Christ conquered death and trusted the first news of that stunning feat to his friend Mary of Magdala. This 15-minute online version of Visio Divina offers you a chance to contemplate the story of the first Easter morning, with Scripture, sacred image from UP’s Saint John’s Bible, and prayerful music.
Garaventa Center
“Cosmology, Catholicity, & Consciousness” with Sr. Ilia Delio, OSF
Presenting this week’s brain food-packed podcast from the Garaventa Center vault: “Cosmology, Catholicity & Consciousness: Why Wholeness Matters” by brilliant polymath Sr. Ilia Delio, OSF. Taking her cue from Laudato Si’, Sr. Delio explores a new understanding of catholicity today by drawing on insights from quantum physics, neuroscience and evolutionary biology and the nascence of a third millennium theology.
For other uplifting and stimulating presentations, we invite you to check out some of our greatest hits from the last 5 years, or browse our complete archive of podcasts. The Garaventa Center will be featuring some of our favorite podcasts here weekly through the end of the term; contact Karen Eifler (eifler@up.edu) with questions or requests.
Lenten Visio Divina: The Online Version
As Holy Week gets underway, pause for 15 minutes of contemplative prayer right at your computer with Scripture, quiet harp music, and sacred images in this online version of Visio Divina, focused on The Crucifixion. This ancient form of prayer requires only your attentive presence. Brought to you by the Garaventa Center and Campus Ministry.
The Easter Triduum: Did You Know?
Did you know about the Triduum?
As the Christian community enters into the final week of preparation for Easter Sunday, a week often called Holy Week, members of the Catholic community will begin to start talking about something called Triduum. Taken from a Latin root that mean “three days,” it is a period of time that traces the final days of Jesus’ life, his death, and his resurrection from the dead.
Starting on the Thursday before Easter Sunday, each day is traditionally marked with a particular liturgy. On Holy Thursday there is the Mass of the Lord’s Supper that marks the Last Supper that Jesus had with his disciples, wherein he showed them what it means to serve by washing their feet. It is also meant to mark what is seen as the establishment of the celebration of the Eucharist (or Mass).
Good Friday is marked with fasting and prayer as a way to remember Jesus’ suffering and death on the cross. The Good Friday liturgy involves the reading of Jesus’ passion and death from the Gospel of John as well as an opportunity to pray with and venerate a cross – the instrument of Jesus’ death and our salvation.
Holy Saturday is meant to be a quiet day, remembering the empty space that was present for the disciples of Jesus after his death and before his resurrection. They did not expect the resurrection and so were left in a place of grief.
After sundown on Holy Saturday, the Easter Vigil is celebrated. It one of the longest of Catholic liturgies, involving several readings from scripture tracing God’s care for humanity, the baptism and reception of new members of the Church, the celebration of the Eucharist, and a great many joy-filled songs. It was that night when Jesus rose from the dead. It is that great victory over sin and death that the community celebrates.
The community will then gather again on Easter Sunday to celebrate Mass and continue to the joyous songs of celebration. Jesus Christ has risen to die no more! Humanity has been invited into that same trajectory through death to life.
Unfortunately, due to the needs of our current situation, our community will not be able to gather in person for the Triduum Liturgies. However, the private celebration of the Holy Cross community will be streamed live from the Chapel of Christ the Teacher. Please feel free to join online using this link.
The schedule of the liturgies will be: Holy Thursday at 4:30 p.m., Good Friday at 3 p.m., Holy Saturday Easter Vigil at 8 p.m., and Easter Sunday Mass at 10:30 a.m.
“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in UPBeat to help staff and faculty understand dimensions of this Catholic, Holy Cross university. You can send questions to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C. (Campus Ministry) or Karen Eifler (Garaventa Center).
St. Joseph, An Extraordinary Man: Did You Know?
Did you know about St. Joseph?
You only get a vague image of this extraordinary person in the New Testament. This unusual man, Joseph believes in the Incarnation, God becoming human, long before any theologian taught about this. He trusts that something special is happening in Mary, his betrothed, becoming pregnant with Jesus. As you read further in the Gospel account, there is a story of Joseph seen as a man who perceives God’s communication to him through dreams. Thus, believing in one of those dreams, he takes Mary and Jesus to Egypt to escape Herod, the king who seeks to put Jesus to death. However, in terms of a real description of Joseph’s virtue, the Scriptures leave us one central word. Joseph is spoken of as a “just man.”
A classical definition of the word “just” is to give to all what is due them. Therefore, you can imagine Joseph being a carpenter who worked hard to provide a good service and asked reasonable recompense. Where else did he offer what was due? One possibility is that he treated his foster son and Mary his wife as sacred people. This is based on the fact that Joseph’s life was filled with a great deal of hallowed mystery. God had asked him to live in mystery and to be a husband and father of faith. He fulfilled that role of “protector of the sacred” by giving Mary and Jesus what was just, everything that was due to them.
Perhaps our call to justice involves our treatment of others ahead of anything else. Ask yourself, “Are all the people in my life being given what is due to them while treating them as part of a sacred mystery?”
“Did You Know?” is a regular feature in UPBeat to help staff and faculty understand dimensions of this Catholic, Holy Cross university. You can send questions to Fr. Jim Gallagher, C.S.C. (Campus Ministry) or Karen Eifler (Garaventa Center).
“Hold Fast to Love and Justice” with Bernadette Farrell Postponed
Please take note: the March 21 concert with liturgical composer Bernadette Farrell has been postponed until next academic year. For more information contact the Garaventa Center at garaventa@up.edu or x7702.
RESCHEDULED: “Reading the Bible Disruptively” with Susanne Scholz
Please mark your calendars! The lecture by Susanne Scholz, “Reading the Bible Disruptively for Gender Justice in an Authoritarian Age,” originally scheduled for March 18, has been rescheduled to Wednesday, September 30, 2020. For more information contact the Garaventa Center at garaventa@up.edu or x7702.
“The Dragon” Pre-Play Panel, March 14
All ticket holders to the Saturday, March 14 performance of The Dragon are invited to a complimentary wine, cheese, and dessert reception before the show as a panel of campus experts highlight what to look and listen for. Reception begins at 6:15 p.m., panel at 6:45 p.m., and the play at 7:30 p.m. in Mago Hunt Center. For ADA accommodations or more information contact the Garaventa Center at up.edu/garaventa or x7702. For tickets contact the Hunt Center Box Office at x7287.
“Reading the Bible Disruptively” with Susanne Scholz, March 18
On Wednesday, March 18, scholar and author Susanne Scholz will present “Reading the Bible Disruptively for Gender Justice in an Authoritarian Age,” at 7:15 p.m., in Bauccio Commons. Scholz will ask whether gendered Bible readings constitute viable intellectual alternatives to transform contemporary structures of domination.
Scholz serves as professor of Old Testament at Perkins School of Theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. Her research focuses on feminist biblical hermeneutics and the epistemologies and sociologies of biblical interpretation.
The lecture is free and open to all, and is sponsored by the Garaventa Center, CAS, Catholic Studies Program, the Department of Theology, and many more. For ADA accommodations or more information: up.edu/garaventa or x7702
Poetry Reading with GC Waldrep, March 12
Celebrated poet GC Waldrep will read select passages from his work and unpack connections between his faith and his art on Thursday, March 12, at 7:15 p.m., in the Brian Doyle Auditorium (DB 004). GC Waldrep is the author most recently of feast gently (2018), winner of the 2019 William Carlos Williams Award from the Poetry Society of America, and the long poem Testament (2015). Waldrep currently teaches at Bucknell University and edits the journal West Branch. Free and open to all. Sponsored by the Garaventa Center and the English department. For ADA accommodations or more information please use this link or call x7702.