Cardinal Robert W. McElroy, the archbishop of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, presided over the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on April 18 at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle, where the faithful gathered in prayer, reflection and veneration of the cross in observance of Good Friday.
Earlier that day, author and liturgical scholar Rita Ferrone delivered a meditation on the Seven Last Words of Christ, joined by members of the cathedral’s Schola Cantorum choir. Her reflection offered a contemplative guide through the Passion narrative, connecting Christ’s final words to the lived experience of faith today.
“The passion of Jesus Christ is a drama of many episodes,” Ferrone said. “Each of them offers a window onto the mystery we celebrate on this Friday that we call good.”
Ferrone acknowledged the sorrow and betrayal depicted in the Passion, including the abandonment by the disciples and the cruelty inflicted upon Jesus. Yet she pointed to the women who remained by his side as a sign of steadfast love.
“For every bright thought – like the women who persisted when everyone else ran away – there are a dozen teeth-grinding disappointments,” she said.
Focusing on the words “Woman, behold your son… Son, behold your mother,” Ferrone reflected on their double meaning. While a personal exchange between Jesus, Mary, and the beloved disciple John, the passage also holds symbolic resonance, she said. Drawing from biblical scholarship, Ferrone explained that Mary has long represented the Church, and John, the individual believer.
“By placing the Church (symbolized in Mary) and the individual believer (symbolized in John) into a relationship of mutual love, He shows us that our direction must be toward communion,” Ferrone said.
“Communion is a structured relationship, yes – but one grounded in living commitment and love, in taking care of one another with mutual respect, sincerity, and humility,” she added.
Reminding the congregation that at the Easter Vigil the next evening, Cardinal McElroy will be baptizing people at the cathedral, she concluded by inviting those present to consider how they would welcome these new believers.
“And all of you, the community of St. Matthew’s, will become Mother Church for them,” she said. “How will you receive them? How will you share with them the mission?”
Following the reflection, the Good Friday liturgy included the proclamation of the Passion in John's Gospel, solemn intercessions, and the veneration of the cross – a central ritual in the Good Friday observance. One by one, individuals came forward to kneel or bow before the crucifix, recalling the sacrifice of Christ for the salvation of the world.
This tradition of venerating the cross dates to the late fourth century. According to Christian tradition, St. Helen, the mother of Roman Emperor Constantine, is believed to have discovered the true cross during a pilgrimage to Jerusalem.
In his homily, Cardinal McElroy reflected on the central place of the Resurrection in the Christian faith, while underscoring the lasting significance of the cross as a symbol of God’s boundless love, compassion, and mercy.
“If the Resurrection is the central feast and the central reality of our Christian faith, why then... has the cross been the symbol of Christian faith?” Cardinal McElroy asked. “Why did God endure the cross?”
He offered three answers.
First, the cardinal said, the cross reveals the unreserved love of God.
“If there were only one person on this earth — any one of us — God would have undertaken that same sacrifice,” he said. “So deep is God’s love for us … and the cross is the symbol that God draws no boundaries in love showered upon us.”
Second, he said, the cross reminds the faithful that in times of suffering, God is not distant but intimately present.
“We pray not to a God of remoteness and abstraction, but to Jesus Christ, who hung on the cross and who endured every form of human suffering,” he said. “Our God knows what suffering is like.”
Third, Cardinal McElroy reflected on the power of the cross to bring healing to those who live with the weight of past mistakes.
“God looks down on us from the cross and says to us: ‘Don’t continue to beat yourself up over this ... I take that guilt upon myself, and in my cross remove it.’”
The cross, he said, reveals a God who lifts people up, carries them through, and offers a love without limits.
“The cross is the symbol of our faith because it brings together these three realities,” he said, “which show who God is for us — and how God reaches into the heart and the core and the center of our lives in every moment.”
As is traditional on Good Friday, the liturgy did not include the celebration of Mass. Communion was distributed from hosts consecrated the night before, during Holy Thursday’s Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The day is marked by prayer, fasting, and abstinence from meat as Catholics throughout the world remember Christ’s sacrificial death.
Solemn intercessions were offered for the holy Church of God; for Pope Francis; for Cardinal McElroy and all bishops, priests and deacons; for the faithful; for catechumens preparing for Baptism; for the unity of Christians; for the Jewish people; for those who do not believe in Christ; for those who do not acknowledge God; for those in public office; and for all people in need. These ancient prayers, prayed in silence and aloud with moments of kneeling and standing, reflect the Church’s mission to intercede for the whole human family.
As the liturgy drew to a close and the congregation departed in silence, Cardinal McElroy’s homily left the faithful with this message: “Our God knows what suffering is like because God has lived through that suffering in His own human life on this earth,” he said.
Photo gallery of Good Friday at St. Matthew's Cathedral:
https://www.cathstan.org/local...
Link to livestream of the reflection on “The Seven Last Words of Christ” on Good Friday at St. Matthew’s Cathedral, followed by Cardinal McElroy’s livestreamed Liturgy of the Passion: https://www.youtube.com/live/DLvzD7_b1ss
Also that day, Washington Auxiliary Bishop Evelio Menjivar celebrated a Good Friday liturgy in Spanish at St. Matthew’s Cathedral. The livestream of Bishop Menjivar’s Good Friday liturgy can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/live/V_PE6dv9bSg
On Holy Saturday April 19, Cardinal McElroy will celebrate a livestreamed Easter Vigil at St. Matthew’s Cathedral at 8 p.m. It will be available online at https://www.youtube.com/live/2tDprGQ3d4I
Then on Easter Sunday April 20, Cardinal McElroy will celebrate a livestreamed Mass at the cathedral at 9 a.m. It can be followed online at https://www.youtube.com/live/uy7-_Y8wXEI
Later on Easter Sunday, Cardinal McElroy will celebrate a noon Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that will be livestreamed on the basilica’s YouTube channel that can viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7DNnKLJllzA
