Why is Good Friday called “good”?

Sincerely,

Ivan Tuno

Your question highlights the need for universal language.

I taught Latin and Biblical Greek for almost 25 years in the seminary. One would think that I would long to have Mass in Latin. I must admit to a fondness for the dignity of the old liturgy and a love of Gregorian Chant, but I am happy to say Mass in English. I have no problem with either Latin or English. 

Latin of itself is not sacred as every orthodox rabbi will tell you. God speaks Hebrew and spoke it when he made all things out of nothing by His word. 

The Greeks know, however, that Greek is the oldest language in the world, a statement which can be made about most languages, since language evolves at a pretty steady rate under the right circumstances. 

The case can be made that Greek and Hebrew are sacred languages in that the Holy Spirit used them to speak to the world in the text of scripture. However, there is nothing particularly sacred about Latin. It was special only because it was useful.

I can only wonder why the powers-that-were decided to change the Mass so radically. The old Mass with some English probably would have done the trick. Still, I don't pine for Latin necessarily. 

I think the loss of Latin as the everyday language of Catholicism was a disaster. How can a church be universal without a universal language? Even the non-Latin parts of the Roman church used Latin diplomatically. One is never so clever nor so charming, nor so communicative in a second language.

The new official language of the church is a little bit Italian, a little bit French, some English, some German, some Spanish. Those who don't have Italian or French or one of the others will never quite have the opportunities to serve the native speakers of the current languages. When Latin was the diplomatic and theological language of the church, everyone was behind the same basic eight-ball, and the smartest rose to the top. Latin was no one's first language.

Besides that, all languages age. In a couple centuries, if the Lord tarries, people will be complaining about having Mass in old-fashioned English. "No one understands it. Mass should be in Spanglish, el language nacional of the Estados Unidos." Have you never heard that a man married to the spirit of an age soon finds himself a widower? Our post Vatican II marriage to this decadent culture will hopefully be short-lived. 

Now on to your question!

Good Friday is a term used only in the English speaking world. In Romance, or Latin-based languages, the day is called Holy Friday. In Slavic languages it is called Great Friday, in Scandinavia it is called Long Friday, in German it is called Lamentation Friday using an archaic word that means lamentation, "Karfreitag."

We probably get Good Friday from Dutch. The Frisian dialect of Dutch is the Germanic language closest to English. In early middle ages, we probably called it Goede Vrijtag which may have meant God's Friday, which sounds like and was soon said as Good Friday. 

The usual name of the day in the Catholic calendar is simply the sixth day of the week in the suffering (passion) of the Lord. More traditionally, it is called the "Day of the Preparation" as it is referred to in the Bible, taken from the Jewish name (Luke 23:54). 

You may wonder why I have spent so much time on this. Well it’s a good example of how we just accept something in our religious life, like Saint Paul falling off his horse on the Damascus road, though there is no horse mentioned in the bible and the three kings who weren't called kings and weren't even numbered in the text of the Bible. 

Much of our religion comes from something we saw on TV or something our Grandmother, who was never wrong, told us. The unexamined life is worth living for none, as Socrates said. This is true of the unexamined religion as well. 

All that said, I have no problem calling it Good Friday, because it was both the best and the worst Friday in human history.

Thanks for the question.

Rev. Know-It-All