Too often we Christians have given in to the temptation to sanitize the crucifixion and sentimentalize the resurrection. But the resurrection was not, at first, a cause for rejoicing, but the source of fear—soul-shaking, knee-knocking, heart-pounding, earth-quaking fear. One of the good things about Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is the gore. He [...]
After all this time, can we say that we have truly come to terms with, truly absorbed the message of Easter and the full reality of the resurrection? Have we allowed them to transform our outlook on life? “Can there really only ever be what there has always been? Can there not be something unexpected, [...]
The last cool star of dawn was foretelling the brightest sunshine; no cloud, no drift of mist was travelling across any part of the sky. Coming from there, the breeze blew so sweetly across the face, so gently, that it seemed to whisper to the depths of the heart: ‘Life is sweet and death is [...]
Evening of the First Day “Where have you been?” she asked. Magdala looked back at her in sullen silence. She repeated: “Where have you been, Magda? We have been worried that something had happened to you.” Still no answer. Magdala silently looked about the inner courtyard where the other two were also keeping their vigil [...]
The Stations of the Cross, which form the core of my book Sounding the Seasons, are intended to be read on Good Friday. We will read the 13th and 14th tomorrow on Holy Saturday and then on Easter Morning we will have the 15th’ resurrection’ station and also a new villanelle that I have written for [...]
IV Jesus meets His Mother This darker path into the heart of pain Was also hers whose love enfolded him In flesh and wove him in her womb. Again The sword is piercing. She, who cradled him And gentled and protected her young son Must stand and watch the cruelty that mars Her maiden making. [...]
Here are ten glorious pieces of music for Holy Week that will remind you that there is beauty in this world. As a lifelong Catholic, I’ve always taken Holy Week seriously in a personal way, and the reading of “The Passion of the Lord” on Palm Sunday always deeply affects me. You’d think I’d never heard the [...]
This strange Holy Week has begun in tears: tears of frustration, tears of lament, and for so many who have been cruelly bereaves, tears of grief. It’s hard to see through tears, but sometimes its the only way to see. Tears may be the turning point, the springs of renewal, and to know you have [...]
Someone I know recently told me about a novel she’d been reading. The plot has an archaeologist searching for the bones of Christ. The novel details the discovery of an ancient skeleton near Jerusalem with marks consistent with death by crucifixion. My friend explained the significance of this hypothetical scenario: if Christ did not rise [...]
At the Easter Vigil, with the faithful gathered together in a dark church around the newly lit and christened Paschal Candle, a deacon will chant the Exsultet. This ancient hymn of unrestrained joy contains one seemingly out-of-place, despondent couplet: Our birth would have been no gain, had we not been redeemed. Chilling, sobering words for [...]
Christ our Passover has been sacrificed; let us rejoice and be glad. But let us not suppose that our Passover, the sacrifice of our lives in union with his, is complete. In April of 2022, a few months before taking the Dominican habit, I walked around the Notre Dame campus with a Dominican friar. A [...]
Love must not be, but take a body too Air and Angels —John Donne The primal metaphor has been transposed as sleep an affiance with death eludes for death defective is but sleep. Alludes to resurrection now: a dawning rosed […]
Let’s look at themes of resurrection in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," one of the greatest and most popular children’s stories ever written. Almost exactly a year ago, during last year’s Easter Octave, I wrote an essay focusing on themes of resurrection to be found in classic literature. Beginning with Tolkien’s invention of [...]
The mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection lends itself to, perhaps even demands, pictorial realization like no other story. To prove that the Easter spirit hasn’t left the silver screen, here are two more recent entries you may have missed. Movie-watching may not be as common a pastime at Easter as on other holidays, but [...]