Good Friday: Were You There?

posted in: The Church Year | 0

What got me today was the spiritual, "Were You There?"  It was sung this afternoon at Veneration of the Cross, of course, and also this evening at the Living Stations of the Cross.  The youth acted this out, and sang a verse of the spiritual between every station.  I found that very moving.  I think sometimes kids can be so simply profound in their acting out of something sacred.

And the song took on a new meaning for me this year than it has in the past.  There's always the almost-syrupy emotional response to this song, which I find, well, annoying.  So usually it's just a song to sing for me.  But this year, as I sang it at both services, I found it contemplative, meditative, almost like praying the rosary.  It was an extremely prayerful experience, which added to the prayerfulness of the day.  As the sufferings of our Lord were retold in the sung Passion this afternoon, and acted out stations this evening, in some ways, we were there in a remembering act of anamnesis.

Today's readings.