As a father, I haven’t been the best Catholic. But our faith is built on mercy and second chances.
Awake, O sleeper →
One of the more moving Good Friday devotions is the practice in the Eastern Church of venerating Jesus in his tomb. On the evening of Good Friday, an icon of the body of Christ, printed on or woven into cloth, is placed at the front of the church, and the faithful crawl on their knees from the entrance to the icon to venerate the shroud.
The shroud remains entombed through the night, surrounded by candles, as Jesus sleeps in the tomb, awaiting his resurrection on Easter morn.
And yet …
True riches →
Here in the most frustrating (which is not to say the least fruitful) Holy Week of my life, I have been thinking back to Holy Weeks past.
Conspiracy theories →
Conspiracies exist; this I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Tomorrow, the Wednesday of Holy Week, has traditionally been known as Spy Wednesday. Unlike Maundy Thursday or Good Friday, the adjective here requires no explanation. Judas was the spy, and it was on this day that he steeled himself to hand Jesus over to the chief priests and elders.
In the end, the conspiracy that Judas set in motion both succeeded in its aim — Jesus was tried, sentenced to death and crucified — and failed, not only because Christ rose from the grave on Easter Sunday but because Judas cracked under pressure.
How the story ends →
With its mix of joy and sorrow, celebration of Christ’s kingship and anticipation of his death, Palm Sunday has always been a bittersweet start to Holy Week, but never more so than this year. The images of priests and bishops celebrating Mass in empty churches, reading St. Matthew’s Passion with only one person responding as the crowd, drove home the unusual nature of what we will experience over the coming week.
The responsorial psalm for today — Psalm 22 — foreshadows Christ’s passion, especially those final moments on the cross before he delivers up his spirit. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”