Matt GaspersApril 2023 Edition Now Available — Preview HERE
April 1, 2023
Saturday of Passion Week
Dear Friends in Christ,
We are about to enter the holiest week of the liturgical year, during which we will not simply call to mind but sacramentally re-live the mysteries of our Redemption. As Dom Prosper Guéranger observes in The Liturgical Year: “The divine Victim, betrayed by one of His disciples, is to be judged, condemned, and crucified. Every circumstance of this awful tragedy is to be put before us by the liturgy, not merely in words, but with all the expressiveness of a sublime ceremonial” (The Mystery of Passiontide and Holy Week).
“Behold,” Our Lord told the Apostles, “we go up to Jerusalem; and all things shall be accomplished which were written by the prophets concerning the Son of man. For He shall be delivered to the Gentiles and shall be mocked and scourged and spit upon. And after they have scourged Him, they will put him to death. And the third day He shall rise again” (Luke 18:31-33).
The same is true for His Mystical Body the Church, which “resembles its divine Founder, Who was persecuted, calumniated, and tortured by those very men whom He had undertaken to save” (Pope Pius XII, Mystici Corporis Christi, n. 3). As Pope Benedict XVI said in 2010, in light of the Third Secret of Fatima, there is “the need for a passion of the Church,” and further, that “the sufferings of the Church come precisely from within the Church, from the sin existing within the Church.”
Such sufferings have occurred throughout Church history, but in our day they seem to afflict the Church in “a really terrifying way,” as Benedict said. Today, we see the Church delivered up to the power of prelates who largely fall into two categories: (1) those who seem bent on destroying the Church’s traditional doctrine, liturgy, and moral teachings, and (2) those who lack the understanding and/or courage necessary to stand up and resist the destroyers. (Thankfully, there are a handful of noble exceptions.)
Yet we know that, just as it was necessary for “Christ to have suffered … so to enter into His glory” (Luke 24:26), so also the Church will experience a “complete restoration” and “period of peace” following her current Passion, as Our Lady promised at Quito (1600s) and Fatima (1917). Like Our Lady on Holy Saturday, who alone maintained faith in her Divine Son, we must live out the following verse from the Psalms: “Expect the Lord: do manfully. And let thy heart take courage: and wait thou for the Lord” (Ps. 26[27]:14).
While Catholic Family News does indeed chronicle the Passion of the Church in our time, we also strive to provide the resources and encouragement necessary for Catholics to remain faithful to Christ and His Church and, God willing, to hasten the day when He will resurrect His crucified Bride. If you benefit from our work — whether from our monthly paper, our online content, our Weekly News Roundup show, or other video and audio content — please support our work by subscribing or renewing your subscription today, and consider purchasing gift subscriptions for family and friends.
All of us at CFN wish you and yours a blessed Holy Week and joyous Easter!
Sincerely in Christ Crucified and Risen,
Matt Gaspers
Managing Editor
