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Easter is the Christian Passover. This is not immediately evident. Easter celebrates the resurrection of Jesus, a moment of metaphysical triumph over sin and death. The Jewish celebration of Passover recalls the liberation of the Israelites from their Egyptian captivity, a historical-political event. But in truth they run along the same lines. For God’s deliverance of his people from the dominion of Pharaoh is a raising of Israel from the dead. Most Christians assume that the Passover concerns Exodus 12, which commands the Israelites to sacrifice a spotless lamb and smear its blood on the door lintels as a sign for the angel of death to “pass over” the household. This merges in the Christian imagination with Leviticus 16 and the scapegoat upon whose head are heaped all the iniquities of me...

According to the Synoptic Gospels, sundown of Holy Thursday ushered in the Passover. Later on this evening, the Lord will celebrate the Passover meal with His disciples. We ought to be mindful that the unleavened bread Jesus will take in His hands is called “the bread of affliction.” Scripture says, You shall eat [the Passover] with unleavened bread, the bread of affliction—for you came out of the land of Egypt in haste—that all the days of your life you may remember the day when you came out of the land of Egypt (Dt 16:3). Indeed, this is an evening of affliction for Jesus. Much transpires at the Last Supper that is emblematic of our human foibles and sinful tendencies, but thanks be to God, He takes this “bread of affliction” we dish out to Him and lifts it to the glory of the Sacrament ...

[embedded content] European Starlings are impressive mimics. This video shares the story of one bird that has been trained to say words relevant to the species introduction to the North American continent.

Put a sock in it, Rick Moran. Rick Moran is PJ Media’s Chicago editor, and he recently opened a column titled Pope Says Virus Is Nature’s Response to the Climate Crisis by telling Pope Francis to “put a sock in it,” writing: Oh, put a sock in it, Francis. Pope Francis is certainly not letting a planetary crisis go to waste. He is trying to piggyback the religion of climate change on the back of the coronavirus pandemic. He then quoted an MSNNews story which made the claim that: Pope Francis has said the coronavirus pandemic is one of “nature’s responses” to humans ignoring the current ecological crisis. As it source, MSNNews cited an interview by Austen Ivereigh published in Commonweal and The Tablet on Wednesday, April 8th. Setting aside the crass way in which Moran addresses a major worl...

We often speak of duties to the dying, but not so much the duties of the dying. Most material on dying is aimed at self-preference questions such as what you find on a Living Will. But shouldn’t our dying be as much about our duties to others as about our preferences? At least, this is what Jesus shows us in his dying: his concern for the spiritual and temporal welfare of everyone around him If it is true that “Christ … fully reveals man to himself and makes his supreme calling clear” (Gaudium et Spes 22), then not only does Jesus show us how to live, but also how to die. Christians should strive to emulate Jesus, not in the details of his dying, but in the pattern of his response.  Jesus’ “seven last words” provide us with a simple way to enter into that response. Each “word” can be ...

The Holy Crown of Thorns worn by Jesus Christ were presented for veneration every first Friday of each month prior to the Notre Dame fire on April 15, 2019. (Shutterstock) Archbishop Aupetit will lead a meditation on the Passion of Christ inside the cathedral in the apse behind Notre-Dame’s Pietà. Courtney Mares/CNA. PARIS, France — One year after the world watched the Cathedral of Notre-Dame de Paris burn, the Archbishop of Paris will display the relic of Christ’s crown of thorns for veneration during a Good Friday broadcast. “When Mary is at the foot of the cross, she knows that from the most absolute evil God can always draw a much greater one,” Archbishop Michel Aupetit of Paris said in an online press conference on April 7. “I do not see any meaning in the cathedral fire or...

ImageTimes Square on Friday.Credit…Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images Everyone wants to know when we are going to be able to leave our homes and reopen the United States. That’s the wrong way to frame it. The better question is: “How will we know when to reopen the country?” Any date that is currently being thrown around is just a guess. It’s pulled out of the air. To this point, Americans have been reacting, often too late, and rarely with data. Most of us are engaging in social distancing because leaders have seen what’s happening in Europe or in New York; they want to avoid getting there; and we don’t have the testing available to know where coronavirus hot spots really are. Since the virus appears to be everywhere, we have to shut everything down. That’s unlikely to...

Catholic Signal Corps. What do I mean? Consider… Big social media outlets are filtering, censoring, shadow banning content and users, “deplatforming” those whose opinions are not “acceptable” to them. This is going to get worse as we continue to polarize. People who want to or who do use the interwebs for good, Catholic works usually don’t have the tech background to, say, be a server administrator or to unwedge problems as they arise… and they always arise. Building up a free standing site and keeping it updated and running is not easy. Not just anyone can do it.  Believe me.  I have practical knowledge of the problem, not theoretical. Think about this if your parish or a priest is trying to set something up. It is hard to find good tech help that is both capable and reliable. I...

This is so incredible! 😱 Pastor Msgr. Bruno Lefèvre-Pontalis of St. Francis Xavier Catholic Church blessed Paris with the Blessed Sacrament on his church‘s rooftop in France. This social media user posted the beautiful photos on Twitter. Many priests across the world have given special Eucharistic blessings in response to the coronavirus pandemic. Here’s the first post below: @AdhucTecumSum, Twitter The first tweet reads, “Priest blessing the city of Paris with the Blessed Sacrament from the roof of Saint Francis Xavier’s church.” Here’s a larger version of the photo: @AdhucTecumSum, Twitter Here’s the second photo: @AdhucTecumSum, Twitter The photos received many positive reactions. Several users said the images are “beautiful”. Other users even referred to the priest as a “superh...

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— Ireland for Delta (@DeltaIrelandfor) April 2, 2020