Hi, Robin —
This is a common question; it's even in our searchable knowledge base:
https://www.AskACatholic.com/SiteSearch
There are a lot of quick answers there, so give it a try.
I searched the knowledge base for you and found these web postings that should help:
You said:
- In Mark chapter 15, where was Pilate's heart as he questioned Jesus about His accusers?
In Mark 15:7-15 a man named Barabbas, a convicted murder, was asked by Jesus' accusers to be set free while choosing The Lamb of God to be crucified in Barabbas' place.
- Wouldn't Barabbas be celebrating that day as Good Friday or maybe Great Friday?
To my knowledge Pilate was not a religious man. He was the fifth governor of Judea.
It's interesting that you mention both Pilate and Barabbas because there are events in the life of Jesus (with these people) where we see that God has a pretty good sense of humor.
- First, during his questioning: At one point, Pilate is looking straight at Jesus, asking Him,
The humor being Pilate was looking right at Truth Itself. (John 14:6) ... yet asking this question.
- The second is at Jesus' trial: When Pilate was asking the people to choose between Jesus or Barabbas.
Keep in mind that in Matthew 16, Jesus refers to Peter as Simon bar Jona
(meaning Simon son of John, because bar means son of, and the word abba, means father.
So at in the court when Pilate asked the people which one he should release the choices were:
- Jesus Christ, the true Son of the Father, or
Barabbas or Bar Abbas (the false son of the father)
Although it is not our tradition there are Churches in the East that do celebrate Good Friday as Great Friday. I found this article on Wikipedia interesting:
You said:
Maybe with the help of God we can change it to Black Friday. By doing this all
non-believers would think there was a great sale going on somewhere.
When they ask:
We can tell them there is no sale. It is freely given to all that come to know Jesus.
I know you mean well, but I don't think we should change the names of major celebrations on the Church calendar based on current cultural and new media definitions of certain words like Black Friday.
For over 1980 years, we have had The Sale. The problem is Catholics have not been:
- evangelized, or
- catechized correctly
to appreciate what they have inherited from their loving parents.
This has to change and I believe it starts with developing Catholic Apologetics support groups at the parish level. If any pastor is interested in doing this, I can provide some ideas and suggestions.
I would guess that not even 1 percent of the parishioners at my parish knows what
Catholic Apologetics is and its importance to the life of the Church.
Hope this helps,
Mike
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