A large crowd descended on Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish, Wentworthville on Good Friday, united in reverence and remembrance of Christ’s passion and sacrifice.
Good Friday, also known as the Friday of the Passion of the Lord or Black Friday, is a solemn Christian holy day commemorating the crucifixion of Jesus and his death at Calvary (Golgotha).
In the Diocese of Parramatta, devotees gathered at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in silence from 3pm – the hour that Jesus breathed his last on the cross.
On this day, in the 25th year since the blessing and opening of the Paul Knüppel Parish Centre next to the Church, even the air seemed to bow in quiet reflection.
The silence was only spoiled by the distant caw of birds, a cough caught in a throat, and the steady hum of cars.
In the silence there was a quiet anticipation of Jesus’ resurrection.
Fr Januario (Janu) Pinto O.Carm, Parish Priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel carries in the Cross. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
Parish Priest of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, Fr Januario (Janu) Pinto O.Carm (Carmelite Prior), told the gathered faithful it is easy to focus on the darkness, the emptiness and the cruelty while reading and reflecting on the Passion of the Christ.
While the Passion story is “confronting,” he urged the crowd to instead focus on what Jesus died for.
“He died for the love of us,” Fr Janu said, before inviting the assembly to adore and revere a bare cross, a tradition rooted in Jerusalem, where a fragment of wood believed to be the Lord’s cross has been venerated every year on Good Friday since the fourth century.
He encouraged them to bring their questions and anxieties to the large wooden cross, at the front of the church, so He may help carry them.
Parishioners venerate the Cross at Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Wentworthville 2025 Celebration of the Passion of the Christ. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
“Behold, behold the wood of the cross, on which is hung our salvation. O come, let us adore”
– “Behold the Wood” by Dan Schutte
During the moving ritual, frail, aged hands and young arms holding babies took turns to bow and make a sign of faith and devotion before the cross.
While not required, kissing and touching the cross brought some worshippers close to Jesus’ crucifixion in a tangible way.
Others knelt and wept as a sign of reverence and mourning for the sacrifice of Christ.
Fr Januario (Janu) Pinto O.Carm lies prostrate on the floor as a symbolic act of deep humility and sorrow, in mourning the death of Christ on Good Friday. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
Seven-year-old Patrick McFarlane watched on from the pews, transfixed. While he may not have fully understood that Jesus suffered an excruciating death on the cross, he was hugely moved.
“He saw the people venerating the cross, so he wanted to come back in [to the church] so he could touch it,” Mum Katherine McFarlane told Catholic Outlook.
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Primary student Kayana Rana, 10, said she felt “very blessed” to touch the cross.
“He willingly died on the cross to wash away our sins for our happiness and He’s sending a message that we should love and forgive each other, like He did,” Kayana said.
Parishioners of Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Wentworthville in prayer. Image: Alphonsus Fok/ Diocese of Parramatta
“He’ll love us till His last breath” – Kayana Rana, 10
“Holy Week is my favourite week in the whole Church calendar,” 19-year-old Jordan Sathi, the Second Reader at this year’s Good Friday liturgy, said.
“I like the build-up and the reverence and the solemnity. In a way it shows us how we should live our life [starting] with fasting for Lent, then we prepare ourselves for the Lord; we join in on His suffering. We finally join in on His resurrection.”
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