Today we observe Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus. Many Christian Churches have different ways of observation, to prepare us for the coming resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. Today, the sacrifices we have made during Lent culminate in our internalization of the great offering of Christ’s life. If we have been diligent in our Lenten preparations, Good Friday hits us with a power and force that brings us, literally and figuratively, to our knees with the grasp of what Jesus poured out for us. It becomes personal, a tiny sliver of the cross is buried in our heart. And so each year, we find that we give ourselves over to Christ just a little more through this time of penance and reflection. 

This year, in particular,  I suspect that many of us will experience Good Friday as we never have before, with a comprehension of our own mortality and perhaps even an understanding that there are so many things in this world we do not, we cannot, control. We can control our choice in relationship to those things, and to the most important choice of all, the life and death of Jesus Christ, who chose to hang on a cross and die for us. He had all control, and he made his choice for us.

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At the end of the liturgy on Holy Thursday evening, in every Catholic Church around the world, the Blessed Sacrament is removed to the altar of repose, the altar is stripped, the church is bare, empty. Tomb-like. It is a striking and heartbreaking tradition, and I make sure to attend each year, to allow my heart to break, my tears to fall, my spirit to be clouded in gloom and dread, preparing for Good Friday, and Christ’s passion.

This year the priests will celebrate this Mass as they have most of the Masses throughout Lent, alone, without the faithful able to attend due to the Corona virus. Most churches are now closed to the faithful, although many congregations are able to worship online, have virtual Bible classes, and many other activities.

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Prayers increase as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s condition has worsened and he was moved into intensive care this afternoon to receive oxygen treatments.

U.K. – Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care after his coronavirus condition worsened, Downing Street announced tonight.

The Prime Minister was transferred to the ICU at St Thomas’ Hospital in London at 7pm this evening – 11 days after testing positive for the deadly disease.

He remains conscious and Number 10 sources stressed he had been moved to the critical care unit as a precaution should he require a ventilator.

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MT 21:1-11

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem
and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately you will find an ass tethered,
and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them here to me.
And if anyone should say anything to you, reply,
‘The master has need of them.’
Then he will send them at once.”
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Say to daughter Zion,
“Behold, your king comes to you,
meek and riding on an ass,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them,
and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.
The crowds preceding him and those following
kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”
And when he entered Jerusalem
the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied,
“This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

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MyPillow founder Mike Lindell has shifted the majority of his U.S. manufacturing plants to generate 50,000 healthcare masks per day.   During his announcement at the White House Mr. Lindell shared a hope that Americans will revisit their faith and embrace God and hope during their time at home. The media went absolutely bananas.

Today Mr. Lindell explains why he told people to pray during their time in isolation amid the coronavirus pandemic.  Mike Lindell is buckets of awesome.

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Strange times we live in…

Earlier today in Tampa, Florida, the county sheriff let the criminal inmates out of his jail, and then went to arrest a pastor for delivering Sunday church services and put him in the same jail.

Now a federal judge rules that getting a hip replacement should be delayed to help offset medical supply needs; but killing babies is an “essential service” that needs to continue.

TEXAS – […] Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced last week that abortion providers were covered by a state order that required postponement of non-urgent medical procedures to preserve hospital beds and equipment during the pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel in Austin ruled that Paxton’s action “prevents Texas women from exercising what the Supreme Court has declared is their fundamental constitutional right to terminate a pregnancy before a fetus is viable.” (read)

“[Government] shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”  (First Amendment – U.S. Constitution)

Setting aside my profound disdain for this action… In the short-term there will likely be those who genuinely believe this is legally defensible as a result of a public health emergency. However, in the long-term two things will happen: (1) over time, and up to the possibility of SCOTUS intervention, the pastor will win any legal case against him; and (2) hopefully people will realize quickly the term “essential service” is arbitrary.

Inside the definition of two words “essential services” (which is different from area to area) is all that remains of your liberty.  The first amendment of the constitution applies equally for all persons in all areas; the definition of “essential services” does not.  That’s the legal issue that will see this pastor win, if he chooses to fight.  Faith, the ability to worship, is easily argued as the preeminent ‘essential service’ to the individual and church.

FLORIDA – A Hillsborough County pastor was arrested Monday after he intentionally and repeatedly violated orders that no gatherings of 10 or more people he held in order to stop of the spread of COVID-19 by holding services at his megachurch, Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister announced Monday afternoon.

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Gospel Jn 11:1-45