All You Need To Know About ‘Good Friday’

Good Friday is the Friday before Easter Sunday. It commemorates the execution of Jesus by crucifixion. This year, April 10 is observed as Good Friday. Good Friday is a day of mourning in church, people remember Jesus' suffering and death on the cross, and what this means for their faith.

Christians observe Good Friday with much devotion and it is believed that Jesus died for the people's sins, was buried and was raised to life on the third day. Good Friday is held after Maundy Thursday. Christians remember when Jesus ate the Passover meal with his disciples, breaking bread and drinking wine. Passover meal is referred to as Last Supper. After the Passover meal, Jesus washes the feet of his disciples in an extraordinary display of humility. Jesus asks them to do the same for each other.

Maundy is derived from the Latin word mandatum, meaning a commandment. Jesus, at the Last Supper, commanded: "And now I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another."

According to Britannica, Jesus' Last Supper, Death, and Resurrection were observed the night before Easter Sunday in one single commemoration. Since then, Christians commemorate Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday separately. In some countries, the holiday is known as "Good Friday," though in Greek and German liturgy, the term translates as "Great Friday" and "Sorrowful Friday," respectively.

The day of Jesus' death is called Good Friday and some believe that it is developed from an older name, 'God's Friday'. Some others say that it is Good Friday because the suffering and death of Jesus, marked the dramatic culmination of God’s plan to save his people from their sins.

Mass prayers will be conducted at the churches on the day of Good Friday and many people pray exactly at 3:00 pm as it is said that Jesus died at this time on this day. Some people observe fast on Good Friday.

Here are a few quotes on Good Friday.

• The dripping blood our only drink, The bloody flesh our only food: In spite of which we like to think That we are sound, substantial flesh and blood. Again, in spite of that, we call this Friday good.
• Mercy, peace and love. May the grace and Lord surround and be with you on Good Friday. God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son.
• Maybe the Good Friday story is about how God would rather die than be in our sin-accounting business anymore.
• No pain, no palm; no thorns, no throne; no gall, no glory; no cross, no crown.
• So shall we join the disciples of our Lord, keeping faith in Him in spite of the crucifixion, and making ready, by our loyalty to Him in the days of His darkness, for the time when we shall enter into His triumph in the days of His light.
• Good Friday is not about us trying to "get right with God." It is about us entering the difference between God and humanity and just touching it for a moment. Touching the shimmering sadness of humanity's insistence that we can be our own gods, that we can be pure and all-powerful.
• Stoning prophets and erecting churches to their memory afterwards has been the way of the world through the ages. Today we worship Christ, but the Christ in the flesh we crucified.
• Our Lord has written the promise of the resurrection, not in books alone but in every leaf in springtime.

Also Read: Watch| Good Friday Special Message By Sister YS Vimala Reddy