost, amen.
Oh cross, happy are you to havecarried suspended from your
(04:52):
arms he who was the price of theworld.
You are the scales on which wasweighed this body, our ransom
which deprived hell of its prey.
Hail O cross, our only hope inthese days of the passion of the
Savior.
Augment grace in the just Erasethe crime of sinners.
(05:14):
In the name of the Father andof the Son and of the Holy Ghost
, amen.
Our first thought of the day isfrom St Vincent de Paul.
You see, the saints tell usthat God is more pleased when
one meditates on the passion ofhis Son than when we fast for a
(05:37):
year.
And our second thought is fromSt John B.
Annie, our Lord is our model.
Let us take up our cross andfollow him.
And we have four resolutionstoday.
Number one let us uniteourselves to Jesus ascending to
(06:00):
Calvary in maintaininggentleness and meekness in
adversity, us ascending toCalvary in maintaining
gentleness and meekness inadversity.
Number two let us read slowlythe great prayers of Good Friday
in our missal.
Number three let us applyourselves henceforth to making
the sign of the cross well, likelittle Bernadette of Lourdes.
(06:25):
Number four from time to time,let us discreetly grasp the
cross of the rosary in ourpocket and thank Jesus for
having given his life for us.
Okay, so that's the end of thenormal reading, but there is a
(06:51):
section here Give me a second.
There is a section here Give mea second On like liturgical
stuff for Good Friday, and thisone's a little longer, so I'm
(07:13):
going to throw the image back upon screen.
Like I said, this is a littlebit of a longer reading.
So here we go, as the Savior isdying on the cross.
The Church calls us together tofollow the way of the cross.
Let us make a great effort toparticipate in this pious
exercise in company with theyoungest children, who will not
(07:35):
be coming to the eveningceremony.
On the evening of Good Friday,the Church celebrates the
redemption of the world Duringthis office.
The solemn chant of the Passion, the great intercessions, where
the Church prays for thesalvation of all men.
The adoration of the cross andthe chant of the improperia are
(07:57):
more than mere rituals thatinspire and move us.
They are the prayer andthanksgiving of the redeemed who
together realize before God allthat the mystery of the cross
represents for them.
The ceremony is composed offour parts.
The first is a catechesisconsisting of two readings drawn
(08:19):
from the Old Testament and thechant of the Passion, according
to St John.
The second is a series ofsolemn prayers.
They are called the GreatIntercessions.
They proclaim the universalityof salvation.
The third is the Adoration ofthe cross, trophy of our
(08:39):
redemption.
The ceremony comes to us fromjerusalem, where the true cross
was prevented, was presented tothe veneration of the faithful
on good friday.
It begins with the solemnpresentation of the cross,
veiled during all of passiontide.
The celebrant uncovers it inthree stages, mounting each time
(09:01):
one of the altar steps andsinging in a progressively
higher tone.
Ecce lignum crucis in qua salismundi pependit venite adoramus.
Behold the wood of the cross onwhich hung the Savior of the
world.
Come, let us adore Excuse mypoor latin everyone.
(09:21):
We kneel in a door in silencefor a few moments.
The first exposition, which ismade at the side of the altar,
in in a low tone of voice,represents the first preaching
of the cross, that name, thatnamely, which the apostles made
before they had received theHoly Ghost when, for fear of the
(09:44):
Jews, they dared not speak ofthe great mystery except to the
few disciples of Jesus.
For the same reason, the priest, but slightly, elevates the
cross.
The homage here paid to it isintended as a reparation for the
insults and injuries offered toour Redeemer in the house of
Caiaphas.
The second unveiling, whichtakes place nearer the people,
(10:09):
on a higher note, signifies theapostles extending their
preaching of the mystery of ourredemption to the Jews after the
descent of the Holy Ghost, bywhich preaching they made many
thousand converts and plantedthe church in the the descent of
the Holy Ghost, by whichpreaching they made many
thousand converts and plantedthe church in the very midst of
the synagogue.
It is intended as a reparationto our Savior for the treatment
he received in the court ofPilate.
(10:30):
The third exposition is solemnand entire, sung triumphantly on
a still higher note from themiddle of the altar, this third
and unreserved manifestationrepresents the mystery of the
cross being preached to thewhole earth when the apostles,
(10:50):
after being rejected by themajority of the Jewish people,
turned towards the Gentiles, thepagans, and preached Christ
crucified even far beyond thelimits of the Roman Empire.
It is intended as a reparationto our Lord for the outrages
offered to him on Calvary.
By this gradual unveiling of thecross, the church would express
(11:13):
to us the contrast of theJewish and the Christian view.
The one finds nothing in Christcrucified but shame and
ignominy.
The other discovers in him thepower and the wisdom of God.
As St Paul says, honor, then,and veneration to his cross.
Now that the veil is removed byfaith, unveiled, let it be upon
(11:34):
our altar, for he that diedupon it is soon to triumph by a
glorious resurrection.
Upon our altar, for he thatdied upon it is soon to triumph
by a glorious resurrection.
Yea, let every crucifixion ourchurch be unveiled and every
altar be once more with thevision of the glorious standard.
But the church is not satisfiedwith showing her children the
cross that has saved them.
She would have them approachand kiss it.
(11:57):
The chants which are used duringthis ceremony are exceedingly
fine.
First of all, there are theimproperia, that is, the
reproaches made by our Savior tothe Jews O my people, what have
I done to thee, or in what haveI grieved thee?
Answer me, because I broughtthee out of the land of Egypt.
Thou hast prepared a cross forthy Savior.
(12:19):
Each of the first three stanzasof this plaintive hymn is
founded by the Trisegion, orprayer to the thrice.
Holy God who, as man, suffersdeath for us.
O, let us fervently proclaimhim to be the holy the immortal.
Fervently proclaim him to bethe holy the immortal.
(12:43):
This triple glorify, thistriple glorification, is
maintained in its originallanguage, greek, followed by the
latin translation of the words.
The rest of this beautifulchant contains the comparison
made by our lord between thefavors he has bestowed upon the
jewish and the injuries he hasreceived from them in return.
We then sing the antiphon CruxFidelis, o Faithful Cross, thou
(13:09):
noblest of all trees, no forestyields thy like in leaf or
flower or fruit.
Sweet is the wood that hathnails so sweet and bear so sweet
a weight.
O sing my tongue the victory ofthe glorious combat.
Tell how was won the nobletriumph on the trophy of the
cross and how the world'sredeemer, when immolated,
(13:30):
conquered so rich an office canonly be followed with missile in
hand.
Let us be sure that each of theolder children has his own, and
let us help them to follow aswell as possible.
If possible, plan ahead so asto arrive early enough to have a
place that allows the childrento see.
(13:52):
Well, this will help them tomaintain their attention.
It is a good idea to confideone or other of the youngest
children to the watchful care ofanother of the faithful of
goodwill who can help him tofollow if we cannot do so
ourselves.
Okay, that's the reading for theLiturgy of Good Friday.
(14:16):
For the liturgy of good Friday.
And I loved the part about um,the, the, the three expositions
of the cross.
I, I, I had never heard thatbefore, so that is amazing.
Um, and yeah, that's awesome.
Now, one other thing I'm goingto do here.
(14:39):
Let me pause this real quick soI can find it.
Okay.
I found it, um.
So, throughout the, the tworeadings there, you, you
probably heard a few times howwe offer adoration to the cross.
Many some of you might thinkthat that sounds wrong.
Right, we're only supposed tooffer adoration to God and not
(15:03):
to any people or objects.
So I just want to read thispart to you from St Thomas.
I can close this ad out here.
That's covering everything.
So this is yeah, this is fromthe Summa Theologica, the third
(15:28):
part, question 25, article 4,whether Christ's cross should be
worshipped with the adorationof Latria.
St Thomas says, article four,whether christ's cross should be
worshiped with the adoration oflatria.
Saint thomas says we show theworship of latria to that in
(15:48):
which we place our hope ofsalvation, but we place our hope
in christ's cross, for thechurch sings dear cross, best
hope over all.
Beside that cheers the solemnpassion tide.
Give to the the just increaseof grace, give to each contrite
sinner peace.
And that's from the VexillaRegis that we just read a little
of earlier.
And he says, therefore,christ's cross should be
(16:10):
worshipped with the adoration ofLatria.
So we offer Latria to the HolyTrinity, of course, to the
Eucharist, which is the body andblood of Christ, and to the
cross of Christ.
So we do offer Latria to thecross.
So it is proper to say that weadore the cross, and Good Friday
(16:31):
is the day in which we offerthat adoration to the cross, to
the cross.
So, yeah, so I really don'thave much more for you Other
than the reading.
The reading was great.
(16:54):
Let me go back to the actualfirst reading and see if
anything sparks my memory hereUm, yeah, that's, that's really
(17:16):
about it.
So, uh, so, get to the liturgytoday if you can.
Um, adore the cross, remember,uh, if you, if you watch some of
our other recent videos,especially with father modzley,
you'll have heard how we reallyshouldn't receive communion
(17:41):
today, even if your liturgy doesoffer communion, that it's not
the traditional practice toreceive communion on Good Friday
, even if it is offered.
Now it's being offered, so it'snot wrong to receive it, it's
not sinful to receive it.
Right, you are being offered it, but if there was ever a day to
(18:02):
not receive it, it is GoodFriday.
So I hope you all have a holyGood Friday.
I hope you all meditate uponthe cross.
You know one of the resolutionshere that the Father gives that
I do really like.
Well, there's two, they're allgood, of course, but um, one,
(18:26):
applying ourselves to make a?
Um, a good sign of the cross.
When we make it, um, that'simportant, um, especially if you
have children, you know being agood model for them, so that
they see that it's not rushed,it's not sloppy, but also just,
from time to time, just graspingthe cross of the rosary in our
pocket.
(18:48):
If you don't carry a rosary.
Carry a rosary, you never knowwhen you might need it or want
it.
I've carried a rosary in mypocket for years, daily.
It's part of my EDC, myeveryday carry, matter of fact.
(19:10):
No matter where I'm going orwhat little I might have on me,
I always have the rosary on meand, like I said, you never know
when you might want or need topray it.
Um, and even if you don't, uh,pray it, you never know when you
might just get a feeling thatyou want to, you want to, you
(19:30):
want to hold that cross in yourhand, and I do so often,
actually a lot of times.
It's of subconscious, but so,yeah, if you don't carry a
rosary, carry one in your pocketat all times.
Yeah, so that's all I have foryou.
I hope you have a holy GoodFriday.
Meditate upon the cross, giveadoration to the cross, and I'll
(19:58):
see you again tomorrow for HolySaturday.
Thank you.
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