Tag: Christianity

An ordinary woman, a believer, kind and meek, of which there are many in Russia. She lived her life in labors and prayer. So what did she do to be executed by a firing squad?

The city of Yelets in the Orel province—the saint’s birthplace

By the end of the nineteenth century, ancient Yelets, which had been a military outpost for centuries, turned into a cozy city of craftsmen and merchants with tall stone houses, factories and plants, schools and colleges, commercial buildings, a post and telegraph office, a theater, and a bank. Its main attractions were public gardens, buildings of local red bricks, monasteries and many churches, striking in their grandeur and beauty of architecture. By 1917, Yelets had two monasteries, thirty-one churches and fifteen chapels.

Ascension Cathedral and Vvedenskaya Hill, Yelets. Postcard, c. 1910. Pastvu.com     

In 1889 in this city a daughter was born in the family of Nikolai Nikolaevich Ulyanov and was named Natalia. That year was marked by the consecration of the Holy Ascension Cathedral. However, there is no information as to where Natalia was baptized and which church she attended with her parents. The family was religious, God-fearing, united and respectful of knowledge and learning. Her father worked as a carpenter, which at that time allowed him to have a good smallholding.

The girl received her primary education in one of the parish schools, where they taught the Law of God, reading, writing, arithmetic, church singing and needlework: sewing, fancywork and the weaving of the famous Yelets lace. After graduating from school and before moving to Moscow, Natalia may have been a novice at the Convent of the Icon of the Mother of God “of the Sign” in Yelets, but this is just a guess.

In 1910, at the age of twenty-one, Natalia Ulyanova came to Moscow with the desire to enter the Novodevichy Stavropegic Convent. It seemed to everyone who entered that glorious convent as if they were in Paradise. To Natalia’s great joy, she was admitted as a novice. At Russia’s nine most beautiful monasteries: Winter viewIf you’re not afraid of the Russian winter, here are nine reasons to visit the country in December and admire the view.

“>Novodevichy Convent she would perform various obediences for twelve years.

After the October Revolution

In 1917, the The October Revolution: Prophecies on Russia’s DestinyWhy is this subject so important to us (and we must understand that it is of very serious importance to us) who may have nothing to do with Russians or Russia? Those who have ears to hear, let them hear; and those who have eyes to see, let them see.

“>October Revolution broke out, which not only disrupted the convent’s centuries-old established way of life, but jeopardized its very existence. In the first years after the establishment of Soviet power, by a decree of the Council of People’s Commissars the property of monasteries and convents was confiscated. So, everything they had became the “people’s”. The Decree of Nationalization strengthened this right. All actions against monasteries and convents were accompanied by repressions of clergy and monastics. In 1918, Novodevichy Convent was dissolved, but not yet closed. It would not be closed until 1922. And then the nuns would face the question: “What should they do and where should they live?”

Anti-religious agitation within the walls of the former Novodevichy Convent. Pastvu.com Monasteries and convents had various destinies. Fortunately, Novodevichy Convent did not become a concentration camp, but it was converted into the “Museum of the Reign of Princess Sophia and the Streltsy Riots”, later renamed the “Museum of the Emancipation of Women”. Then it became affiliated with the State Historical Museum. Some nuns remained at the convent and worked there as restorers and cleaners, helped in the churches which were still active, and read and sang in the choir. But many had to leave.

From 1922 to 1930 Natalia Ulyanova worked in various Moscow churches. She sang in church choirs and helped in the churches. However, year after year there were fewer and fewer active churches in Moscow and in the countryside, so in 1930 she had to get a job at the Commercial Bank of Moscow, which was located on Ilyinka Street. Natalia Nikolaevna held modest positions as a courier and a cleaner at the bank for eight years.

However, in addition to her main employment (especially for believers like her), there was also compulsory labor. Lenin himself worked on a draft resolution of the Council of People’s Commissars on snow clearing, unloading potatoes and other types of “necessary work”. It was for people who were not engaged in “productive work” and for “non-working elements”. However, workers could also be conscripted for such work. Such cases were under the jurisdiction of the Main Committee for Universal Labor Service.

Natalia Nikolaevna was sent to clear snow on the railway and to do difficult seasonal work on peat cutting near Moscow. In the 1930s, peat was needed for the construction of the Moscow–Volga Canal. There were power plants on it, including the Shatura plant. There was an acute shortage of workers for peat extraction.

Life in a monastic “communal apartment”

After its closure, Novodevichy Convent was turned not only into a museum, but also into a residential quarter in which people were housed in towers, monastic cells, and hospital wards. The children’s writer Viktor Suteyev lived in the Setun Tower, and Count Vasily Sheremetev in the Naprudnaya Tower. The artist and architect Vladimir Tatlin opened a workshop in the bell-tower. Some had five-room apartments, others huddled together in cold closets downstairs. Some residents used icons to make their dwellings comfortable, while others saved holy images from destruction. Natalia Ulyanova, the convent’s former novice, lived in one of the former cells. She would write her address in questionnaires that she filled out when applying for a job: “Moscow, Pirogovskaya Street, 2-15-69 (on the territory of Novodevichy Convent)”.

Different people lived in the huge “communal apartment”. Some of them were former nobles or nuns. But many of the residents hated nobles and monastics, and therefore were happy to give false testimonies in order to get rid of the vestiges of the hated past. So, a false denunciation was concocted against Novice Natalia Ulyanova.

Arrest

Natalia Nikolaevna was arrested on March 11, 1938 and brought to police station number 7 in the Frunzensky district of Moscow. A few days before, some people, whom she had never harmed in any way, signed their testimonies against her. A document had been drawn up by the investigator in advance. The thoroughly elaborated mechanism of denunciations and perjury worked almost without failures. During the interrogations, Natalia Nikolaevna was reminded about words she had allegedly said two years before on a patch of land beside the monastic cells.

“As an individual hostile to the Soviet Government, she told her neighbors that there would be no point in collective farms if people working on the land lived from hand to mouth.” According to the investigator, these words contained slander against collective farmers, provocation and fabrications about “honest and glorious collective farm labor” in the USSR and a “bright future”. They declared it “counterrevolutionary activity”.

Inmate Natalia Ulyanova. Moscow, NKVD prison, 1938 On March 13, a confrontation with witnesses was arranged. Natalia Nikolaevna admitted neither perjury nor the charges brought against her and stated, “I did not conduct any agitation among the people in Novodevichy Convent concerning the life of collective farm peasantry.” But did anyone really need the truth, her truth?…

Prosecution and sentence

The charge brought against Natalia Nikolaevna Ulyanova, a forty-nine-year-old former novice of Novodevichy Convent, was as follows: “Counterrevolutionary agitation, slanderous provocative fabrications about the life of collective farm peasantry, counterrevolutionary activity among the residents of the house she lived in.”

On March 15, the troika at the UNKVD (the Directorate of the People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs) in the Moscow region passed sentence: the death penalty—execution by firing squad. On March 22, 1938, the sentence was carried out at the Butovo firing range. The novice nun’s life was destroyed within two weeks. She was interred in a mass grave.

In August 2001, by decree of the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church, Natalia Ulyanova was canonized and her name was included in the New Martyrs and Confessors of Russia

“>Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church.

Icon of the New Martyrs of Novodevichy Convent She is commemorated on March 22, on the Synaxis of the Saints of the Voronezh Metropolia, as well as in the Synaxes of the Saints of Lipetsk and Moscow, in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs Who Suffered in Butovo, and in the Synaxis of the New Martyrs and Confessors of the Russian Church. Since 2006, with the blessing of Patriarch Alexei II of Moscow and All Russia, Novodevichy Convent has celebrated an annual feast of the Holy New Martyrs and Confessors of the convent on the Saturday before the Sunday of the Myrrh-bearing Women

“>Sunday of the holy Myrrh-Bearing Women. Among them is the Venerable Martyr Natalia (Ulyanova).

In the same year, at the request of Metropolitan Juvenaly of Krutitsy and Kolomna, an icon, “The New Martyrs of Novodevichy Convent”, was painted. It depicts the holy Priest-Martyr Sergei Lebedev and the Nun Martyrs Natalia (Ulyanova), Irina (Khvostova), Matrona (Alexeyeva) and Maria (Tseitlin).

Like the women disciples who discovered Jesus had risen from the dead and ran to tell the others, Christians should be filled with such joy at Easter that they cannot help sharing it with others, Pope Francis said.

“The resurrection of Jesus is not just wonderful news or the happy ending of a story, but something that changes our lives completely and forever,” the pope said April 1 as he led the midday recitation of the “Regina Caeli” prayer.

Beginning by wishing visitors in St. Peter’s Square a “Happy Easter,” the pope said the joy of the resurrection is beyond any other joy because “it is the victory of life over death, hope over despondency.”

“Jesus broke through the darkness of the tomb and lives forever. His presence can fill anything with light,” the pope said. “With him, every day becomes a step in an eternal journey, every ‘today’ can hope for a ‘tomorrow,’ every end a new beginning, every instant is projected beyond the limits of time, toward eternity.”

Pope Francis prayed that the peace and hope that flow from the Resurrection would “reach those places where there is greatest need: the people exhausted by war, by hunger, by every form of oppression.”

The Risen Lord told the women and tells Christians today, “Do not be afraid,” he said. “And if Jesus, the conqueror of sin, fear and death, tells us not to fear, then let us not be afraid, let us not settle into a hopeless life, let us not give up the joy of Easter!”

The women’s joy came from encountering the Risen Jesus and sharing the news with others, he said. “So, let us hasten to seek him in the Eucharist, in his forgiveness, in prayer and in lived charity.”

“Joy increases when it is shared,” he said. “Let us share the joy of Risen One.”

Healing the paralytic. Italy. Venice. St. Mark’s Cathedral. XIV century. Photo: foma.ru     

The Reading from the Holy Gospel according to St. Mark. (2:1-12)

When we begin our introduction to Orthodoxy classes with newcomers, seekers and inquirers, we begin by telling all of them that the Church is a hospital. The model of a courtroom or a business or even a social club is misguided and lacks the heart and the purpose of why Jesus Christ has founded His Church, His beloved bride. It exists to be a place of healing and life for every one that enters through the doors, because assuredly, everyone that enters through those doors is sick.

How are we sick? We are sick because our souls are disordered. We do not love God. Our ancestors Adam and Eve, rebelled against God and their offspring entered into that fallenness and life of disobedience. Instead of being in love with life, goodness, truth and purity, mankind married itself to disobedience, lies, impurity and finally to death. What started in the soul, spread to the rest of us as a sickness or a cancer. We are divided in our minds, our bodies and our will. We are fragmented. St. Paul speaks of this when he says,

“For we know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin. For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate… For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me…but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” Rom 7:14-24

This is our condition. We are broken because of our warring and conflicting desires and our inability to bring all things together within us, to unite every part of us in the service and worship of God. This is a picture of what sin has done to us. It deeply affects us at every level and it even causes us to fall into sickness and all kinds of mental, emotional and physical diseases. We sympathize with St. Paul when he cries out “Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?” We see an example and a symbol of this body of death and the way that sin paralyzes us in the person of the paralytic in today’s gospel. We are not told how long this man was paralyzed. We are not told what caused his paralysis. But we observe what great works God did in his life.

We take note of the dear friends, the four men who carried their paralyzed friend to the house of Jesus. It is clear that this house is a symbol of the Church which is in truth the house where Christ dwells. The four men symbolize the 4 evangelists, Apostle and Evangelist MatthewThe Holy Apostle and Evangelist Matthew, was also named Levi; he was one of the Twelve Apostles, and was brother of the Apostle James Alphaeus. He was a publican, or tax-collector for Rome, in a time when the Jews were under the rule of the Roman Empire.

“>Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist MarkThe Holy Apostle and Evangelist Mark, also known as John Mark (Acts 12:12), was one of the Seventy Apostles, and was also a nephew of Saint Barnabas (June 11).”>Mark, Apostle and Evangelist LukeThe Holy Apostle and Evangelist Luke, was a native of Syrian Antioch, a companion of the holy Apostle Paul (Phil.1:24, 2 Tim. 4:10-11), and a physician enlightened in the Greek medical arts.”>Luke and St. John the Theologian“>John, who carry all manner of sick men upon the stretcher of their gospels. Not so that they should remain on the stretchers, but in order to bring them precisely to the feet of the physician with his medicines and therapies, to the hospital, the holy Church of God.

Of course many of you know these things but it is good for us to be reminded of them and to share them for the sake of all the new faces present with us. Since Christ is the physician, and the Church is the hospital, then it makes sense for us to see that the sacraments of the Church are the various medicines through which God shares with us His grace in a powerful and dynamic way. Listen to these words from Hieromartyr Ignatius the God-Bearer the Bishop of AntiochTradition suggests that when St Ignatius was a little boy, the Savior hugged him and said: “Unless you turn and become as little children, you shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven”. The saint was called “God-Bearer” (Theophoros), because he bore God in his heart and prayed unceasingly to Him.

“>St. Ignatius of Antioch who lived from 35-107ad. He writes, “breaking one and the same bread, which is the medicine of immortality, and the antidote to prevent us from dying, but which causes that we should live forever in Jesus Christ.” Letter to the Ephesians, 18-20

That is why we are here. That is why the gospels were written for the world. That is why some of our parents brought us and dedicated us to God. And I think that this is why many of you have come from various backgrounds and joined or would like to join yourselves to the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church; to make sure that you receive the medicine of immortality and to unite ourselves fully to Jesus Christ.

Can I tell you the secret to receiving this great gift of immortality and healing and all of the treasures of Christ through the Church? You receive them by identifying with the paralytic. When you read or hear the gospels you have to identify with the one who is sick and needs healing. You have to not only agree with his condition. You have to agree with the cause. The cause of most of your problems isn’t economic or political. If you want to see the cause you have to look at your sins and your own lack of love. There is great power in the admission that we are the ones that are sick. There is great power in admitting that we need others to help carry us to Christ. There is great power in being vulnerable in our hearts.

Just as it was for the paralytic, the start of our healing is through the forgiveness of our sins. This starts with a profound What Is True Repentance?True repentance is impossible without the renewal of a constant petition, invocation, repentant falling, prayer, and supplication to the Heavenly Father. It’s also a sign of the forgiveness of sins—the constant turning of the mind and heart to God.

“>repentance and the medicine of Preparing for ConfessionNow tell me: Is Confession profitable or needful? Certainly it is profitable and even essential; because, just as it is impossible to cleanse a vessel without ridding it of all uncleanness, so it is impossible to purge your soul of sins without confession.”>confession. When we hear these words “Son, your sins are forgiven”, we should identify with that man so that we can also be filled with hope and joy. God is so merciful and desires that we should be lifted up from our bed of sickness and from all of the various ailments that put us into an existence of paralysis. Christ knows. Identify with the one who is in need and call out to Christ from the depths of your heart. He will hear you and He will heal you. Then He will command you to rise, take up your bed and walk in newness of life. Amen.

Even if you are not a big J.R.R. Tolkien fan, if you have ever watched the film “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King,” you were probably moved by one powerful scene.

At the instigation of the wizard Gandalf, the hobbit Pippin secretly climbs up a tower in order to light the signal beacon that will summon the allies of a far-distant kingdom to come to the military aid of their own. The beacon erupts in a blaze. Mere seconds later, on a distant mountain peak, another beacon fire suddenly alights…and then another and another and another, covering a massive geographical span.

At the sight of the flaming beacon, Gandalf quietly declares, “Hope is kindled.”

Dispelling the darkness

Such is the power of fire. The Church knows this. The Church’s genius shines in her Easter Vigil liturgy which begins with the Lucernarium — the blessing of the Easter fire and the preparation of the paschal candle. As the priest blesses the new fire, he prays that we may be “inflamed with heavenly desires.” Then, having lit the paschal candle from the new fire, the priest prays: “May the light of Christ rising in glory dispel the darkness of our hearts and minds.”

With that, the people of God, carrying lighted candles, follow the paschal candle in procession into the church, where the priest or deacon sings the Easter Proclamation, the Exsultet, once known as the “Praise of the Candle” (Laus Cerei). Why do Catholics sing to a candle?

Because this candle represents the risen Son of God, “the one Morning Star who never sets,” who, “coming back from death’s domain, has shed his peaceful light on humanity.”

But most wondrous of all, the Church begs that this “pillar,” which is “a torch so precious,” may throughout the whole of the night “persevere undimmed to overcome the darkness of this night. May this flame be found still burning by the Morning Star: Christ your Son” on Easter morning. Because we all need a beacon. We all need a fire that enkindles our hope.

The great Cistercian abbot Bl. Guerric of Igny (+1157) seems to be speaking for us today when he writes in an Easter homily:

“For myself, when I looked upon the dead Jesus I was overwhelmed by despairing grief. My heart was sorrowing for him as slain, but now that he is risen, not only my heart but my flesh also rejoices in the confident hope of my own resurrection and immortality.”

His best expression of this rejoicing alludes to light:

“As the new sun rises from below, the grace of the Resurrection already casts its radiance over the whole world, a radiance reflected in the eyes of those who have watched for him since daybreak, a dawn that ushers in the day of eternity. This is the day that knows no evening, the day whose sun will never set again.”

The Via Lucis

During these 50 days of Easter, we do not want to return to the darkness again. How can we keep the sun from setting?

The Church comes to our aid with an apt devotional practice recently developed — the Via Lucis. The Church’s “Directory for Popular Piety” describes the Via Lucis this way:

“Following the model of the Via Crucis, the faithful process while meditating on the various appearances of Jesus — from his Resurrection to his Ascension…. Through the Via Lucis, the faithful recall the central event of the Faith — the Resurrection of Christ — and their discipleship in virtue of Baptism…. The Via Lucis … can effectively convey a living understanding to the faithful of the second moment of the Pascal event, namely the Lord’s Resurrection…. Using the metaphor of a journey, the Via Lucis moves from the experience of suffering … to the hope of arriving at man’s true end: liberation, joy, and peace which are essentially Paschal values” (#153).

As we follow the beacon of the Via Lucis, moving from Easter event to Easter event, the mystery of Christ’s resurrection will take hold of us, especially where we are most prone to anxiety, hopelessness, or sorrow.

In the words of Servant of God Luigi Giussani:

“Unless you recognize the presence of Mystery, night advances, confusion abounds and — when it touches your freedom — rebellion erupts, or disappointment is so overwhelming that you’ll wait for nothing more and live desiring nothing more. From the mystery of Christ’s Resurrection a new light floods the world, fighting for territory, inch by inch, pushing back the night.”

Pushing back the night

Let’s push back the night, taking to heart Pope Benedict XVI’s awesome assurance:

“Where there is light, life is born, chaos can be transformed. The Resurrection of Jesus is an eruption of light. This Light alone — Jesus Christ — is the true light, something more than the physical phenomenon of light. Let us pray to the Lord that the fragile flame of the candle he has lit in us, the delicate light of his word and his love amid the confusions of this age, will not be extinguished in us, but will become ever stronger and brighter, so that we, with him, can be people of the day, bright stars lighting up our time.”

Or in the words of a 6-year-old student of the Catechesis of the Good Shepherd meditating on the light of the risen Christ radiating from the paschal candle: “It isn’t light; it’s goodness.”

It was still dark in the early morning hours when Mary Magdalene returned to the tomb.

She had been with Jesus when the Roman soldiers came to arrest him, when the Twelve and his other disciples ran away.

When they crucified him, she was there at the foot of the cross, alongside Mary, his mother, and St. John, the only apostle who didn’t run.

She watched him die and then with the other women helped prepare the Lord’s body to be placed in the tomb.

And as the light began to dawn on that first Easter Sunday, Mary Magdalene would be the first one to see Jesus Christ risen from the dead.

It is a beautiful mystery that the story of salvation begins with two women, the Blessed Virgin Mary, who carries the incarnate Jesus in her womb, and St. Elizabeth, who is the first to proclaim this Child as “my Lord.”

God chose a third woman, Mary Magdalene, to be the first witness of his empty tomb, and the first to see him alive, and the first to proclaim the truth of his resurrection.

One of the ancient prayers for Easter remembers the scene: 

Tell us Mary,

What did you see on the way?

I saw the tomb of the living Christ

and the glory of his rising,

the angelic witnesses,

the shroud and his clothes.

Christ, my hope, has risen:

He will go before his own into Galilee.

In the life of Mary Magdalene, we see the paschal mystery unfold, the mystery of Our Lord’s passion, death, and resurrection, the mystery of his love for every one of us. The mystery of Easter.

We don’t know much about Mary Magdalene. The Gospel tells us she was possessed by seven demons and that Jesus set her free. In gratitude and love, she became one of his first and most devoted disciples.

She followed him in faith and the journey led her to his cross and then to his resurrection.

The story of her meeting with Jesus in the 20th chapter of St. John’s Gospel is filled with specific details: when she stood and when she bent down, the position of the angels where the Lord’s body had been; what she said to Jesus, and the things he told her.

It’s as if Mary Magdalene didn’t want to forget a single moment of that Easter encounter.

“Why are you weeping, whom do you seek?” The questions that Jesus asked her, he asks now of each one of us.

Mary Magdalene didn’t recognize Jesus until he said her name. When he spoke, “Mary!” her eyes were opened and her heart understood.

In his love, the Risen Lord now calls our names. If we hear his voice, and if we don’t harden our hearts, we will realize, as Mary Magdalene did, that long before we were a thought in our mother’s womb, he has known us and loved us and longed for our love.

Christ is risen, he is alive! He will turn our every sorrow into joy. He will wipe away every tear from our eyes, for death is no more, and whatever came before has passed away.

On Easter he calls us to rise up and to follow him away from his empty tomb.

Like Mary Magdalene, we can find freedom in accepting the Lord’s forgiveness and living the new life that he has won for us by laying down his life on the cross and rising on the third day.

Jesus said he would never leave us orphans, that he would be with us until the end of the age. On Easter, he keeps that promise.

Because he has destroyed death by his death, the dividing wall between heaven and earth has been broken down. 

He goes with us now as a friend, a companion. As he shared in our humanity, he understands everything about us.

We can speak to him of our deepest thoughts, our hopes and fears and dreams. He is with us in our joy and suffering. Though we do not see him, we know by faith that he is at our side.

In the Eucharist he comes again and makes a gift of himself, in the breaking of the bread, he continues to draw us more deeply into the mystery of his dying and rising.

“Do not hold me,” Jesus said to Mary Magdalene, “But go to my brothers and tell them.”

Jesus calls us now too, to go out and tell others the truth of his resurrection, the truth of his love.

The encounter of Easter is a call to mission, a call to proclaim with Mary Magdalene: “I have seen the Lord!”

In our Easter joy, pray for me and I will pray for you.

And let us ask our Blessed Mother Mary to keep us always close to her Son and our Risen Lord.

Krasnogorsk, Moscow Province, Russia, April 1, 2024

  

On Saturday, March 30, a panikhida memorial was served on the 9th day after the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue outside of Moscow.

More than 140 people have died as a result of the Prayers offered in all Russian churches for victims of Crocus City Hall terrorist attackArmed men stormed the packed Crocus City Hall concert venue outside Moscow on Friday night and opened fire, then set the building ablaze.

“>tragedy on March 22, with dozens more injured and still being treated in the hospital.

His Eminence Archbishop Thomas of Odintsovo and Krasnogorsk celebrated the Divine Liturgy on Saturday at St. Nicholas Cathedral in Krasnogorsk, which is less than a mile from Crocus City. Relatives of the victims, clergy, and volunteers working at the center for assisting victims of the terrorist attack, Crocus City employees, and parishioners prayed at the service, reports Patriarchia.ru.

The victims of the attack were especially commemorated during the litany for the departed, and following the service, Abp. Thomas served a panikhida for those who were murdered.

Another panikhida was then served at the memorial site established at Crocus City Hall.

Abp. Thomas then read out condolences from His Holiness Patriarch Kirill and laid a wreatch from the Patriarch at the memorial.

​

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St. Mary of Egypt was born in 344 AD, and moved to the city of Alexandria when she was 12 years old, where she worked as a prostitute. Intending to continue her trade, she joined a large group of pilgrims who were heading to Jerusalem for the feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. 

On the feast day, Mary joined the crowd, going down to the church to venerate the relic of the True Cross. Although Mary intended to lure the men on the pilgrimage, when she reached the doors of the church, she was unable to enter. Each time she approached the door, a force propelled her away. Finally, Mary retreated to a corner of the churchyard, where she began to cry in remorse. 

Before a statue of the Blessed Virgin, Mary prayed for permission to enter the church, so she could venerate the relic. She promised that she would renounce sin and the evils of the world. 

Mary was then able to enter the church. She venerated the relic of the True Cross, and then prayed to Mary again for guidance. A voice told her to cross the Jordan River and find rest. When Mary arrived at the Jordan, she received communion in a church dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and then crossed the river and lived as a hermit for the next 47 years. 

A priest, Zosimus, on a Lenten retreat, found Mary living in the desert. She asked him to return to the banks of the Jordan the next year, on Holy Thursday, to bring her communion. He did so, and she asked him to come back the next year, to the place where they had originally met.

The following year, Zosimus returned, but found St. Mary’s body. She had written on the ground that she wished to be buried, and noted that she had died in 421 AD, one year earlier, on the very night she received communion. 

Just as Jesus removed the stone that sealed his tomb on the morning of the Resurrection, on Easter Christ alone “has the power to roll away the stones that block the path to life” and which trap humanity in war and injustice, Pope Francis said.

Through his resurrection, Jesus opens “those doors that continually we shut with the wars spreading throughout the world,” he said after celebrating Easter Mass in St. Peter’s Square March 31. “Only the risen Christ, by granting us the forgiveness of our sins, opens the way for a renewed world.”

Seated on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, the pope asked the risen Christ to bring peace in Israel, Palestine and Ukraine and a host of other conflict-ridden regions in the world.

“In calling for respect for the principles of international law, I express my hope for a general exchange of all prisoners between Russia and Ukraine,” he said. “All for the sake of all!”

Pope Francis then appealed to the international community to ensure access of humanitarian aid to Gaza and called for the “prompt release” of hostages taken during Hamas’ attack on Israel Oct. 7 as well as “an immediate cease-fire in the strip.”

“War is always an absurdity, war is always a defeat,” he said, asking that the “strengthening winds of war” do not reach Europe and the Mediterranean. “Let us not yield to the logic of weapons and rearming. Peace is never made with arms, but with outstretched hands and open hearts.”

Easter Mass in the flower-laden square began with the singing of the “alleluia,” traditionally absent from liturgical celebrations during Lent, as part of the rite of “Resurrexit” in which an icon of Jesus is presented to the pope to recall St. Peter’s witness to Christ’s resurrection.

More than 21,000 flower bulbs donated by Dutch flower growers decorated the square and popped with color against the overcast sky.

As is traditional, the pope did not give a homily during the morning Mass but bowed his head and observed several minutes of silent reflection after the chanting of the Gospel in both Latin and Greek.

Although the Vatican said Pope Francis stayed home from a Way of the Cross service at Rome’s Colosseum March 29 “to conserve his health” for the Easter vigil and Mass, the pope appeared in high spirits while greeting cardinals and bishops after the Mass. He spent considerable time riding the popemobile among the faithful, smiling and waving to the throngs of visitors in St. Peter’s Square and lining the long avenue approaching the Vatican.

The Vatican said some 30,000 people attended the pope’s morning Mass and, by noon, there were approximately 60,000 people inside and around St. Peter’s Square for his Easter message and blessing “urbi et orbi” (to the city and the world).

U.S. Cardinal James M. Harvey, archpriest of Rome’s Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls, stood alongside Pope Francis for the blessing and announced a plenary indulgence available to those present and to everyone following through radio, television and other channels of communication.

Stopping only occasionally to clear his throat, Pope Francis read the entirety of his Easter message and prayed for peace in several conflict hotspots around the world, including Syria, Lebanon, Haiti, Myanmar, Sudan, Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

He also prayed for the Rohingya — a persecuted, predominantly Muslim, ethnic group residing largely in Myanmar — who he said are “beset by a grave humanitarian crisis.”

The pope praised the Western Balkan region’s steps toward European integration, urging the region to embrace its ethnic, cultural and confessional differences, as well as the peace negotiations taking place between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

“May the risen Christ open a path of hope to all those who in other parts of the world are suffering from violence, conflict, food insecurity and the effects of climate change. May he grant consolation to the victims of terrorism in all its forms,” he prayed, asking visitors to “pray for all those who have lost their lives and implore the repentance and conversion of the perpetrators of those crimes.”

On Easter, which Pope Francis said celebrates the life given to humanity through the resurrection of God’s son, he lamented “how much the precious gift of life is despised” today.

“How many children cannot even be born?” he asked. “How many die of hunger and are deprived of essential care or are victims of abuse and violence? How many lives are made objects of trafficking for the increasing commerce in human beings?”

“On the day when Christ has set us free from the slavery of death, I appeal to all who have political responsibilities to spare no efforts in combatting the scourge of human trafficking, by working tirelessly to dismantle the networks of exploitation and to bring freedom to those who are their victims,” he said.

Pope Francis also asked that the light of the risen Christ “shine upon migrants and on all those who are passing through a period of economic difficulty” as a source of consolation and hope.

“May Christ guide all persons of goodwill to unite themselves in solidarity, in order to address together the many challenges which loom over the poorest families in their search for a better life and happiness,” he said, praying that the light of the Resurrection “illumine our minds and convert our hearts, and make us aware of the value of every human life, which must be welcomed, protected and loved.”

Blessed Jane of Toulouse lived during the 13th century. In 1240, a Carmelite monastery was founded in her town, which exposed her to the Carmelite lifestyle and spirituality. 

In 1265, when St. Simon Stock, a reformer of the Carmelites, was passing through Toulouse, Jane met him, and asked to be affiliated with the Carmelites. Simon agreed, and Jane became the first Third Order Carmelite. 

Jane took a vow of perpetual chastity, and completely molded her life to the Carmelite rule. She performed many penances daily, and worked in her community with the sick and the poor. One of Jane’s primary ministries was to encourage the boys of the town to help her serve the poor, and to help them discern a calling to the Carmelite order. 

Jane of Toulouse is a founder and considered to be the first member of the Carmelite tertiary order. She died in 1286. 

St. John Climacus was born in Palestine around the year 525. He excelled in his studies and was known for his intelligence. When he was 16, John retired to a hermitage near the base of Mount Sinai, where he spent the next four years in prayer, fasting, and meditation while preparing to take solemn vows to religious life. 

After taking those vows, John spent more time studying Scriptures and the early Fathers of the Church. Although he became an expert on these subjects, he hid his talents humbly. Near the end of his life, he wrote “Climax,” also known as “The Ladder of Paradise,” a collection of sayings and examples to illustrate how to live the monastic life. This is how he gained his nickname Climacus, a derivative from the Latin word for “climax” or “ladder.”

As he grew older and wiser, John was often sought out for advice in spiritual matters. He offered this advice freely, and came to be known for his wisdom and holiness. Around the year 600, the abbot of all the religious in the region of Mount Sinai died, and John was chosen to replace him. He ruled until his death in 605.