Today we celebrate Holy Thursday, or Maundy Thursday depending upon where you are, to commemorate the Last Supper of Jesus Christ with the Apostles. In total four events are celebrated today: the washing of the disciples’ feet by Jesus, the institution of the Mystery of the Holy Eucharist at the Last Supper, the agony of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane, and the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.

The evening celebration of these events actually marks the official end of Lent, however most Catholics keep their Lenten promises until Easter Sunday because of what is called the Easter Triduum or Sacred Triduum. The triduum is Latin for “three-day period,” and the one we’re referring to here is the three days from the death to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus, Holy Thursday is a very important day for Christians, because in addition to celebrating the Last Supper, we are starting the Easter Triduum of the three most Holy Days in Christianity, during which there is much fasting and prayer.

Now, as for the naming of the day, most Catholics with exception to England refer to today as Holy Thursday. The name Maundy Thursday is a traditionally British term for today, but is also used by some Protestant and Lutheran Churches outside of England. The word “Maundy” is derived through Middle English, and Old French “mandé,” from the Latin “mandatum,” the first word of the phrase “Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos” (A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you), the statement by Jesus in the Gospel of John (13:34) by which Jesus explained to the Apostles the significance of his action of washing their feet.

I hope all Christians can make it to mass today for the Gospel account of the Last Supper, which includes Jesus taking bread and wine and declaring them to be His body and blood, and giving them to the Apostles. God Bless!

Today is Spy Wednesday, the final Wednesday of Lent during the Holy Week leading up to Easter this Sunday. It is on this day that we recognize Judas Iscariot as first conspiring with the Sanhedrin to betray Jesus for 30 silver coins. Thus, today would be a good time to look inside yourself and see if you are in fact living an honest, pure and faithful life.

Today is Palm Sunday, which marks the beginning of Holy Week and celebrates the triumphant return of Jesus to Jerusalem. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a donkey, with his followers scattering palms in his path and laying down cloaks while shouting “Hosanna” and singing psalms.

In Jewish tradition the palm branch is treated as a symbol of triumph and victory, and is treated as such in other parts of the Bible as well. The palms used this year will be recycled into the ashes for use in next year’s Ash Wednesday.

Palm Sunday marks the sixth and final Sunday of Lent, with Easter and the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead coming one week from today. In addition to Easter, other Holy Days this week include Spy Wednesday, which recognizes the betrayal of Jesus by Judas; Maundy Thursday, which commemorates the Last Supper; and Good Friday, which remembers Jesus’ crucifixion and burial.

There is only one more week to go in this year’s Lent, and I have upheld all of my Lenten pledges. I hope all of you out there have been truthful and firm to the promises you made during this season of Lent, and I wish you all a wonderful Holy Week. God Bless!

So I’m a little late with this, about 3 months or so, but I finally saw The Nativity Story this weekend. A film about the most famous birth in all of human history, it came originally during the Christmas season of 2006 but I was sadly unable to see it at the time.

The film begins with Zechariah at the Holy Temple in Jerusalem finding out that his wife, who was of old age, was going to have a child — he would later become known as John the Baptist. Then it goes into Mary’s life and her visit from an angel telling her that the holy spirit would come upon her with God’s child. It also shows how Joseph and Mary were the result of an arranged marriage, which I personally did not know before watching the movie. I did know, however, that there was a lot of difficulty between them, particularly at first due to Mary’s pregnancy with Jesus in her womb, and the film did a good job of illustrating this.

It shows how Joseph and Mary ended up in Bethlehem and the hardships they endured on their journey, which ultimately brought them closer together. Finally, it shows the birth of Jesus, and the tremendous occasion it was for all at the time. The movie concludes with Joseph taking Mary and Jesus to Egypt to flee King Herod, after an angel visits Joseph and tells him Herod is coming to kill baby Jesus.

All-in-all I thought this was a magnificent film that I could watch over and over again, and perhaps the most moving one I have seen since The Passion of the Christ. I highly recommend this movie to Christians all around the world, as well as anyone with an interest in Jesus, Mary or Joseph.

In something that won’t be reported on mainstream US media, Muslim pupils at a secondary school in northeastern Nigeria beat a teacher to death today because they said she was desecrating the Koran. The teacher, Oluwatoyin Olusase, a Christian, was giving an Islamic Religious Knowledge exam at the school when the incident took place.

Initial reports have no mention of anything Olusase may have done, but Nigerian police have confirmed the fatality and said their arrival on the scene had prevented the incident from spreading further.

“We have received information that a female teacher has been lynched by her students. We are investigating the report,” Gombe state police commissioner Joseph Ibi said.

While there have always been ethnic and religious conflicts in Nigeria, there has been a surge in radical violence in recent years. It is worth mentioning that Sharia law was introduced in this area of Nigeria in 1999.

The Easter holiday always falls on a Sunday between March 22 to April 25. But how come it varies from year to year and isn’t always on the same day like Christmas? Certainly Easter is just as important as Christmas.

The date for Easter changes yearly in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. The current Gregorian ecclesiastical rules trace back to 325 AD when Roman Emperor Constantine convened the First Council of Nicaea. At that time Constantine decided the Roman Empire would use the Julian calender, offered up by Julius Caesar.

In 1582 Pope Gregory XIII reconstructed the Julian calendar into the Gregorian calendar, with such differences as the “leap year” inclusion. By the 18th century, the majority of Europe was using the Gregorian calendar.

The general rule of thumb is that Easter is always the Sunday after the first full moon post-vernal equinox. The vernal equinox (when night and day are the same length) is fixed at March 21st. This year Easter falls on April 8th, while next year will be March 23rd.

The ecclesiastical lunar cycles can be easily programmed to predict the date of Easter in future years. The US Navy has developed an algorithm that uses the Gregorian system to do just that.

Here is a reproduction of the US Navy algorithm to compute the day of Easter years in advance:

The algorithm uses the year, y, to give the month, m, and day, d, of Easter. The symbol * means multiply.

Please note the following: This is an integer calculation. All variables are integers and all remainders from division are dropped. For example, 7 divided by 3 is equal to 2 in integer arithmetic.

c = y / 100
n = y - 19 * ( y / 19 )
k = ( c - 17 ) / 25
i = c - c / 4 - ( c - k ) / 3 + 19 * n + 15
i = i - 30 * ( i / 30 )
i = i - ( i / 28 ) * ( 1 - ( i / 28 ) * ( 29 / ( i + 1 ) )
* ( ( 21 - n ) / 11 ) )
j = y + y / 4 + i + 2 - c + c / 4
j = j - 7 * ( j / 7 )
l = i - j
m = 3 + ( l + 40 ) / 44
d = l + 28 - 31 * ( m / 4 )

For example, using the year 2010,
y=2010,
c=2010/100=20,
n=2010 - 19 x (2010/19) = 2010 - 19 x (105) = 15, [see note above regarding integer calculations]
etc. resulting in Easter on April 4, 2010.

In one of his firmest condemnations since taking over the papacy, Pope Benedict proclaimed today that the Church’s opposition to gay marriage is “non-negotiable,” and that Catholic politicians have the moral obligation to oppose it, in addition to laws on abortion and euthanasia.

The document, called “Apostolic Exhortation,” says that all believers and especially those in power must defend fundamental values. Such values include “respect for human life, its defense from conception to natural death, the family built on marriage between a man and a woman, the freedom to educate one’s children and the promotion of the common good in all its forms”.

Leftist Italian politicians accused the pope interfering in their internal affairs and attempting to launch moralistic dictatorship. However, the pope’s words are also applicable to the US, where some Catholic politicians have said they are against abortion but support pro-choice in order to gain votes. One such example, Democratic Senator John Kerry, a Catholic who supported pro-choice during his 2004 presidential campaign.

The pope said that bishops must not show any preferential treatment to politicians, and that they must hold everyone accountable. In the past some bishops have refused to give communion to Catholic politicians that support abortion rights. He also criticized those who have called for an optional celibacy in the priesthood, claiming that it is a “priceless treasure.”

Finally, he said that individuals who divorce and remarry should not receive communion, since the Chruch does not recognize divorce.

It seems as though the world is finally starting to see some of Cardinal Razinger’s strong traditional Catholic values. The beginning of his term was marked with a lot of diplomacy and appeasing the masses, but now he seems to be coming into his own and starting to push his own agenda. I for one am completely in support of him. In a world where moral boundaries are constantly being pushed and broken, it is encouraging to know that we have a conservative pope who will not allow the Church or Catholics or become impure by the corruptions of present day society.

Over the weekend Pope Benedict condemned genetic engineering of humans and other scientific methods that allow for people to predetermine what their children will look like. Additionally, the Pope spoke out against artificial insemination, and the use of tests that detect diseases and inherited disorders in the womb (while it’s not bad to check on the health of your child, I can see this leading to a higher rate of abortion).

“In developed countries, there is a growing interest for the most sophisticated biotechnological research to introduce subtle and extensive eugenics methods in the obsessive search for the ‘perfect child’,” the Pope said.

Benedict said the right to life is being increasingly challenged, with countries in Latin America seeking to legalize abortion and some of the richest countries considering euthanasia as law. He also denounced the increasing practice of civil unions as an alternative to marriage.

I agree 100% with his criticisms of genetic engineering to create so called “designer babies.” Have we lost all appreciation for the sanctity of life that we can potentially throw away our naturally-bred children for ones we like better? Picture mothers dropping their children off at preschool in the beginning of the day then returning to pick them up in the afternoon, but rather than grab their own children to return home with, they choose one that they like better, for whatever reason from physical attractiveness, personality, maybe even a lack of handicap. It doesn’t matter. This is just wrong, and not even from a Christian standpoint alone, but from what it means to be human.

Isn’t the whole point of having children to create a human life that reflects both mother and father, as the child-to-be comes from both mother and father’s chromosomes? If you genetically alter ANY of the natural process, you are tainting the innate connection between you and your child. In which case, if your offspring aren’t really you, why even bother?

Today is Ash Wednesday, which marks the beginning of the Season of Lent. For Catholics like myself, Lent is a time of penance, reflection and fasting in preparation for Christ’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, which is only attained through redemption. Our foreheads will be marked with ashes in the sign of a cross to humble our hearts and remind us that life on Earth passes away. In Genesis 3:19, just after Eve has consumed the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden, God says to Adam:

“By the sweat of your face shall you get bread to eat, Until you return to the ground, from which you were taken; For you are dirt, and to dirt you shall return.”

The ashes we receive are made from the burning of the blessed palms used in the Palm Sunday celebration of the previous year. Ash Wednesday is a day of fasting, abstinence (from meat), and repentance. Catholics between the age of 18 and 59 are allowed only one full meal, which may be supplemented by two smaller meals that must not equal the amount of the full meal when combined. However, this is the bare minimum requirement and traditionally Catholics will perform a complete fast or a bread and water fast. Similar fasting is also required on Good Friday, and abstinence from meat is mandatory on all Fridays of Lent.

The Lent Season lasts 40 days from Ash Wednesday until Holy Saturday, Sundays do not count as days as they are reserved for the joyful celebration of the Resurrection. The 40 days symbolize the time that Jesus spent retreated in the wilderness, overcoming temptation and preparing for His ministry.

There are numerous Holy Days during Lent:

• Ash Wednesday - the first day of Lent
• Palm Sunday - the last Sunday of Lent, marks the beginning of Holy Week
• Spy Wednesday - the Wednesday during Holy Week, signifies the time Judas spent spying on Jesus before betraying him
• Maundy Thursday - the Thursday during Holy Week, commemorates the Last Supper
• Good Friday - the Friday during Holy Week, remembers Jesus’ crucifixion and burial

As Lent is a time to repent, Catholics generally are called to sacrifice something during this period. But it goes beyond this, it is more than just behaving in a certain manner for 40 days. Lent is about conversion and aligning our lives more closely to Jesus and His way of life. This means giving up sin in some form, and not just to abstain from sin during this period, but to reflect on it and root it out of our lives forever.

My Lenten promise this year is to give up sweets and soda, which can lead to gluttony, one of the seven deadly sins. Also, I will be making a more concerted effort to not argue with friends and family, and to be a more loving, kinder person to all. Jesus said “love your enemies, for even sinners love those who love them,” and I think if we all pondered these words and took them to heart the world would be a much happier and peaceful place.

In addition to my sacrifices I will also be undertaking additional things which require a stronger devotion to God and His only Son Jesus Christ, but those are more of a personal nature and I don’t care to write about them on here. Also, I will make a trip confession during Lent, which I think all Catholics should do during this time of year.

For more information, you can read about Ash Wednesday and Lent on Wikipedia. Also, you read the entire text of Pope Benedict XVI’s message for Lent 2007.

Tonight I randomly came across a news article which referenced the Gospel of Thomas. For those who do not know, the Gospel of Thomas (attributed to Didymos Judas Thomas) is a collection of 114 sayings of Jesus, and is commonly referred to as the 5th gospel (the officially recognized gospels are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). Christian scholars maintain that the Gospel of Thomas was probably written between 50 and 200 A.D., with stark fluctuations in viewpoint depending upon who you ask. The gospel was lost for almost 2,000 years, however, only recently discovered at Nag Hammadi, Egypt in 1945.

The Gospel of Thomas is said to be gnostic in origin and stance by several fundamentalist Christians and this is probably why it was kept out of the original canon of the Holy Bible. It isn’t necessarily a “gospel” in the strictest sense, because

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