The extraordinary 2010 film Of Gods and Men, by the French director Xavier Beauvois, depicts the kidnapping and murder of nine Trappist monks in Algeria by Islamic fundamentalists in 1996. In one of its most memorable moments, an old tape machine plays Tchaikovsky’s Grand Theme from Swan Lake while the camera focuses on the monks drinking red wine as they contemplate their impending martyrdom.
The atmosphere of dread in that moment is matched by the abiding serenity of the Trappists, made all the more powerful by the fact that the events of the film actually happened.

In his Easter message, Pope Francis also appeals for the Holy Land, Yemen, South Sudan, Ukraine, Venezuela and the talks in Korea. The memory of persecuted Christians and children who have been victims of wars.

“But the glory of the cross led those who were blind through ignorance into light, loosed all who were held fast by sin, and ransomed the whole world of mankind.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem

“Let us then not be ashamed of the cross of our Savior, but rather glory in it… For it was not a mere man who died for us, but the Son of God, God made man.” – St. Cyril of Jerusalem

The Christian woman unjustly condemned to death prays in prison with the rosary she received from the Pope. In Pakistan, Catholics live the liturgy of the Cross with special devotion.

Coena Domini and lavender of feet at the Regina Coeli Prison. “A punishment that is not open to hope is neither Christian nor human”. He reveals that he will have surgery for cataracts and invites detainees to a “new gaze” open to hope.

O Holy Spirit, teach me the value of suffering, so that I may esteem it and love it as a means of sanctification.

The Pope on Palm Sunday, “How hard it is for the comfortable and the self-righteous to understand mercy. No more hatred”. No to those who try to “twist reality and invent stories for their own benefit, and silence dissonant voices”

Perhaps the most under-appreciated feast of the general Calendar is the Solemn Feast of the Annunciation. Truly worthy of the title “First Class Feast,” for centuries it marked the first day of the year, connecting the civil calendar with the idea that, at the Incarnation, the world was born anew. Its import can be grasped easily by children when they learn that it falls exactly nine months before Christmas Day, placing the conception of the Christ Child nine months before his birth.

A Holy Gospel reflection for Palm Sunday of the Lord's Passion

This Palm Sunday, would you join in a simple yet revealing spiritual exercise? It involves plunging whole-heartedly into the Gospel and imagining yourself among the crowds that came to celebrate Easter in Jerusalem, and as it says in the Gospel of John, “to learn that Jesus is coming.”