Relics are physical objects that have a direct association with the saints or with Our Lord. They are venerated (not worshiped) as tangible memorials of holy people and events. The practice has roots in early Christianity and is based on the belief in the power of God's grace working through the saints and their remains. The veneration of relics is supported by passages like 2 Kings 13:21, where a dead man comes to life after touching the bones of the prophet Elisha. In the early Church, Christians gathered at martyrs’ tombs to celebrate Mass, believing that their closeness to the remains of the saints brought them spiritually closer to God. Now, in each altar as a connection to the early life of the church, first-class relics of saints, typically of a martyred saint, are embedded inside the altar, and that is true for us here at OLMC.

Traveling through Italy, I visited numerous churches that were exquisite in their beauty, from large Papal Basilicas to small local parishes, and were constructed in a variety of times over the course of history, each with their era’s distinctive marks. These churches, from the more simple ancient churches simply decorated with early frescoes, to the lavish baroque basilicas gilded with gold and porphyry all display a commitment to making the most beautiful house for our Lord that they could at that moment.

Ten days ago, on May 8, 2025, Robert Cardinal Prevost was elected Pope, taking the name Leo XIV. This day he was elected, May 8, is a feast day of St. Michael the Archangel, commemorating his multiple apparitions atop Monte Gargano in southeastern Italy since the year 492. This feast day used to be celebrated throughout the world, but has now often been neglected.

While I was in Italy, we celebrated Mass in the Catacombs of Rome, surrounded by the tombs of the early Christians, as well as by where some of the early Popes used to be buried. There were buried martyrs, clergy, families, and children; all Christians who lived the faith even through persecution. We celebrated Mass in a similar way to these early Christians, who celebrated the Mass atop the tombs of the Martyrs, sometimes even becoming martyrs themselves in the process. Even through the centuries of time that have passed between then and now, we share the same faith as the faith of our forefathers.

Today I am writing to you from Italy, where only a few days ago, I attended the funeral Mass of Pope Francis. I had planned for this trip many months ago to go for the Jubilee Year, and was going to be at the Canonization Mass of (soon to be Saint) Carlo Acutis, but just 3 days before I left, Francis passed, causing the Canonization to be postponed. A trip for jubilation turned to a trip for mourning.

The Paschal Candle represents Christ, the Light of the World. It is blessed and solemnly processed into a darkened church at the Easter Vigil, bringing the Light of the Risen Christ into the church. The beeswax of which the candle is made represents the sinless Christ who was formed in the womb of His Mother, as is paralleled in the Exsultet, a proclamation chanted at the Easter Vigil: "a fire into many flames divided, yet never dimmed by sharing of its light, for it is fed by melting wax, drawn out by mother bees to build a torch so precious."

Coming up in 6 days, we arrive at the most important Mass of the entire church year, a beautiful and majestic hours-long tapestry of symbolism, poetry, and powerful scripture recounting the story of Salvation History. This is the Easter Vigil. This Mass is also when the Church grows since the Easter Vigil is the night when catechumens can receive the Catholic sacrament of Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Communion on the same night. The Easter Vigil is a one-of-akind Mass, more different than a regular Sunday liturgy than any other Mass of the year.

The most sacred three days of the entire year in the Church is the Sacred Triduum, encompassing Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday. The liturgy, and yes, it is a single liturgy that spans the course of three days, is a tapestry of symbolism, poetry, and sublime beauty.

It has been nearly 800 years since perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament began in Avignon, France, a practice that has now spread throughout the world. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, perpetual adoration refers to adoration of the Blessed Sacrament without interruption or with pauses for only short periods of time.

We are only about halfway through Lent, but I wish to look forward to what awaits us at the close of this season: Holy Week and Easter. Holy Week begins on April 13 with Palm Sunday and continues to Holy Saturday, when we celebrate the most important, elaborate, and beautiful Mass of the year: the Easter Vigil. Beginning with the first day of Holy Week, Palm Sunday is when we remember Christ’s entrance into the Holy City of Jerusalem, days before His crucifixion, with people greeting him with palm fronds as may be custom for a victorious king. Later in that same Mass, we recount our Lord’s Passion on the Cross during the Gospel.

During this season of Lent, we are asking everyone to depart the church after our Masses in silence, to better contemplate the mystery of the Mass and understand the sacredness of the action we just partook in.

“The main current of Lent must flow through the interior man, through hearts and consciences. The essential effort of repentance consists in this. In this effort, the human determination to be converted to God is invested with the predisposing grace of conversion and, at the same time, of forgiveness and of spiritual liberation… Penance is not just an effort, a weight, but it is also a joy. Sometimes, it is a great joy of the human spirit, a delight that other sources cannot bring forth.

In just a few days, we will enter into the Liturgical Season of Lent on Ash Wednesday. Lent is a time of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. It calls us to reflect on the blessings God has given us and how we should journey to be more united with Him. Below are two perspectives on how to encounter God during Lent: one from Pope Francis and another from Pope Benedict XVI.