The Holiday Hallmark Can't Handle

Catholic Exchange ^ | April 14, 2006 | David Rensberger

[NYer]

David Rensberger is Professor of New Testament at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

[NYer]

This article sums up the feelings I have always had on Good Friday. It is day when tv and radio are all shut off except for EWTN or lenten music.

I was most privileged this morning to attend, for the first time, a Maronite liturgy entitled the Signing of the Chalice. It is so different from the other liturgies. Prayers normally chanted are spoken - there is no music. There is no Allelulia before the reading of the Gospel. Even the consecration is different in that the priest asks our heavenly Father to consecrate the Body and Blood. Only the priest takes communion. It is a very ancient liturgy. It culminates with a special blessing for those present who have witnessed it.

Good Friday services this evening, following our meatless community meal. A Blessed Easter to all!

[Salvation]

That sounds like a wonderful liturgy.

[trisham]

This day of betrayal and death and grief commemorates what we believe to be our source of life and joy.

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Good article. Thanks for the ping.

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

Nothing like left-wing love and tolerance!

[Admin Moderator]

Preserved your little sermon for posterity.

[fishbabe]

Why so hateful????So what if people believe in something you don't...Liberals,left-wingers,feminists are always screaming for their right to believe the way they want...Hitler was a left-winger,Stalin was a left-winger,Mao was a left-winger..These men had the same belief that liberals have..So,if you want to say that Christians cause all the problems ,take another look at your heroes..Murdered millions of innocent people and you liberals don't seem to mind that....

[Coop]

When you care enough to zap the very least.

[trisham]

When you care enough to zap the very least.

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LOL! There's a job for you at Hallmark. :)

[Coop]

I think Hallmark would slap me with a lawsuit before extending a job offer! :-)

[NYer]

Religion is indeed the opiate of the masses

Welcome to Free Republic! - where freedom of speech and religion both prevail.

[NYer]

That sounds like a wonderful liturgy.

According to the patriarchal web site .....

"The Anaphora of the Apostles (also known as III Peter and by the Syriac word Sharrar), which the Maronite Church shares in common with the Church of Edessa, is the oldest Anaphora in the Catholic Church, and is still found in adapted form as the Anaphora of the Signing of the Chalice on Good Friday.

The Church of Antioch was the ancient See of Peter and developed its liturgy with influences from the Church of Jerusalem. The Maronite Anaphora of the Twelve Apostles represents the oldest tradition of the Church of Antioch. St. John Chrysostom took this Anaphora with him to Constantinople and became the basis of the Byzantine liturgy. As heir to the Patriarchate of Antioch, the Maronite Church represents the Antiochene liturgy in its fullness. Thus, the Maronite Church, in its prayer life, preserves the way of worship of the Apostles and their earliest disciples. "

pravknight - thought of you last night. It was one of our Melkite parishioners who was chosen to chant the gospel during the washing of the feet. Father complimented him on it. He did a good job :-)

[Bainbridge]

It really bothers you, doesn't it?

There is a reason that you are unable to show a calm, non-hysterical attitude towards Christianity. Afterall, if it is silly nonsense then what difference could it possibly make to you what people who believe it think or do? What is it about Christianity that makes people like you ( an admirer of Noam Chomsky?!) to become so unhinged?

[GAB-1955]

For such people, politics and power are the opiates. A strong religious faith gives people the courage to stand up to tyrants and People's Commissars. If there is a life after death, then there is no ultimate control a State may have over people. And this is why men like Bonhoeffer and Solzhenitsyn have been persecuted by dictatorships; why China insists on a toothless, "patriotic" church, and quails in fear at groups like Falun Gong. If there is a God, then they can't express ultimate control.

[OpusatFR]

"Good Friday is the one Christian “holiday” that the wider culture, even in America, has not taken up..."

I'm kind of conflicted here. While I would have people realize Christ died so that they may live, I just can't see a downside to a holy day that can't be perverted into some consumer orgy.

[twin2]

Thanks for the ping. It expresses my sentiments exactly.

I just returned from stations of the cross, otherwise I might be compelled to say some unkind words to the bozo upthread.

Instead I think I will spend some time in prayer and meditation before returning to services tonight.

[Salvation]

Last Seven Words of Christ Are Full of "Spirit and Life"

Good Friday

Divine Mercy Novena Begins on Good Friday

The Three Crosses: The Good Thief or the Cross Accepted

The Three Crosses: The Bad Thief or the Cross Rejected

The Drawing of Christ on the Cross [Images]"

Online Exclusive: Good Friday: A good day for faith, family and food

Good Friday Reproaches

The Holiday Hallmark Can't Handle

[Heartofsong83]

Services here have come and gone. I also spent 2 1/2 hours watching the service from Rome. Still, all I hear right now is my typing and nature.

It needs to become a federal holiday in the US and applied to the 25 or so states that give it no status at all.

[Mercat]

I just emailed this essay to my very pagan young secretary Ann who came in today, said "Happy Good Friday" in a sort of hesitant voice and asked, what do you do on Good Friday anyway? I said, I go to Church, want to come? She said, "No" I'm sort of afraid of Church. I've known her since she was three and she had no religious experience at all in her up bringing. So in the service, when we prayed for those who do not believe, I listed Ann.