The final stretch of Lent

Resources to make the most of the season

Mar 23, 2024

Good morning and happy Saturday. We are nearing the end of our Lenten journey this year and I hope it has proved fruitful. I will have special episodes of my daily radio show next week to help you in your final days of Lent. More on that in a minute.

photography of inside black structure — Photo by Chad Greiter on Unsplash

Tomorrow is Passion Sunday. Mass this Sunday begins with a proclamation of Mark 11:1-10, telling the story of Jesus entering Jerusalem. The readings at Mass are Isaiah 50:4-7; Psalm 22:8-9, 17-20, 23-24; Philippians 2:6-11, and Mark 14:1-15:47.

In the Liturgy of the Hours, we are beginning Psalter Week II and in the Office of Readings, we will continue to read the letter to the Hebrews.

As a reminder, if you are attending the Mass of the Lord’s Supper liturgy on Holy Thursday, you do not pray Evening Prayer on that day. Similarly, if you attend the liturgy of the Lord’s Passion on Good Friday, you do not pray Evening Prayer on that day. If you are attending the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday, you do not say the Office of Readings on Easter Sunday, since the Easter Vigil takes the place of the Office of Readings.

Another note about this week’s calendar: Ordinarily, we would be celebrating the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord on March 25th. When this day falls during Holy Week, as it does this year, the solemnity is moved to the second Monday after Easter. This year it is on April 8th.

Christ became obedient to the point of death,
even death on a cross.
Because of this, God greatly exalted him
and bestowed on him the name which is above every name.

Philippians 2:8-9

In the news:

Special content on Michigan Mornings™

If you’re looking for some last-minute spiritual reflections to round out this year’s Lenten journey, I want to extend an invitation to you to take a listen to my radio show this week. All week, and through Easter Monday, I will be sharing special reflections from the Church fathers on the Passion of our Lord.

Here is a brief schedule:

Monday - St. Augustine on glorying in the cross of Christ
Tuesday - St. Basil on how the world was saved by the death and resurrection of Jesus
Wednesday - St. Augustine on Jesus’ sacrifice as the example of the perfection of love
Holy Thursday - St. Melito of Sardis on Jesus, the lamb who was slain
Good Friday - St. John Chrysostom on the power of Christ’s blood
Easter Monday - St. Melito of Sardis with an Easter praise of Christ

These will be featured all week on Michigan Mornings™ which you can listen to at 7:21am on Ave Maria Radio or on demand with the Ave Maria Radio app (iOS / Android / Amazon Kindle Fire).

You can also find Michigan Mornings™ on Spreaker or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Special editions of Michigan Mornings™ all week!

Unveiling the Covenants

I also wanted to share a program that I have been highlighting on Michigan Mornings™ and that is the Ave Maria Radio Lenten Mission on Unveiling the Covenants.

Marcus Peter is a friend of mine and a convert to Catholicism and he has been breaking down the covenant that God has made with the world that is fully realized on Easter. You can find the Ave Maria Radio Lenten Mission with Marcus Peter on Ave Maria Radio’s YouTube channel

Ave Maria Radio Lenten Mission

Episode 1 - Beginning Lent
Episode 2 - Week 1 of Lent
Episode 3 - Week 2 of Lent
Episode 4 - Week 3 of Lent
Episode 5 - Week 4 of Lent
Episode 6 - Week 5 of Lent

Special Holy Week radio programs on EPIC Radio 103.5FM

This week on EPIC Radio 103.5FM in Wake Forest, North Carolina, there will be several special broadcasts beginning with Sunday Mass tomorrow. Here is a selection:

Passion Sunday - LIVE Mass in Spanish from St. Raphael Catholic Church, Raleigh

Monday-Good Friday at Noon - Fr. Rocky’s Lenten Mission on Relevant Radio

Holy Thursday - LIVE Mass of the Lord’s Supper (Bilingual) from St. Raphael Catholic Church, Raleigh

Good Friday - LIVE Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion (English and Spanish broadcasts) from St. Raphael Catholic Church, Raleigh

Holy Saturday - LIVE Easter Vigil Mass from the Vatican and LIVE Easter Vigil Mass (Bilingual) from St. Raphael Catholic Church in Raleigh

Plus: Special broadcasts of Christ is the Answer, Food for the Journey, and Fire on the Earth during primetime (beginning Monday at 6pm).

Stream EPIC Radio 103.5FM online

Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments

The biblical epic released in 1956 is returning to ABC on Holy Saturday at 7pm eastern. In this 3 hour 39 minute production (it will be longer on ABC because of commercials), Moses (Charleton Heston) leaves his life of luxury as an Egyptian prince in the land of Pharaoh Ramses (Yul Brynner) to follow the will of God and set his Hebrew brethren free.

The movie is also available for rent on Amazon Prime, YouTube, and Apple TV.

I hope you’ll take advantage of some of these resources as you prepare for the celebration of the resurrection of our Lord on Easter.

Have a good weekend,

Matthew