Holy Week Phot-o' the Day: Crucifix, Ljubljana Cathedral, Ljubljana, Slovenia

Katedrala Ljubljana. Ljubljana Cathedral. This crucifix is off to the side of the main altar. Photo taken September 2014.

Churches are closed today. Tomorrow is Easter Sunday. They're supposed to be closed today because, today, the body is in the tomb. Tomorrow, the tomb will be empty. Sad that the churches will be, too.

Holy Week Phot-o' the Day: High Cross and Giant (and I do mean "Giant") Rosary, Fatima, Portugal

Welcome to Good Friday 2020. People think of "Good Friday" is being the most ironically-named day in the liturgical calendar. It's not. "Good" is an archaic synonym for "holy." It's also "good" in the sense that, without this day, there would be no Easter Sunday, no resurrection, no death for our sins. So, yes, it is "Good" Friday in both meanings.

For the Holy Week Phot-o' the Day for Good Friday 2020, it is time to revisit Fatima. The crucifix is the High Cross, a very large stylized cross (it's a bent ribbon of steel on that cross, not a recognizable human form). The High Cross is located on the plaza opposite the Santuário de Fátima, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fatima, in front of the Basílica da Santíssima Trindade, the Basilica of the Most Holy Trinity.

Behind the Cruz Alta, the High Cross, is a giant rosary. Biggest I've ever seen. No sure what the "world records" folks have to say about it, but it's without a doubt the biggest rosary my eyes have rested upon.

I think Fatima is the most important of the Marian apparition sites around the world. Just my opinion. You could say Lourdes, or Medjugorje, or Guadalupe, or somewhere else I'm neglecting to mention, and you would be just as right.

Visited September 2017, on the 100th anniversary of penultimate apparition in the series of apparitions seen by the three shepherd children over six consecutive months in 1917.

Holy Week Phot-o' the Day: Ninth Station of the Cross; Monserrate, Bogotá, Colombia

I've seen many stations of the cross in my day. My favorite are the stations that can be found at the top of Monserrate on the edge of the City of Bogotá in Colombia.

The statuary is very nice. But it is the physical setting that makes this so amazing. This is a lush green park-like setting at the top of a mountain (well over 10,000 feet above sea level) right on the edge of a massive, crowded city of eight million. (The fact that you can take a funicular to the summit is the buttercream frosting on the stations of the cross cake.)

Today is Maundy Thursday of Holy Week 2020. This is the ninth station. Christ nailed to the cross. I could have picked any and it would have been just as magnificent.

Visited May 2015. On the day of my 45th birthday!

Holy Week Phot-o' the Day; the Scourging of Christ; Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain

Today's Holy Week Phot-o' the Day takes us to the unfinished Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain. Much like the gothic cathedrals of pre-Renaissance Europe, Sagrada Familia has been under construction for over 100 years and it's still unfinished. One significant reason is the huge amount of decorative artwork throughout the structure, interior and exterior. It is impossible to absorb all of it. There has so many religiously-significant scenes depicted in the art throughout Sagrada Familia.

For example: this. This is the scourging of Christ. An ordinary column does double duty as the pillar to which Jesus is tied to receive the 40 lashes as his "punishment" from Pilate. Just one of the thousands pieces of religious art found here.

Visited September 2015.

Holy Week Phot-o' the Day: Desert Christ Park, Yucca Valley, California

Today's stop for Holy Week-related iconography is Desert Christ Park in Yucca Valley, California. The 3.5-acre park features concrete statuary depicting famous scenes from the gospels. The centerpiece of the park is the giant Last Supper wall, patterned on da Vinci's masterpiece, with a window behind Christ's head so you can stand behind the Last Supper scene and get a "you are there" photo. It's too big for a selfie, although I guess you could selfie with just the head and face of Christ. You need to get the picture of yourself the old-fashioned way, the way we used to do back in the day, with someone else on the front side of the Last Supper wall to snap the photo.

It's worth the stop if you ever find yourself on the highway between Joshua Tree National Park and Palm Springs. I don't know if this rendering of the Last Supper, with a photo-opportunity window behind Christ's head, is one-of-a-kind, but I've traveled a lot and I've not seen anything else like this.

Visited May 2009.

Holy Week Phot-o' the Day: Last Supper, Cross of Our Lord; Groom, Texas

It's Holy Week 2020! The week we waited all of Lent for. Sort of. This was a strange Lent and it will be a strange Holy Week.

It will be religious-themed photos all week this week Holy Week. First stop: Groom, Texas. Groom, Texas, is the home of the giant 190-foot tall cross, located just off I-40 between Amarillo and the vertical part of the Oklahoma/Texas border. At the base of the cross and statuary depicting the stations of the cross, with statuary from both the traditional Stations of the Cross and the "Scriptural Way of the Cross," which includes additional preliminary material. Such as this: a stylized statue of the Last Supper. The three crosses of Calvary are visible in the background.

It's a nice scene. It's not a place for quiet contemplation, given the loud highway noise in the background. It's a place for photography. Which I did.

Visited November 2006.