What is GOOD FRIDAY?

Good Friday is the Friday within Holy Week, and is a time of fasting and penance, commemorating the anniversary of Christ's crucifixion and death. For Christians (Catholic, Orthodox, Methodist, etc), Good Friday commemorates not just a historical event, but the sacrificial death of Christ, which with the resurrection, comprises the heart of the Christian faith. The Catholic Catechism states this clearly:


>>Justification has been merited for us by. the Passion of Christ who offered himself on the cross as a living victim, holy and pleasing to God, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men.>>


This is based on the words of St. Paul: "[Believers] are justified freely by God's grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as an expiation, through faith, by his blood... (Romans 3:24-25, NAB). The customs and prayers associated with Good Friday typically focus on the theme of Christ's sacrificial death for our sins.

MLB!