COLLINGSWOOD – “Take up your cross and follow after Christ.”
Such was the message Bishop Joseph A. Williams preached during the Passion Sunday Mass celebrated April 13 at Saint John Church, Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish.
As the Catholic Church entered into Holy Week, he urged all to accept the invitation of Saint Gregory Nazianzen to “be sacrificed with Christ [and offer up] our lives for the sake of His body, which is the Church.”
PHOTO GALLERY: Bishop Williams Celebrates Palm Sunday Mass
Referencing a homily from this Doctor of the Church, Bishop Williams asked the faithful to imagine themselves as one of those who encountered Jesus in His suffering, Death and Resurrection.
“If you are a Simon of Cyrene, pick up the cross,” he urged, quoting Saint Gregory. “If you are a Joseph of Arimathea, ask for Christ’s body. If you are one of the Marys, or Salome, weep in the early morning. Be the first to see the stone rolled back, and even the angels perhaps, and Jesus Himself.”
Referencing Passover – which this year is April 12-20 – Bishop Williams spoke of the Jewish tradition Ma Nishtana. Translated as “Why is this night different from all other nights,” the Ma Nishtana is traditionally asked by the youngest child at the Passover Seder.
“Today, as Christians, we might ask ourselves, ‘Will our children ask this question as we celebrate this Mass of Palm Sunday?” Bishop Williams said. “Do we live this week differently as a Christian family? I believe that’s how God wants us to live this Holy Week.”
He went on to share his family’s Holy Week traditions as a child in Stillwater, Minn.: Listening to “Jesus Christ Superstar”; learning how to weave palms from his father; spending multiple nights watching Franco Zeffirelli’s “Jesus of Nazareth”; participating in the Stations of the Cross in the city streets with Benedictine priests.
During these days, he remembered, “We would put Jesus’ life, His mysteries, before our eyes. … God willing, we cultivate [traditions] and preserve them in in our own families.”
Looking ahead to Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter Sunday, Bishop Williams urged all to remain confident in the knowledge that although “once we were slaves, now because of Jesus Christ, we are free.”
Before the Mass, which was concelebrated by Father Steven Bertonazzi, parish administrator, Bishop Williams blessed the palms to be distributed to the faithful. Speaking on the Lord’s entrance into the city of Jerusalem, he prayed that all follow “in His footsteps, so that being made by His grace partakers of the Cross, we may have a share also in His Resurrection and in His life.”
After Mass, Bishop Williams and parish families made their way to the parish hall for refreshments.
Regina Schmitt, present with her children, noted that few were as energized for the Mass with Bishop as her 8-year-old daughter, Ellie, who is currently preparing for her First Holy Communion.
“All week, she was reminding us, and pushing us to go to the 11 o’clock Mass,” Schmitt said with a laugh.
Schmitt’s 13 year-old son, Ben, who is preparing for Confirmation, was among the parish’s seventh- and eighth-graders who participated in the offertory during Mass.
As Mass is often celebrated in American Sign Language at Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish, those from the Deaf community were in attendance. Father Hugh Bradley, parish parochial vicar and director of the Diocese’s Ministry with the Deaf and Persons With Disabilities, served as translator for the liturgy.
Tom Stankard, a founding member of the diocesan Ministry with the Deaf, was pleased to see Bishop Williams. “Today gave me a jolt of energy to begin this week,” with a mind and heart focused on the Lord.
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