Holy Week 2022 at St. Elizabeth - Good Friday - Veneration of the Cross ~ Photos by Connie Hom

 Holy Week 2022

Good Friday

Veneration of the Cross

Beautiful stained glass window of St. Elizabeth as the sun was setting.  The gold in the window shimmered!  The altar stripped bare for the Good Friday service.

~ Photos and commentary by Connie Hom

Holy Week, 4.18. 2019 - 4.20.2019 ~ Photos by Liz Wiznerowicz

~ HOLY THURSDAY ~

~ GOOD FRIDAY ~

~ HOLY SATURDAY ~

Blessing the Fire

The church is dark.

RCIA Graduates and their Sponsors

~ Photos by Liz Wiznerowicz

Holy Week 2018 - Good Friday - Stations of the Cross ~ Photos by EJCooley

~ Photos by EJCooley

Good Friday 2017 ~ Photos by Lula Lamb

~ Photos by Lula Lamb

More 2015 Good Friday Pictures ~ Photos by Lula Lamb

~ Photos by Lula Lamb

Good Friday 2015 at St. E's ~ Photos by EJCooley and M.Allen

"The Body of Christ" at St. Elizabeth's

Preparing for the Adoration of the Cross

Good Friday at St. E's, 2014 ~ Photos by Ethel Cooley

Reading of the Passion

Veneration of the Cross

Photos by Ethel Cooley

Good Friday 2012

Jesus Taken Down From The Cross by Michael D. O'Brien

Good Friday - The Lord's Passion ~ by Cathy Woodson

This day, as well as this entire week, is special - Holy Week. With the death of Jesus, we feel sorrow because he died and we feel joy because his death rescued us from sin. We may ask ourselves was there another way for salvation to come to us; but this was God's plan. Jesus was condemned to die and he was put to death by crucifixion, the method used to deter others from following the acts of criminals. Jesus was not a criminal but he was treated like a criminal, but remember, he suffered and died because of our sins.

In our ordinary lives, we celebrate those who give their lives to protect us, to keep us free. But freedom is not free; someone always pays a price. We make this week special because Jesus is our hero. He worked and gave his life for all nations. We honor him now, today, at this Good Friday service.

Jesus reminds us there is no greater love. We are here to say thank you, thank you Jesus. We must ask ourselves how will we show supreme love? What do we need to do to show and practice true love. We too must be prepared to suffer.

Jesus asked forgiveness for those who persecuted him, demonstrating true love for all. He shows us that we must love those who hurt us; hurt is part of human life. Remember, Jesus was betrayed, but he still asked God to forgive those who stood against him.

We must pray, fast and give alms so that we will be able to feel the strength of our faith in God and love with all our hearts, even those who hurt us. AMEN.



~ The Crucifixion
~ Image at Lost Seed

Holy Thursday and Good Friday Photos by Rita Hatchett

Rita Hatchett has set up a beautiful slideshow of the Holy Thursday and Good Friday pictures she took last week. You will find them on the Kodak website right here.

Our thanks to Rita for making them available.

Good Friday: The Passion of Our Lord ~ by Phyllis Booth

Good Friday's Service was solemn and inspiring. The Isaiah Reading foretold the suffering of the Servant that God would send into the world to help mankind by redeeming him. Listening to the words of the lector, you realized that mankind has not come close to redeeming himself. Each country or principality has heard the Word and interpreted it according to their own belief or power it wants to achieve. Therefore the present world continues to persecute, enslave, ostracize and condemn our brothers and sisters who believe in the Word and want to live justly.

The Hebrew Reading reminds us that God kept His promise to send a Servant to redeem the world. He sent His only Son to live as a human among mankind. The Son experienced the same life as we experience it, working, loving others, making friends, accepting a religious life and practicing it. Through the life the Son lived, He left a Pattern of how to live peacefully, mercifully and compassionately for others to embrace. Two thousand years later, the kings, leaders, present day prophets and politicians have not accepted that Pattern as the norm to receive God's grace and mercy.

The homily on Jesus' Passion truly caused one to think of how much God loves and cares for us. He shields us from the fate of His own Son. We come into the world as innocent children of loving parents. We choose the path we want to follow in life. Jesus came into the world with a definite purpose. Our purpose in life is hidden from us at birth. If we follow God's Will for us, we will find the purpose we are to serve. Jesus accepted the purpose he was to carry out.

Because He was God, Jesus knew His fate before leaving Heaven. He knew who His Mother would be, the day or date He would be born. He knew what skills He would have, the work He would perform and the date of His death. But as a man, He had to discover God's Will for himself just as we do.

My thoughts went to God's first human, Adam. God created him out of love and I wondered what life would be like if Adam was as perfect as Jesus. Would the Garden of Eden exist? Would there be wars? How long would life be?

There are no answers to these questions. I'm thankful that God had a plan for the mystery that took place in the Garden of Eden and that Jesus gracefully accepted His Father's Will to redeem the world. Even after two thousand years, God still calls us to live a Holy and Merciful life to receive the Salvation He Promised Through His Son.

Good Friday of the Lord's Passion ~ by Cathy Woodson

Each year at the end of our Lenten journey, we come together for another opportunity to participate in the Paschal Triduum of the Death, Burial and Resurrection of the Lord. We gather walking in the spirit of Jesus, the one who called all to another way of being.

The readings on Good Friday bring each of us to a silent reflection not only of the death of Christ, but of our own 'commending our spirits to God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.' We hear the words of Isaiah, foretelling of a servant for all humankind; one who had "no stately bearing to make us look at him, nor appearance that would attract us to him."

The words of Isaiah describe a person who blends in with the community, the ordinary person of Jesus living among the society. Not one who would stand out and be noticed because of physical characteristics, but because of his love of the Father, his teachings and the life he lived while on earth. People were able to see, others to ponder him and those who followed him. There is nothing magical about faith. We are believers and because we believe in the life, love and teaching of Christ, we embrace the love and tenderness of Christ.

On Good Friday, we don't come just to relive the memory; but together in community, we profess our love and desire to be Christ to one another, to see the Cross and to know that we too are required to be the cross to family, friends, and to all God's people. It is easy to declare our love for Christ internally; but it is our willingness and efforts to continue striving to be Christ to others that we seek support and help from our faith community. We need one another just as the disciples and other followers needed one another as they watched Jesus' words come to life and as they lived and experienced death on the cross.

We bring our failures and humanness to seek forgiveness, feel sorrow, and to embrace the cross because it brings our salvation. We do this so that we look forward to the next step in this journey, new life in Christ. A new life that calls us to truth, justice and love ~ requiring us to love, walk humbly, and be Christ to all. In our new life, we speak truth to the power of the love of Christ and we take the next step in our journey.


~ Art by James Jacques Joseph Tissot (1836-1902) at Catholic-Resources