Good Friday Opening Prayer:

Lord,
By the suffering of Christ your Son
You have saved us all from the death
We inherited from sinful Adam.
By the law of nature
We have borne the likeness of his manhood.
May the sanctifying power of grace help us to
put the likeness of our Lord in Heaven,
who lives and reigns forever and ever,
Amen.

Good Friday Catechism:

Christ Offered Himself to His Father For our Sins

Christ’s Whole Life is an Offering to the Father

CCC 606: “The Son of God, who came down “from heaven, not to do (his) own will, but the will of him who sent (him)”, said on coming into the world, “Lo, I have come to do your will, O God.” “and by that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” From the first moment of his Incarnation the Son embraces the Father’s plan of divine salvation in his redemptive mission: “My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work.” The sacrifice of Jesus “for the sins of the whole world” expresses his loving communion with the Father. “The Father loves me, because I lay down my life”, said the Lord, “(for) I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.””

CCC 607: “The desire to embrace his Father’s plan of redeeming love inspired Jesus’ whole life, for his redemptive passion was the very reason for his Incarnation. and so he asked, “and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, for this purpose I have come to this hour.” and again, “Shall I not drink the cup which the Father has given me?” From the cross, just before “It is finished”, he said, “I thirst.””

“The Lamb who Takes Away the Sin of the World”

CCC 608: “After agreeing to baptize him along with the sinners, John the Baptist looked at Jesus and pointed him out as the “Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” By doing so, he reveals that Jesus is at the same time the suffering Servant who silently allows himself to be led to the slaughter and who bears the sin of the multitudes, and also the Paschal Lamb, the symbol of Israel’s redemption at the first Passover. Christ’s whole life expresses his mission: “to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.””

Jesus Freely Embraced the Father’s Redeeming Love

CCC 609: “By embracing in his human heart the Father’s love for men, Jesus “loved them to the end”, for “greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” In suffering and death his humanity became the free and perfect instrument of his divine love which desires the salvation of men. Indeed, out of love for his Father and for men, whom the Father wants to save, Jesus freely accepted his Passion and death: “No one takes [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” Hence the sovereign freedom of God’s Son as he went out to his death.”

At the Last Supper Jesus Anticipated the Free Offering of his Life

CCC 610: “Jesus gave the supreme expression of his free offering of himself at the meal shared with the twelve Apostles “on the night he was betrayed. “On the eve of his Passion, while still free, Jesus transformed this Last Supper with the apostles into the memorial of his voluntary offering to the Father for the salvation of men: “This is my body which is given for you.” “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.””

CCC 611: “The Eucharist that Christ institutes at that moment will be the memorial of his sacrifice. Jesus includes the apostles in his own offering and bids them perpetuate it. By doing so, the Lord institutes his apostles as priests of the New Covenant: “For their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.””

The Agony at Gethsemane

CCC 612: “The cup of the New Covenant, which Jesus anticipated when he offered himself at the Last Supper, is afterwards accepted by him from his Father’s hands in his agony in the garden at Gethsemane, making himself “obedient unto death”. Jesus prays: “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Thus he expresses the horror that death represented for his human nature. Like ours, his human nature is destined for eternal life; but unlike ours, it is perfectly exempt from sin, the cause of death. Above all, his human nature has been assumed by the divine person of the “Author of life”, the “Living One”. By accepting in his human will that the Father’s will be done, he accepts his death as redemptive, for “he himself bore our sins in his body on the tree.””

Christ’s Death is the Unique and Definitive Sacrifice

CCC 613: “Christ’s death is both the Paschal sacrifice that accomplishes the definitive redemption of men, through “the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world”, and the sacrifice of the New Covenant, which restores man to communion with God by reconciling him to God through the “blood of the covenant, which was poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.””

CCC 614: “This sacrifice of Christ is unique; it completes and surpasses all other sacrifices. First, it is a gift from God the Father himself, for the Father handed his Son over to sinners in order to reconcile us with himself. At the same time it is the offering of the Son of God made man, who in freedom and love offered his life to his Father through the Holy Spirit in reparation for our disobedience.”

Jesus Substitutes his Obedience for our Disobedience

CCC 615: “”For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by one man’s obedience many will be made righteous.” By his obedience unto death, Jesus accomplished the substitution of the suffering Servant, who “makes himself an offering for sin”, when “he bore the sin of many”, and who “shall make many to be accounted righteous”, for “he shall bear their iniquities.” Jesus atoned for our faults and made satisfaction for our sins to the Father.”

Catechism of the Catholic Church, Number 606-615.

Holy Week Schedule:

CELEBRATION OF THE LORD’S PASSION
(GOOD FRIDAY) | APRIL 7TH
3:00pm at St. Catherine
VIGIL OF THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD
(HOLY SATURDAY) | APRIL 8TH
11:00am Blessing of the Baskets at St. Anne
8:00pm Easter vigil at St. Raphael
THE RESURRECTION OF THE LORD
(EASTER SUNDAY) | APRIL 9TH
9:00am Easter Sunday at St. Catherine
11:00am Easter Sunday at St. Anne

Holy Saturday Opening Prayer:

Dear friends in Christ,
We have begun our solemn vigil.
Let us now listen attentively to the word of God,
Recalling how he saved his people throughout history
And in the fulness of time,
Sent his own Son to be our Redeemer.
Through this Easter celebration,
May God bring to perfection
The saving work he has begun in us.

Holy Saturday Catechism:

The Meaning and Saving Significance of the Resurrection

CCC 651: “”If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain.” The Resurrection above all constitutes the confirmation of all Christ’s works and teachings. All truths, even those most inaccessible to human reason, find their justification if Christ by his Resurrection has given the definitive proof of his divine authority, which he had promised.”

CCC 652: “Christ’s Resurrection is the fulfilment of the promises both of the Old Testament and of Jesus himself during his earthly life. The phrase “in accordance with the Scriptures” indicates that Christ’s Resurrection fulfilled these predictions.”

CCC 653: “The truth of Jesus’ divinity is confirmed by his Resurrection. He had said: “When you have lifted up the Son of man, then you will know that I am he.” The Resurrection of the crucified one shows that he was truly “I AM”, the Son of God and God himself. So St. Paul could declare to the Jews: “What God promised to the fathers, this he has fulfilled to us their children by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second psalm, ‘You are my Son, today I have begotten you.'” Christ’s Resurrection is closely linked to the Incarnation of God’s Son, and is its fulfilment in accordance with God’s eternal plan.”

CCC 654: “The Paschal mystery has two aspects: by his death, Christ liberates us from sin; by his Resurrection, he opens for us the way to a new life. This new life is above all justification that reinstates us in God’s grace, “so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.” Justification consists in both victory over the death caused by sin and a new participation in grace. It brings about filial adoption so that men become Christ’s brethren, as Jesus himself called his disciples after his Resurrection: “Go and tell my brethren.” We are brethren not by nature, but by the gift of grace, because that adoptive filiation gains us a real share in the life of the only Son, which was fully revealed in his Resurrection.”

CCC 655: “Finally, Christ’s Resurrection – and the risen Christ himself is the principle and source of our future resurrection: “Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep. . . For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” The risen Christ lives in the hearts of his faithful while they await that fulfilment. In Christ, Christians “have tasted. . . the powers of the age to come” and their lives are swept up by Christ into the heart of divine life, so that they may “live no longer for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”” Catechism of the Catholic Church, Number 651-655.