From the Bishop
Guiding the flock
through Holy Week, Easter Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrated Masses and presided at services in a number of different parish churches of the Diocese throughout Holy Week. Beginning with Palm Sunday and continuing through Easter Sunday, the Bishop shared his spiritual insight and love for his flock in the series of homilies he preached during these solemn liturgies. Excerpts of his homilies follow: PALM SUNDAY ST. MARY PARISH, COLTS NECK:
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alm Sunday is, liturgically speaking, the doorway to Holy Week. … Jesus enters the “house of Holy Week” through “the door” that is Jerusalem … Speaking to the congregation in St. Mary of the Assumption Cathedral, Trenton, Bishop O’Connell talks about the symbol of the crucifix on Good Friday March 29. Hal Brown photo
What we see from this door may be a bit deceiving: crowds cheering Jesus the King, palms and olive branches thrown before his feet, sung hosannas to the Son of David. … Soon, in the story of Holy Week, the crowd will turn ugly. … The supporters abandon their palms and thin out. Even the apostles scatter as Jesus walks the path to Calvary. “I gave my back to those who beat me,” Isaiah prophesied in today’s first reading, “My cheeks to those who plucked my beard; my face I did not shield from buffets and spitting. The Lord GOD is my help; therefore I am not disgraced.” From the door where we stand in the liturgy today and through which we pass into Holy Week … We see the King enter. We witness his passion. … In Jesus Christ, ours is a God who is willing to suffer not only for us but with us. There is no place in our humanity where God is not present … We may not get that on Palm Sunday, but it is only “the door” and the beginning of the week that will follow. HOLY THURSDAY MASS OF THE LORD’S SUPPER ST. JOHN THE BAPTIST PARISH, ALLENTOWN:
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n the ancient world of Jesus’ time, the custom of washing someone’s feet was a gesture of hospitality. … It was a practical thing to do as well as a sign of respect for the guest. But in tonight’s Gospel, the gesture of foot washing has special significance. As with so many other practices, Jesus used what was common to create a holy moment … The symbolism of respect for another person by humbling oneself, showing that humility and care by washing feet, and the sharing one’s life by giving one’s life totally to another – which is what the Eucharist is, Jesus’ gift of his own Body and Blood – is the essence of what we celebrate together on this Holy Thursday evening. … My sisters and brothers, this night is Holy, not because of the things we do but, rather, because of the things He did – the Lord Jesus Christ. It is He who gathers us. It is he who gives us himself as food and drink. It is he who drops to his knees to wash the feet of his disciples. He, the Lord Jesus Christ, makes this night Holy. And what we do, we do in His memory.
GOOD FRIDAY ST. MARY OF THE ASSUMPTION CATHEDRAL, TRENTON:
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crucifix or cross … is the central and most widely known symbol of Christianity … The fact that a symbol has endured for so long everywhere should convey something to everyone who sees it. … The crucifix … has endured because it depicts and represents the turning point of humanity. … The Lord Jesus Christ 8 THE MONITOR MAGAZINE
April 2024
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