Good Friday

This lent has been a messy one for me. I started off strong but surgery, sickness, emotional exhaustion, and plenty of little things led to rampant rationalization and an abandonment of the fasts, prayer, and almsgiving that I had planned for my lenten season. 

Sure, maybe I couldn’t have kept things up on the worst days but I also know that even the messiest attempts would have been beautiful to our Lord. Oh, how often I hold back a messy something just in the hopes that I can give Him a pretty something later on, only to learn that the messy is what He makes beautiful. 

And, my goodness, He has indeed made the ending to my lent beautiful. In large part, thanks to The Chaplet of Divine Mercy which I began praying daily about two weeks ago. It’s a prayer that I had forgotten about since college and never fully understood when we sang it in a large group. (In fact, all I really recall is worrying about how well I sang the prayers. Yikes.)

I encountered the chaplet in a new way when I listened to the podcast episode from What In The Dang Heck called “Spiritual Warfare & Divine Mercy, With Fr. Ken Geraci.”

In this episode, Father Ken lays out the beauty of the chaplet. Although I highly recommend listening to it for his full explanation (which has been spiritually life-changing for me), some of my biggest personal takeaways were that The Chaplet of Divine Mercy is a noble prayer offered on behalf of all people, it is a simple prayer ideal for those prone to wandering whims (hi), and, ultimately, it is an intimate entreaty to Our Father that he accepts the sacrifice of His Son. And I feel the truth of these every time I have prayed it.

What has surprised me most in this daily devotion is how much I have grown to understand Mary, our sweet mother, and her precious role in the passion of our Lord. As I pray, I feel myself kneeling at the foot of the cross where she bravely stands. A courageous sentinel to the suffering of her beloved son. She does not look away. She does not waver.

So, today, on this Good Friday, I did my best to mimic her. To partake fully in the solemn offering of her son. Tomorrow, I will do my best to mimic her again. Anxiously awaiting the resurrection of her son at the tomb. And I’ll mimic her again on Easter Sunday. Rejoicing in the resurrection with the whole mystical body of Christ and experiencing the glorious outpouring of God’s love upon us in the eucharist. 

But, for now, we wait.