Good Friday: Reflections

The following message by Sister Angele Lewis, SNDdeN was provided by the Congregational Mission Office:

Read: John 18: 1-19, 42

Reflect: Good Friday draws us into a different rhythm—one marked by stillness, reverence, and truth. We gather to contemplate the mystery of the cross. From the opening silence, the Church leads us slowly into prayer, inviting us to listen, to pause, and to stand at the foot of the cross without rushing toward Easter. Here, at the most vulnerable moment of the Gospel, we glimpse a God who does not turn away from human pain but enters it fully.

In the proclamation of the Passion, the story unfolds not as distant history but as living reality. Betrayal, fear, injustice and silence are not foreign to our own lives or to the world we carry in prayer today. As the Gospel is read—often by many voices—we recognize ourselves within it: sometimes faithful, sometimes fearful, sometimes unsure. Listening itself becomes an act of prayer.

This reflection continues on the SNDdeN International website.