Good Friday

Dear Heavenly Father,
As the Paschal candle remains dark this Good Friday waiting for the first light of our Easter celebrations, we wait in solemn reflection and ask You to prepare our hearts for the immense joy of Christ's resurrection. A Paschal candle truly represents Your Son's steadfast presence in our midst, its flickering flame dancing with light and warmth to illuminate our shadowed world. In the splendor of this holy time, we pass over from sin to forgiveness, from death to life, from coldness to warmth, from despair to hope, from darkness to light.

May the Paschal candle always be a sign of Your presence among us as an enduring reminder of the love and sacrifice of Your Son, Jesus Christ. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.

And the light shines in the darkness,

and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:4-5

Illustration 1999 S. Erspamer