Author: Eric Deabill

WASHINGTON (OSV News) – Multiple states will have measures to expand access to abortion on their ballots in November, a key challenge for pro-life groups in the fall after their losses on similar contests in post-Dobbs elections.

The Florida Supreme Court on April 1 simultaneously ruled that the state’s Constitution does not protect abortion access and allowed a proposed amendment seeking to do so to qualify for the state’s November ballot.

Kelsey Pritchard, state public affairs director for Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told OSV News in an interview that while her group celebrates that the Florida Supreme Court upheld abortion restrictions in that state, “at the same time, we recognize that Florida is in real jeopardy of losing those protections through the ballot measure that they also upheld and said would be on the ballot in November.”

“And we really call on Gov. Ron DeSantis, on people in Florida who are pro-life and GOP leaders there to step up, and especially for the governor because he signed both of those bills into law and he needs to be at the forefront of protecting Florida from big abortion’s agenda,” she added in reference to laws limiting abortion signed by DeSantis, a Republican who unsuccessfully sought his party’s nomination for president in 2024.

Maryland and New York also will have efforts to enshrine abortion protections in their state constitutions on the ballot, while efforts for similar amendments to qualify for the ballot are still underway in several states including Arizona and Montana, where closely watched races for the U.S. Senate also will take place.

Ballot measures on abortion proved elusive for the pro-life movement in 2022 and 2023, despite achieving their long-held goal of reversing Roe v. Wade when the U.S. Supreme Court issued its Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision, which overturned the 1973 Roe decision and related precedent establishing abortion as a constitutional right, as well as the passage of legislation limiting the procedure in several states as well as new revenue streams of support in some states for women and families facing unplanned pregnancies.

Ohio voters on Nov. 7, 2023, approved a measure to codify abortion access in the state’s constitution, legalizing abortion up to the point of fetal viability — the gestational point at which a baby may be capable of living outside the uterus — and beyond, if a physician decided an abortion was necessary for the sake of the mother’s life or health. The Ohio results were not an outlier, as they followed losses for the pro-life movement when voters in California, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Vermont and Kansas either rejected new limitations on abortion or expanded legal protections for it.

Pritchard said, “In addition to Florida, we are involved with Arizona, Arkansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, and South Dakota,” other states where advocates of expanding abortion access also are seeking the requisite number of signatures to qualify for similar ballot measures to amend those states’ constitutions.

Some Democratic strategists have argued those measures could help their efforts in battleground states, as voters even in Republican-leaning states have adopted them.

Asked how the group plans to shift its strategy on abortion ballot measures in the next election cycle, Pritchard said, “What has to be different this time is the level of engagement from GOP leaders, they have to be willing to get into these fights now, and help by raising money and vocally standing in opposition and to really unveil what these measures actually do.”

Pritchard added that opponents of such constitutional amendments need “to expose that the abortion industry is lying in their ads when they say that, if you don’t pass this constitutional amendment women are going to die in your state.”

“That’s a complete lie, because it’s just an obvious truth that every state has a life of the mother provision,” she said.

Although supporters of state-level abortion restrictions note each of those laws passed in the wake of Dobbs contains an exception for circumstances where a pregnancy presents a risk to a woman’s life, critics have pointed to cases where women alleged that the laws in their states forced them to continue pregnancies despite grave risks to their health.

The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred and must be respected from conception to natural death. As such, the church opposes direct abortion as an act of violence that takes the life of the unborn child.

After the Dobbs decision, church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the church’s concern for both mother and child, as well as about social issues that push women toward having an abortion.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Like the women disciples who discovered Jesus had risen from the dead and ran to tell the others, Christians should be filled with such joy at Easter that they cannot help sharing it with others, Pope Francis said.

“The resurrection of Jesus is not just wonderful news or the happy ending of a story, but something that changes our lives completely and forever,” the pope said April 1 as he led the midday recitation of the “Regina Coeli” prayer.

Beginning by wishing visitors in St. Peter’s Square a “Happy Easter,” the pope said the joy of the resurrection is beyond any other joy because “it is the victory of life over death, hope over despondency.”

“Jesus broke through the darkness of the tomb and lives forever. His presence can fill anything with light,” the pope said. “With him, every day becomes a step in an eternal journey, every ‘today’ can hope for a ‘tomorrow,’ every end a new beginning, every instant is projected beyond the limits of time, toward eternity.”

Pope Francis prayed that the peace and hope that flow from the Resurrection would “reach those places where there is greatest need: the people exhausted by war, by hunger, by every form of oppression.”

The Risen Lord told the women and tells Christians today, “Do not be afraid,” he said. “And if Jesus, the conqueror of sin, fear and death, tells us not to fear, then let us not be afraid, let us not settle into a hopeless life, let us not give up the joy of Easter!”

The women’s joy came from encountering the Risen Jesus and sharing the news with others, he said. “So, let us hasten to seek him in the Eucharist, in his forgiveness, in prayer and in lived charity.”

“Joy increases when it is shared,” he said. “Let us share the joy of Risen One.”

SCRANTON – Rectory, Set, Cook! III, an online fundraising event featuring priests from across the Diocese of Scranton, set a record for money raised this year – bringing in $217,715 from 2,586 donors at the close of the competition.

The online contest ran for six weeks during Lent, beginning on Tuesday, Feb. 13, 2024, and concluding on Tuesday, March 26, 2024.

In all, 37 priests participated in Rectory, Set, Cook! III, filming a total of 30 videos, which were made available for the public to vote for their favorite recipe or video. Many of the priests were joined by guest ‘sous chefs’ which included Catholic school students, faith formation students, parishioners and even three media personalities.

Money raised from this year’s Rectory, Set, Cook! event will benefit anti-hunger and anti-homelessness initiatives of Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton, while also supporting the parishes of the participating pastor chefs.

“Year after year, people tell us how much they love to see their priest participating in this contest. Whether the pastor knows his way around the kitchen or not, people say they love to see them cooking and raising money for charity at the same time,” Sandra Snyder, Diocesan Director of Foundation Relations and Special Events, said. “This year was particularly fun and exciting as we crossed the $200,000 milestone for the first time!”

At the close of the competition on March 26, 2024, the following five teams had raised the most money and have been named the “2024 Top Chefs.”

1. 3 “Villans” + A Sister Act: Monsignor John J. Bendik, Monsignor Vincent Grimalia and Father Charles Cummings from the Villa Saint Joseph, Dunmore
   Total Raised: $28,485
   Recipe: Chicken a la Villa (Chicken a la King)
2. Father Jim Paisley, Pastor, Saint Ann Basilica Parish, Scranton
   Total Raised: $22,192
   Recipe: International Pizza
3. Father Shawn Simchock, Administrator Pro Tem, Saint Ann Parish, Williamsport
   Total Raised: $18,303
   Recipe: Homemade Meatballs
4. Team Bradford County led Father Jose Kuriappilly, Pastor, Saints Peter & Paul Parish, Towanda, and Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish, Wyalusing (with assistance of Father Daniel Toomey, Pastor, Epiphany Parish, Sayre; Father Shinu Vazhakkoottathil, Assistant Pastor, Epiphany Parish; and Father Binesh Kanjirakattu, Assistant Pastor, Good Shepherd Parish, Drums, and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Parish, Freeland)
   Total Raised: $14,813
   Recipe: Kerala Shrimp Roast and Kerala-Style Chicken Biryani
5. Father Kevin Miller, Pastor, Annunciation Parish, Hazleton
   Total Raised: $13,092
   Recipe: Maureen Miller’s Cranberry Walnut Cake

“We are so very grateful to all those who supported this worthwhile cause,” Monsignor Bendik said. “As priests, each one of us is faithful to what our church teaches us about serving others, especially the hungry and those experiencing homelessness. Every one of us has such a commitment to the poor and it has been inspirational to see the community respond to this year’s competition. What a wonderful gift our whole Diocese is receiving!”

In its inaugural year, 2022, Rectory, Set, Cook! brought in more than $171,000. In 2023, the online culinary competition raised a total of $197,000.

A number of community businesses help to sponsor Rectory, Set, Cook!, including the program’s presenting sponsor, Hawk Family Foundation. All sponsorship dollars raised stay directly with Catholic Social Services to benefit area kitchens, food and clothing pantries, and emergency shelters.

Throughout the 2023 calendar year, Catholic Social Services responded to an increasing need in the community.

For example, Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen in Wilkes-Barre served 107,832 meals, the Catholic Social Services food pantry in Carbondale served 22,617 individuals, and the Saint Joseph Food Pantry in Hazleton served 5,369 individuals.

The agency plans to use the money raised from Rectory, Set, Cook! to continue to respond to the community’s hunger needs – as well as to help create a new permanent home for Mother Teresa’s Haven, the emergency shelter for the city of Wilkes-Barre.

“After being nomadic since it began in the 1980s, Mother Teresa’s Haven will soon be located above Saint Vincent de Paul Kitchen on East Jackson Street,” Joe Mahoney, Chief Executive Officer of Catholic Social Services, explained. “The more we can provide services in that location, the better off we’re going to be, the better off our clients are going to be, and the better off the community is going to be.”

Recipes featured in Rectory, Set, Cook! III will be available in a cookbook which is available for purchase. Each cookbook costs $15 and can be ordered on the Diocese of Scranton website (dioceseofscranton.org). Cookbooks will be shipped directly to a person’s home upon completion.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Just as Jesus removed the stone that sealed his tomb on the morning of the Resurrection, on Easter Christ alone “has the power to roll away the stones that block the path to life” and which trap humanity in war and injustice, Pope Francis said.

Through his resurrection, Jesus opens “those doors that continually we shut with the wars spreading throughout the world,” he said after celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square March 31. “Only the risen Christ, by granting us the forgiveness of our sins, opens the way for a renewed world.”

Seated on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope asked the risen Christ to bring peace in Israel, Palestine and Ukraine and a host of other conflict-ridden regions in the world.

“In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine,” he said. “All for the sake of all!”

Pope Francis then appealed to the international community to ensure access of humanitarian aid to Gaza and called for the “prompt release” of hostages taken during Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7 as well as “an immediate cease-fire in the strip.”

“War is always an absurdity, war is always a defeat,” he said, asking that the “strengthening winds of war” do not reach Europe and the Mediterranean. “Let us not yield to the logic of weapons and rearming. Peace is never made with arms, but with outstretched hands and open hearts.”

Easter Mass in the flower-laden square began with the singing of the “alleluia,” traditionally absent from liturgical celebrations during Lent, as part of the rite of “Resurrexit” in which an icon of Jesus is presented to the pope to recall St. Peter’s witness to Christ’s resurrection.

More than 21,000 flower bulbs donated by Dutch flower growers decorated the square and popped with color against the overcast sky.

As is traditional, the pope did not give a homily during the morning Mass but bowed his head and observed several minutes of silent reflection after the chanting of the Gospel in both Latin and Greek.

Although the Vatican said Pope Francis stayed home from a Way of the Cross service at Rome’s Colosseum March 29 “to conserve his health” for the Easter vigil and Mass, the pope appeared in high spirits while greeting cardinals and bishops after the Mass. He spent considerable time riding the popemobile among the faithful, smiling and waving to the throngs of visitors in St. Peter’s Square and lining the long avenue approaching the Vatican.

The Vatican said some 30,000 people attended the pope’s morning Mass and, by noon, there were approximately 60,000 people inside and around St. Peter’s Square for his Easter message and blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, stood alongside Pope Francis for the blessing and announced a plenary indulgence available to those present and to everyone following through radio, television and other channels of communication.

Stopping only occasionally to clear his throat, Pope Francis read the entirety of his Easter message and prayed for peace in several conflict hotspots around the world, including Syria, Lebanon, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He also prayed for the Rohingya — a persecuted, predominantly Muslim, ethnic group residing largely in Myanmar — who he said are “beset by a grave humanitarian crisis.”

The pope praised the Western Balkan region’s steps toward European integration, urging the region to embrace its ethnic, cultural and confessional differences, as well as the peace negotiations taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“May the risen Christ open a path of hope to all those who in other parts of the world are suffering from violence, conflict, food insecurity and the effects of climate change. May he grant consolation to the victims of terrorism in all its forms,” he prayed, asking visitors to “pray for all those who have lost their lives and implore the repentance and conversion of the perpetrators of those crimes.”

On Easter, which Pope Francis said celebrates the life given to humanity through the resurrection of God’s son, he lamented “how much the precious gift of life is despised” today.

“How many children cannot even be born?” he asked. “How many die of hunger and are deprived of essential care or are victims of abuse and violence? How many lives are made objects of trafficking for the increasing commerce in human beings?”

“On the day when Christ has set us free from the slavery of death, I appeal to all who have political responsibilities to spare no efforts in combatting the scourge of human trafficking, by working tirelessly to dismantle the networks of exploitation and to bring freedom to those who are their victims,” he said.

Pope Francis also asked that the light of the risen Christ “shine upon migrants and on all those who are passing through a period of economic difficulty” as a source of consolation and hope.

“May Christ guide all persons of goodwill to unite themselves in solidarity, in order to address together the many challenges which loom over the poorest families in their search for a better life and happiness,” he said, praying that the light of the Resurrection “illumine our minds and convert our hearts, and make us aware of the value of every human life, which must be welcomed, protected and loved.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Easter is a promise that no matter how dark the world may seem and no matter how heavy the burdens one carries, victory belongs to the Risen Christ and all who believe in him, Pope Francis said.

“Let us lift our eyes to him and ask that the power of his resurrection may roll away the heavy stones that weigh down our souls,” the pope said in his homily at the Easter Vigil March 30.

“Let us lift our eyes to him, the Risen Lord, and press forward in the certainty that, against the obscure backdrop of our failed hopes and our deaths, the eternal life that he came to bring is even now present in our midst,” he said.

After staying home the night before rather than preside over the Way of the Cross at Rome’s Colosseum, the pope arrived at the basilica in a wheelchair. Although he had to clear his throat several times, he read the entire prepared text of his homily.

During the Mass, two deacons brought a baptismal font to Pope Francis, and he baptized eight adults: four Italians, two South Koreans, a man from Japan and a woman from Albania. He also confirmed them and gave them their first Communion.

The liturgy began in the back of St. Peter’s Basilica, under a tapestry of the Risen Christ, with the blessing of the fire and the lighting of the Easter candle.

Norbertine Brother Gerard P. Juhasz, a deacon from St. Michael’s Abbey in Silverado, California, carried the paschal candle into a darkened St. Peter’s Basilica, chanting three times, “Lumen Christi” (Latin for “the Light of Christ”). After being blessed by Pope Francis, he sang the Exsultet, the solemn Easter proclamation.

In his homily, Pope Francis asked the congregation of about 6,000 people to think about what the women who had gone to Jesus’ tomb to anoint his body must have been thinking and feeling.

“The tears of Good Friday are not yet dried; they are grief-stricken, overwhelmed by the sense that all has been said and done,” the pope said.

And, according to the Gospel of Mark, they are worried about being able to move the stone away so they can anoint Jesus’ body.

“That stone marked the end of Jesus’ story, now buried in the night of death,” the pope said. “He, the life that came into the world, had been killed. He, who proclaimed the merciful love of the Father, had met with no mercy. He, who relieved sinners of the burden of their condemnation, had been condemned to the cross.”

But, Pope Francis said, the stone also represents the weight on the heart of Jesus’ female disciples and the burdens carried by everyone who is grief-stricken and without hope.

“There are times when we may feel that a great stone blocks the door of our hearts, stifling life, extinguishing hope, imprisoning us in the tomb of our fears and regrets, and standing in the way of joy and hope,” he said.

Those “tombstones,” he said, can come with the death of a loved one, a failure to do good, a missed chance to build a more just society and “in all our aspirations for peace that are shattered by cruel hatred and the brutality of war.”

But the Gospel says that when the women “looked up, they saw that the stone had been rolled back.”

“This is the Pasch of Christ, the revelation of God’s power: the victory of life over death, the triumph of light over darkness, the rebirth of hope amid the ruins of failure,” Pope Francis said. “It is the Lord, the God of the impossible, who rolled away the stone forever.”

“Even now,” the pope said, “he opens our tombs so that hope may be born ever anew. We too, then, should ‘look up’ to him.”

“If we allow Jesus to take us by the hand, no experience of failure or sorrow, however painful, will have the last word on the meaning and destiny of our lives,” he said. “Henceforth, if we allow ourselves to be raised up by the Risen Lord, no setback, no suffering, no death will be able to halt our progress toward the fullness of life.”

“Let us welcome Jesus, the God of life, into our lives, and today once again say ‘yes’ to him,” Pope Francis said. “Then no stone will block the way to our hearts, no tomb will suppress the joy of life, no failure will doom us to despair.”

(OSV News) – A proclamation from the nation’s second Catholic president on a transgender-themed occasion is causing consternation among some faithful, as the date coincides this year with Easter – and as the annual White House Easter egg art contest bans, among other things, religious symbolism.

On March 29, President Joe Biden issued his annual message for the March 31 “International Transgender Day of Visibility,” which he said “honor(s) the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm(s) our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union.”

The observance was created in 2009 by psychotherapist Rachel Crandall-Crocker, executive director of the advocacy group Transgender Michigan and its Transgender Michigan help line.

Crandall-Crocker recently told NPR that her goal was to create a celebratory day distinct from the Nov. 20 “Transgender Day of Remembrance.” That event was launched in 1999 to “highlight the need for awareness around anti-transgender violence,” founder Gwendolyn Ann Smith explained in a 2012 Huffington Post essay.

At the same time, the White House instructed youth participating in its traditional Easter egg art contest to refrain from designs with “religious symbols” and “overtly religious themes,” as well as “partisan political statements”; hateful and discriminatory material, and “any questionable content.”

Easter, or Pascha, is the chief religious feast in all Christian churches, commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead three days after his crucifixion on Good Friday. The tradition of dyed “Easter eggs” is believed to have originated with Persia’s early Christians, as a symbol of Christ’s resurrection, with the custom gradually spreading to the other Eastern and then Western churches.

Easter is a feast whose date is meant to be close to the Jewish feast of Passover — when the Gospels say Jesus’ crucifixion, death and resurrection took place — while also taking place on a Sunday. It changes each year depending on a complex calculation of spring lunar months and the solar calendar. In the Catholic Church and other Protestant churches, Easter is celebrated in 2024 on March 31; most Orthodox churches celebrate Easter on May 5 due to calendar differences.

Biden’s proclamation, the simultaneous dates of Easter and the transgender observance, and the White House contest rules combined to spark outrage on social media.

Among those weighing was Catholic pro-life advocate Lila Rose, who wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, March 30 that the White House “will proudly celebrate the religion of the trans cult, but ban Christian ‘symbols or themes’ on the biggest Christian holiday – Easter.

“Our ‘Catholic’ President cynically uses the faith when convenient as a selling point, and then mocks and denigrates it,” she wrote.

According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, “‘Being man’ or ‘being woman’ is a reality which is good and willed by God: man and woman possess an inalienable dignity which comes to them immediately from God their Creator. Man and woman are both with one and the same dignity ‘in the image of God.’ In their ‘being-man’ and ‘being-woman,’ they reflect the Creator’s wisdom and goodness.”

In March 2023, the U.S. bishops’ doctrine committee issued a 14-page statement declaring that surgical, chemical or other interventions that aim “to exchange” a person’s “sex characteristics” for those of the opposite sex “are not morally justified.”

“The human person, body and soul, man or woman, has a fundamental order and finality whose integrity must be respected,” said the committee, chaired by Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, Texas. “Because of this order and finality, neither patients nor physicians nor researchers nor any other persons have unlimited rights over the body; they must respect the order and finality inscribed in the embodied person.”

The doctrine committee acknowledged that “many people are sincerely looking for ways to respond to real problems and real suffering.”

Nevertheless, the doctrine committee said that “any technological intervention that does not accord with the fundamental order of the human person as a unity of body and soul, including the sexual difference inscribed in the body, ultimately does not help but, rather, harms the human person.”

In October 2023, the Vatican’s Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said that “a transsexual — even one who has undergone hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery — may receive baptism under the same conditions as other faithful,” if it would not cause scandal or confusion among other Catholics.

The dicastery said in the same document that “there is nothing in current universal canonical legislation that prohibits” transgender or other persons who identify as LGBTQ+ from serving as a witness at a Catholic wedding.

ROME (CNS) – For the second year in a row, Pope Francis followed the nighttime Way of the Cross service from his Vatican residence as 25,000 people gathered outside Rome’s Colosseum.
 
While he had been scheduled to attend in person, the Vatican released a communique right at the start of the service March 29 that the pope would follow the event at home “to conserve his health ahead of tomorrow’s vigil and Easter Sunday Mass.” 

Workers carried away the white chair that had been set up for the pope atop a hillside overlooking the ancient amphitheater and Cardinal Angelo De Donatis, papal vicar for Rome, filled in for the pope, offering the final blessing at the end of the ceremony.  

While the late night temperatures in Rome March 29 were in the low 60s, there was a slight breeze and 45% humidity. The pope also skipped attending the Colosseum event last year after he had been released just six days prior from the hospital where he had spent three nights for a respiratory infection. 

Each year, the pope chooses a different person or group of people to write the series of prayers and reflections that are read aloud for each of the 14 stations, which commemorate Christ’s condemnation, his carrying the cross to Golgotha, his crucifixion and his burial.

This year the commentaries and prayers were written by Pope Francis and were meant, during this Year of Prayer, to “accompany” Jesus on his own journey of prayer during his passion.

“Of us, you asked only one thing: to remain with you and to keep awake. You did not ask something impossible, but simply closeness. We now take this time to be with you. We want to spend it in closeness to you,” the pope wrote in his introduction to the solemn torch-lit service in the Colosseum.

“How many times, though, have I strayed far from you! How many times, like the disciples, rather than keeping awake, have I instead fallen asleep! How many times have I failed to find the time or the desire to pray, whether from weariness, distraction or dullness of mind and heart! Lord Jesus, say once more to me and to us, your Church: ‘Get up and pray,'” the pope wrote.

Different groups of people representing different segments of the church and society passed a bare wooden cross from one group to the next in succession. Those chosen to lead the Way of the Cross included minors living in foster homes, people with disabilities, migrants, catechists, priests and cloistered nuns.

Instead of the traditional station for “Jesus falls for the third time,” the pope created a meditation for the 11th Station dedicated to “Jesus’ cry of abandonment,” reflecting on Jesus’ “unexpected” prayer of “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

“At the height of your passion, you experience the distance of the Father; you no longer even call him ‘Father,’ but ‘God,’ almost as if you can no longer glimpse his face. Why?” the meditation said.

“So that you can plunge into the abyss of our pain. You did this for my sake, so that when I see only darkness, when I experience the collapse of my certainties and the wreckage of my life, I will no longer feel alone, but realize that you are there beside me,” it said.

The prayers included asking Jesus to “help me recognize you and love you”: in the unborn and abandoned children; in young people in pain; in the elderly who have been forgotten; in prisoners; and in those who are exploited and ignored.

For the eighth Station, “Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem,” the pope highlighted those who remained with Jesus to the end along the way of the cross.

“Those ordinary people who are great in your eyes, yet small in the eyes of the world. There are the women, in whom you inspired hope: they have no voice, yet they make their presence felt,” the meditation said.

“Help us to recognize the dignity of those women who remained faithful and stood by you in your passion, and those who in our own day are exploited and endure injustice and indignity,” it said.

The pope’s reflection asked people to consider: “When I am faced with the tragedies of today’s world, is my heart frozen or does it melt? How do I react when I see the madness of war, the faces of children no longer able to smile and of mothers who see them hungry and underfed, and have no more tears to shed?”

“Jesus, you wept over Jerusalem; you weep over the hardness of our hearts,” it said, asking people pray to Jesus to “melt my hardened heart.”

For the 12th Station, “Jesus dies, commending himself to the Father and the good thief to paradise,” the pope underlined “the amazing power of prayer” that led a criminal to heaven.

“God of the impossible, you turn a thief into a saint,” it said, because “If you remember me, my evil will no longer be an endpoint but a new beginning.”

The concluding reflection at the 14th Station asked the faithful to think about “what new gift will I give Jesus this Easter? A little more time to spend with him? A little more love for others?”

“It will truly be Easter if only I give something of myself to the One who gave his life for me. For it is in giving that we receive, and we find our lives whenever we lose them, our possessions whenever we give them away,” it said.

Earlier in the day in St. Peter’s Basilica, Pope Francis presided over the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, which commemorates Christ’s passion and death on the cross.

The pope arrived in a wheelchair and began the rite after a moment of silent prayer before the main altar, which was framed by covered scaffolding encapsulating the immense baldachin undergoing a 10-month-long restoration.

Following tradition, the homily was delivered by Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household.

The papal preacher said, God’s power is the power of his humble, defenseless love.

He reflected on how Jesus overturned the worldly ideas people had of God and revealed his true face.

“Unfortunately, in our unconscious, we continue to carry on this very idea of God that Jesus came to change. We can speak of a God who is pure spirit, supreme being, and so on, but how can we see him in the annihilation of his death on the cross?” the cardinal asked. 
 
“The Father reveals the true face of his omnipotence in his Son who kneels before the disciples to wash their feet; in him who is reduced to the most radical powerlessness on the cross and continues to love and forgive, without condemning anyone,” Cardinal Cantalamessa said.

“The omnipotence of God is the omnipotence of defenseless love,” he said.

“What a lesson for us who, more or less consciously, always want to show off. What a lesson for the powerful of the earth,” especially those who pursue power only for power’s sake and those who “oppress the people and, in addition, ‘call themselves benefactors,'” the cardinal said.

Conquering death, the Risen Christ does not seek revenge “to humiliate his opponents. He does not appear in their midst to prove them wrong or to mock their impotent anger,” the cardinal said, because that “would be incompatible with the love that Christ wanted to bear witness to in his passion.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – God’s power is the power of his humble, defenseless love, the papal preacher told Pope Francis and thousands of people gathered for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion.

“It takes little power to show off; it takes a lot of power to put oneself aside and to conceal oneself. God is this unlimited power of self-concealment,” as he emptied himself for humanity, Cardinal Raniero Cantalamessa said in his homily March 29 in St. Peter’s Basilica.

“What a lesson for us who, more or less consciously, always want to show off. What a lesson for the powerful of the earth,” especially those who pursue power only for power’s sake and those who “oppress the people and, in addition, ‘call themselves benefactors,'” the cardinal said.

Presided over by Pope Francis, the service on Good Friday commemorates Christ’s passion and death on the cross.

The pope arrived in a wheelchair and began the rite after a moment of silent prayer before the main altar, which was framed by covered scaffolding encapsulating the immense baldachin undergoing a 10-month-long restoration.

During the veneration of the cross, after the homily, the pope stood at his chair wearing a red stole and prayed in silence before kissing the cross. The cross was then brought before the main altar for veneration, and a long line of cardinals and a few members of the faithful processed before the cross to bow or genuflect and kiss Christ’s figure. The pope then held the cross and lifted it briefly as the congregation knelt.

Following tradition, the homily was delivered by Cardinal Cantalamessa, preacher of the papal household.

He reflected on how Jesus overturned the worldly ideas people had of God and revealed his true face.

“Unfortunately, in our unconscious, we continue to carry on this very idea of God that Jesus came to change. We can speak of a God who is pure spirit, supreme being, and so on, but how can we see him in the annihilation of his death on the cross?” the cardinal asked.

“God is all-powerful, no doubt, but what kind of power is it?” he added. Jesus does not intervene to stop what is being done to him, but respects “to an infinite degree, the free choice of human beings.”

“And so, the Father reveals the true face of his omnipotence in his Son who kneels before the disciples to wash their feet; in him who is reduced to the most radical powerlessness on the cross and continues to love and forgive, without condemning anyone,” Cardinal Cantalamessa said.

“The omnipotence of God is the omnipotence of defenseless love,” he said.

Jesus’ passion and death on the cross was his way of telling the faithful that “after having suffered, we should not expect an external, visible triumph, such as earthly glory,” he said. “The triumph is given in the invisible and is of an infinitely superior order because it is eternal!”

Conquering death, the Risen Christ does not seek revenge “to humiliate his opponents. He does not appear in their midst to prove them wrong or to mock their impotent anger,” the cardinal said, because that “would be incompatible with the love that Christ wanted to bear witness to in his passion.”

“The concern of the risen Jesus is not to confuse his enemies, but to go and reassure his dismayed disciples and, before them, the women who had never stopped believing in him,” he said.

“Let us accept the invitation that Jesus addresses to the world from his cross: ‘Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest,'” Cardinal Cantalamessa said.

“Come to me, you who are old, sick and alone, you whom the world lets die in poverty, hunger or while under bombardment; you who languish in prison cells because of your faith in me or your battle for freedom; come to me, you woman victim of the violence. In short, everyone, excluding no one: Come to me, and I will give you rest!” he said.

Pope Francis was scheduled later that night to preside over the Stations of the Cross in Rome’s Colosseum.

The theme for the meditations for the 14 stations was “In Prayer with Jesus on the Way of the Cross.” The commentaries and prayers were written by Pope Francis and were meant, during this Year of Prayer, to “accompany” Jesus on his own journey of prayer during his passion.

The text of the commentary and prayers on the 14 Stations of the Cross was published March 29 on the Vatican website.

SCRANTON – Faithful throughout the Diocese of Scranton observed Good Friday on March 29 with various street processions and liturgies in their parishes.

The Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion at the Cathedral of Saint Peter, which was led by the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, allowed people to pray and reflect on the significance of the day.

The solemnity of Good Friday was underscored as Bishop Bambera and the other ministers processed silently into the Cathedral at 12:10 p.m. The Bishop and Deacons then prostrated themselves on the sanctuary floor before the liturgy began.

On Good Friday, the faithful observe the passion and death of Jesus Christ. They are encouraged to ponder the five Sacred Wounds Jesus suffered during the crucifixion and bring their own wounds and sins to the foot of the cross. In His own body, Jesus brought our sins to the cross so that all of us may be healed.

Father Jeffrey D. Tudgay, Pastor of the Cathedral of Saint Peter and Immaculate Conception Parishes, served as homilist for the Commemoration of the Lord’s Passion. He focused much of his remarks on that redemption.

“In Christ, and through His cross, everything in God’s beautiful creation is redeemed,” Father Tudgay said.

Having just listened to the Passion of Christ in the Gospel, Father Tudgay reflected on the “silence” of God as Christ was on the cross.

“As the drama of Christ’s arrest and condemnation unfold, and as he’s goaded to call down the powers of heaven into the agony of the moment, the suffering servant (Jesus) cries out from the cross, ‘My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?’ The Father’s response: silence,” Father Tudgay said.

The Cathedral pastor compared that with other moments when the Father’s voice was “clearly heard” – including at his baptism at the Jordan River and the Transfiguration.

Father Tudgay suggested that the Father’s silence can deepen our understanding of the love of Christ.

“What we see in the cross of Jesus Christ is an expression of the urgency of God’s desire – Christ stopping at nothing – in order to fulfill the mission given to Him by the Father,” Father Tudgay explained. “The cross of Christ is everywhere in our world. It’s the eyes of faith that allow us to see it. The cross of Jesus Christ makes God’s love tangible for all.”

Wrapping up his homily, Father Tudgay said Christ’s plea resembles any human suffering that might seem to go unheard or unanswered.

“What we know today and what we contemplate today is that the silence is fully redemptive,” he said. “Today the silence that the Christian church observes is an invitation for us to contemplate the radical compassion of God, to know with certainty, that there is nothing, nothing in human existence, even death itself, that is alienated from the redeeming presence of the cross of Jesus Christ.”

Following Solemn Intercessions, Adoration of the Holy Cross took place inside the Cathedral of Saint Peter. Each person in attendance was invited to approach the sanctuary and genuflect, bow, kiss, or show an appropriate sign of reverence for the cross.