Dear Friends in Christ,

This Sunday we begin Holy Week. This is the most sacred of times in which we ponder the mysteries surrounding Jesus’s Passion, Death, and Resurrection. Each year, this sacred time begins with the celebration of Palm Sunday, the day in which Jesus entered into Jerusalem as a triumphant king would do when returning from conquest. The crowds greet him with much joy as they lay down their garments and palm branches on the ground as a sign of their acceptance of their new king. However, we know that only a few days later, the same crowd would shout, “Crucify him!” to Jesus before Pontus Pilate. I pray that all of us will accompany Jesus this week on his road to Calvary, with the joyful hope of celebrating the Resurrection at Easter.

In this weekend’s bulletin letter, I invite us to visit the next destination on our pilgrimage to the Roman Station Churches. While many in Rome will make the walk to St. John Lateran today to celebrate Mass there, since we already discussed that Basilica a few weeks ago, I invite us to explore the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, a church located very close to St. John Lateran. As we will find out, this Basilica has special significance for us as we celebrate Holy Week, and may help us to pray with Jesus’s Passion as Good Friday approaches.

The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem has its origins in the early 4th Century as Christianity became a legal form of religion under the reign of Constantine. During his reign as Emperor, Constantine’s mother, St. Helena, desired to go to the Holy Land in search for the True Cross of Jesus, and to bring other instruments of Jesus’s Passion back to Rome. Not only did St. Helena return to Rome with the True Cross and many other relics, but she also brought back a large amount of earth from the Holy Land to use for the construction of a new church that would safeguard these sacred items. Because she did this, the Basilica was consecrated as, “in Jerusalem,” and not simply, “of Jerusalem.” In a similar way in which a foreign embassy is considered extraterrestrial from the nation in which it resides.

Here in this Basilica, it is possible to see and pray with many relics of Jesus’s Passion. Not only is a large portion of the True Cross present, but also relics of two of the thorns from Jesus’s crown, part of a nail that was used to affix his hands and feet, as well as the index finger of St. Thomas, the saint who placed his finger in Jesus’s side after the Resurrection. With the presence of these relics, we are able to concretely witness Jesus’s suffering for our sins.

As we move through this week, I encourage you to take some time in contemplative prayer with Jesus’s Passion. The distractions that may come are only temporary. Give them to Jesus on the Cross who loves you deeply. I am praying for all of you this week.

May Christ's Peace be with you, Fr. Briggs