It is Good Friday, and a lovely, gently sunny spring day--which seems wrong for a day that should be grey and bleak, overcast and leaden. But there are always surprises.
"Good" may seem an inappropriate word for the day, considering what it commemorates; but in this usage, "good" means "holy." Many will be in church today, or taking part in processions, marking the Stations of the Cross. For contemplation alone, there is Bach's Mass in B Minor, and John Donne's "Good Friday, 1613: Riding Westward."
Then there is a Hemingway story--little known, and a curiosity in the Hemingway collection--called "Today is Friday." It imagines a conversation among Roman soldiers in a tavern after the Crucifixion. Faulkner also wrote a story on the theme of the Passion; he called it "A Fable," and it is set in France during World War One. And in Philip Wylie's "Opus 21" a mysterious figure named "Chris" appears on the Enola Gay, and urges the crew not to drop the bomb on Hiroshima.
Finally, this piece of good news for some: those whose birthday falls on Good Friday are said to have the ability to see spirits and the power to combat them.
And in three days--Easter!
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