Today is Good Friday.
There are many things that could be said about Good Friday's service. But the two most memorable to me are the veneration of the Cross and the Trisagion and Reproaches.
For some of you the idea of venerating the Cross may be foreign or seem unusual. I think to understand the heart behind this gesture, it is best to meditate on the Pange Lingua:
"De parentis protoplasti fraude factor condolens, quando pomi noxialis morsu in mortem corruit ipse lignum tunc notavit, damna ligni ut solveret. / The Creator looked on sadly as the first man, our forefather, was deceived, and as he fell into the snare of death, taking a bite of a lethal fruit, it was then that God chose this blessed piece of wood to destroy the other tree's curse."
The Trisagion and Reproaches compares the faithfulness of God to the fallen nature of His people, leading us to reflect on the faithfulness of God in our own lives and the ways in which we have failed to respond in kind. A sample:
"I opened the sea before you; you opened my side with a spear. / I quenched your thirst with saving water from the rock; you quenched my thirst with vinegar and gall."
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