~Good Friday~

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 3:16

Good Friday is the day that Christians focus especially on the cross and Jesus' sacrifice for the sins of the world. The cross is a central symbol of the Christian faith. Christians believe that Jesus, son of God, died to save all believers from sin, all that separates human beings from God. The cross reminds Christians of Jesus' death and their salvation, how Jesus saved them from death by dying in their place.

Jesus' crucifixion, death on the cross, is the source of eternal life for all who believe according to Christian teaching. Jesus put himself in the place of every believer's sins as he suffered for the whole world by sacrificing his own life.

Atonement, Jesus giving himself for the sins of Christians, saves all Christians from hell and suffering. Good Friday is a time for Christians to remember Jesus' sacrifice and reflect on how the cross has saved them from their sins.

On Good Friday, Christians attend a church service where believers will focus on the cross and Jesus' suffering there with prayers, reflection, and ritual.

In some denominations, believers will focus on the last words that the Bible, or Holy Scripture, records Jesus to have said.

In others, particularly the Roman Catholic Church, believers will revere the cross, a ritual called the Adoration of the Cross, where believers literally kiss and bow before a cross, in honor of Jesus. It is truly one of the Catholic rituals that touches me to the core, always bringing me to tears.

Dear Jesus...Thank you for your sacrifice. Heaven can be ours because of it.

Mary.....My heart breaks for you each Easter. I cannot imagine the grief you felt for the Son you bore. (see "A Mother's Grief")

Stop by Sew Gracious to hear, "Worthy Is the Lamb", by Hillsong.

May this day be one of reflection and thanksgiving for all christians throughout the world.

Stop by Beki's blog to read more FingerPrints of God.

~Good Friday: A Mother's Grief~

There hasn’t been an Easter Season I can remember, that I didn’t grieve for Mary. Even when I was a little Catholic girl kneeling in church on Good Friday so many years ago. Long before I knew what it was like to be a mother. To know that inborn, maternal love that could surpass anything wordly. That feeling that you would freely give your own life, to save your child’s.

With swollen eyes she wept, huddled at the foot of the cross….looking through tear-stained fingers at her son’s lifeless body. The body she knew only too-well.

This lifeless corpse was once the baby she rocked in her arms. He was the toddler whose bloodied knees she had very tenderly bandaged.

He was her twelve-year-old boy who had disappeared for three days only to be found in the temple preaching to the elders.

She was living a nightmare that Friday long-ago….never dreaming that in three-days-time her Son, this bloodied lifeless body, would rise from the dead and save the world.

Mary is an inspiration to all mothers. She was part of the enormous sacrifice that Jesus had made for us. As His mother, she was with Him on His last journey. Her presence told her Child that she would never abandon Him. As she was with Him in the beginning, she would be with Him in the end. God had given His Son the gift of a beautiful mother, and she would ease His burden with her love until He took His last breath.

As mothers, we watch our children carry their own crosses. My children may stand alone with their cross, but like Mary, my love will always be there to help ease their burden.

And so, each Easter Season, my thoughts always turn to her mourning the loss of her beloved Son. I cannot imagine her grief as she watched Him die on that Friday so long ago.