Time and Friday

Of all the measurements of time handed down through the generations, it is probably the hours and the days of the week that have the most potent effect on people. Unless one was born a hermit, there is almost no way to escape the demarcation of 24 hours around the clock (in ancient times the days were marked out in longer swaths) and the assignment of Sunday through Saturday to a single week.

When it comes to days of the week- at least in the United States- Monday tends to be the most-dreaded. It is the beginning of a week of labor, and labor is most often accompanied by worry, sweat, and every kind of opportunity for failure. Others are counting on you to provide, from the standpoint of employer, co-workers, and ultimately those who receive bodily needs.

Wednesday calls holy things to mind because, during the penitential seasons it is observed in some detail, perhaps because by this time the Gift received on Sunday is best held forth at midweek as a means of sustaining one’s faith. It also happens to be the day when the local parish offers catechesis; a point in time when formal attention might be given to the Word by which we live.

Friday tends to be the favorite the United States because it represents the end of a work week and the beginning of two days of rest. Friday’s are so well-received in the United States that we even named a restaurant chain for them, taking care, however, to be unspecific in attributing thanks to God. There is good reason to thank God for all things, in particular to thank God the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ for providing salvation for us on a given day of the week namely Friday, as the culmination of all we need no matter what our station in life, age, or moment.

It was on this day of the week that Christ Jesus uttered the words, “It is finished,” thus releasing all creation from the burden of labor, particularly the type of labor that seeks God’s favor in good works, but also the type of labor that fears and dreads the days, weeks, months, and years ahead which culminate in a departure from this world into the life to come. He goes to prepare a place for you, with His own body given as the first fruit, His own body joined to yours in Holy Baptism and in the Holy Communion; His own voice saying to you time and time again, “I forgive you all of your sin.”

In giving His only Son over to death and raising Him up again for our justification, The LORD God, Creator of heaven and earth, chose Friday as the day when the words “It is finished” would be spoken aloud in the presence of many; spoken by the parched lips and choking throat of one Man given among men to make payment for the sin of the world. You were chosen in Him before the foundation of the world.