Easter Vigil: Light overcomes darkness

While Christ is in the tomb on Holy Saturday, he did something very important that often gets lost in the celebration of the Easter Vigil that evening. In the Apostles Creed we pray: "He descended into hell." Hell in this sense has a very different meaning than how we understand the term today. The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains: "Scripture calls the abode of the dead, to which the dead Christ went down, 'hell' — 'Sheol' in Hebrew or 'Hades' in Greek — because those who are there are deprived of the vision of God." At this point in time, all those who had died More

Good Friday: Day the battle was won

On Good Friday we relive Jesus' suffering and death so we never forget God's unconditional love and desire for us to be saved. "He was pierced for our offenses, crushed for our sins; upon him was the chastisement that makes us whole, by his stripes we were healed. We had all gone astray like sheep, each following his own way; but the Lord laid upon him the guilt of us all." (Isaiah 53:5-6) We do not celebrate Mass on this day because it is a solemn day of prayer and mourning, which includes fasting and abstinence from meat. The Good Friday service includes More

Holy Thursday: Jesus calls us to serve

During the Mass of the Lord's Supper, we mark the institution of the Eucharist and priesthood and re-enact the washing of feet. This Holy Thursday evening liturgy brings Lent to a close and begins the celebration of the Easter Triduum. Holy Thursday is traditionally known as Maundy Thursday. The word, “maundy,” comes from the Latin, “mandatum” and means “commandment” or “mandate." During the Last Supper, Jesus commanded the disciples to: "Do this in remembrance of me," (1 Corinthians 11:24) referring to the celebration of the Eucharist and "love More