Clergymen reflect on Good Friday, Easter

Today is a somber one for Christians as they remember Jesus’ death on the cross for humanity, but that sadness will turn to rejoicing on Easter Sunday, when they celebrate Christ’s resurrection.
Good Friday commemorates the death of the Lord, which, for Christians, means the gift of their salvation, said the Rev. Douglas Courville of St. Stephen Catholic Church in Berwick.
“For us, Good Friday is a particularly somber day. It’s a day when we commemorate this great event,” Courville said. “The churches are relatively silent, very quiet on Good Friday.”
Good Friday services are “very, very simple,” Courville said.
The Rev. C.F. Smith of Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church in Morgan City called Good Friday “the saddest day in the world” because Jesus was crucified. Many people doubted Jesus would live, but a small group believed he would be resurrected after his crucifixion, Smith said.
Good Friday is the only day of the year when Catholics do not celebrate Mass, Courville said. The Eucharist is distributed and consumed at the Good Friday service but actually consecrated the night before at the Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper,” Courville said.
The central part of the Good Friday service is “the veneration of the cross,” which is how people are able to experience salvation, Courville said.
The Rev. John Locascio of Pharr Chapel United Methodist Church in Morgan City said the church celebrates Good Friday as “Christ giving it all for us.”
Before Jesus’ death, people were doomed for Hell because they owed a debt they could never pay, Smith said. Through Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection that debt “was paid in full,” and those who believe in Jesus should rejoice and thank God that Christ was crucified and rose again on the third day, Smith said.
Easter commemorates Jesus’ “glorious resurrection from the dead,” Courville said. The day is one to renew hope and be inspired to become more charitable, loving, compassionate and understanding, Courville said.
In the U.S., it’s customary to renew baptismal vows on Easter Sunday after the sermon, Courville said. “Then the people are blessed with Holy Water that was blessed the night before at the Easter Vigil,” Courville said. The Easter Vigil is the first Mass of Easter and is a “beautiful ceremony” when the “new fire” is blessed, Courville said.
The focus of the Lenten season on penance, alms giving and prayer, leads up to the moment where Christians recall their baptism and renew their baptismal commitment, Courville said.
The Easter season is a time for Christians to remember what Jesus went through. “We join in with thousands of people who are already in Jerusalem who are trying to relive that experience and their memories from what they’ve been taught and are being taught,” Smith said. Jesus “paid a debt for mankind,” Smith said. If Jesus didn’t rise from the dead, people would have no hope “of a better tomorrow” and “a better world to come,” Smith said.
Easter Sunday marks Christ’s resurrection where Jesus gave humanity “new life,” Locascio said. Locascio compared the changing of seasons from winter to spring to how people’s lives can be changed with Christ, he said. On Easter Sunday morning, Pharr Chapel asks people to bring flowers to decorate the cross outside the church, Locascio said.
“We transform the cross from an object of death to an object of life,” Locascio said.
The Easter season was especially important for early Christians concerning the death and resurrection of Christ because of the forgiveness of sins and new life it provided, Locascio said.
“That’s a message that continues on throughout, not just Easter, but that Christ is always willing to give us new life,” Locascio said.
“Instead of using it to commercialize, we should be thanking God and trying to relive that experience because that’s the world’s only hope,” Smith said. On Sunday, Mt. Pilgrim Baptist Church will hold Easter services at 8 a.m. and 11 a.m., and the public is invited, Smith said.

This story was written by Zachary Fitzgerald of The Daily Review staff. Reach him at zfitzgerald@daily-review.com