Good Friday: Silence and the Crown of Thorns

One of the best ways to celebrate Holy Week is to attend as many Masses as possible. During this week, you can practically live at church: Palm Sunday, with the reading of The Passion, Chrism Mass, Holy Thursday, Good Friday, not to mention Stations of the Cross and extra hours for Reconciliation. These liturgies and extra events are beautiful, and I highly recommend attending as many as you possibly can.

But to really help your children (and you!) appreciate all of the nuances of this holiest of weeks, it’s important to supplement the liturgies with lessons geared to their age levels. Here are some ideas for how to do this in your home.

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Silence

During the hours of 12-3 p.m., it is traditional to observe three hours of silence. This is the time when Jesus is believed to have been hanging on the cross. I like to use these three hours to read the Passion narratives from the Bible. This year I read them from The Word on Fire Bible, including the reflections written by Bishop Barron, Fulton Sheen, Joseph Ratzinger, St. Augustine, G.K. Chesterton, and more.

Unfortunately, my kids had school this year on Good Friday. Needless to say, they were not disappointed to miss out on the three hours of silence. For years when they have been home, it can be quite a challenge to observe quiet time. Here are a few ideas to keep children occupied quietly:

Coloring pictures of the Stations of the Cross, Rosary, Saints, or whatever you have on hand
Pray the rosary (an app helps keep them engaged, but kept at a low volume or using headphones keeps noise to a minimum)
Looking through picture books or Bibles, or, for older children, reading a Children’s Bible. We like My Big Book of Catholic Bible Stories and The Catholic Children’s Bible.
Watching Brother Francis on Formed (again, with headphones)

Fasting Food

Good Friday is one of two days during which we’re required to fast. (The other, of course, is Ash Wednesday.) I can never pass up an opportunity to incorporate food that helps children remember the importance of the day, but wanted to do it in a small way. I decided to make Chickpea Salad Sandwiches using leftover hummus from our Holy Thursday dinner. As our small side dish, I served Crown of Thorns crackers.

I have to admit that while I thought these were a work of art, my children could not figure out what they were supposed to be. Maybe it would have been better with pretzel sticks, but all I had on hand were twists, which I broke…somewhat messily. Maybe you’ll have better luck than I did!

Stations of the Cross

Good Friday wouldn’t be complete without the Stations of the Cross. Our parish offered Stations at 2:30 p.m., so my kids were not yet home from school. After we returned from the 7 p.m. service, we turned once again to the Brother Francis Stations of the Cross. I really cannot recommend this enough – it is absolutely fantastic! If you have access to FORMED, it is usually available during Lent. Read more in my post 3 Ways to Meditate on the Stations of the Cross at Home.