“Let us allow the peace of Christ to enter our lives, our homes, our countries!” Pope Francis pleaded.

On the way back to Kyiv from Borodyanka, a town that had been under control of Russian forces, Cardinal Konrad Krajewski prayed amid the ruins and bodies of those killed, including by an unmarked mass grave, he told Vatican News on April 15.

On this night, brothers and sisters, let us allow the women of the Gospel to lead us by the hand, so that, with them, we may glimpse the first rays of the dawn of God’s life rising in the darkness of our world.

Holy Saturday can feel like the sleepless night-before-Christmas of the Triduum. But it can be a meaningful part of Easter—and not just a time to dye eggs or make tomorrow’s dessert.

The new meditation read April 15 called for a moment of silence: “In the face of death, silence is more eloquent than words. Let us pause in prayerful silence and each person pray in their hearts for peace in the world.”

A Reflection for Good Friday of the Lord’s Passion, by Doug Girardot

In preaching Christ crucified, the church reveals both our guilt and our redemption. A love that cannot step free of self eventually kills what it loves.

We have always wanted to be God, to claim the right of truth, to receive and not to give. Yet on this night, Jesus pours it all away, our very understanding of God, over our feet and into a basin to be pitched.

Pope Francis traveled to a prison near Rome to wash the feet of a dozen inmates, a Holy Thursday ritual that symbolizes humility and attention to those on society’s margins.