Defeated and downcast, two of the disciples of Jesus left Jerusalem on Easter Day not believing he had risen from the dead, only to encounter a stranger on the way who would change thier lives forever...

From calming his fearful apostles, to blessing them with the gift of the sacrament of confession to restoring a wavering Thomas...the divine mercy of the risen Jesus is on full display for us to taste and see in chapter 20 of John's gospel...

An brief introduction and overview of the devotion to Divine Mercy...

The culmination of Holy Week brings us to the awesome reality that through the gift of our baptism, we have recieved the grace of the resurrection and that the resurrection transformation of our lives here and now is God's wonderful will for our lives!

At the Easter Vigil we enter into the overwhelming joy of Mary Magdaline and Mary (the mother of James & John) as they encounter the angel who shows them the empty tomb, and then they encounter the risen Lord Jesus.  We look at the unique grace of the resurrection given to us through our baptism that enables to live with Holy Spirit resurrection-power filled humanity.

Journying through the Sacred Triduum we come to the cross with Jesus on Good Friday.  As a King, with all power and authority, he freely submits himself to his passion and death, giving us the ultimate revelation of the Father's love, and our path to redemption and salvation.

Beginning the litrugy of the Sacred Triduum, we come to the Mass of the Lord's Supper with Jesus.  In the midst of the Passover Seder, Jesus declares his vows, the oath instituting the New & Eternal Covenant and declaring his intention to give up his body and pour out his blood to overwhelm the powers of sin and death through divine love flowing at maximum capacity through Jesus Christ for all of us.

We look at four particular aspects of Matthew's Passion Narative:

1 - The Passion of Christ in the context of His establishment of The New and Eternal Covenant.

2 - A deeper dive into the words of Christ from the cross "my God my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Mt 27:46)

3 - The significance of the tearing of the temple veil.

4 - Matthew's mention that "tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised." (Mt 27:52)

We begin Holy Week by diving into Matthew 21:1-11, the entrance  of Jesus into Jersualem, wherin the prophecies of Ezekiel (chapter 10 & 43), Zechariah (chapter 9) and Nathan (2 Samuel 7) are fulfilled.