Friday, March 29, 2013 — Good Friday
[Go to http://www.missionstclare.com/english/index.html for an online version of the Daily Office including today’s scripture readings.]
Today’s Readings for the Daily Office
(Book of Common Prayer, p. 956)
Psalms 95* and 22 (morning) // 40:1-14(15-19), 54 (evening)
Wisdom** 1:16 – 2:1, 12-22 or Genesis 22:1-14
1 Peter 1:10-20
John 13:36-38 (morning) John 19:38-42 (evening)
* for the Invitatory
** found in the Apocrypha
When the worst happens. That’s today.
When a good person gets run over by injustice. When a friend betrays. When the systems of religion and society fail. When leaders make bad decisions. When fear predominates. When friends don’t come through. When love is returned with callousness. When one who has healed is broken. When violence erupts. When compassion is absent. When public humiliation is inevitable. When there is nothing you can say. When there is no way out. When goodness counts for nothing. When the wrong people are in charge. When the mob starts to turn. When everything you stood for is dashed. When horrible pain is unavoidable. When you wish it would end and it doesn’t. When evil triumphs. When the taste for torture feeds. When the strong oppress the weak. When people entertain their lowest instincts. When they lie. When everyone abandons. When the powerful attack. When exhaustion hits. When thirst is burning. When you can’t breathe. When death is inevitable, slow agony. When God is absent. When there is no consolation. When all is hopeless.
That’s today. That’s what Jesus faces today. It’s the worst that can happen.
This is the story. This is the picture, the image that we look upon and say — here is where the heart of God is most deeply revealed. Here is where God is. Wait. Look. See.