What Is Good Friday? – What’s the Meaning of Good Friday?
As Lent, a period of reflection in preparation for Easter, comes to a close, many Christians observe Good Friday. “Good Friday is the day Christians commemorate the suffering and execution of Jesus by the Roman-occupying empire in Jerusalem,” says professor and Jesuit priest Bruce Morrill, PhD, Edward A. Malloy Chair of Catholic Studies at Vanderbilt Divinity School in Nashville. “The day focuses on the passion and death of Jesus.”
How long has it been commemorated?
The day has been commemorated for many centuries. “We have historical evidence from the 4th century diary of a wealthy woman, Egeria, who made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem,” says Morrill. “She wrote of her travels and included how Christians kept Palm Sunday and other rituals.” Eventually, as Christianity spread, the day was observed by other early churches in places such as Antioch, Rome, and Constantinople.
How is the day remembered?
Different ways of honoring the day have evolved, and many traditions and popular devotions still are practiced today. In the Middle Ages, Francis of Assisi popularized a symbolic pilgrimage if you couldn’t make one to Jerusalem, known as Stations, or Way, of the Cross, says Morrill. The devotion includes crosses spaced at intervals (both indoors and out) alongside art such as paintings or sculptures depicting pivotal scenes from Jesus’s life. People stop to pray, meditate, and read or hear Biblical passages at each station. It’s most commonly prayed during Lent and especially on
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