Michelle Blanchard Ardillo

April 18, 2025

Day 6 of Holy Week Reflections, Good Friday

Good Friday, March 29, 2024

On Good Friday in previous years our parish had had the Seven Last Words, but the practice had lapsed for some years. Last year, our pastor Fr. Lee brought it back with a twist. He asked seven parishioners to select one of the scripture passages and to write a short reflection on it to share with the parish at the Seven Last Words. This was paired with the orchestral work “The Seven Last Words of our Savior on the Cross” by Joseph Haydn.

The Haydn piece was commissioned in the year 1786 for the Good Friday services in Cadiz, Spain. It was later adapted for a string quartet, as will be heard at our church. The music and the scripture passages marry together perfectly. Last year’s service was very moving.

Our church will be offering this again today, Good Friday, beginning at noon. The music will be performed by the Artemesia String Quartet, and once again, seven parishioners will present short reflections in between the movements of the orchestral piece.

Last year, I selected the third of the seven last words, Behold, Your Mother. For today’s Holy Week daily reflection, here it is.

March 29, 2024, Good Friday Reflection on John 19:26-27

We know that when Jesus said to John, “Behold, your mother,” it was the will of a dying son passing on the care of his beloved mother to a dear friend, but as in all things with the Word, there is more to understand. 

This simple statement can be a filial affection at a tragic moment in the lives of this mother and son, but as a part of his catechesis on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Pope John Paul II characterized this as a ‘revelation scene,’ where “Jesus establishes a new relationship between Mary and Christians.” Mary, the Mother of God, becomes the mother of us all. Mary, the very same “woman at the wedding at Cana” and the same “woman at Calvary” now represents universal motherhood. 

John Paul says that Eve, “the mother of all living,” helped to bring sin into the world, while Mary, whom he called “the new Eve,” helps to bring redemption to the world. He goes on to say that “in the Blessed Virgin the figure of ‘woman’ is rehabilitated. Her motherhood now spreads the new life in Christ among men.“ Thus, Mary becomes part of our own salvation there at the Cross on Calvary.

Mary’s answer is once again “yes,” just like her first “yes” to the Angel Gabriel when she began her journey to fulfill God’s plan with her simple response, “Be it done to me according to Your Word.” This final “yes” to God at Calvary requires her to accept the death of her only Son, a painful but necessary step in our redemption. This final “yes” moves Mary past the maternal relationship of mother and son to a much broader relationship of mother and all of humanity. Indeed, a mother to us all.