All of us at the shrine and at Terra Sancta Ministries wish you a holy Holy Week, full of grace and gratitude as commemorate the Paschal Mystery of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
First Wednesday is also the Wednesday of Holy Week, called “Spy Wednesday” due to Judas’s treachery. This happens to be April 1, but none of the above is an “April Fool’s” trick. We must pray for Judas-like unfaithful priests/bishops to repent and to live their vocation. We will pray our St. Joseph “First Wednesday” devotions after Mass to honor St. Joseph’s most chaste heart and that he help us restore the spiritual health of the Church (holiness). All graces come to the world from Christ and through His Church, the Catholic Church, and thus the weakening of the Church means the weakening of the world (i.e., more evil).
St. Joseph Chapel & the Shrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (400 South Blvd. W., Pontiac, MI 48341)
will be CLOSED on Good Friday but OPEN at 10:30 am for Confessions on Holy Saturday, April 4. We will be open for Confessions as long as needed. We will have THREE PRIESTS available. Since First Friday falls on Good Friday and First Saturday falls on Holy Saturday—and these take precedence over those devotional observances—you may (as I understand it) resume counting your 9 First Fridays and 5 First Saturdays next month, in May. The apocalyptic nature of our times should rouse us to an urgency to making reparation and to keeping our First Fridays and First Saturdays. As the self-identified “Angel of Peace” said in 1916 to the 3 children of Fatima (before Our Lady appeared the next year), “The Hearts of Jesus and Mary are attentive to the voice of your supplications.”
A disturbing event just occurred in Jerusalem with regard to us Catholics (and really most Christians). On Palm Sunday morning, March 29, 2026 this was the press release from the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem (the Catholic “Archdiocese”): “This morning, the Israeli Police prevented the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, His Beatitude Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Head of the Catholic Church in the Holy Land, together with the Custos of the Holy Land, the Most Reverend Fr. Francesco Ielpo, OFM, the official Guardian of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre [and Head of the Franciscans in the Holy Land] from entering the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, as they made their way to celebrate the Palm Sunday Mass.
The two were stopped en route, while proceeding privately and without any characteristics of a procession or ceremonial act, and were compelled to turn back. As a result, and for the first time in centuries, the Heads of the Church were prevented from celebrating the Palm Sunday Mass at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
This incident is a grave precedent, and disregard the sensibilities of billions of people around the world who, during this week, look to Jerusalem.
The Heads of the Churches have acted with full responsibility and, since the outset of the war, have complied with all imposed restrictions: public gatherings were cancelled, attendance was prohibited, and arrangements were made to broadcast the celebrations to hundreds of millions of faithful worldwide, who, during these days of Easter, turn their eyes to Jerusalem and to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
Preventing the entry of the Cardinal and the Custos, who bear the highest ecclesiastical responsibility for the Catholic Church and the Holy Places, constitutes a manifestly unreasonable and grossly disproportionate measure. This hasty and fundamentally flawed decision, tainted by improper considerations, represents an extreme departure from basic principles of reasonableness, freedom of worship, and respect for the Status Quo.
The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and the Custody of the Holy Land express their profound sorrow to the Christian faithful in the Holy Land and throughout the world that prayer on one of the most sacred days of the Christian calendar has thus been prevented.”
The following is on analysis of this event: “As of today, March 30, we just received word that the Israeli government has just agreed to allow a total of five worshipers—essentially a handful of clergy—inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre during the Western and Eastern Holy Weeks occurring over the next thirteen days. A mere FIVE WORSHIPERS to represent all of Christendom inside its most sacred site during its most sacred time. This is an insult to Christians around the world. Moreover, by so heavily restricting Holy Sepulchre and the other holy sites in the Old City, the Israeli government, under the pretext of “public safety,” is trying to advance the following (false) narrative:
- Iran is targeting the holy sites of all three Abrahamic faiths in the Old City (from Netanyahu’s statement yesterday). This is false. Iran is targeting the military-industrial base of the country in the greater Tel-Aviv area. Those missiles sometimes fly over Jerusalem. When they do, Israel often launches its high-altitude interceptors from West Jerusalem over East Jerusalem, so that any shrapnel falls on the predominately Palestinian half of the city. If they were truly concerned about the safety of the Old City, the government would relocate their interceptors to the Mount of Olives and shoot them over the Judean wilderness, which is sparsely populated.
- This is strictly about public safety. Current regulations allow for public gatherings of up to 50 people with a reinforced shelter nearby. But the Old City has few if any purpose-built shelters. However, the stone structures of most buildings, including Holy Sepulchre, certainly offer more than adequate protection from falling shrapnel, which is the only real threat to those living in the Old City (although the government is trying to foster a narrative opposite this—see no. 1, above). This fiction has enabled the government to essentially close down the entire Old City, including its holy sites. Indeed, the government’s sudden reversal barring Cardinal Pierbattista and the Custos from Holy Sepulchre—under intense international pressure—reveals the false nature of this public safety claim. It remains to be seen how strictly the rules will be enforced for the masses seeking the annual priestly blessing at the Western Wall next week during Passover.
- The Israeli Government has authority over Christian and Muslim holy places in the Old City. By the treaty that Israel signed with Jordan in 1994, the King of Jordan maintains authority over the Muslim and Christian holy sites in East Jerusalem, maintaining the religious Status Quo. King Abdullah II, in turn, passes this authority over to the churches and overseeing Waqf (Muslim trust) themselves, intervening only in disputes. By using police to enforce unilaterally decided restrictions on these sites, Israel is not only in violation of their own treaty agreement, but also the longstanding Status Quo, which they seek to erode and finally eviscerate all together. And because Israel has no constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion, this is an extreme threat to the freedom of religion of those of any faith living here.”
This raw exercise of power is intentional. You may draw your own conclusions. It is a spiritual lesson, especially that it took place as Holy Week began and near where Jesus, the Jewish Messiah & Savior of the world, was crucified and rose from the dead.
To communicate with me, please email me directly at abunaalex@yahoo.com or call/text me at (313) 727-9784. Our Lady of Sorrows, pray for us!
In Jesus, Mary & Joseph,
Fr. Alex Kratz, OFM
Spiritual Director of Terra Sancta Ministries