Times Of Swaziland: BISHOP RIDES DONKEY LIKE CHRIST

BISHOP RIDES DONKEY LIKE CHRIST
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BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 26/03/2018 08:46:00


MANZINI – Roman Catholic Church members entered the Holy Week in style as
their Bishop, Jose Luis Ponce de Leon, emulated Jesus Christ, rode a donkey.
This was during the Palm Sunday, which marks the final Sunday before Jesus was
crucified and it marks the beginning of the Holy Week. The procession started at
Salesian Schools and ended at the Cathedral Church in Manzini. Before riding the
donkey, the bishop prayed for the church members and blessed their palms, which
they carried throughout the play and service. The bishop then read a Bible verse
from Luke 19:30 where Jesus sent two of his disciples to go to the village ahead
and bring a young donkey, which had never been ridden, to him.  Thereafter, he
rode the donkey and led the church members, who were carrying palms and singing
a song titled ‘Hosanna’, to Cathedral Church. As the Holy Week has already
started, on Wednesday at 10am, the church will have Chrism Mass where the bishop
will bless three anointing oils; the oil of the sick, the oil of catechumens and
the oil of the Chrism.
The oil of the sick will be used to heal the ill and during mass. During his
prayer, the bishop is expected to ask the Lord to bless the oil so that everyone
who would be anointed with it could be freed from pain and illness.
On the other hand, the catechumens are the people who join the church as adults.
Baptism
During the blessing of the oil of the catechumens, the bishop will pray to the
Lord to bless the oil and give wisdom and strength to all those who will be
anointed with it in preparation for their baptism. He will also ask the Lord to
bring them in a deeper understanding of the gospel and to help them accept the
challenge of Christian living. The Chrism oil will be used to ordain pastors and
for baptism. During its blessing, the bishop, usually asks the Lord to bless it
so that those who will be anointed with it can be inwardly transformed and come
to share internal salvation. Thereafter, on Thursday at around 6pm, they will
commemorate the Maundy Thursday. During this celebration, the bishop will wash
12 church members’ (both men and women) feet.
At 2pm on Friday, they will have the Stations of the Cross play where they will
emulate the stages when Jesus was carrying the cross on His way to crucifixion.
Later on the day, there will be a service called the Passion of the Lord. During
this service, the church will emulate the difficulties that  Christ went through
during his time on earth and kiss the cross in veneration before the end of the
service. On Saturday, there will be an Easter Vigil at the Cathedral starting at
9pm which will end with an English and siSwati Mass at 9am and 10.30am,
respectively. During the vigil, the church will commemorate the time when Peter
denied Jesus Christ and also have fire, and before lighting candles from the
Easter candle, switch off all artificial lights.