BISHOP RIDES DONKEY LIKE CHRIST

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.

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