Miami — Miami (AFP) – Blessed Friday It is a uniquely solemn and unique day in the Christian calendar.
It commemorates the crucifixion and death of Jesus, before what is considered a fundamental doctrine of the faith for believers – his resurrection two days later on Easter, according to the Gospels.
This year, it falls on April 3 for Catholics and Protestants, and April 10 for Orthodox Christians.
Across Christian denominations, Good Friday services differ from those on most other days. They often involve centuries-old traditions, held once a year during mass and in the streets, where elaborate processions and other rituals of fervent popular piety are held.
While Catholics gather, it is the only day when there is no actual Mass, because there is no Eucharist, which is the transformation of bread and wine into the body and blood of Jesus according to the Church. Orthodox Christians do not celebrate the Eucharist either on what they call Good and Holy Friday.
Most mainline Protestant denominations and evangelicals also offer unique services, such as Lutheran worship that focuses on biblical accounts of Jesus’ last words on the cross, although they are not as strict about fasting as Catholics and Orthodox Christians.
Church services tend to last more than an hour, and usually begin at 3 p.m., when tradition says Jesus died. But even though it is not a day of obligation, and it is a work day in the United States, churches tend to be crowded.
Manuel Leon, 22, said: “The lead-up to Good Friday is a great reflection of sacrifice – what he did for me and what I do in return.”
He is a member of the Corpus Christi Catholic Church youth group in Miami, and will carry a grimacing, realistic statue of a crucified Jesus in a procession through an upscale central neighborhood on Good Friday.
“When you push that statue from behind and see how torn up it is, what he did for us becomes really real,” Leon added.
The Rev. John Baldavin, professor of historical and liturgical theology at Boston College, said some ancient liturgical practices define the Good Friday service for Catholics.
“The most festive days tend to retain the oldest ceremonies,” he added, including for example the fact that priests and ministers prostrate themselves before the altar at the beginning of the service.
Another ancient tradition is the extensive prayers of the faithful, punctuated by kneeling, which today includes such diverse intentions as praying for the Pope, the Jewish people, and those who do not believe in God.
Until the Holy Week reforms introduced by the Vatican in the 1950s, Communion was not distributed on Good Friday, although it is now consecrated with the hosts the day before on Holy Thursday, Baldovin said.
But the most important feature of this ceremony is the worship of the cross, which in many cases is raised near the altar while believers line up to kiss or touch it in reverence.
Baldauphin said that among the oldest documents of this practice are the memoirs of a pilgrim who in the fourth century went from what is today Spain to Jerusalem. There, in the present day Church of the ResurrectionOne of the bishops raised the cross for several hours while the believers worshiped him.
Life-sized statues of the crucified Jesus, the weeping Virgin Mary, and scenes from the Gospel accounts of Jesus’ torture and death on the cross are carried in large processions in various parts of the world.
Some of the oldest and most impressive are In the city of Seville, southern Spainwhere tens of thousands of people watch revered images of Jesus and Mary being carried in processions that last for hours throughout Holy Week.
“Not all of us have the ability to look at the sky and feel satisfied. Others, like me, need pictures,” said Manolo Gobbia.
He moved from Seville to Miami three decades ago, and now heads the Brotherhood that organizes the Good Friday parade starting at Corpus Christi Church and winding its way through the graffiti-strewn Wynwood neighborhood.
When the major statues made in Seville emerge from the palm-filled church, they are carried over intricate carpets made of colorful sawdust and flowers. This is a reference to another tradition that is perhaps the most followed in the colonial city Antigua, GuatemalaMiles of these rugs are created for Holy Week – twice on Good Friday.
“On Good Friday, we feel Mary’s pain, Jesus’ pain, his surrender to love,” said Sylvia Armera, preparing carpet designs for the procession in Miami, where she arrived from Guatemala in the 1990s. “It is the great love of God, who gave his only Son for us.”
Formal and popular rituals on Good Friday vary from The Pope’s traditional “Way of the Cross”. In Rome for a trip to the adobe sanctuary (Chimayo, New Mexico). To self-flagellation and even Steel in the Philippines.
For many priests, these are all opportunities to take the faith out of the church and into the streets to preach — and to point out that gruesome death on the cross is not the end of the story.
“Our procession is a cry to the world – go out, and see what is the way, the truth, the life,” said Pastor Jose Luis Menendez.
“Let your entire attitude be a living prayer,” the Cuban-born, Spanish-raised priest said at a Corpus Christi church in Miami to more than 100 faithful at the final rehearsal for this year’s parade.
The main appeal of Good Friday celebrations is that they lead from death to Easter joy, Gobia said, carefully observing the four-wheel-drive vehicle covered in silver-plated decorations, flower vases and candelabras.
He said: “To the weeping Mary, we place flowers and sing hymns, because we know how it ends – which is the Resurrection.”
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