Throughout history Death has often been portrayed as a someone, more than just a something. . Anubis and Osiris were the Egyptian gods of death, Thanatos and Hades for the Greeks, Pluto and Proserpina to the Romans.
It’s the greatest story ever told: the story of God and man. Above all it’s a love story. God, as St Catherine of Siena put it, was pazzo d’amore, insane with love for us, from all eternity, even before we were made.
Life can be a bitter cup and Jesus knew He must drink it. In St John’s Passion (Jn 18:1-19:42) we saw betrayal and arrest, scourging and mockery, kangaroo court and terrible verdict.
Our world is in crisis. For the past year waves of COVID-19 have infected more than 125 million people and cost nearly 3 million lives.
It’s a smelly Mass, the Chrism Mass. The scent of palms is still in the air from last Sunday. Then that of the olive permeates the cathedral, as deacons heave vats of oil up the sanctuary stairs. Then perfume fills the basilica as it is mixed with the sacred Chrism for the fragrance of Christ.
Three years ago, when last we heard St Mark’s Passion (Mk chs 14 & 15), I observed that only he includes the flight of the stark-naked youth from the Garden.
A while back an eclectic Spanish art collection was offered for auction by Christie’s in London. The standout item was a life-sized painting of St Joseph and the Christ Child by the 17th-century painter, Bartolomé Murillo, estimated to be worth millions of pounds.
Fr Noel Custodio is another recently ordained young priest and will join us to talk about fatherhood and St Joseph, particularly with reference to the titles given him by Pope Francis in his Apostolic Letter, Patris Corde.
What a strange choice of readings for a day we call ‘Lætare’ or ‘Rejoicing Sunday’! Our first reading from the Book of Chronicles tells how all the faithful – including the leading clergy – proved unfaithful.
Jacob and Wilhelm were brothers, renowned scholars in philology and lexicography, and authorities on the Indo-European language from which the languages of the continent and the sub-continent evolved.
Peter, James and John are Jesus’ executive team. They join Him on occasions marked ‘private and confidential’, when healing in homes or contemplating Jerusalem or agonising in the garden. Paul calls them ‘the three pillars’ of the early Church (Gal 2:9).
“The Spirit drove Jesus out into the wilderness.” (Mk 1:12-15) So Mark begins his account of the temptations of Christ immediately after His baptism when that Spirit descended upon Him like a dove.
