“How tenderly you swell my heart with love…” (John of the Cross) The experience of Easter is the experience of new life in Christ – a life grounded in love. Christians – rejoice and sing out on this most solemn feast of the liturgical year! “Christ indeed from death is risen, our new life obtaining!” Alleluia!

Easter Sunday is one of the biggest days of the year in the Catholic Church, but for priests like myself it can sometimes be an occasion for sleepiness and maybe some crankiness. We’re cranky because the night before, the Easter Vigil, is a very large celebration in which the liturgy itself and the festivities afterward can go on for hours until early in the morning. Getting up the next morning for 7:30am mass can be ...

Light Seven Candles FIRST WORD: John 19:14-16a; Luke 23:32-34a It was the day of Preparation of Passover Week, about the sixth hour. "Here is your king," Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, "Take him away! Take him away! Crucify Him!" "Shall I crucify your king?" Pilate asked. "We have no king but Caesar," the chief priests answered. Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified. Two other men, both criminals, ...

We begin the holiest week in the Church’s liturgical year! It is a time to enter deeply into the solemn events of the week leading up to Easter. The Triduum is ONE liturgical celebration beginning with the Celebration of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. There is no dismissal at the end of the liturgy. Good Friday is a celebration of the Lord’s Passion and Death and the EASTER VIGIL begins in darkness and bursts ...