Good Friday truly is the longest day on this earth. It is as though time has come to a halt. We do not worship a dead God; we worship a living God, but on this day it does not feel so. I stare at the stripped alter with the open door on the tabernacle. He is has left us, and I can only feel the sorrow that remains in our midst. My God, my God, why have you been sealed away in this tomb?
On this day I cannot pray, “O Most Holy Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, I adore Thee profoundly. I offer Thee the most precious Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of Jesus Christ present in all the tabernacles of the world…”
The tabernacles stand empty. He is sealed away in the alter of repose. “Christ graciously hear us”, I pray as my faith waivers. We received the Last Supper. Christ broke bread with us and shared his cup. He instituted the sacrament of the Eucharist, and then he left us. He left us in order to suffer the ignominious death of the Cross in reparation for our sin. Give us this day our daily bread, but there is no Eucharist for us on Good Friday. Hell is a separation from God, and on this day am I not tormented with ten thousand hells in being deprived of my Lord?
I stand in waiting. I must have faith that the good Lord will return and that the Last Supper was not the end. I must have faith that the death at Calvary was not the end, but while he is gone I can only think of the agony of Jesus in the Garden. For him to understand everything that was to precipitate and for the weight of our iniquities to bear down on him is a heart-wrenching thought.
And yet, even his closest followers deserted him. What hope do I have? I stand here waiting at my vigil. I await the Great Paschal Mystery: an incomprehensible shattering of the bonds of sin and death I did nothing to deserve. In spite of the totality of my blemishes and shortcomings, He loves me, and I must be a vessel for that love and share it with my fellow men. I must love others as He loves me. Christ graciously hear us! On Good Friday I can contemplate the sorrow, and I can wait, and I can prepare. I will not pray for the Lord to hasten the day. Give the Sorrowful Mysteries their due time.
