Lent and Holy Week 2015

Ash Wednesday This year we had our biggest turnout ever for the Ash Wednesday service held at the Korean Center, with standing-room only. Because the city is now a little more safe at night, we are having some services at 6:00 PM and people are responding well. Here Sr. Luise Ahrens proclaims the first reading. Fr. Kevin Conroy was the presider for this year's celebration. Many Catholics make sure that they are able to attend this service and we have a large number of other Christians who come to receive ashes also. After the gospel and Fr. Kevin's homily, the ashes were blessed and then distributed. Here Sr. Mary Little and Tommy Boukhris place the cross of ashes on the foreheads of fellow penitents, offering the admonition "Repent and believe in the gospel."

Chrism Mass 25 March 2015 Each Catholic diocese around the world celebrates what is called the chrism mass in the period before Easter. At this service, the priests renew their promise of obedience to their bishops and then the holy oils are blessed which are used in the celebration of the sacraments for the coming year. Here the priests are gathering before the ceremony. This is the church hall in the new church compound in the area of Phnom Penh called Phnom Penh Thmey. This is the first time the chrism mass was celebrated here. This was also the first time the mass was held in the afternoon rather than early in the morning.

Palm Sunday Our first Palm Sunday celebration was Saturday evening at the 5:00 PM liturgy at World Vision. We set up a table for blessing the palms on the stage where the musicians and choir are situated. When it was time to start, we had the opening hymn which was followed by the passage from John's gospel about Jesus entering Jerusalem seated on donkey's colt. We had a short procession around and through our congregation, the best we could do since we were in a fourth-floor auditorium. This year we again had straight palm fronds, not palms woven into crosses and other shapes. The straight pieces make for a better visual atmosphere for the blessing ceremony but even some of those were woven into various shapes before the mass began, while people were waiting.

Holy Thursday Charlie Dittmeier was the presider for the Holy Thursday service which was held at the Korean Center near the Maryknoll office. Afterwards there was a period of silent adoration at the simple altar set up in a rear corner of the auditorium. A number of people stayed to pray for fifteen minutes or so before we had to leave.

Good Friday The Good Friday service was again held at the Korean Center at 6:00 PM, after work for most of those who attended. Fr. John Mace, SJ, was the presider. Here he carries the cross into the assembly for veneration. Here Fr. John Mace reads the prayer for the special intercessions which are a major part of the Good Friday service. Those intercessions are perhaps the oldest extant part of Christian ritual that has come down to us from the first centuries of the church. Then the faithful were invited to come forward to venerate the cross, the instrument of our salvation. Our community, coming from a mixture of more than 55 countries, used a variety of expressions--kissing, touching, bowing, genuflecting--for the veneration. Our dedicated musicians and choir accompanied us throughout this service--and throughout all of Holy Week. This evening required an extended effort for the music offered during the long period of veneration .

Holy Saturday Easter Vigil The celebration of the Lord's resurrection at the Easter Vigil service on Holy Saturday night begins in darkness and everyone receives a candle from the Easter Candle representing Christ the Light of the World. Because of fire safety concerns, this year we used electronic candles, here being explained as people enter. Fr. Bob Wynne presided at this year's Easter Vigil and lit the new fire from which the Easter Candle is lighted. Again, for safety reasons the fire was created using alcohol in a Pyrex bowl that could be covered to extinguish the fire when the Paschal Candle was lit. An important part of the Easter Vigil liturgy is the singing of the Exsultet, an ancient hymn that recounts mankind's fall into sin and then redemption through Jesus' resurrection. During a series of Old Testament readings are proclaimed and a psalm response is sung after each. After the final reading, the two cantors, Polycarp and Era, sang the psalm verses together. During this service we had one baptism and then the Roberts family, already baptized, made their profession of faith and were formally welcomed into the Catholic Church. Some of the Roberts children watched as their parents received the Sacrament of Confirmation. At communion time, seven of the Roberts family received the Eucharist for the first time as part of the Roman Catholic Community.

Easter Sunday This morning there was an overflow crowd at St. Joseph Church for the English Easter Mass and that was followed by the French community in the same hall. Then in the evening we had a Maryknoll Easter dinner. Fr. Bob Wynne was chief cook and organizer. To start the evening off, Steve led us in an Easter hymn to draw our attention to the reason for our gathering this day. Then it was time to set the serving table. From L to R: Sr. Ann Sherman, Fr. Bob Wynne, James Havey (hidden), and Sami Scott unwrapping her famous bean salad. This was mainly a Maryknoll gathering with just a couple long-time associates who had no gathering of their own today. And this is a view from the other end of the table.

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