EASTER 2020: Good Friday brings solemnity into the homes of Perth Catholics
Thousands of Perth Catholics have this year honoured the life and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday by virtually attending the celebration of the Passion of the Lord, celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and streamed live from St Mary’s Cathedral on 10 April. Photo: Sourced.
By Theresia Titus
Thousands of Perth Catholics have this year honoured the life and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday by virtually attending the celebration of the Passion of the Lord, streamed live from St Mary’s Cathedral on 10 April.
Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB celebrated the Good Friday, the celebration of the Lord’s Passion with Auxiliary Bishop Donald Sproxton and Cathedral Dean Fr Sean Fernandez as concelebrants.
Archbishop Costelloe began his homily by encouraging Perth Catholics to pray as a community of faith in this time of heightened uncertainty and fears, as well as bereavement brought by the coronavirus pandemic.
“These fears and uncertainties of ours which we carry are shared by so many others some of whom we know most of whom we don’t. In a strange and unsettling way we are perhaps more conscious than ever of just how interconnected we all are,” he said.
“It is both our realisation of this interconnectedness and the hard reality that at the moment we cannot express this in the normal ways which can lead to our confusion and our distress.
“But all of us, united as we are in a community of faith can join in prayer, especially on this day for those who have saddened at the death of a family member a friend or a much-respected neighbour or colleague.
Reflecting on the Gospel, Archbishop Costelloe spoke about how the Passion of the Lord reminds us of the terrible experience of loss and distress in dealing with deaths, which was “part of the lives of the mother of Jesus and his disciples”.
“In a sense death reveals our impotence to us and our poverty. We are not really in charge of our lives or ourselves as much as we thought we were,” he added.
“Perhaps this poverty is revealed most starkly in the cry of Jesus from the cross, which we read about in the gospels of both Mark and Matthew: ‘My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?’.”
Archbishop Costelloe also emphasised that it is in great sufferings we found ourselves being held together by our trusting faith in God at a deeper level.
“We do not always understand God’s ways, and this can cause us deep distress, but in faith, we can release ourselves into God’s love with confidence: and if we do this often enough in the course of our life, just as Jesus did, we will know how to do it when we face our death,” he stated.
“In a time of crisis such as we are living through at the moment, it is good for us to remember that we are not alone. Some of the disciples may have abandoned Jesus for a time, but God does not abandon us, his people, people, just as God did not abandon Jesus.
“God comes to us in the midst of our pain and confusion this experience and reassures us that he is with us. We are, after all, God’s beloved sons and daughters,” he continued.
Archbishop Costelloe also explained the significance of Mother Mary amid the difficult times in life.
“From its earliest beginnings the Church has always known that in giving Mary as a mother to the beloved disciple, Jesus was giving Mary as a mother to every disciple,” he said.
“As Pope Francis reminds us so clearly, both in words and actions, Mary accompanies us on our journey of faith. She is one to whom we can turn with confidence and trust. She is the Mother of the Lord’s Church. She is the Help of Christians. We ask her so often to pray for us, now and at the hour of our death.
“Do we really imagine Mary will not respond to these prayers of ours? She knows what it is to suffer through love. United now with the Lord in heaven she continually prays for all her children – and the Lord listens to her prayers,” he continued.
Thousands of Perth Catholics have this year honoured the life and death of Jesus Christ on Good Friday by virtually attending the celebration of the Passion of the Lord, celebrated by Archbishop Timothy Costelloe SDB and streamed live from St Mary’s Cathedral on 10 April. Photo: Sourced.
Quoting the words of the Prophet Isaiah, the Perth Archbishop ended his homily with a reminder for Perth Catholics to not be afraid and look for the hope this Easter season would bring.
“Today’s liturgy ends in silence and that silence stretches across tonight and into Holy Saturday. It is the silence of death, yes, but it is also a silence in which the first stirrings of hope begin to arise,” he said.
“They will burst forth tomorrow night when once again, even in the crisis in which the world now finds itself, the light of the risen Christ will appear, scattering the darkness and renewing our faith and our trust.”
Watch Archbishop Costelloe’s Good Friday Homily by Clicking Here
Read Archbishop Costelloe’s Good Friday Homily by Clicking Here