have a good good friday

 

the crucifixion by grunewald, taken from a blog.

today will be one of the two days in a year that many lapsed catholics goes to church. or we call them a twice-a-year catholic since they goes to church twice a year only.

what are the two days? christmas and good friday. (oh sometimes it is 3, plus easter). good friday is today. (i had blog about it last year here). good friday is a day in the catholic calendar the friday of which the church keeps the anniversary of the cruxifixion of jesus christ.

the good friday service is divided into 3 parts – liturgy of the words, veneration of the cross and holy communion.

liturgy of the words is where we get to hear 3 readings from the bible, and also to pray the general intercessions for various needs.

many people who come for good friday service, especially thos e twice-a-year catholics, has their priority on the veneration of the cross. this is where the cross with jesus on it will be unvieled three times (covered with purple cloth), then all will queue up to come and venerate the cross, i.e. genuflect and kiss the cross. it seems that many people after they had kissed the cross, they will leave the church. they will not wait for the third part. as i said, well, these people are not really interested in the good friday service at all but just to kiss the cross. to me, it is rather meaningless to come just to kiss the cross.

oh yeah, one important thing i forgot to mention, good friday is a day of fast and abstinence (the other day of fast and abstinence is ash wednesday). it’s not that we have to have a total fast like the muslims during the ramadan month, but we can eat only one full meal. well, as for me, i had decided to take only half-boiled eggs for breakfast, no lunch, then a green apple for dinner. as for abstinence… sorry to say i can’t bring myself to abstain from getting on the net (esp. to blog/read blogs). haha! if can, then this would really be a sacrifice on my part.

ok i have to end now as today i still have to work – half day. it’s strange that though i work for the church, and good friday being one of the biggest event for the church, there’s no holiday for us. many catholics are taking leaves though so that they can attend service (some service in the morning, some in the afternoon). oh my sister is taking leave too which means i won’t be able to take a lift from her to work, which means i have to catch the mini bus, which means i have to wake up 1/2 hr early, so i really have to go zzzzz now.