A Devotional Guide for Good Friday
This devotional guide is intended for your use in your home,
after the Noonday service.
If you missed our Noonday service of prayers, with hymns - you may view it on our Facebook page (be sure to open up the bulletin here).
Please take the the time to work your way through the guide, which includes Scripture readings and Homilies on the 7 Last Words of Christ from the Cross.
A thoughtful admonition on the discipline of quiet is here.
THE FIRST WORD
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.
And they parted his raiment, and cast lots (St. Luke 23:34 ).
READ: Psalm 2 & Psalm 68
LISTEN: A Homily by The Reverend Jerry Shriver
PRAY: Blessed Lord, who in thy forgiving love didst pray for those who nailed thee to the Cross, and hast taught us to forgive one another as thou hast forgiven us: Take from us all bitterness and resentment towards our fellows, and give us the spirit of mutual forgiveness and brotherly love; that so, in perfect charity, we may be partakers of thy heavenly kingdom; for thy name and mercy’s sake. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.
THE SECOND WORD
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise (St. Luke 23:43).
READ: Psalm 139 & Psalm 86
LISTEN: A Homily by Fr. Tait Deems, Curate
PRAY: Blessed Saviour, who when hanging on thy Cross didst welcome the penitent sinner: We beseech thee, by that same compassion, to pardon the guilty, heal the wounded, recover the fallen, restore the wandering; that casting themselves upon thy mercy they may return with penitence to the embrace of thy love, and enter at last into the joy of thy presence; for thy love’s sake. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.
THE THIRD WORD
When Jesus therefore saw his mother, and the disciple standing by, whom he loved, he saith unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son! Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother! And from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home (St. John 19:26-27).
READ: PSALM 27 & Pslam 127
LISTEN: A homily by Mr. Matthew Maule, Curate
PRAY: O Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy holy incarnation didst enter the human family, and on the cross didst commend thy mother to the care of the beloved disciple: Purify our homes by thy abiding presence; sanctify all our human relations; and grant that united with one another in thee, we may together attain thy heavenly kingdom; for the honour of thy great name. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.
THE FOURTH WORD
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
(St. Matthew 27:46).
READ: Psalm 22 & Psalm 6
LISTEN: A homily by Mr. Aaron Cappucci, Deacon
PRAY: Lord Jesus Christ, who by thy most bitter passion hast tasted death for every man, and hast borne our sins in thine own body on the Tree: Grant us, we beseech thee, a broken and a contrite heart for all thy sorrows, and the loosing from our sins in thy precious blood; that we may live henceforth as those who have been bought with a price, and glory only in the cross. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.
Hymn #75 O Sacred Head Sore Wounded
(Passion Chorale, adapted and arr. J. S. Bach
Paulus Gerhardt, 1656, Tr. Robert Bridges, 1899)
Recorded for us by Ms. Castor and her family.
(1) O sacred head, sore wounded,
Defiled and put to scorn;
O kingly head, surrounded
With mocking crown of thorn:
What sorrow mars thy grandeur?
Can death thy bloom deflower?
O countenance whose splendor
The hosts of heav’n adore!
(2) Thy beauty, long desired,
Hath vanished from our sight;
Thy power is all expired,
And quench’d the light of light.
Ah me! for whom thou diest,
Hide not so far thy grace:
Show me, O Love most highest,
The brightness of thy face.
THE FIFTH WORD
After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst (St. John 19:28).
READ: Psalm 42 & Psalm 63
LISTEN: A homily by Mr. Steven Vanderlip, Postulant
PRAY: Blessed Lord, who on the Cross didst endure the thirst both of spiritual desire and of physical anguish; Satisfy the longings of our hearts, we humbly beseech thee, and sanctify our sufferings by thine own; for thy love’s sake. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.
(3) In thy most bitter passion
My heart to share doth cry,
With thee for my salvation
Upon the cross to die.
Ah, keep my heart thus moved
To stand thy cross beneath,
To mourn thee, well-beloved,
Yet thank thee for thy death.
(4) My days are few, O fail not,
With thine immortal power,
To hold me that I quail not
In death’s most fearful hour:
That I may fight befriended,
And see in my last strife
To me thine arms extended
Upon the cross of life. Amen.
Prelude on Aberystwyth
THE SIXTH WORD
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost (St. John 19:30).
READ: Psalm 46 & Psalm 106
LISTEN: A homily by Mr. Cody Moran, Aspirant
PRAY: O Lamb of God, Son of the Father, that takest away the sins of the world: Grant that as thy sacrifice for our redemption was full, perfect, and sufficient, so nothing may be wanting in our service and sacrifice for thee as members of thy mystical body; for the honour and glory of thy great name. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.
Aria for Organ, Camil Van Hulse
THE SEVENTH WORD
And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost (St. Luke 23:46).
READ: Psalm 31 & Psalm 102
LISTEN: A homily by Fr. Patterson, Rector
PRAY: O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, who at the ninth hour of the day, with outstretched arms and bowed head, didst commend thy spirit to God thy Father, and by thy death unlock the gates of paradise: Mercifully grant that in the hour of our death our souls may come to the true paradise, which is Thyself; who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Ghost, world without end. Amen.
REFLECT: Sit quietly for at least 5 minutes to prayerfully consider what you have read and heard.