Instead of just words for Good Friday, I want to share some music. There is a traditional practice in these days of meditating on texts from the Lamentations of Jeremiah (and here too Job), in which the suffering of Jesus is foretold and/or typified.
This particular Latin text, Caligaverunt Oculi Mei ("My Eyes Are Darkened By My Tears..." cf. Job 16:16 and Lam 1:12), is enriched by layers of repetition in the beautiful, mournful polyphonic chant of Tomás Luis de Victoria (1548-1611).
Here is the English translation:
"My eyes are darkened by my tears
For he is far from me that comforted me.
See, all you people,
if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
All you who pass by, behold and see
if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow."
