“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who in every respect has been tested as we are, yet without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Good Friday comes to us each year with a nearly unbearable weight of remembered pain. We know what will happen….

“Woman, here is your son.” Then he said to his disciple, “Here is your mother.” Jesus hangs on the cross. Crowds of people stand around watching the spectacle—some watching in horror, others with indifference, still others with a sense of triumph. “That annoying and dangerous prophet is in the last throes of death, thank God,”…

And now the sorrowful fellowship of Thursday evening turns into terror with the arrest of their beloved teacher; it is the longest night of their lives. But when Friday dawns, instead of light dispelling darkness, as is the nature of things, it is darkness that falls on them all. Everything that was good seems to…

The Chapel of the Holy Cross is built high into the side of a remote Arizona mountain. A pilgrim facing the chapel from the valley floor immediately sees the tall, narrow stone cross that literally is the building’s structural foundation. The rest of the façade is glass, giving the pilgrim who enters the chapel a…

A priest has told the story of a group of parochial high school students on their way to church to go to confession. As they walked along, they were discussing the Sacrament of Penance, and one among them had very strong views. He considered the notion of confessing one’s sins to be, at best, irrelevant—and,…

Prayer: Jesus said, “For I have come down from heaven, not to do my will but the will of Him who sent me (John 6:38). Almighty God by the power of your Holy Spirit incline the hearts of your people so that they may seek always your will for them. Amen. Jesus became incarnate from…

After Jesus had washed the feet of all the disciples, then Jesus turned their attention back to the table. He took bread and wine into his hands, blessed them, and shared them with these, his closest friends. “Do this in remembrance of me,” he said. We can imagine the disciples beginning to look questioningly at…

Two rivers meander through my life: the South Anna River, which I cross every day when I travel to and from the church I serve, and the James River, which defines the city of Richmond in which I live. The river in Richmond is both treacherous and beautiful. I often cross it and wonder at…

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole. It’s pretty lofty, this writing from Isaiah. So, too, is the long discussion of sacrifice from the letter to the Hebrews that we read every Good Friday. By reading these passages we are encouraged to believe…