March 25, Monday in Holy Week
Today is the Feast of the Annunciation, but when it falls within the Lenten season as it often does, it Is celebrated on another day, This year, it will be celebrated on April 8, the Monday after Divine Mercy Sunday which ends the Octave of Easter. The Annunciation is considered the moment when Jesus was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary through the Holy Spirit, and its feast has been traditionally marked nine months before the birth of Jesus.
AT THE VATICAN TODAY
The Holy Father met with
- Cardinal Marc Ouellet, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops
- Cardinal João Braz de Aviz, Prefect of the Congregation for the Institutes of Consecrated Life and
Societies of Apostolic Life
- H.E. Héctor Federico Ling Altamirano, Ambassador from Mexico, on his farewell visit.
One year ago today...
It was the third day of Benedict XVI's apostolic visit to Mexico, and it was marked by a Mass attended by at least 650,000 faithful at the Bicentennial Park outside Leon, at the foot of Mexico's giant Cristo Rey (Christ the King) monument; and in the afternoon, with Vespers at the Basilica of Our Lady of Light in Leon, during which he addressed the bishops of Mexico and turned on the switch for the new lighting of the Cristo Rey monument.
'More than 650,000 attended the Pope's Mass'
While I try to re-process the stories (and excerpt from the fine homilies) that day for brevity, here was one of the photo highlights of the day - when Benedict donned a charro (Mexican wide-brimmed hat) - handed to him during his Popemobile tour among the faithful who came for the Mass... Possibly no other figure has been photographed in as many and as varied an assortment of headgear as Benedict XVI during his Pontificate...
In hindsight, we now know that the night (or early morning) before the Mass, the Pope hit his head in the dark against a bathroom wall or fixture and incurred a scalp wound which bled a great deal but was superficial, so he wore a bandage under his zucchetto that entire day. The incident is now believed to have helped mature his decision to renounce his office as soon as the time was propitious. The resignation would come less than a year after this mammoth Mass in Leon.
On this day in 2005 ...
The photos in the strip are from the years of BXVI's Pontificate.
Looking farther back, this day in 2005 was Good Friday, which became particularly memorable for the Via Crucis meditations and prayers written by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger for the annual Good Friday observance of the Way of the Cross at the Roman Colosseum, and his denunciation of the 'filth' in the Church "even among those who, in the priesthood, ought to belong entirely to him"....
[Modificato da TERESA BENEDETTA 26/03/2013 17:32]