MARCH 26, 2024 • ARCHGH.ORG/TCH
SICILIAN FAITH
St. Joseph Altar devotions highlight faithful tradition ▪ SEE PAGE 10
A GOOD CONFESSION Holy Week is a good time to encounter grace in the confessional ▪ SEE PAGE 13
texas catholic herald 1
BORDER PILGRIMAGE
Sisters see Stations of the Cross in witness to migrants’ hardships at border ▪ SEE PAGE 15
Proclaiming the Good News to the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston since 1964
MARCH 26, 2024
VOL. 60, NO. 19
A SHEPHERD’S MESSAGE
Easter ‘with great hope’ BY DANIEL CARDINAL DINARDO Archbishop of Galveston-Houston
A SPIRITUAL GUIDE TO HOLY WEEK BY LORENE HANLEY DUQUIN Special to the Herald HOUSTON (OSV News) — What are you doing for Holy Week? It’s OK if your Holy Week list includes coloring eggs, cleaning and baking for Easter, shopping for new outfits, traveling to a relative’s home or going on a spring vacation. There’s nothing wrong with secular Easter activities. But it’s important to keep in mind that there is also a profound spiritual basis for the holiday celebration. Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday and ends at sundown on Easter Sunday. Our remembrance of the events surrounding the death and resurrection of Jesus makes Holy Week the most sacred time of the year for Catholics. How will you balance the sacred part of Holy Week with all of the other things you will be doing? All of it is important in your life and in the lives of your family members. But keeping a balance between the spiritual and the secular will require a little planning on your part. Start by making a list of everything that needs to be done during Holy Week. Then block out time in your busy calendar for attending Holy Week Liturgies. Be sure to set aside specific times every day during the week for
EMBRACING HOLY WEEK
Christ is Risen! Alleluia! He is truly Risen! Alleluia! In my last article, I reflected on Holy Week and the liturgical celebrations that mark those important days, especially Thursday night through Sunday night — the Sacred Triduum. The Triduum revivifies and renews the action of Jesus Christ in His suffering, dying and rising for us and our salvation. The Triduum makes real the complete obedience of Jesus Christ, the Son, to the will and plan of His Father, and in accordance with the action of the Holy Spirit. The resurrection of Christ occurred at a point in history, but it is an event “once
A SHEPHERD’S MESSAGE
See SHEPHERD, page 2
MINISTRY
Aging conference unpacks challenges, gifts of old age BY JAMES RAMOS Texas Catholic Herald Lenten devotions, quiet prayer, Scripture reading and meditation. Your greatest temptation will be scrimping on your spiritual needs because there is so much going on! If you let that happen, your Easter celebration may look perfect on the surface, but will feel spiritually unsatisfying. PALM SUNDAY OF THE LORD’S PASSION Palm Sunday of the Lord’s Passion, the Sixth Sunday of Lent, marks the beginning of Holy Week. The Mass on this day commemorates the triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem when people waved palm branches and
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shouted “Hosanna.” Before Mass begins, palms are blessed, and there is a procession that symbolizes the beginning of the spiritual journey into the Paschal Mystery that will unfold throughout Holy Week. During the Mass, the full Gospel account of the passion and death of Jesus is read. The priest usually takes the lines attributed to Jesus. Several lectors take other parts. The people in the pews read the lines attributed to the crowd. The Mass continues with the
HOUSTON — Among the many messages and presentations at a recent two-day conference on aging, Monsignor Chester Borski stood tall to echo Pope Francis’ understanding of the importance of listening to the elderly and meeting their spiritual needs. The Office of Aging Ministry held the conference from Jan. 26 to 27. It drew together ministry and catechetical leaders, as well as families and loved ones of elderly people living in the Archdiocese. Monsignor Borski shared a personal story about his own mother, who experienced a fall and her subsequent health issues that led to her needing care
See HOLY WEEK, page 5
See AGING, page 8
ESPAÑOL † 17
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