On the fourteenth day of the month… will be the Passover of the Lord (Ex. 12:6)

Passiontide — the last two weeks of Lent — is a Christian echo of the Jewish fourteen-day preparation for the Passover. Although short, it is a season in its own right, and older in its observance than Lent. We veil all the images to give the church a more sombre air, and because even the angels and saints hide their faces, as it were, from what is soon to take place. But we veil crucifixes also in reference to Our Lord’s response when the Pharisees’ tried to stone him: “And Jesus hid himself, and went out of the Temple,” (Jn 8:58). At the Incarnation, the Word of God veiled his Divinity; now, in his sufferings, he appears before us “marred… beyond human semblance,” (Is. 52:14). It is as if, in his Passion, he veils even his humanity. Moreover, just as on the Cross he “thirsts to be thirsted for,” sitit sitiri as St Gregory Nazianzen wrote, so we, too, begin to thirst for the sight of his holy countenance, being denied it for so long.

We reach the climax of Christ’s Passion, of his last week, of his life. The Son of God is crucified and dies upon the Cross. Discover all the details and hidden messages captured by the Gospel writers as the Old Covenant is fulfilled, and the New Covenant is sealed in the Blood of Christ.

During Holy Week, when the Gospel accounts of the last week of Christ’s life, passion and death are read, there is never enough time to look into all the details, scriptural references, and rich symbolic meaning contained in the text. This Lent, we are making time to do just that. Join us each week to explore the most important week in human history.

Talk takes place on Saturday 13 April in the Parish Centre. Cafe Neri open from 10:30.

Passiontide Musical Oratory Friday 12 April 8pm

Victoria’s Tenebrae Responsories sung by the Oratory Choir, directed by Matthew Martin, with readings for Passiontide.

Bishop Robert was installed in St Mary’s Cathedral, Newcastle, on Monday 25 March, the Feast of the Annunciation. Fathers and brothers from Oxford were joined by Fathers from York and Bournemouth, and other Oratories across the country and beyond to support Bishop Robert as he takes on the responsibility of caring for his new diocese. Please continue to pray for Bishop Robert, and those he now serves in Hexham and Newcastle.

More Photographs

Photo: © Mazur/catholicnews.org.uk

Christ is handed over to his enemies. But the agony in the garden, Peter’s denial and the three trials before the sanhedrin, Pilate and Herod are more than tragedies and injustice. Christ uses even these moments to teach his disciples, and to teach us. What does he have to say to us?

During Holy Week, when the Gospel accounts of the last week of Christ’s life, passion and death are read, there is never enough time to look into all the details, scriptural references, and rich symbolic meaning contained in the text. This Lent, we are making time to do just that. Join us each week to explore the most important week in human history.

Talk takes place on Saturday 6 April in the Parish Centre. Cafe Neri open from 10:30.

From the moment Judas left the Last Supper, Christ knew that he did not have much more time with his apostles. He only had time for his most important teachings. What did Christ choose to say?

During Holy Week, when the Gospel accounts of the last week of Christ’s life, passion and death are read, there is never enough time to look into all the details, scriptural references, and rich symbolic meaning contained in the text. This Lent, we are making time to do just that. Join us each week to explore the most important week in human history.

Talk takes place on Saturday 30 March in the Parish Centre. Cafe Neri open from 10:30.

As Christ prepared to eat his last meal with his disciples, the sunset marked the beginning of more than just a natural darkness. The Light of the World was about to be extinguished. Night had fallen.

During Holy Week, when the Gospel accounts of the last week of Christ’s life, passion and death are read, there is never enough time to look into all the details, scriptural references, and rich symbolic meaning contained in the text. This Lent, we are making time to do just that. Join us each week to explore the most important week in human history.

Talk takes place on Saturday 23 March in the Parish Centre. Cafe Neri open from 10:30.

Full details of Masses, Confessions, the Parish Lent Project, Saturday Talks for Lent, Musical Oratories and more can be found in the Lent, Holy Week and Easter 2019 booklet. Copies of the booklet are also available from the back of church.

In addition to the usual times of Masses and confessions, there will be Stations of the Cross every Friday at 5:30pm during Lent, and Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturdays from 10:30 until Benediction at 6pm.

There are three musical oratories this Lent. The first will take place on Wednesday 13 March at 6:30pm, and will include reflections for Lent, accompanied by Gregorian Chant sung by the Fathers and Brothers of the Oratory. The Parish choir will sing hymns and motets to accompany readings for Lent on Wednesday 27 March at 6:30pm.

The Oratory choir directed by Matthew Martin will sing selections from Victoria’s Tenebrae responsories on 12 April at 8pm.

Saturday Talks for Lent: The Last Week

During Holy Week, when the Gospel accounts of the last week of Christ’s life, passion and death are read, there is never enough time to look into all the details, scriptural references, and rich symbolic meaning contained in the text. This Lent, we are making time to do just that. Join us each week, beginning 16 March as we explore the most important week in human history. The series begins with ‘This is your hour, and the rule of darkness’. Christ’s ‘hour’ did not take place by chance. It was prophesied centuries before. The death of Jesus of Nazareth took place at a Passover festival like no other. But this is a real historical event — when exactly did it take place? Can we use science and the biblical evidence to date the year of the Crucifixion? Once we know when Christ died, we can begin to see all of the messages that his death sent to a Jewish audience.

Talks begin at 11am in Parish Centre. Cafe Neri open before each talk from 10:30.

Lent Project: St Luigi Scrosoppi Sorgsentrum

In response to the words of St Luigi, the centre ‘takes care of the young the Lord has entrusted to you as the apple of his eye’, of those who ‘have no voice and those who are treated unjustly,’ that they ‘may know that they are heard, defended and helped’.

St Luigi’s is the umbrella organisation for a number of programmes aimed at empowering children and youth and encompassing many aspects of care and pastoral work in Oudtshoorn, South Africa. It is a refuge where disadvantaged children and youth can come to play, learn and receive good nutrition and healthcare in a safe, secure and loving environment.

St Luigi’s offers children a safe haven from the world in which they live so that they can grow up believing that beauty and goodness can outstrip the harshness of their daily lives. At the Centre the child comes first — a child who can discover his talents and skills, strengths and weaknesses and ways in which to grow.

Read more: www.scrosoppi.org