This weekend the Church enters into the holiest week of her calendar year. This week is not like others. It is not simply an anniversary. It is not remembering something from history as a past event. In our Catholic liturgy, it is about making the moment present to us again. As in any Mass, we take that which is outside of time, in the eternity of God, and bring it back into this moment and place, that we might be united to it and to God. So, on Holy Thursday, we are with Him in the Upper Room during Mass and then praying with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane during adoration. On Friday, we are there at the foot of the cross with His Mother and the other disciples. And on Sunday, His glory fills us as all creation is renewed by the resurrection. Please do not miss this opportunity to be one with Christ. Make this week different by your prayer and attention to God even in your own home. Make this week a holy one, not only in name, but in God's grace in your lives.
Secondly, we see the changes in the situation in Kyiv and the Ukraine since the consecration, but there is still great danger to our world. Mindful of Audrey's connection with her tragedy on the anniversary and at the local time of the bombing in Nagasaki, please pray to her for a firm and resolute peace for our time and the avoidance of nuclear war.
Lastly, Holy Thursday, April 14th is the anniversary of Audrey's entrance to God's glory fifteen years ago in 2007. A special anniversary Mass will be held on Easter Monday, April 18th at 11 AM at the Foundation House. Following adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, pilgrims will be invited to travel to Notre Dame cemetery to pray together at Audrey's grave. Death and resurrection surrounds us these next ten days. Let our minds and hearts be open to God's grace. Let us pray that Audrey's cause may advance for the good of our world in need of enduring peace.