The Latin abscóndit - pronounced AB-SCON-DIT - with the emphasis on the bold in the phonetics and accent on the word itself - comes from the Latin verb "to hide, to conceal" abscóndere. Again, the word "hide" is an Anglo Saxon derivation of the word hydan, meaning "to conceal from sight" The English derivation of the past tense of abscóndere is abscóndit from which we get the English word "abscond" which Webster's defines thusly:

"abscond" - [From the Latin verb abscóndere, to hide; from Latin prefix abs, from or away + condere, to store.] 1. To hide away, to depart, clandestinely; to steal off and secrete oneself. 2. To escape, to flee suddenly, especially to escape the Law. Syn. - See Decamp, flee, fly, escape. - absconder, noun."

    To better understand the significance of "hiding" and why Holy Mother Church considers this time so sacred and intense, we turn to the venerable Benedictine Abbot Dom Prosper Gueranger for more insight:

   "During the preceding four weeks, we have noticed how the malice of Jesus' enemies has been gradually increasing. His very presence irritates them; and it is evident that any little circumstance will suffice to bring the deep and long-nurtured hatred to a head. The kind and gentle manners of Jesus are drawing to Him all hearts that are simple and upright; at the same time, the humble life He leads, and the stern purity of His doctrines, are perpetual sources of vexation and anger, both to the proud Jew that looks forward to the Messias being a mighty conqueror, and to the pharisee, who corrupts the Law of God, that he may make it the instrument of his own base passions."

    Can we see the parallel with the conciliar potentates who parrot the pharisees in word and deed? Meanwhile, the hatred of traditional Catholics and all they stand for grows more intense. 4 weeks of Lent we have traversed, 4 decades of conciliar decadence we have endured, and it promises to grow fiercer in the days ahead for we have the tableau of Passiontide ahead of us and the three days that epitomizes the very reason why we exist, why we are Catholic. It culminates with the Resurrection, but not until the Cross has been taken up, endured and conquered. Dom Gueranger continues in showing us that we must not let down our guard, we must strive to fight the good fight and intensify our efforts of faith, hope and charity.

"Still Jesus goes on working miracles; His discourses are more than ever energetic; His prophecies foretell the fall of Jerusalem, and such a destruction of its famous temple, that not a stone is to be left on a stone. The doctors of the Law should, at least, reflect upon what they hear; they should examine these wonderful works, which render such strong testimony in favor of the Son of David; and they should consult those divine prophecies which, up to the present time, have been so literally fulfilled in His person. Alas! they themselves are about to carry them out to the very last iota. There is not a single outrage or suffering foretold by David and Isaias, as having to be put upon the Messias, which these blind men are not scheming to verify."

    The parallel with the present potentates of the conciliar church increases for they should know the Scriptures; they should know the infallible dogmatic documents of Trent; they should know the wise and prudent, and crystal clear decrees of previous reliable Pontiffs that laid out Catholic Truth and Tradition; they should know that the Novus Ordo has been gutted of the propitiatory sacrifice and the alter Christus and replaced with a participatory celebration akin to a Protestant service and an unwarranted, unnecessary, and sacrilegious priesthood of the people that has emphasized unity of community rather than unity with God; they should know Latin; they should know that what they are following is the path towards the abyss; they should know that not a stone will be left upon a stone in the lodges they have built out of their own pride and the bankruptcies in diocese after diocese is one of the bitter fruit of them raping souls and abandoning the true Faith. They should see the fruits of traditional Catholic families, but they are blinded by hard-hearts and pride. We can see the very same symptoms in today's conciliar leaders as the Jewish leaders of Christ's time as the Abbot points out:

"In them, therefore, was fulfilled that terrible saying: 'He that shall speak against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, nor in the world to come' (St. Matthew 12: 32). The Synagogue is nigh to a curse. Obstinate in her error, she refuses to see or to hear; she has deliberately perverted her judgment: she has extinguished within herself the light of the holy Spirit; she will go deeper and deeper into evil, and at length fall into the abyss. This same lamentable conduct is but too often witnessed nowadays in those sinners, who, by habitual resistance to the light, end by finding their happiness in sin. Neither should it surprise us, that we find in people of our own generation a resemblance to the murderers of our Jesus: the history of His Passion will reveal to us many sad secrets of the human heart, and its perverse inclinations; for what happened in Jerusalem, happens also in every sinner's heart. His heart, according to the saying of St. Paul, is a Calvary, where Jesus is crucified. There is the same ingratitude, the same blindness, the same wild madness, with this difference: that the sinner who is enlightened by faith, knows Him Whom he crucifies; whereas the Jews, as the same apostle tells us, knew not the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2: 8). Whilst, therefore, we listen to the Gospel, which relates the history of the Passion, let us turn the indignation we feel for the Jews against ourselves and our own sins; let us weep over the sufferings of our Victim, for our sins caused Him to suffer and die."

    This very point made by the holy Abbot is the very emphasis Mel Gibson reiterated in his film The Passion of The Christ in defending the truth of Scripture and the script, for which he was lambasted by the Zionists and Modernists with very little defense from the conciliar church which straddled the fence for fear of offending man, even to the point of back-pedaling of the famous or infamous "it is as it was" statement that only confused further. But that is to be expected in the modern church, where the idea of man being responsible for his own actions, being responsible for sin before God, is at best clouded in more ambiguity and tacit denial. Ask a Novus Ordinarian how many sermons they hear from the pulpit on the grave consequences of sin. So many conciliar Catholics have been brought up to believe that everyone goes to Heaven and sin is relative and that God will forgive whatever in the end so don't sweat it. Au contraire! We should sweat it and, as St. Paul says in Philippians 2: 12 , "work out your salvation in fear and trembling." Each of us must make account for our own actions before God. In order to enter Heaven we must be purified of all sin. We can make temporal amends, but most of us will still have to make up for our imperfections and failure to fully heed Christ's teachings and strive toward holiness by spending at least some time in Purgatory. There, again, is another doctrine that has been slowly phased out by the Modernists intent on fashioning a one world religion where universal salvation rules regardless of what Christ taught. The whole concept of mourning and making reparation, prayer and fasting, has been slowly but surely eradicated with the sacking of the meaningful and necessary Requiem Mass where assisting at that Mass does wonders for the soul being remembered. Dom Gueranger sets the tone of what the Church should be doing this week when Passion Sunday has also been removed and backed up until Palm Sunday so that only Holy Week focuses on the Passion. Oh, how much we have lost in the novelties and sacrileges that have raked and scourged the Mystical Body of Christ:

"Everything around us urges us to mourn. The images of the saints, the very crucifix on our altar, are veiled from our sight. The Church is oppressed, with grief. During the first four weeks of Lent, she compassionated her Jesus fasting in the desert; His coming sufferings and crucifixion and death are now what fill her with anguish. We read in today's Gospel, that the Jews threaten to stone the Son of God as a blasphemer: but His hour is not yet come. He is obliged to flee and hide Himself. It is to express this deep humiliation, that the Church veils the cross. A God hiding Himself, that He may evade anger of men - what a mystery! Is it weakness? Is it, that He fears death? No; we shall soon see Him going out to meet His enemies: but at present He hides Himself from them, because all that had been prophesied regarding Him has not been fulfilled. Besides, His death is not to be stoning: He is to die upon a cross, the tree of malediction, which, from that time forward, is to be the tree of life."

    Today satan is doing everything he can to prompt man to eliminate reminders of the cross with secular administrations passing laws that legislate removal of this most Christian of symbols and the conciliar church sits by as this aberration intensifies everywhere for the church of Vatican II is impotent, unable to do anything for God has withdrawn His graces from the bad tree (cf. Matthew 7: 15-20) and let it wither on its own for not only has it lost authority before Heaven, but authority with man; a mere figurehead that can be patronized but not obeyed for men no longer believe in the sacrifice of the Son of God and what it takes to imitate Him. Pride has taken over our hearts and all of us, yes, traditional Catholics as well, need this time of year to remind us that we are not holier than thou, not saved automatically. There is a price to pay, a stiff price that can be so beneficial, so sweet if we but accept and follow the will of God. Dom Prosper Gueranger continues in this vein:

"Let us humble ourselves, as we see the Creator of Heaven and earth thus obliged to hide Himself from men, who are bent on His destruction! Let us go back, in thought, to the sad day of the first sin, when Adam and Eve hid themselves because a guilty conscience told them they were naked. Jesus has come to assure us of our being pardoned, and lo! He hides Himself, not because He is naked - He that is to the saints the garb of holiness and immortality - but because He made Himself weak, that He might make us strong. Our first parents sought to hide themselves from the sight of God; Jesus hides Himself from the eyes of men. But it will not be thus for ever. The day will come when sinners, from whose anger He now flees, will pray to the mountains to fall on them and shield them from His gaze; but their prayer will not be granted, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of Heaven, with much power and majesty (St. Matthew 24: 30)."

    In case any one has forgotten that we are in Passiontide, the purple shrouds covering the Crucifix and statues and paintings within each church will remind us of this sobering thought and that there is only one way to appease God and that is by following His holy Will and being willing to take up our cross as well and follow Him on the steep and grueling journey to Calvary. But before we do, we have this time of preparation so that we can rev up the courage to be able to complete the pilgrimage to the Cross. To do this, we must go within our own heart and soul, make a thorough examination of our conscience and repent fully of all our sins and make amendment to not sin again. Then, and only then, will we have the spiritual stamina to follow in Christ's footsteps. This is a time to veil our heart to preserve it for a greater love story. The ultimate Love Story that cannot be equaled, and, which, is a mere 13 days away, fast approaches. Are we ready? We should prepare as little children, free of the concupiscence of the world, the flesh and the devil; free to follow Christ in all our innocence. It takes humility, repentance, and prayer to be given the grace to never sin again. That is what will best prepare us for this time of hide and seek.

VerbumQUO for PASSION SUNDAY