Patricia Kasten

We’ve all seen them — especially during the Easter season — but we may not know what to call them. They are the holy water sprinkler and its bucket/bowl. The official bucket that holds holy water for sprinkling at Mass is called an aspersorium (or sometimes a “situla”). It comes from a Latin verb, aspergere, which means “to wash or sprinkle.” The same verb gives us the word for the holy water sprinkler itself: aspergill …

When did the sprinkling start? Read More »

Welcome to the longest Welcome to the longest day. No, that’s not a reference to Monday. We have begun the triduum — triduum is a Latin word, formed from the Latin prefix tri– (meaning “three”) and the Latin word dies (“day”). The triduum is the days between Holy Thursday (at sunset) to Easter Sunday (also at sunset). As the Vatican noted in 1969, when the post-Vatican II changes in the Mass were being introduced, “Christ …

When three days become one Read More »

As we enter the solemn days of Holy Week, our thoughts turn to Christ’s Passion. They also turn to Mary, standing at the cross (Jn 19:25). Depictions of Mary at the cross have been frequent devotional artwork. Perhaps none is more famous than the Pietà of Michelangelo, now in a chapel at St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. This 5-foot, 9-inch statue was carved from a single piece of Carrera marble. It shows Mary holding the …

Jesus lies in Mary’s arms again Read More »

Flowers  symbolize Easter — from the pure white lily to the purple and yellow crocus and fragrant hyacinth. But another flower comes to us before Easter and symbolizes Passion Week. The passion flower is a native of Latin America. Growing on a woody, fast-growing vine, it is adorned with large flowers — originally purple, but now hybridized into many shades. It also produces the oval, edible passion fruit. In the last two centuries, associating flowers …

With spring comes the passion flower Read More »

What happened to the lance that pierced Jesus’ side as his dead body hung on the cross? We have all heard the Gospel stories of the Passion and how “one soldier thrust his lance into his side” (Jn. 19:34). No more is said about this soldier in the Gospels, though, over the centuries, some have equated him with the centurion who stood at the cross in Mark’s Gospel, and proclaimed, “Truly this man was the …

The soldier who held the lance Read More »