Earlier today President Trump, First Lady Melania, Vice-President Mike Pence and Second Lady Karen Pence hosted a National Day of Prayer service in the Rose Garden of the White House. It was a very special event. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Please. Thank you. Be seated, please. And, Melania, thank you very much, on the second anniversary of the BE BEST Initiative. You’ve done a fantastic job. And everybody appreciates it. But I want to — (applause) — thank you. And I want to thank you, on behalf of the entire nation, for all that you do for America’s children and on fighting the drug addiction problem that we have in this country. It’s all over the world. But I want to thank you very much. Great job you do. You work so hard.

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From the press release this is an interesting, and oddly colloquial, way for the United States Dept of Justice under AG Bill Barr to define the first amendment.

…”Social distancing, while difficult and unfamiliar for a nation that has long prided itself on the strength of its voluntary associations, has the potential to save hundreds of thousands of American lives from an imminent threat.”…

I never quite thought about the first amendment as being so casual.  Let’s all attend our ‘voluntary associations’ on Sunday.  Alrighty then… Though, well, I do wonder what an involuntary association would be. I digress; I’m being petty.

[DOJ] “Today, the Department filed a Statement of Interest in support of a church in Mississippi that allegedly sought to hold parking lot worship services, in which congregants listened to their pastor preach over their car radios, while sitting in their cars in the church parking lot with their windows rolled up. 

The City of Greenville fined congregants $500 per person for attending these parking lot services – while permitting citizens to attend nearby drive-in restaurants, even with their windows open.[1]  The City appears to have thereby singled churches out as the only essential service (as designated by the state of Mississippi) that may not operate despite following all CDC and state recommendations regarding social distancing.

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Gospel Jn 20:1-9

On the first day of the week,
Mary of Magdala came to the tomb early in the morning,
while it was still dark,
and saw the stone removed from the tomb.
So she ran and went to Simon Peter
and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and told them,
“They have taken the Lord from the tomb,
and we don’t know where they put him.”
So Peter and the other disciple went out and came to the tomb.
They both ran, but the other disciple ran faster than Peter
and arrived at the tomb first;
he bent down and saw the burial cloths there, but did not go in.
When Simon Peter arrived after him,
he went into the tomb and saw the burial cloths there,
and the cloth that had covered his head,
not with the burial cloths but rolled up in a separate place.
Then the other disciple also went in,
the one who had arrived at the tomb first,
and he saw and believed.
For they did not yet understand the Scripture
that he had to rise from the dead.

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Kentucky going full totalitarian.  Kentucky Democrat Governor, Andy Beshear, has ordered police to photograph (Automated License Plate Reader – ALPR) the license plates of Easter Sunday worshippers who will then be visited by the Ministry of Coronavirus Compliance and forced into a 14 day quarantine.

Kentucky – […] For those who decide to participate in a mass gathering of any type of which the state is notified of, the license plates of those individuals will be recorded and given to health department officials. They will then visit the individuals home bringing with them an order to quarantine for 14 days. (link)

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Earlier today President Trump participated in an Easter message with Bishop Harry Jackson from the Oval Office. [Video and Transcript Below]

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[Transcript] – THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you very much. On this Good Friday, Christians from all around the world remember the suffering and death upon the cross of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. At Easter Sunday, we will celebrate his glorious resurrection.

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Today we observe Good Friday, the day of the death of Jesus. Many Christian Churches have different ways of observation, to prepare us for the coming resurrection of the Lord on Easter Sunday. Today, the sacrifices we have made during Lent culminate in our internalization of the great offering of Christ’s life. If we have been diligent in our Lenten preparations, Good Friday hits us with a power and force that brings us, literally and figuratively, to our knees with the grasp of what Jesus poured out for us. It becomes personal, a tiny sliver of the cross is buried in our heart. And so each year, we find that we give ourselves over to Christ just a little more through this time of penance and reflection. 

This year, in particular,  I suspect that many of us will experience Good Friday as we never have before, with a comprehension of our own mortality and perhaps even an understanding that there are so many things in this world we do not, we cannot, control. We can control our choice in relationship to those things, and to the most important choice of all, the life and death of Jesus Christ, who chose to hang on a cross and die for us. He had all control, and he made his choice for us.

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At the end of the liturgy on Holy Thursday evening, in every Catholic Church around the world, the Blessed Sacrament is removed to the altar of repose, the altar is stripped, the church is bare, empty. Tomb-like. It is a striking and heartbreaking tradition, and I make sure to attend each year, to allow my heart to break, my tears to fall, my spirit to be clouded in gloom and dread, preparing for Good Friday, and Christ’s passion.

This year the priests will celebrate this Mass as they have most of the Masses throughout Lent, alone, without the faithful able to attend due to the Corona virus. Most churches are now closed to the faithful, although many congregations are able to worship online, have virtual Bible classes, and many other activities.

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Prayers increase as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s condition has worsened and he was moved into intensive care this afternoon to receive oxygen treatments.

U.K. – Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been moved to intensive care after his coronavirus condition worsened, Downing Street announced tonight.

The Prime Minister was transferred to the ICU at St Thomas’ Hospital in London at 7pm this evening – 11 days after testing positive for the deadly disease.

He remains conscious and Number 10 sources stressed he had been moved to the critical care unit as a precaution should he require a ventilator.

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MT 21:1-11

When Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem
and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them,
“Go into the village opposite you,
and immediately you will find an ass tethered,
and a colt with her.
Untie them and bring them here to me.
And if anyone should say anything to you, reply,
‘The master has need of them.’
Then he will send them at once.”
This happened so that what had been spoken through the prophet
might be fulfilled:
Say to daughter Zion,
“Behold, your king comes to you,
meek and riding on an ass,
and on a colt, the foal of a beast of burden.”
The disciples went and did as Jesus had ordered them.
They brought the ass and the colt and laid their cloaks over them,
and he sat upon them.
The very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road,
while others cut branches from the trees
and strewed them on the road.
The crowds preceding him and those following
kept crying out and saying:
“Hosanna to the Son of David;
blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord;
hosanna in the highest.”
And when he entered Jerusalem
the whole city was shaken and asked, “Who is this?”
And the crowds replied,
“This is Jesus the prophet, from Nazareth in Galilee.”

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