The Lord’s Passion

PATERSON  Bishop Serratelli presided at the celebration of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, March 30, at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist here.

The solemn service begins with the Liturgy of the Word, including the account of the Passion and Death of Jesus from the Gospel of John. The Veneration of the Cross, an ancient practice that allows each person to touch or kiss the Cross, the instrument of torture that leads to salvation, followed.

In the seventh century, the Church in Rome adopted the practice of Adoration of the Cross from the Church in Jerusalem, where a fragment of wood believed to be the Lord’s cross had been venerated every year on Good Friday since the fourth century. According to tradition, a part of the Holy Cross was discovered by the mother of the emperor Constantine, St. Helen, on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem in 326.

In kneeling before the crucifix and kissing it Catholics are paying the highest honor to the Lord’s Cross as the instrument of salvation. A Communion service with the reception of hosts that were consecrated at the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday evening concluded the Good Friday commemoration.