Holy Week

Michael Sean Winters: We believe that God is all-loving and all-powerful, but where was that love and that power this past month when they were needed in Ukraine?

From Where I Stand: COVID-19 lockdowns didn't deprive us of anything in the realm of faith. Instead, they are simply requiring us to dig deeper for spirituality ourselves — which is what we have always been meant to do.

Perspective: The memory of seeing the expanse of the former Temple, the excavations revealing ancient streets where Jesus may have walked, and praying at the Western Wall came to me during the Gospel on Palm Sunday.

Knowing that Rome would be under lockdown during Holy Week and Easter, Fr. Luigi D'Errico asked youngsters in his parish to draw illustrations and write a series of reflections. They were among those chosen for the Vatican's Way of the Cross meditations.

Faith Seeking Understanding: The familiarity most Christians have with what each chapter of the Easter triduum emphasizes may inadvertently lead many of us to miss the powerful and timely implications of what we commemorate.

Distinctly Catholic: The thing I most love about Pope Francis is when he gives a sermon that really challenges us moderns. As the church began Holy Week, he delivered just such a sermon on Palm Sunday.

Those who take time to understand Jesus will find he loves them and wants what is best for them, Pope Francis said.

For Orthodox Christians, this is normally a time of reflection and mourning followed by joyful release, of centuries-old ceremonies steeped in symbolism and tradition. But this year, Easter — by far the most significant religious holiday for the world's roughly 300 million Orthodox — has essentially been canceled.