Young gifts - dance

These are Ghetto Kids from Kampala, Uganda, on recent 'Britain's Got Talent'. What energy... life... Easter...

Young gifts - voice

This is Londoner Malakai with a voice from heaven, singing 'Pie Jesu' from Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Requiem' recently on 'Britain's Got Talent.'

Good Friday

 

He got up from table, removed his outer garment

Today we begin the Sacred Triduum or Three Days. The drama unfolds over Thursday, Friday and Saturday night.There are always new things to discover in the Bible, especially in the Gospels. Just looking at one commentator on Mass readings, I found some thoughts on one sentence in the Gospel for this evening, the Mass of the Lord's Supper: "He got up from table, removed his outer garment".

It turns out that the original Greek words were more like "laid down" his garment and "rose" from the table. Both of these words almost always refer in the New Testament to Jesus' Death and Resurrection. 

This is all very much St John's style, and so we can see why people often say that the Washing of Feet replaces the institition of the Eucharist in the fourth Gospel. There is a parallel with the actions and words of Jesus over the bread and wine: he took, blessed, broke and gave saying 'my body given for you', and 'my blood poured out for you.' 

The foot washng is not just a lesson leading to a moral lesson for us all, important as that is. Both the washing of feet and the Eucharist point us to the life giving Death and Resurrection that Jesus was to accomplish over the next few days.

Hosanna!

Yesterday was Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. The weather held out, so we were able to have our processions in each of the three morning Masses in our churches.  Mind you, none of them had as many people - or palms- as they had in the city of Antipolo in the Phillipines, as this picture shows..

 

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This week is the very centre of our Christian year. There is always a lot to do in parishes at this time of year, but we are blessed with many people in our chrches who get stuck in, and everything always goes well. 

The Palm Sunday cry, of course, is "Hosanna" so here is the Hosanna hymn from Hillsong. The video is of Palm Sunday in Jerusalem, with the crowds following the route down the Mount of Olives followed by Jesus.