"It is accomplished; and bowing his head he gave up his spirit."
Today the whole Church mourns the death of our Savior. This is traditionally a day of sadness, spent in fasting and prayer. The title for this day varies in different parts of the world: "Holy Friday" for Latin nations, Slavs and Hungarians call it "Great Friday," in Germany it is "Friday of Mourning," and in Norway, it is "Long Friday." Some view the term "Good Friday" (used in English and Dutch) as a corruption of the term "God's Friday." This is another obligatory day of fasting and abstinence. In Ireland, they practice the "black fast," which is to consume nothing but black tea and water.
Prayer to Jesus Forsaken
Sweet Jesus! For how many ages hast Thou hung upon Thy Cross and still men pass Thee by and regard Thee not!
How often have I passed Thee by, heedless of Thy great Sorrow, Thy many Wounds, Thy infinite Love!
How often have I stood before Thee, not to comfort and console Thee, but to add to Thy Sorrows, to deepen Thy Wounds, to spurn Thy Love!
Thou hast stretched forth Thy Hands to raise me up, and I have taken those Hands and bent them back on the Cross.
Thou hast loved me with an infinite love, and I have taken advantage of that love to sin the more against Thee.
My ingratitude has pierced Thy Sacred Heart, and Thy Heart responds only with an outpouring of Thy Love in Thy Precious Blood.
Lamb of God Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on me.
Hymn: Crux Fidelis
Crux fidelis,
inter omnes
arbor una nobilis;
nulla talem silva profert,
flore, fronde, germine.
Dulce lignum, dulci clavo,
dulce pondus sustinens!
Flecte ramos, arbor alta,
tensa laxa viscera,
et rigor lentescat ille,
quem dedit nativitas,
ut superni membra Regis
miti tendas stipite.
Sola digna tu fuisti
ferre saeculi pretium,
atque portum praeparare
nauta mundo naufrago,
quem sacer cruor perunxit,
fusus Agni corpore.
Aequa Patri Filioque,
inclito Paraclito,
sempiterna sit beatae
Trinitati gloria,
cuius alma nos redemit
atque servat gratia. Amen.
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