“The Priest and the Deacon, if a Deacon is present, wearing red vestments as
for Mass, go to the altar in silence and, after making a reverence to the
altar, prostrate themselves or, if appropriate kneel and pray in silence for a
while. All others kneel.”
There is no Entrance Antiphon today, for that would imply the beginning of
the Sacred Mysteries. The public prayers of the Church today are, however, but
a continuation of the ceremony which began last evening with the Mass of the
Lord’s Supper and will continue until the end of tomorrow night’s Vigil. The
Passion of the Lord cannot appropriately be contemplated apart from the
Resurrection and the Resurrection cannot be contemplated apart from the
Passion.
For this reason, the Triduum may be thought of as three days of one long
consecutive prayer, from which we pass through the events of the Last Supper,
Agony in the Garden, the Arrest of Christ and His trial before the Sanhedrin,
the Trials before Pilate and Herod, His Scourging and Crowing with Thorns, the
Way of the Cross, the Crucifixion and Death, the Burial and Descent of Christ
into Sheol, and His Resurrection, ending in Jesus’ Appearance to the Disciples.
Today, however, the Church will focus almost exclusively on the events of the
Passion and Death, with but a faint memory of the Resurrection.
This day, however, like Palm Sunday, mixes sorrow and joy in a profound way,
for while the chants of the Church today are all sorrowful, their words are
joyful (although not happy). Indeed, this day itself carries the name of Good
Friday! Upon this day is accomplished our Redemption, and this can only bring
us consolation and joy. Nevertheless, the means whereby our Redemption is
accomplished are brutal and amount to the greatest crime mankind can and ever
did commit - that of Deicide, and this can only bring sorrow and mourning to
the heart.
Upon this day, though, it is sorrow and mourning which undoubtedly finds its
way to the forefront in our considerations, and how can we expect any different
when the truth of our participation in the death of Jesus Christ, God Himself,
is brought before us. The Church has chosen many of the reminders of joy,
perhaps, in order to prevent our thoughts from being overwhelmed with sorrow.
But the consolations, mixed with the sorrows of this day, bring about another working in our souls,
and it is that of repentance. It would be hard to awaken feelings of repentance in our souls if we focused exclusively on the Resurrection, for it is in His cruel Death that Christ's love for us shines forth. St. Paul says, "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)." Jesus deigned to suffer the torments of the Cross on account of the joy our reconciliation with God would bring Him (Hebrews 12:2). No heart, when presented with this love of Christ, could refuse it!
These workings in the heart and soul, then, are part of the reason for this opening act of the Liturgy of today. There are no words, because the experience goes beyond words. The Church would not wish to impose an emotion on us, for the scandal of the Cross goes beyond mere human emotion. Instead, She calls for this Liturgy to begin with silent and inner contemplation. As we kneel before the barren altar and stripped Sanctuary, we can only focus on two things - how Jesus Christ emptied Himself completely for us in love and how our sins brought this about.
The prayer these thoughts bring about is not one that can be summed up in words, but is one that can only be prayed to God through the heart. Yet is this not the prayer God desires? The Psalm says, "A heart contrite and humble, O God, you will not spurn (Psalm 51:17)." The prayer we make is one of offering ourselves to God the Father, in union with the Sacrifice of Christ, which we commemorate most profoundly upon this day.
But let us now consider the actions that begin this service today. The first thing we should note is the silence, a rare thing in the life of the Church. As we have stated, the thoughts this day brings about are too profound to be summed up in words, and so Holy Mother Church has chosen not to set a "mood," or, "theme," which is the primary purpose of the Entrance Antiphon. But the silence goes even beyond the lack of an Entrance Antiphon. The bells, which normally summon the Faithful to the Divine Liturgies, themselves are silent. They ceased last night at the Gloria in the Mass of the Lord's Supper, and they will not resume until the Gloria of the Easter Vigil tomorrow night. The earth is silent and in mourning during the Passion of our Redeemer.
This silence, however, should also work within our souls. As Gueranger notes, "We must not wait for the usual summons of the bells; they are silent; we must listen to the call of our faith and devotion (The Liturgical Year, Passiontide Volume, Good Friday: Morning)." This silence of the bells is a unique thing. Even in Masses of sorrow, such as the funeral, the bells are not silent. Instead they use a mournful toll to announce the falling asleep of our brother or sister. But today and tomorrow they are silent. Why is this? We must consider the purposes of the church bell. The first is to call the Faithful to the Divine Sacrifice of the Mass, but upon this day, on which we recall the bloody Sacrifice of Christ, the Church is so caught up in sorrow She refuses to renew It in an unbloody manner.
Another purpose of the bell is to drive away the evil spirits by reminding the Faithful of Christ's presence among us. Today, however, the Church would have us enter deeper into the defeat of Satan, for it is not by the ringing of a bell that he is defeated, but through the power of the Cross. The bells remind us to invoke the power of the Cross in our combat against Satan, but on this day, when the Mystery of the Cross is so prevalent in our hearts, there is no need of the reminder. We are commemorating the very day upon which Satan was defeated through the Cross of the Lord, how could the mind forget this mystery?
Finally, the ringing of the Church bells proclaims a message to the world, and it is the joy of the Risen Christ. Whenever the bell peels forth, whether it is the joyous wedding bells or the mournful funeral toll, whether summoning the Faithful to worship or warning them of danger, the message is that Christ has conquered sin and death by His Resurrection from the dead and has called us to live a Christian Life. In these two days, though, as stated, Holy Mother Church is completely focused on the death of the Lord. The joys of the Resurrection are completely absent, and therefore, it would be inappropriate to proclaim this message of the Resurrection to the world. Instead, we await the joyous Solemnity of Easter when the bells will once again sound forth this message, with a renewed vigor.
Yet, without the bells to summon them, the Faithful have come to this Liturgy to commemorate the Passion of the Lord with the Sacred Ministers, and to make reparation for their sins and abandonment of our Lord, which crucified Him. He died for His Church, and so the members of His Church now come to Him in faith and devotion.
While the Priest may normally be seen as a representing the Person of Christ, since he acts in Persona Christi in the administration of the Sacraments, this will not be the case in this Liturgy, for today the Priest is another member of the Faithful. Granted he leads us in prayer and still speaks to God on our behalf, but as the Holy Sacrifice will not be made present, there is no way for him to act in the Person of Christ. We are all united, then, in prayer to God the Father on account of the death of His Son.
Let us see, then, ourselves especially in the Priest and Deacon as they prostrate themselves before the altar. They first bow to the altar, for it is still a representation of Christ, and this should be especially poignant today, for it has so often borne the Sacrifice of Calvary. To bow to it today is to bow to the mount upon which the Cross was erected and our Lord died. As the Priest and Deacon make this bow, then, to the stripped altar, without cloths or candles, let us bow in spirit to our Lord hanging upon the Cross. He Himself, was stripped and exposed for all the world to see. He was without any beauty. As the Prophet Isaiah says:
"He had no form or comeliness that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed (Isaiah 53:2-5)."
The altar and sanctuary of the church do not draw our eyes as they normally do, for they, like our Lord have had all their exterior beauty taken away, but the eyes of faith are drawn ever deeper into this mystery. It is on account of our sins that the Lord was made like this! Let us not be deceived by our sensible eyes; may we see Golgotha when we look at the barren altar, and there compassionate our Divine Lord.
But all these thoughts have turned our hearts to pray! And this prayer is most fervent; therefore, it must take on the most fervent posture of prayer, and this is the full prostration. The Priest and Deacon, then, on behalf of all the Faithful, prostrate themselves before the altar, while the rest of the Sacred Ministers and people kneel in their places. Our thoughts should be as we have mentioned above. We are preparing to call to mind in a most intimate way the death of our Savior. We shall hear the Passion according to St. John, in which it is made most clear that Jesus Christ is the new Passover, the Lamb of God Who takes away our sins once and for all.
Following John's Passion, we shall participate in the Great Intercessions, in which we shall pray for the whole world. In this we unite ourselves to our Great High Priest on the Cross, for as He hung there, He prayed for all the world, since it was on account of all the world He suffered this agony. Then, we shall give our homage to our Crucified King and make solemn reparation for this most cruel act, for we shall kneel before the Cross and venerate it. The Cross proclaims Christ's kingship over the world. Let us not be as the Chief Priests who rejected it (John 19:15), but let us like St. Dismas the Good Thief accept the reign of Jesus and beg Him for salvation (Luke 23:42).
Then, finally, to conclude the Service of today, we shall be united to our Lord through the Reception of Holy Communion. While the Mass was not offered, the Hosts used were instead consecrated last evening at the Mass of the Lord's Supper, it is only appropriate that the affections these sacred rites have inspired in us should be perfected, and this can best be done through the Lord's Body and Blood. Indeed, by receiving this Sacred Food, we shall pledge ourselves loyal followers of Jesus Christ, the Crucified King, and unite ourselves to His death!
As we kneel then before the altar at the start of this Sacred Service, let us pray that the Blood of Jesus be poured down on us. The Priest and Deacon are vested in red vestments to remind us of the Blood that was shed for our salvation. As we recall Its being poured forth in the Agony, the Scourging, the Crowning with Thorns, the Way of the Cross, and ultimately in the Crucifixion and Death on Mt. Calvary, let us kneel in spirit before all these events below our Lord, so that the Blood that was shed may flow upon us, cleanse us of all our sins, and invigorate us to new and everlasting life!
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