Good Friday

"My kingdom does not belong to this world. If my kingdom did belong to this world, my attendants (would) be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not here." John 18:36

Schedule for Holy Week 2009!!!

The following is the St. Vincent Archabbey Holy Week Schedule:

Mass of the Lord’s Supper 
Holy Thursday - April 9, 2009
7:30 PM: Archabbey Basilica 
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

Liturgical Services

Good Friday - April 10, 2009 
1:30 PM - Archabbey Basilica

Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

Tenebrae Service 

Good Friday - April 10, 2009

8:00 PM - Archabbey Basilica

Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

The Easter Vigil 

April 11, 2009
8:30 PM - Archabbey Basilica
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

Easter Sunday Morning

April 12, 2009
7:30 AM - Archabbey Basilica
Archabbot Douglas Nowicki, OSB presiding

"As Holy Week rapidly approaches, we remember and recall why this week is called "holy". This is the week we celebrate God’s immense love for us and our ultimate redemption from sin and death. Like our Jewish sisters and brothers, who at Passover, yearly remember their freedom from slavery in Egypt, we Christians celebrate our freedom from the worst kind of bondage, the bondage of sin and death. This week affords us the opportunity to really look at what the Father did for us through the suffering and death and resurrection of His Son. If we believe this with our hearts and minds, our only response can be immense gratitude. If we believe and are grateful, we willingly and joyfully celebrate with the Church the events of our redemption. Please make Holy Week meaningful to you. Set aside the time, especially on the days of the Sacred Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday) to walk and pray with the Lord through His passion, death, and resurrection." 

(Father Donald Breier)

  

Father Breier is rector of St. Paul Cathedral in the diocese of Pittsburgh.  I think his words of wisdom are important to keep in mind for all Catholics especially for those discerning a vocation to the consecrated way of life.

Palm Sunday 2009

 

Hosanna to the Son of David, the King of Israel.  Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.  Hosanna in the highest. (Matthew 21:9)

4th Anniversary of JPII's death

O Blessed Trinity
We thank You for having graced the Church with Pope John Paul II and for allowing the tenderness of your Fatherly care, the glory of the cross of Christ, and the splendor of the Holy Spirit, to shine through him. Trusting fully in Your infinite mercy and in the maternal intercession of Mary, he has given us a living image of Jesus the Good Shepherd, and has shown us that holiness is the necessary measure of ordinary Christian life and is the way of achieving eternal communion with you. Grant us, by his intercession, and according to Your will, the graces we implore, hoping that he will soon be numbered among your saints.
Amen

 

VATICAN CITY (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI marked the fourth anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II with a memorial Mass on Thursday and new prayers for the Polish pontiff's beatification.

Benedict presided over an evening Mass at St. Peter's Basilica in which he recalled how beloved John Paul was, particularly among young Catholics.

"How many priestly vocations ... are linked to the testimony and preaching of my venerated predecessor!" Benedict said in urging young people to continue joining the priesthood and religious life.

Later, Benedict descended to the grottos underneath St. Peter's and knelt for a few minutes of silent prayer before his predecessor's simple, marble tomb, decorated with a red rose. The pope sprinkled holy water in blessing before returning to the basilica upstairs and greeting some of the pilgrims.

The pope told Polish pilgrims on Wednesday he was praying for John Paul's beatification, the first step to possible sainthood.

Only a month after John Paul's death in 2005, Benedict put him on the fast track for sainthood by waiving the usual five years before a person's life and works can be examined. Vatican officials say the process is taking its course, and the required miracle has been identified for examination.

The possible miracle involves the curing of a French nun with Parkinson's disease.

Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, the personal secretary of the late pope, said "there is always hope" that John Paul II will be announced a saint before the fifth anniversary of his death. But in an interview with Polish TVN24 television, he said the process must go though all necessary stages "so there can be no doubt."

Dziwisz — who now heads John Paul's old diocese of Krakow, Poland — indicated there was no shortage of potential cases of possible miracles to investigate.

After praying at John Paul's tomb, Dziwisz told journalists that a few days ago, a 9-year-old Polish boy who was left unable to walk because of a kidney tumor suddenly started walking after being brought to the burial place by his parents.

"He was brought in a wheelchair because he wasn't able to walk," the cardinal said. As soon as the boy emerged from the basilica, he told his parents: "`I want to walk.' He got up and started walking, healthy," the prelate said.

He said the boy is from Gdansk, the Polish seaport known as the birthplace of the Solidarity movement which helped bring down decades of Communist rule in John Paul's homeland in the late 1980s.

The head of the Vatican's saint-making office, Archbishop Angelo Amato, said the process already got a boost when Benedict waived the five-year waiting period. In an interview with Vatican Radio, he said the process must actually be more rigorous and thorough for a pope like John Paul since he was so well-known.

"Promptness doesn't mean speed or superficiality; on the contrary this requires care and professionalism," Amato said.

The parliament in Poland, the pope's homeland, observed a minute of silence Thursday to mark the anniversary. Masses and prayers were also being held across Poland.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

Palm Sunday 2009

Here is a cool little guide on how to make Palm Crosses from www.fisheaters.com.  I would encourage all our readers to truly enter into the Holy Week by reflecting on the Gospel readings for Palm Sunday and to take a palm branch as a reminder of our Lord's victory over the world (Psalm 91:13).

How to make palm Crosses to tuck behind picture frames and hang on your wall

	Take a palm that is about 2 feet long and 1/2" wide (if it tapers at the top, this is good!). Hold the palm upright, so the tapered end points toward the ceiling.
	Then bend the top end down and toward you so that the bend is about 5 or 6 inches from the bottom of the palm.
	About a third of the way from the bend you just made, twist the section you've pulled down to the right, forming a right angle.
	About an inch and a half away from the "stem" of the cross, bend this arm of the palm back behind the palm so that it is now facing to your left. Make the bend at a good length to form the right arm of the Cross.
	Folding that same section at a point that equals the length on the right side, bend it on the left side and bring the end forward over what is now the front of the cross.
	From the very center of the Cross, fold that arm up and to the upper right (in a "northeast" direction) so that it can wrap around where the upright post of the Cross and the right arm intersect.
	Fold this down and to the left behind the Cross...
	...and then fold it toward the right so that it is parallel and under the transverse arms of the Cross.
	Bring it up behind the Cross again, this time folding it up toward the "northwest" direction.
	Tuck the tapered end into the transverse section you made in step 7...
	...and pull through.
	Turn the Cross over; this side will be the front. Trim the tapered end if necessary, remembering that the palm is a sacramental and any part you trim away should be kept and respected as a sacramental! Use that piece for burning during storms.