Holy Week is the most sacred time in the Church's calendar. We commemorate the final days of Jesus' life leading up to his passion, death, and resurrection. During Holy Week, Jesus instituted the Eucharist and established the priesthood. Karen May, a Catholic speaker,...
One day each year – and one day only – there is no Catholic Mass celebrated throughout the world. One day. The Easter Triduum begins with Holy Thursday Mass. What many Catholics don’t realize is that Good Friday service not a Mass, but a liturgy, as no hosts are...
What is an Indulgence? Do Catholics still practice indulgences? That stopped after Martin Luther pointed out that they are wrong, right? To be sure, the 16th Century was a confusing time. There was a Dominican preacher named Johann Tetzel who Luther claimed was...
Lent dates back to the 4th century, a time when it began to be observed as a period of penance and renewal for the entire Church through sacrifice, fasting, and abstinence. Although in the West, this time is not as rigorously observed, there has never been any debate...
Palm Sunday Gospel One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot,went to the chief priests and said,"What are you willing to give meif I hand him over to you?"They paid him thirty pieces of silver,and from that time on he looked for an opportunityto hand him over....
In Holy Week, the Catholic Church invites us to experience the most critical moments in history. In the business of daily life, the repetitive nature of the liturgical calendar, and the extended season of Lent, it's easy to miss the power of these days. If you are...
I would like to offer a few songs to listen to during Holy Week, the Triduum, and Easter. I tried to incorporate some Byzantine Catholic chant from the Divine Liturgy or the Divine Office as well. PALM SUNDAY Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord (Latin Rite)...
I have a healthy fear of the coronavirus but one worry is growing more steadily with every newly canceled event: what’s going to happen during Holy Week? Like many Catholics, Holy Week, and the Triduum, in particular, is my yearly retreat from the rest of the...
Back in January, I realized that I didn’t know my Mother. No, not my biological mother, my spiritual Mother…our spiritual Mother. The one who not only brought Jesus into the world in a stable, but the one who watched Him suffer, die, and who today can lead us closer...
Jesus comes to Peter to wash his feet. Peter says to him, "Lord, do you want to wash my feet?" Jesus answers, "What I am doing you do not know now but afterward you will understand." Peter said to him, "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "If I do not...
On Holy Thursday, we are invited to remember and celebrate four events: the Last Supper, the Washing of the Apostle's Feet by Jesus, Christ's agony and prayer in Gethsemane, and the arrest of Jesus. In Jesus' time, the Hebrew Pasch (Passover) was celebrated at home,...
I want to begin by saying that this is not an easy question. A lot has been written about this subject. I don’t mean to exhaust the richness or complexity of this theological problem that has fascinated a large part of Christian theologians-not without a headache or...