Catholic Activity: Good Friday in the Home

Good Friday is the most austere day on the Church's calendar. Here are some suggestions on incorporating this spirit of the liturgy in the home.

DIRECTIONS

In the Trapp home on Good Friday, fasting is rigorously observed. There is no breakfast. For lunch there is only a pot of thick soup standing on the bare table. Everyone eats his share while standing. There is little talk and no unnecessary noise. During the whole of Good Friday there are no lights lighted in the house, even the small vigil light before the picture of the Blessed Mother in the living room is extinguished. From twelve to three all activity around the house stops and the whole family sits around a cross and spends these hours in prayer, singing Lenten hymns and in spiritual reading (Cf. Schmiedeler, E., Your Home, A Church in Miniature, I, Family Life Bureau, p. 34).

If possible, the family should spend the hours from twelve to three o'clock at the parish church. During the latter part of Holy Week (Wednesday through Saturday) it is a good idea to take the whole family to the special services — Tenebrae, Mass of the Pre-Sanctified [Editor's Note: On Good Friday there is no Mass, and the title of the service is also called "Celebration of Our Lord's Passion"), etc. These services are very beautiful and full of meaning.

Activity Source: How to Make Your House a Home by Rev. Bernard Stokes, O.F.M., Family Life Bureau, Washington D.C., 1955