Commentary on the Liturgy of Good Friday

April 3, 2026April 3, 2026 selvam Current Activity, Youth Liturgy

Good Friday
Liturgical Commentary
Introduction
Dear friends in Christ Jesus, on this day, which is called the Good Friday, we commemorate the passion and death of the Lord. According to the Church’s ancient tradition, the sacraments are not celebrated today or tomorrow. Today’s liturgy calls for silence and contemplation. This special liturgy has three parts:

The Liturgy of the Word
Veneration of the Cross, and
Holy Communion

PART I – LITURGY OF THE WORD
Now we are about to enter into the first part of our service: The liturgy of the Word. The priest(s) together with the ministers of the altar, wearing red garments, proceed to the altar. The presiding priest will then prostrate in front of the altar to commemorate the hour when Jesus gave up his spirit. Other priests kneel. We will all kneel in […]

Good Friday Homily: Why did Jesus Die?

April 3, 2026April 3, 2026 selvam Year A

Good Friday
Why was the Son of God crucified?
Why was Jesus of Nazareth killed?
In an attempt to interpret history we can say that Jesus of Nazareth was a victim of one of the methods of capital punishment in the Roman Empire: crucifixion.
The build-up to this mishandling of justice was marred by the interplay of institutionalised religion and corrupt politics.
Jesus of Nazareth had gone around the land of Palestine stretching from Galilee in the North to Judea in the South, and across Samaria, for a period of three years, proclaiming a new message – the good news of the Kingdom of God! God is here and now! God can be called, ‘Our Father’. This was the core of his message. This carpenter from Nazareth had gathered a band of disciples who called him, ‘rabbi’. Some people thought he was a prophet – their […]

Passion Sunday/Good Friday Sermon – Homily

April 3, 2026April 3, 2026 selvam Year A

The Passion Week: The mystery of suffering and resurrection
Elie Weisel, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and a survivor of the concentration camp, in his book, Night, tells a story of a young boy who was hanged by the SS men. The young boy was going to be hanged together with two other adults. This cruel show was to be witnessed by thousands of other prisoners including Elie Weisel. The child had the face of a ‘sad-eyed angel’; he was silent, lividly pale and almost calm as he ascended the gallows. Behind Weisel, one of the other prisoners asked: “Where is God? Where is He?” It took the boy more than half an hour to die, while the other prisoners were forced to look him in the face. The same man asked again: ‘Where is God now?’ And Weisel heard […]

Maundy Thursday: Eucharist a Sacrificial Meal

April 2, 2026April 2, 2026 selvam Year A

Jesus knew that the hour had come (Jn 13:1)
In the Gospel of John, the concept of the ‘hour’ has a specific significance. At the Wedding at Cana, when the Mother of Jesus draws his attention to the fact that “They have no wine”, Jesus comes up with the very sharp reply, “My hour has not come yet” (Jn 2:4). But the Mother of Jesus continues to act as if the hour has already begun to come. In a sense she ushers in the hour. During the encounter between Jesus and the Samaritan woman, Jesus assures her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” (Jn 4:21). Today’s gospel text introduces the last supper with these words: “knowing that his hour had come to pass from this world […]

Sermon for Palm Sunday – Year A

March 27, 2026March 29, 2026 selvam Year A

For homily at the beginning of the liturgy: CLICK HERE.

With today’s liturgy, we have begun the Holy Week, as it is called in English. In other languages, it is referred to as the Great Week. Yes, indeed it is the great week. A week which marks the climax of the incarnation, it marks the celebration of the paschal mystery: passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus – the pillars of our faith.

During this week, we listen to the passion narratives on two occasions. On Palm Sunday, as we have done today, and again on Good Friday. Every year, the Good Friday passion narrative comes from the Gospel of John – Chapters 18 and 19. On Palm Sunday, however, every year we listen to the narrative from one of the synoptic […]