Masses pray for peace in region on Good Friday

For thousands, it was a day of personal reflection.

A Good Friday service in session at St Mary’s Catholic Church, Dubai. — Photo by Juidin Bernarrd/Khaleej Times

Abu Dhabi/Dubai — Christians thronged churches in the country for special prayers to commemorate Good Friday, a time of personal reflection. Speakers at the masses called for “peace in the region and in our hearts”.

At St Joseph’s Cathedral in Abu Dhabi and St Mary’s Catholic Church in Al Ain, worshippers participated in many hours of praying and meditating at the stations of the cross, chanting of reproaches, passion reading and partaking of the holy communion.

In Christianity, Good Friday is the commemoration of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and his death at Calvary. It is a day of fasting and abstinence and is observed during the Holy Week as part of the Paschal Triduum. In the Catholic calendar, a Triduum is a three-day period of prayer, usually in preparation for an important feast or in celebration of that feast. “Triduums recall the three days that Christ spent in the tomb, from Good Friday until Easter Sunday,” explained Apples Barz, an administration assistant.

For her, an important element of this day is reflecting on Jesus’ death “for our sins” in order to have a “new life”. “It’s about self-sacrifice. I will not indulge in any pleasures as I think of others (who are) less fortunate,” she said.

For Luis San Miguel, choir member at the St Mary’s Catholic Church in Al Ain, Friday was a day of fast and abstinence. “We were brought up observing this as a family. We won’t have meat today (Friday) and will only have one meal instead of three,” he said.

In Dubai, special masses and prayers were held in the morning and in the afternoon. Many gathered at the St Mary’s Catholic Church and the Holy Trinity campus for prayers, sermons and moments of reflection.

Families spent the day at churches and said it was difficult with the traffic. Some like Vincent Cherian, who attended the 12.30pm service at Holy Trinity Anglican, said he had to leave home two hours before the prayers to make it on time. “It is a time for thinking about the sufferings of others and looking beyond us,” he said.

Messages on the seven stations of the cross were the theme for the day and prayers were extended for three hours in some parishes.

Masses were held throughout the week beginning last Sunday — Palm Sunday. Maundy Thursday services also saw the faithful throng churches in the evening. The week culminates with the celebration of Easter on Sunday.

olivia@khaleejtimes.com

• UAE