Cross Your Heart in Honor of Good Friday: Add to the Sacred Day by Making a Sacred Promise

“Bring good things out of the good stored up in (your) heart”
-Luke 6.45-

In honor of Good Friday, make a sacred promise during this venerated day based on a specific scripture you have been fulfilling over the years. May your sacred promise, however, express and emphasize a deep heartfelt desire to fulfill the scripture unlike ever before.

The ninth hour (3 pm)

The ninth hour (3 pm), is often regarded as the most sacred hour of Good Friday.

God fulfilled the most sacred divine promise found in the Old Testament scriptures – the reconciling death of a messiah to be followed by a resurrection.

By the ninth hour, darkness came over all the land, Christ spoke his last words, the earth quaked, and rocks were split. Jesus let out a loud cry “Father into your hands I commit my Spirit” and also cried “It is finished” and breathed his last and the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom.

Make a Sacred Promise in Honor of Good Friday

After reading and reflecting upon the sacred acts and words of the ninth hour on Good Friday, search the bible for a specific scripture, or recall a scripture, to be the source of your sacred promise. Then make a sacred promise based on the scripture that you recalled or found.

The scriptures encourage us to faithfully carry another’s burden, comfort those in trouble, honor the aged, and hear the groans of the wounded and dying, among other sacred acts. Some of these scriptures have been personalized below: 

  • Do good works, which God prepared in advance for (me) to do (Ephesians 2.10) 
  • As (I) have occasion, let (me) do good to everyone (Galatians 6.10) 
  • Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is within (my) power to act (Proverbs 3.27) 
  • Carry one another’s burdens, and in this way (I) will fulfill the law of Christ (Galatians 6.2) 
  • Comfort those in any trouble with the comfort (I) receive from God (2 Corinthians 1. 4) 
  • Be wise in the way (I) act toward (others); make the most of every occasion. Let (my) conversation be always full of grace, seasoned with salt, so that (I) may know how to answer everyone (Colossians 4. 5 – 6) 
  • Rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged (Leviticus 19.32) 
  • Hear the groans of the dying rise from the city, and the souls of the wounded (that) cry out for help (Job 24.12)

Cross Your Heart in Honor of Good Friday

Culture has encouraged the act of placing your hand over your heart as a gesture of reverence and honor. It is an act that symbolizes seriousness and sincerity and anything that you say at that very moment is to be trustworthy.

As a boy, I can remember taking my index finger and with two small gestures gently impress Christ’s cross over my heart while declaring “I promise.”

You are encouraged to place your hand over your heart as a gesture of reverence and honor at or during the ninth hour on Good Friday. Let this act symbolize a strong sense of seriousness and sincerity that evolved from the depths of your heart and soul.

You are also encouraged to take your index finger and with two small gestures gently impress Christ’s cross over your heart, your most inner place of passion, as an expressive commitment to “bring good things out of the good stored up in (your) heart (Luke 6.45).”

And at that very moment, declare your chosen scripture as a sacred promise that you will begin to faithfully fulfill unlike ever before.

6 Comments

  1. gregorio barboza on April 13, 2022 at 2:49 pm

    Thank you!
    God Bless!

    • Joe Colletti, PhD on April 13, 2022 at 3:04 pm

      May each of us bring good things out of the good stored up in our hearts unlike ever before.

  2. Rhonda Johnson on April 13, 2022 at 3:10 pm

    Thank you, Joe,
    I will cross my heart and make a sacred promise in honor of my Mother who I loss last month. The scripture that I choose to be a source of my sacred promise is 2 Timothy 4:1-8. This is the scripture that was the source of my Mom’s eulogy that really spoke to who she was and how dedicated and faithful she was to her ministry.

    Blessings to you.

    • Joe Colletti, PhD on April 13, 2022 at 3:49 pm

      Rhonda – I can imagine hearing you quoting the following precious verses in honor of your mom while you were eulogizing her: 7) I have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith; 8) in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing.

  3. John C. Forney on April 15, 2022 at 4:56 pm

    Thank you, Joe, for this Good Friday altar call. Doing as much good to as many as possible for as long as possible was the challenge from John Wesley that I grew up with in the Methodist Church.. I ask your prayers for House of Hope – San Bernardino, our addiction recovery center. And House of Hope – Ohio Valley. You can find us on Facebook and on the web under Forney Charities. May you have a blessed Easter. Every day is the First Day of the Week.

    • Joe Colletti, PhD on April 16, 2022 at 1:00 am

      John – like you, let us live honorably in every way (Heb.13.18)

Leave a Comment