Prayers for Good Friday

In case you don't have the luxury of having the day off from work or can't make it to church, here are a few prayers for you. Perhaps you can take a moment to reflect over your lunch hour (since we are all fasting, right?)...

Stations of the Cross
The standard set from the 17th to 20th centuries has consisted of 14 pictures or sculptures depicting the following scenes:

1. Jesus is condemned to death
2. Jesus carries his cross
3. Jesus falls the first time
4. Jesus meets his mother
5. Simon or Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus to carry the cross
6 .Veronica wipes the face of Jesus
7. Jesus falls the second time
8 Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
9. Jesus falls the third time
10. Jesus' clothes are taken away
11. Crucifixion: Jesus is nailed to the cross
12.Jesus dies on the cross
13. Jesus is taken down from the cross
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.


To provide a version of this devotion more closely aligned with the biblical accounts, Pope John Paul II introduced a new form of devotion, called the Scriptural Way of the Cross on Good Friday 1991. He celebrated that form many times but not exclusively at the Colosseum in Rome.[12][13] In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI approved this set of stations for meditation and public celebration: They follow this sequence

1. Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane,
2. Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested,
3. Jesus is condemned by the Sanhedrin,
4. Jesus is denied by Peter,
5. Jesus is judged by Pilate,
6. Jesus is scourged and crowned with thorns,
7. Jesus takes up his cross,
8. Jesus is helped by Simon to carry his cross,
9. Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,
10. Jesus is crucified,
11. Jesus promises his kingdom to the repentant thief,
12. Jesus entrusts Mary and John to each other,
13. Jesus dies on the cross,
14. Jesus is laid in the tomb.



And now a little Taize meditation on the words of the good thief. (Click on the picture or caption to be taken to a video of the sung meditation.)

Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom