Good Friday Message

Prayers penance and fasting will mark Good Friday being observed in all the churches in the city today. Commencing with Morning Prayer, the day-long religious services will be held in all the churches. Christians belonging to different denominations are expected to take part in these prayers.

In his Good Friday message administrator of the Diocese of Belagavi that comprises of five districts of north Karnataka and part of Maharashtra, Rev Fr Eusebio has stated that it is a day set apart to thank God for his limitless love for humankind.

Quoting Jesus Christ who had said that God loved the world so much that he gave his only son so that everyone who believes in him may not be lost but may have eternal life. [Jn. 3:16], Fr Eusebio said that Jesus started his ministry by preaching to the people that God is their loving Father, that he loves one and all unconditionally and that all of us are brothers and sisters.

“Jesus did not make any distinction between the rich and the poor, righteous and sinners, Jewish leaders did not accept this and the lifestyle of Jesus, taking the side of public sinners and the marginalized. Jesus preached a Gospel that completely transcended the law as they knew it. Hence they sought an occasion to do away with him,” Fr Eusebio said.

He further emphasized that Jesus had the mission of initiating a revolution of love and the mission that his Father had entrusted him – the founding of a new society where everyone accepts God as a loving Father and one another as brothers and sisters. “I came to cast fire upon the earth; and would that it was already kindled!!” [Lk.12:49-50]. Thus, Jesus wanted, by all means, to go ahead with this movement of love but he was falsely accused and condemned to death on the cross.

Fr Eusebio further said that dying on the Cross Jesus accomplished the mission entrusted to him by the Father. The message from the Cross as he breathed his last, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they are doing.” 

He has appealed all be instruments of peace and forgiveness and spread the message of love and tenderness which flows from the Crucified Savior Jesus Christ.