Good Friday is the most somber day in the Church’s liturgical calendar. It is a day focused entirely on the suffering and death of Jesus.While contemplating Jesus’ agony on the cross, we are encouraged to lift up in prayer all those who are suffering in the world today, especially those on their deathbeds.

Below is a short prayer from The manual of indulgences, that asks God to have mercy on these souls. It is our prayer that Jesus will say to them today, “Amen, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43).

Jesus, my love, who, for love of me, does hang in agony on the cross, there by your pains to pay the penalty of my sins, and opens your divine mouth to obtain me pardon for them from eternal justice. O Jesus, pity all those faithful souls who now are in their last, sad agony, and pity me when I, too, shall be in mine. By the merit of your most precious blood shed for our salvation, grant us all such lively sorrow for our sins, as shall make us breathe forth our souls into the bosom of your boundless mercy.