MSI Press Blog

  Sula, parish cat, venerates the cross on Good Friday Good Friday is the most solemn day of the Christian year — the day the Church stands at the foot of the Cross. Catholics do not “celebrate” Good Friday; they commemorate it with silence, fasting, and a liturgy unlike any other. It is the only day of the year when the Church does not celebrate Mass, underscoring the starkness of Christ’s death. Good Friday is part of the Triduum, the three‑day passage from the Last Supper to the Resurrection. If Holy Thursday is intimacy and command, Good Friday is exposure and surrender — the moment when love refuses to turn back. The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion The central act of Good Friday is the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion , which has three movements: the Liturgy of the Word, the Veneration of the Cross, and Holy Communion. 1. The Entrance in Silence The liturgy begins without music or greeting. The priest enters in silence and prostrates himself — the only time this posture ap...

  Catholics venerate the Cross because, in Catholic dogma, the Cross is not merely the instrument of Christ’s death but the place where the entire mystery of salvation is accomplished. Veneration is not worship of an object; it is reverence for what God did through it. The Cross as the Center of Salvation Catholic teaching holds that Christ’s Passion is the decisive act by which humanity is redeemed. The Cross is therefore: the altar of the New Covenant, where Christ offers Himself to the Father the instrument of victory, where sin, death, and the devil are defeated the revelation of divine love, where God shows the full extent of His mercy This is why St. Paul can say, “We preach Christ crucified” and “May I never boast except in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Cross is not an unfortunate detail in the story of Jesus; it is the hinge of the entire Christian faith. Why Catholics Venerate (Not Worship) the Cross Catholic dogma makes a clear distinction: Worship (latria)...