April Saints and Feasts

The week begins with the “Low Sunday” of the Easter Octave. This Sunday is now known as the Sunday of Divine Mercy, a designation affirming the message of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska, twentieth-century Polish nun now venerated as the “Apostle of Divine Mercy.” Archbishop Karol Wojtyła was instrumental in correcting misinterpretations of her diary, based on mistranslations, and in having a ban on her writings reversed. As Pope John Paul II he later beatified and canonized Kowalska. It is interesting to note that he died in 2005 on the eve of Divine Mercy Sunday. His beatification by Pope Benedict XVI took place on Divine Mercy Sunday of 2011, and he was canonized by Pope Francis on Divine Mercy Sunday of 2014. The week affirms our continued awareness of mercy, as we celebrate Saint Mark this week (April 25), evangelist of the good news of Christ’s saving mercy. We also commemorate Catherine of Sienna (April 29), who sought to reconcile divisions within the church, and is known for her mystical writing on the loving mercies of Christ.  

This week is all about Easter. It is about the new life in the Resurrection. Lent is over, now in the distant past. “This, therefore, is the proclamation that the Church repeats from the first day: ‘Christ is risen!’ And, in Him, through Baptism, we too are risen, we have passed from death to life, from the slavery of sin to the freedom of love. Behold the Good News that we are called to take to others and to every place, inspired by the Holy Spirit. Faith in the Resurrection of Jesus and the hope that He brought us is the most beautiful gift that the Christian can and must give to his brothers. To all and to each, therefore, let us not tire of saying: Christ is risen! Let us repeat it all together, today here in the Square: Christ is risen! Let us repeat it with words, but above all with the witness of our lives. The happy news of the Resurrection should shine on our faces, in our feelings and attitudes, in the way we treat others.” - Pope Francis, April 6, 2015 (Easter Monday) 

This week, we enter into the holiest of weeks of the liturgical calendar. From Palm Sunday of the Passion of the Lord, the Roman missal states: “On this day the Church recalls the entrance of Christ the Lord into Jerusalem to accomplish his Paschal Mystery. Accordingly, the memorial of this entrance of the Lord takes place at all Masses, by means of the Procession or the Solemn Entrance before the principal Mass or the Simple Entrance before other Masses.” Of the Sacred Triduum: “In the Sacred Triduum, the Church solemnly celebrates the greatest mysteries of our redemption, keeping by means of special celebrations the memorial of her Lord, crucified, buried, and risen. The Paschal Fast should also be kept sacred. It is to be celebrated everywhere on the Friday of the Lord's Passion and, where appropriate, prolonged also through Holy Saturday as a way of coming, with spirit uplifted, to the joys of the Lord's Resurrection.” Of Good Friday: “On the afternoon of this day, about three o’clock... there takes place the celebration of the Lord’s Passion consisting of three parts, namely, the Liturgy of the Word, the Adoration of the Cross, and Holy Communion.” Of Holy Saturday: “On Holy Saturday the Church waits at the Lord’s tomb in prayer and fasting, meditating on his Passion and Death and on his Descent into Hell, and awaiting his Resurrection... The Church abstains from the Sacrifice of the Mass, with the sacred table left bare, until after the solemn Vigil, that is, the anticipation by night of the Resurrection, when the time comes for paschal joys, the abundance of which overflows to occupy fifty days.” And of the Easter Vigil: “By most ancient tradition, this is the night of keeping vigil for the Lord (Ex 12: 42), in which, following the Gospel admonition (Lk 12: 35-37), the faithful, carrying lighted lamps in their hands, should be like those looking for the Lord when he returns, so that at his coming he may find them awake and have them sit at his table. ...this night’s Vigil... is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities.” 

With the Fifth Week of Lent, Holy Week comes squarely into view, and we enter on the traditional two weeks of “Passiontide.” For this week, the Roman Missal states: “In the Dioceses of the United States, the practice of covering crosses and images throughout the church from this Sunday may be observed. Crosses remain covered until the end of the Celebration of the Lord's passion on Good Friday, but images remain covered until the beginning of the Easter Vigil.” Sunday’s collect states: “By your help, we beseech you, Lord our God, may we walk eagerly in that same charity with which, out of love for the world, your Son handed himself over to death.”