Prayer for God’s Friday

“Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved . . . that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.” (1 Corinthians 15:1–4)

Good Friday was originally “God’s Friday.” And so it is: the day God-Become-Man hung upon the cross for our sins; the day God the Father suffered God the Son to be a sacrifice for the sins of the world. All Fridays belong to God, but of all the Fridays this one above all is dedicated to our remembrance and gratitude for the death of our Lord Jesus Christ through which we have deliverance from the death we deserve for our sins.

There are few more beautiful prayers to express such devotion and love and gratitude than this one now sung throughout Christendom. Offer it up this day (sing it if you know the tune) as your own prayer to the God who one Friday long ago dedicated the day to your salvation through Jesus Christ His Son and our Lord.

O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
by Bernard of Clairvaux, 1091–1153

O sacred Head, now wounded,
With grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded
With thorns, Thine only crown;
How art Thou pale with anguish,
With sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish,
Which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered
Was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression,
But Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior!
’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor,
Vouchsafe to me Thy grace.

What language shall I borrow
To thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow,
Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever,
And should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never
Outlive my love to Thee.