3 Powerful devotions for Good Friday

Good Friday is the most somber day in the liturgical calendar, a day to remember Jesus’ ultimate sacrifice of his life.

In many ways it is not a pleasant day, as it is a day that focuses on death and the suffering our sin caused Jesus.

Yet, Jesus invites us to accompany him on his road to Calvary, as Simon of Cyrene helped Jesus bear the weight of the cross behind Our Lord.

Here are 3 powerful devotions for Good Friday that can bring us closer to Jesus in his passion.

Pray the Stations of the Cross as if you were there

The imagination is extremely important in prayer. You could say that God imagined the world into existence. He imagined the earth and the sky and you and me. Our imagination hence is a gift God has given us to be true co-creators, so that we can imagine a world through him. St. Ignatius taught that the imagination was vital for prayer because it’s a way of expressing our heads and our hearts, which are divinely connected to God. Just imagine for a moment the Sign of the Cross and see how when we intone the Father and the Son we are connecting the head and the heart. You could say that the imagination is the product of that relationship. Specifically, the imagination joins us with Jesus when we use that gift in meditating on something like the Stations of the Cross.

Read more:
8 Different ways to pray the Stations of the Cross

This novena before Divine Mercy Sunday starts on Good Friday

In preparation for Divine Mercy Sunday, a novena that consists of reciting the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy for nine days begins on Good Friday. The Lord Jesus promised: By this novena, I will grant every possible grace to souls (Diary of St. Faustina, 796). 

Together with that novena, there is also one given by Jesus particularly to St. Faustina (Diary, 1210-1229). For each of the nine days, Our Lord gave her a different intention, a different group of souls whom He wanted her to bring to Him.

Click here to pray this novena.

This prayer before a crucifix reminds us of our role in the crucifixion

Here is a prayer traditionally prayed before a crucifix that highlights this profound truth, and asks God for mercy and forgiveness for our sins that caused Jesus so much pain.

My Divine Savior, what didst Thou become, when for love of souls Thou didst suffer Thyself to be bound to the pillar? Ah! how truly then was fulfilled the word of the Prophet, saying of Thee that from head to foot Thou shouldst be all one wound, so as to be no longer recognizable! What shame Thou didst endure when they stripped Thee of Thy garments! What torments Thou didst undergo in that tempest of countless blows! In what torrents did Thy Most Precious Blood gush forth from Thy bursting veins!I know well it was not so much the injustice of the Roman governor and the cruelty of the soldiers that scourged Thee as my sins. O accursed sins, that have cost Thee so many pains! Alas, what hardness of heart, when notwithstanding Thy manifold sufferings for me I have continued to offend Thee! But from this day forth it shall be so no longer. United to Thee by bonds of loyalty for ever, as long as I shall live, I shall seek to satisfy Thine offended justice. By the pains Thou didst suffer when bound to the pillar, by the scourges which tore Thine innocent Flesh, by the Blood which Thou didst shed in such abundance, have mercy on this unhappy soul of mine; deliver me today and always from the snares of the tempter; and when I have come to the end of my exile, bring me safely home to Heaven with Thee.

Read more:
7 Beautiful Holy Week traditions seen in the liturgy