On this Good Friday, may every blessing and gift won for us today at so great a price be our consolation, our strength and our hope... and may the lesson of the Cross permeate our lives that, by carrying it -- stumbles, splinters, falls and all -- to its end, we might know the triumphant joy of the Resurrection.

Lord,
by the suffering of Christ your Son
you have saved is all from the death
we inherited from sinful Adam.
By the law of nature
we have borne the likeness of his manhood.
May the sanctifying power of grace
help us to put on the likeness of our Lord in heaven
who lives and reigns for ever and ever.

There's more to the story, church... but 'til then, as the old song begins, "Let all mortal flesh keep silence."

God love you lot today and always.

PHOTO: Getty Images

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