Horrific Islamic terrorist attacks in Sri Lanka.  A series of Easter Sunday bombings at luxury hotels and churches filled with christian worshippers has left at least 207 people dead. Hundreds more were wounded. Police say most of the eight bombings appear to have been suicide attacks.

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The government has identified religious extremists, but so far no group has claimed responsibility. Sri Lanka’s Defense Minister says police have arrested seven suspects believed to be linked to the wave of bombings.
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Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.  John 11:25

And my heart will always sing “How Great is Our God”.…

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Gospel LK 24:1-12

At daybreak on the first day of the week
the women who had come from Galilee with Jesus
took the spices they had prepared
and went to the tomb.
They found the stone rolled away from the tomb;
but when they entered,
they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus.

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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.
My purpose in sharing this video is to encourage those of you who let Easter sneak up on you, without much thought beforehand, to find your own ways to open your heart and experience the pain of Holy Thursday and Good Friday. Perhaps dedicate an hour to prayer and scripture. Go to a church and wait with Jesus during the hours of 12 to 3. Give alms. Go to a Good Friday service. Fast. Cut off the phones, televisions, computers.
Observing these two solemn days of the Christian calendar will make your Easter more meaningful, and enrich your faith.

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French President Emmanuel Macron said today he wants to see the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral rebuilt within five years.  During a televised address to the nation Macron affirmed “we will rebuild Notre Dame cathedral even more beautiful.”  He added “we can do it and once again, we will mobilize” to do so.

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A horrific historic and cultural loss. The 850 year old architectural masterpiece is a central monument to the Catholic faith. A spokesman said the entire wooden frame of the cathedral has come down, and the vault of the edifice could be threatened too. ‘Everything is burning, nothing will remain from the frame,’ Notre Dame spokesman Andre Finot told French media.

The 12th-century cathedral is home to incalculable works of art and is one of the world’s most famous tourist attractions. Pictures showed enormous plumes of smoke billowing into the city’s skyline and flames engulfing large sections of the historic building as firefighters struggled to contain the inferno.
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 GospelLK 19:28-40

Jesus proceeded on his journey up to Jerusalem.
As he drew near to Bethphage and Bethany
at the place called the Mount of Olives,
he sent two of his disciples.
He said, “Go into the village opposite you,
and as you enter it you will find a colt tethered
on which no one has ever sat.
Untie it and bring it here.

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Creepy is too soft a description for the behaviors Ms. Allison Mack attested to in court today.  According to her guilty plea Ms. Mack plead to a racketeering conspiracy and direct racketeering.  However, her action within the ‘racketeering conspiracy‘ is far worse than the disingenuous legal terminology.
Ms. Mack recruited people into a sex cult, then helped organize blackmail material that forced her recruits to engage in sex cult behavior with Keith Raniere which included the branding of victims as sex slaves.  Everything about this is cult activity is deviant in the most extreme.
Ridiculous apologetic phrases like: “I now realize I was wrong“, sound absurd when contrast with this sick and demented behavior.
As if there was ever a possibility at the beginning of an evil collaboration to NOT REALIZE blackmail, sex trafficking, occult branding and forced manipulation of people was wrong.  Whiskey-Tango-Foxtrot… this type of sociopathic disconnect is really alarming.

NEW YORK – A teary Allison Mack pleaded guilty to two federal counts Monday in the NXIVM sex-cult case.

“I have come to the conclusion that I must take full responsibility for my conduct and that’s why I am pleading guilty today,” said a choked up Mack, who admitted to one count of racketeering conspiracy and one count of racketeering.

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GospelJN 8:1-11

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area,
and all the people started coming to him,
and he sat down and taught them.
Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman
who had been caught in adultery
and made her stand in the middle.

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