Dear visitor,

During Holy Week, the Church celebrates a moving history: the last days and hours in the life of Jesus Christ. This short history is one of many, powerful contrasts: between love and hate, communion and condemnation, defencelessness and violence, veracity and falsity, forgiveness and hardness, suffering and mockery, dark and light, life and death, God and mankind. No other story has inspired artists of all eras to such an extent as the history of Jesus’ last days. They have attempted to highlight the bold contrasts of this story in every possible art form, so we can share in them.

The Cathedral of Our Lady wants to be a place where the spiritual significance and relevance of Jesus’ suffering, death and resurrection can be experienced by anyone who visits it. That is why I am so pleased to be able to present this programme to you. Concerts, liturgical services and spiritual initiatives enhance your experience of the Joyful Message. Jesus is the face of God’s mercy. I hope that you may experience this yourself in our cathedral!

Monsignor Johan Bonny, Bishop of Antwerp