"For the second time we are living in the context of the pandemic.

"Last year we were more shocked, this year we are more tried, and the economic crisis has become heavier," he said after reciting the Angelus at the end of Mass.

"In this historic and social situation, what is God doing?" he asked, referring to the more than 100 million Covid-19 cases and more than 2.7 million deaths from the pandemic worldwide in the past year.

"He takes up the cross. Jesus takes the cross; that is, he takes on himself the evil that this reality brings, the physical, psychological and above all the spiritual evil, because the Evil One takes advantage of this crisis to sow distrust, desperation and lies."

Jesus "experienced our deepest sorrows: failure, loss of everything, betrayal by a friend, even abandonment by God."

Addressing the worldwide audience for the internationally televised ceremony, Francis asked, "And we, what must we do [in this situation]?"

His answer: "The Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus and his first disciple, shows us the way."

She "followed her son" and "took on herself her own part of the suffering, of the darkness and bewilderment, and she walked on the road of the Passion, keeping alive in her heart the lamp of faith."

Pope Francis said that "we too, with the grace of God, can make the same journey. And along the daily ‘way of the cross,' we encounter many brothers and sisters in difficulty.

"Let us not pass by, let our hearts be moved with compassion and draw near."

He then invited his global audience to join him in prayer for all victims of violence, especially for "the victims of his morning's attack in Indonesia, in front of the cathedral of Makassar." Continue reading

In a video message, he speaks of the difficulties and suffering these weeks have brought many people, for those with sick people at home and those who are in mourning.

"I can imagine you in your families, living an unusual life to avoid contagion," he says.

He also speaks of his appreciation for the "generosity of those who put themselves at risk for the treatment of this pandemic or to guarantee the essential services to society."

They are "heroes," he says.

Others Francis is keeping in mind are those facing financial difficulties, those in prison worried about themselves and their families, and the homeless, who have no home to protect them.

"It is a difficult time for everyone. For many, very difficult."

The Pope says he is aware of the suffering in the world right now and spoke of his closeness and affection to all people.

There are ways we can all help, he suggests.

"Let us try, if we can, to make the best use of this time: let us be generous."

"Let us help those in need in our neighbourhood."

"Let us look out for the loneliest people, perhaps by telephone or social networks."

"Let us pray to the Lord for those who are in difficulty in Italy and in the world."

We can break through the isolation imposed by social distancing measures, as "thought and spirit can go far with the creativity of love," Francis says.

We can express it through small acts of kindness and love with those who are suffering, children and the elderly.

He acknowledges that Christians will celebrate Holy Week "in a truly unusual way."

This week summarises the message of the Gospel, he says: "God's boundless love."

"And in the silence of our cities, the Easter Gospel will resound," he says.

"In the risen Jesus, life conquered death."

Hope, said the Pope, is nourished by our Paschal faith.

"It is the hope of a better time, in which we can be better, finally freed from evil and from this pandemic," he said. "It is a hope: hope does not disappoint. It is not an illusion, it is a hope."

He urged everyone to prepare a better time "in love and patience" with the extra time alone that has been given us.

Closing his message, the Pope asked everyone watching to make "a gesture of tenderness towards those who suffer, towards children, and towards the elderly."

"Tell them that the Pope is close," he said, "and pray that the Lord will soon deliver us all from evil."

Source

• Vatican News
• NewsBook
• Image: Asia News

The document recommends that bishops postpone those liturgies which may be postponed. It also indicates how priests and bishops can offer those celebrations which cannot be moved, such as Easter, in places where public liturgies are suspended.

The Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments published the "general indications" after receiving inquiries from several bishops. Read more

And then…? Well, a few weeks of lilies and extra "Alleluias!" and then back to business as usual. (E.g., First Confessions and Communions in May, a spate of weddings in June, etc.)

It seems that Holy Week is a lot of work for a few, an inconvenience for a few more ("How many times do I have to drag the kids to church this week?!?"), and an annual irrelevance for many, if not most Catholics. But does it have to be that way?

Here's the key problem with Holy Week as described above: People who halfheartedly believe that they're sinners try to stir up sorrow for an atoning death they're not quite convinced they need, so that a few days later they can try to stir up joy for the benefits of a resurrection they don't quite understand or believe in.

So understood, it's not very convincing theater, and even less is it worthy worship.

Why do we put up with it? Why does the Church ask us to put on this act year after year? That's asking the wrong question. Better: What is divine mercy and providence offering us in Holy Week?

And how can we be good stewards of what could be the last Holy Week we will ever see? (Remember that not one future moment is guaranteed to anyone.)

We're created in the image and likeness of God. Our souls, which we surrendered to the dominion of Satan by our sin, are worth fighting for.

Jesus, Son of God and son of Mary, ransomed our souls with his own blood. If you were given one week before your death to contemplate that truly shocking fact—how would you spend it? Continue reading

• Father Robert McTeigue, SJ, is a member of the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus.

Holy Week - which culminates with Easter Sunday - enters into the heart and soul of Christianity, which is the death and Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth two thousand years ago. As Fr. Robert Barron puts it: "Without the Resurrection, Christianity collapses. It's the standing and falling point of the faith. Therefore, to deny the Resurrection is to cease to be Christian. You might pick up bits and pieces of Christianity here and there, and you might follow Jesus as a wise spiritual teacher, but without the Resurrection the whole thing falls apart."

Of course, when the historical figure of Jesus comes up (and it is the mainstream position among historians that Jesus did, in fact, exist), many try to do just that - reduce Jesus to another wise spiritual teacher, like a Socrates or Confucius. But can you imagine if your teacher or mentor said something like "I am the way, the truth, and the life"? But this man did; and so he was, as CS Lewis noted with his "trilemma", either a liar, a lunatic, or the Lord. (Some add legend, or mystic - but these falter too.)

But was Jesus who he said he was? That is the question; and it all hinges on this news of Resurrection, an event that billions of Christians around the globe - backed by a heap of historical and philosophical evidence - still profess to this day.

But just what happened that week? And why has it mattered so immensely to so many down the centuries?

To answer that, here is a day-by-day musical guide to Holy Week. Each day (and its corresponding verse in Matthew) is followed by a song by Josh Garrels and a meditation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church - gems that both reveal, in their own way, the power and glory of the week that changed the world.

Palm Sunday: Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem (Mt 21:1-11) Continue reading

Sources

• Aleteia, from an article by Matthew Becklo, a husband and father, amateur philosopher, and cultural commentator at Aleteia and Word on Fire.
• Image: Et Resurrexit

Yusef Daher, secretary-general of the Jerusalem Interchurch Center, said the network of Israeli police barriers disrupt the flow and number of people who are able to reach the church of the Holy Sepulchre for Good Friday services and the Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony at the Easter Vigil.

It is part of the Israel's policy of making Jerusalem an exclusively Jewish city, said Daher. "This [restrictions] did not happen 10 years ago," he said.

The Holy Fire ceremony involves the sharing of fire which, according to tradition, is brought forth miraculously from the tomb of Jesus by the Greek Orthodox and Armenian patriarchs.

The flames are passed from person to person by torches to bundles of candles. Eventually fire from the ceremony is sent to the various parishes of the Holy Land.

The ceremony has become a point of contention over the past 10 years between the Israeli police and local Christians.

Authorities are saying that the single exit into the plaza makes the ceremony a high risk for visitors if a fire breaks out.

In 1808, a fire severely damaged the dome of the Rotunda and dozens of pilgrims were trampled to death, while in the mid-1800s a fire during the Holy Fire Ceremony reportedly also killed hundreds of pilgrims.

Daher, who heads the umbrella group for Christian churches in Jerusalem,said that although the single entrance and exit to the church cause a potential fire safety hazard, there had been no problem in more than a century.

Palestinian Christians living in the West Bank and Gaza, meanwhile, need special permits to attend Holy Week and Easter ceremonies.

Israel has said it will refrain from taking unilateral action concerning the churches in order to avoid provoking protests.

Sources

CNS/The Tablet
Catholic News Service
America Magazine
Image: EPA/America

One inquirer even suggested that the Crucifix hanging above the Altar is too intense a reminder of the sorrow in the world and that she would never join a church that displayed a sign of such cruel violence.

Today, we begin Holy Week with the celebration of Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion and we are again reminded of this paradox.

Mass begins differently today. The gospel account of Christ's Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem by Jesus is proclaimed from the doors of the Church.

After the other readings, the Passion Narrative from Mark's gospel is proclaimed. From cheering crowds to insane hatred and attack, what are we to make of this?

Vale of Tears
Catholics are taught that we are pilgrims in this "vale of tears."

The Salve Regina includes the words, "To thee [Mary] do we send up our sighs, mourning and weeping in this valley of tears."

Again, the inquirer might ask, "Why would I want to join up with a bunch that is so pessimistic about life?"

To be sure, this life on earth is filled with hardships, pain and suffering. Who among us has not suffered?

Looking back over my life, I can recall numerous occasions of pain. My earliest memories of pain involved occasions of embarrassment as a very young child; the events do not count for much now, but at the time, mortification would not have been too strong a word to describe my feelings.

There followed all of the normal moments of discomfort that can be expected to be experienced by a child and young teenager growing up in an affluent country.

Real suffering and loss had not yet arrived; no hunger, serious illness or homelessness… but I would come to be greatly affected by death. Continue reading

• Deacon Michael Bickerstaff in The Integrated Catholic Life

Deacon Michael Bickerstaff is the Editor in chief and co-founder of the The Integrated Catholic Life.

Jesus showed us that way throughout his whole life on earth, but this way becomes particularly clear and calls to us most profoundly in the events of Holy Week, not only by Jesus's words, however striking they are, but by his actions and what he suffered, beyond words.

Those events invite us to enter upon this way interiorly, through the words, actions and silences of the liturgy.

Through that liturgy we make a commitment of faith to know Jesus more clearly, as individuals, but also as pilgrims together.

We are drawn into ancient traditions of contemplating these events.

It is a way of humility in obedience and commitment to the Father

We begin with the Palm Sunday procession, to re-enact the journey of Jesus with his disciples and those who followed him from Bethany to Jerusalem (Mt 21:1-11).

We follow him as our king, but one riding on a donkey in humility and in obedience to the Father's word through the prophet Zechariah (Zec 9:9).

As we proceed into the Mass the readings prepare us to focus on this obedience.

From the Third Servant Song of Second Isaiah (Is 50:4-7), we hear that the Servant has been given,

‘a disciple's tongue...Each morning [the Lord] wakes me to hear, to listen like a disciple.' Continue reading.

Source: ThinkingFaith

Image: cfcbchurch.com

The Atlantic has posted a picture gallery of 38 images depicting the different ways Easter has been observed.

"Families attended church services, hooded penitents took part in processions, and children hunted for Easter eggs. In Catholic passion plays, participants depicted Jesus' trial and death. Other local rituals drew heavily on earlier pre-Christian traditions."

View picture gallery at Atlantic

Image: MSNBC.com

His five-minute mini-sermon provoked sympathetic laughter from the audience of about 150 clergy and other guests when he talked of the burdens of the presidency.

The party was advertised with an image of a woman donning a wimple and a revealing piece of black clothing.

Called Escape Chapel, the event was supposed to be the first Asian foray for the organizers of popular British music festival Escape Into The Park, which takes place each year in Swansea, Wales.

"We've used this opportunity to express how deeply remorseful we are for the all the upset we've caused to the Catholic community in the days leading up to their most holy of weekends," Creative Insurgence Director Aaghir Yadav said in a statement.

"We never intended to offend or mock the Catholic faith and chapel - and are very sorry for the poor judgment we've displayed in our marketing decisions."

Archbishop Chia Wednesday said the church accepted the apology and that the incident was a reminder "of the need for mutual respect for all religions in our multireligious country."

Like a journeyman basketball player who lacks the magic of Michael Jordan in his prime, these events, sent in as subs, lack the Mystery generated spontaneously by these feasts whose date is set by the first full moon after the spring equinox. They are born, so to speak, from the inexhaustible symbols whose energy affects the tides of the oceans as well as those that rise and fall within us.

The dating of these feasts flows from the ancient practice of attempting to coordinate the lunar and solar calendars, symbolizing the two modes of eternal life. At the vernal equinox, when dark and light are in balance, the sun and the moon stand across the sky from each other. The moon, as Joseph Campbell once explained to me, "represents engagement in Time, like throwing off death, as the moon its shadow, to be born again. The disengaged sun represents the Eternal, the moon's source of light and the source of light for all of us who live in Time."

Setting the date of Easter according to this interplay of sun and moon "suggests that life, like the light that is reborn in the moon and the eternal in the sun, finally is one." We actually experience this mystery in the plangent longings we feel inside ourselves when the light and warmth of spring return, why folk medicine offers prescriptions for "spring fever" and we speak of being "moonstruck." Continue reading

Sources

• Eugene Cullen Kennedy in National Catholic Reporter
• Image: The Guardian