Coronavirus Catacomb Good Friday Reflections with Fr. John Trigilio

Good Friday, April 10th, 2020

Good Friday stands at the very center of the Sacred Triduum. It is a day in the Catholic Church where we hold no masses but celebrate the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion. As on Palm Sunday, we read the entire Passion Narrative to commemorate this event.

During the ceremony we also venerate the Cross of our Lord, where the Crucifix is carried down the aisle in exaltation of the Wood of the Cross and the faithful are then invited to make an act of veneration to the Crucifix. Following the veneration of the Cross, there is the distribution of Holy Communion and then the ceremony ends in silence.

Because of the church closings during the pandemic period, priests will still celebrate the Liturgy of the Lord’s passion, but the faithful will not be able to attend. We are invited to watch it on TV or through live streaming and to make a spiritual communion with the Church, even though we cannot receive the Lord sacramentally in the Eucharist this day.

Good Friday is also one of the two days of fast and abstinence in the Church, where Catholics over the age of 14 are required to abstain from meat and those between 18 and 59 obliged to fast from food according to the rules and customs of the Church.

On this sacred day on which we recall the Lord’s death for our sins, we would do well to remind ourselves of those Christian around the world who are suffering persecution and are not even allowed to practice their faith on Good Friday, virus or not.

On this Good Friday, the Church cries, “Behold the Wood for the Cross, on which our Savior died for our sins!”