Passiontide

Dear Parishioners,

This 5th Sunday of Lent is known as Passiontide.  A period of solemn reflection focused upon the suffering and death of Jesus Christ during the last two weeks of Lent.  It is during this period that the Church practices the tradition of veiling statues and icons.  This Catholic practice stems from the former liturgical calendar in which the old Gospel reading for the 5th Sunday of Lent tells us how Jesus hid Himself away from the Jews when they attempted to stone Him.  According to St. Augustine, at this moment when Jesus “hid Himself” from the Jews, Christ in fact became invisible by virtue of His Divine nature.  To help signify this mystery, crucifixes and images of Christ are veiled with purple cloth on the evening before the start of Passiontide.  The same goes with the images of the saints, as it is befitting that if the glory of the Master is hidden, then His servants should not appear and thus eclipse the Master.  Further, in His sorrowful Passion, Jesus’ face and whole body were so disfigured by the blows and scourges that Our Savior was scarcely recognizable. “I am a worm and not a man” Psalm 22:6.  As such, the wounds our Lord endured hid both his divinity and his humanity.

With Holy Week coming near please take a look at the upcoming events and times for the parishes.

In Christ,

Fr. Luke Fleck