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What do you say to someone who is about to die? Is there some advice you should pass along, a recommendation, say, on how best to spend his or her last day? And, by the way, that’s everyone, since nobody’s getting out of here alive. What about telling them not to schedule any other appointments that day? Who wants to be distracted at the very moment the Old Guy comes into the room to collect his…

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Washington is reportedly closing three of its eight bases in the country’s northeast, which have operated since 2014 without Damascus’ permission

The US has begun withdrawing troops from Syria, where they have been stationed without Damascus’ consent since 2014, the New York Times and the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing government sources.

According to the NYT, the US military plans to shut down three of its eight operating bases in Syria’s northeast and reduce troop levels from 2,000 to around 1,400. The bases reportedly set to be closed are Mission Support Site Green Village, M.S.S. Euphrates, and a smaller unnamed facility. In two months, commanders are expected to reassess whether more cuts are needed. Sources told the outlet that commanders recommended retaining no fewer than 500 troops.

The AP, citing its own sources, reported slightly deeper cuts, suggesting fewer than 1,000 US troops will remain.

Those remaining will reportedly continue supporting the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in counterterrorism operations and managing detention camps. Reports claimed the drawdown follows recommendations from ground commanders and has received approval from the Pentagon and US Central Command. Neither the Pentagon nor the White House has officially confirmed the withdrawal.

American forces have been stationed in Syria since 2014 under the stated mission of fighting ISIS. While previous estimates put troop levels at around 900, the Pentagon revealed last year that roughly 2,000 personnel were present. The announcement came shortly after Syrian President Bashar Assad was ousted by a coalition of armed groups led by the Islamist faction Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), with HTS leader Ahmed al-Sharaa assuming control. Assad’s removal sparked renewed unrest, including an uprising among the Alawite minority that left hundreds dead.

Both Damascus and Moscow have repeatedly condemned the US presence in Syria as an illegal occupation. The former Syrian government accused Washington of exploiting the country’s oil resources, as most US bases are in oil-rich regions of the northeast.

US President Donald Trump previously voiced skepticism about keeping troops in Syria. During the fall of Damascus in December, he wrote on social media: “Syria is a mess, but is not our friend. We should have nothing to do with it.”

Despite Assad’s ouster, Russia has pledged to maintain its longstanding presence and support for Syria. During a meeting on Thursday with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed Moscow’s commitment to Syrian sovereignty and territorial integrity. He also signaled readiness to work with Qatar to address Syria’s humanitarian crisis and stabilize the country’s security and economy.

Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, later told reporters that Russian forces will continue operating from their established bases at Khmeimim and Tartus, which they lease under a long-term agreement signed in 2017.

“We are in dialogue with the transitional government in Syria. Our special envoy visited Syria. Our president spoke with the leader of the transition period. Our military is staying where they had been,” Nebenzia said.

Moscow’s UN envoy has called anticipation of an imminent truce “unrealistic”

Senior US officials have told European backers of Kiev that Washington anticipates a comprehensive ceasefire in the Ukraine conflict within weeks, Bloomberg has reported.

US presidential envoy Steve Witkoff and Secretary of State Marco Rubio outlined the timeline during a series of meetings in Paris on Thursday, hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron, according to the outlet, citing anonymous sources.

The European side reportedly sought to persuade the Americans that President Donald Trump should “harden its position toward Moscow,” describing the discussions as “the latest attempt by Europe to influence the outcome” of US talks with Russia.

Last week, Witkoff traveled to St. Petersburg for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which he has characterized as “compelling.” Ukraine’s Vladimir Zelensky criticized Trump’s envoy, accusing him of echoing “Russian narratives.”

Russian officials have expressed skepticism about the feasibility of a ceasefire with Ukraine, asserting that Kiev’s backers in Europe are undermining US efforts.

Speaking to journalists on Thursday, Moscow’s UN representative, Vassily Nebenzia, highlighted that Kiev has failed to adhere to a US-mediated moratorium on strikes against energy infrastructure. The diplomat said that the West’s record of using purported peace deals to build up the Ukrainian military means that expectations for a full ceasefire are “simply unrealistic at this stage.”

“I cannot speak on behalf of President Trump,” Nebenzia said. “Perhaps, he knows better what I don't know.”

The 30-day energy ceasefire announced on March 18 is set to expire this week. When asked on Wednesday whether Russia would alter its military strategy, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated that Putin had issued no new directives on the matter.

The site was used to fund the rebel group’s “terrorist effort,” the United States Central Command has said

The US has carried out strikes on the Ras Isa fuel port in a Houthi-controlled area of Yemen. The operation is part of US President Donald Trump’s efforts to prevent the rebel group from targeting tankers and other merchant vessels sailing through the Suez Canal and the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait.

“The Iran-backed Houthis use fuel to sustain their military operations, as a weapon of control, and to benefit economically from embezzling the profits from the import,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Thursday. It added that ships continued supplying fuel through the port after the militant group’s terrorist designation took effect on April 5.

“Profits from these illegal sales are directly funding and sustaining Houthi terrorist efforts,” CENTCOM said. “The objective of these strikes was to degrade the economic source of power of the Houthis.”

The Houthi authorities said 38 civilians were killed, including five paramedics, and 102 more were injured. The majority of the victims were reportedly port workers.

“We affirm Yemen’s legal right to defend itself, and this crime will not go unpunished,” the Houthi authorities stated, according to Al-Masirah TV.

Hours after the strikes, the Israel Defense Forces said they intercepted a ballistic missile launched from Yemen on Friday morning.

The Houthis control the western part of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa, and the port of Hodeidah. Since 2023, the group has been firing kamikaze drones and missiles at commercial ships in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. The Houthis also launched ballistic missiles at Israel, saying they would stop the attacks once Israel ends its campaign against Hamas in Gaza.

Last month, Trump instructed the Pentagon to step up strikes in Yemen, warning that the Houthis would be “completely annihilated” unless they cease targeting shipping. The group, however, vowed not to bow to pressure. The Houthis have since claimed attacks on US warships patrolling the Red Sea area. On April 1, the militants reported shooting down an American MQ-9 Reaper drone.

EPC has copies of the book available for purchase. 

Order the book from EPC for $40 (after tax) + shipping (Order Link).

By Ramona Coelho

Dr Ramona Coelho speaking on April 15.Thank you so much for being here. I’m deeply grateful to share this moment with all of you, and especially honoured to stand alongside Dr Harvey Schipper and my co-editors, Dr. Sonu Gaind and Professor Trudo Lemmens. The book we’re launching tonight is the result of years of lived experience, medical care, research, and a common concern — concern for Canadians, and for the future of medical care and societal culture in this country.

We release this book at a critical time. As Trudo has mentioned, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has recommended the repeal of Track 2 MAiD. Likewise, the Ontario Coroner’s MAiD Death Review Committee — of which both Trudo and I are members — has begun publishing reports that document serious public safety concerns in MAiD cases. What we see confirms what many of us in healthcare have long feared and have tried to bring to the attention of politicians: people are accessing MAiD through lax application of the law, often without a thorough or humane exploration of their suffering. In some cases, death is being offered more readily than medical care and supports.

As a family physician, I work every day with people who face enormous barriers: refugees, individuals living in poverty, those with disabilities, mental illness, or incarceration histories. Earlier in my career, I provided home care in Montreal for people with dementia, addiction, or severe physical disabilities. These patients — like all of us — need to know their lives are valued, but sadly often don’t. Canadians need support, not an easy exit when life becomes unbearable. They need care, not assisted death as a substitute for our societal collective failures.

MAiD was introduced to Canadians as an “exceptional measure for exceptional cases,” intended to relieve suffering at the end of life when nothing else could. It has rapidly shifted. Private MAiD provider forums leaked by AP journalists- like Maria Cheng – have revealed cases where people qualified because of loneliness, lack of housing, or feelings of being a burden. When death is given because systems failed to offer support — that is not autonomy. That is abandonment.

Our book aims to expose these troubling patterns with clarity, evidence, and compassion. We highlight not only the stories and legal pathways, but also the ethical crossroads we now face as a society.

This is not an abstract debate. These are real people — people whose deaths were approved despite untreated mental illness, poverty, social isolation, or perhaps even the pressure of caregiver burnout.

We must ask ourselves, as the human rights commissioner of Canada also asked last year: Are we building a society where everyone’s life is seen as equally worth living? Or are we creating a system that quietly accepts some lives as more expendable?

We hope this book serves as a resource for those asking these hard questions — and a call to action for those in healthcare, law, policy, and beyond. Because at the end of the day, our task is not just to offer choices — it is to ensure those choices are grounded in dignity, support, and the belief that every person deserves to live a life of meaning, regardless of their challenges.

Thank you.

Order the book from EPC for $40 (after tax) + shipping (Order Link).

“And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, sad. For they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Amen I say to you, they have received their reward. But thou, when thou fastest anoint thy head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret: and thy Father who seeth in secret, will repay thee.” – Matt 6:16-18

The Church requires so little of us nowadays fasting, and I suspect most can’t even be bothered. I would wager that, when all is revealed, lack of fasting will turn out to have been a major factor in the advance of evil. The current discipline is the equivalent of almost two full meals… dude, that is literally NOT FASTING. Can’t we try to do better? It really isn’t that hard.

Join me in the 40 hour fast. Nothing but water (and some salt) from sundown (8pm) Holy Thursday, through Noon Holy Saturday. STAY HYDRATED. I promise you won’t die, and you will be a spiritual dynamo during these forty hours. You should center your prayers on your hardest/impossible cases. Also be prepared for some dark night type moments, which is just Satan trying to mess with you during this most holy time.

Blessed Triduum, everyone.

Both Passover and the Triduum commemorate deliverance: from slavery in Egypt, from the Angel of Death, from death itself, and from the accusations of Satan. While humans are free, and these days emphasize our freedom, it is God who spares the firstborn son, God who parts the sea, God who plunges horse and rider beneath the waves, and God who undoes death and opens the way to heaven. However expansive, human agency is incapable of such actions. We celebrate the acts of God while beseeching him to continue to act. 

These are the days we proclaim to the very earth itself, “Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,” but still our constant, daily prayer remains unchanged and necessary: “O God, make speed to save us; O God, make haste to help us.” During this Passover, hostages from October 7, 2023 remain in captivity. On this Easter, this Pascha, Ukraine is still besieged. Priests are killed in Nigeria, Christians persecuted in China, Sudan, and throughout the Middle East, and Jews are threatened in the United Kingdom. Things are not yet as they should be, as they will one day be, and we wait on God’s deliverance.

We recall great deeds of the past, but they present choices for every generation and place. As Leon Kass explains, the Book of Genesis presents God’s new way, given to Israel, against three major alternatives—Babylon, Canaan, and Egypt—each with “different ruling ideas, each looking up to different gods.” While those “ancient civilizations are long gone, their animating principles survive. Indeed, they find expression in cultural alternatives competing today for our attention and allegiance.” According to Kass, “biblical Egypt should be of special interest for modern Americans,” since it was the “peak of ancient civilization,” and yet, “in the end, [its] people’s preoccupation with survival and material well-being led to their enslavement” to Pharaoh.

We do not simply commemorate, we choose again; we accept the ancient covenants and their promises once more. We must do so, for the permanent possibility remains that we choose the other ways and depart from those given by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and promised to the line of David.

War, oppression, and injustice persist, but, in the West at least, our people and nations, while wealthy, free, and at peace, are choosing the ways of biblical Egypt: we are preoccupied with survival and material well-being, and are beset by a “spiritual poverty.” The philosopher Byung-Chul Han suggests that many have “no concern for the good life—only for bare life.” He quotes Aristotle from the Politics: “some people believe that . . . they should maintain their store of money or increase it without limit. The reason they are so disposed, however, is that they are preoccupied with living, not with living well.” Such a life not only ignores but does away “with the teleology of the good life,” loses “all sense of direction,” of purpose, and “becomes obscene.” 

Part of that obscenity, according to Han, is our self-enslavement. Ours is an “achievement society wholly dominated by the modal verb—can,” as opposed to a moral and lawful society “which issues prohibitions and deploys should.” When we are governed by what we should or should not do, there are limits to action, of course, but there is also a resting point—an end, and a completion to should. If one should celebrate Passover, and one has done so, the duty is accepted and accomplished; one has acted well. Moreover, since what we ought to or should do is meaningful if and only if we can do the action, the society governed by a moral and lawful sense assumes we are free and self-governed. The world governed by can has no limits and no resting place, no terminus. In principle, one can always do more, attain more, achieve more, and the world of having and doing knows no end except exhaustion and collapse. In Han’s words, “You can produces massive compulsion, on which the achievement-subject dashes him- or herself to pieces. . . . You can exercises even greater constraint than You should.” In the world of achievement, the governing idea is not “ought implies can”—since any obligation supposes freedom—but rather “can implies ought.” If you can do more, you ought to do more; if you can produce more, you ought to produce more, resulting in a frenzied world, appearing free but in reality self-enslaved. We were promised, by Freud, Marx, Nietzsche, Alfred Kinsey, and the architects of the sexual revolution, for instance, that once we dethroned thou shalt and thou shalt not we would be free; instead, we are free for “burnout, depression,” and “an unredeemable failure of ability,” resulting in a “psychic insolvency” that bears the indefinite debt of You can without hopes of atonement, deliverance, or paying off that debt.

The days of Passover and exodus, the days of crucifixion and resurrection, invite us—and, in a sense, command us—to “remember the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt.” Each person deals with the drama of his own soul and redemption, but we are also caught up into the drama of our people, our history, our nation, our culture. As it turns out, our people are returning to paganism with its bare existence. In so doing they jettison their freedom in exchange for a tyranny preoccupied with longevity and wealth, and they are driven to despair by the trap of thinking about what could be done if unburdened by the limits of reality and what should be.

We people of the Bible, Jews and Christians alike, are a blessing for the world, even for those who do not believe as we do. Paganism is false, of course, but it is also degrading; it thinks too little of the human, too little of the world. In our own time, it degrades with its tendency to cause malaise—the so-called crisis of meaning—erasing our longing for immortality, for eternity, and handing us over to the dull routines of bare existence. 

In these next days we celebrate our deliverance; in so doing we remind ourselves of our meaning, purpose, and dignity. But more: we offer hope for the “multitude” who would return to Egypt, return to slavery, simply because of its luxury and comfort, which seems to them better than the bread of life. So, we celebrate, with great joy—and not only for ourselves, but for all. 

Image by Renáta Sedmáková and licensed via Adobe Stock.

An important new public opinion survey taken by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE) has revealed very little American support for the deportation of legal foreign guests in the United States for expressing support for Palestine in its current conflict with Israel.

Responding to FIRE’s quarterly National Speech Index survey conducted by the Dartmouth Polarization Research Lab this month, a mere one-quarter of the respondents supported the deportation of non-citizens legally in the US for expressing pro-Palestine views. A solid majority of 52 percent are strongly opposed or opposed to such measures.

The survey result comes as US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has boasted of revoking “at least 300” student visas for the “crime” of expressing a position on middle east politics that the current US Administration disagrees with. Derided by Rubio as “lunatics” for opposing ongoing US government support for Israel as Gaza is flattened, many foreign students have been arrested by masked, armed federal agents – who refuse to even identify themselves – and sent to a federal detention facility in Louisiana.

In the case of Turkish PhD student Rumeysa Ozturk, the State Department had already produced a report concluding that she neither supported terrorism nor anti-Semitism before masked federal agents accosted her on the street and arrested her.

Her “crime” was co-authoring an op-ed in her university newspaper a year earlier criticizing Israel.

In many cases these arrests are carried out based on lists provided to the federal government by a militant, extremist group called Betar. The group is so radical that it has even been added to the pro-Israel ADL’s “extremism” list, yet somehow it has the ear of the Trump Administration.

Commenting on the findings, FIRE Chief Research Advisor Sean Stevens said, “deporting someone simply for disagreeing with the government’s foreign policy preferences strikes at the very freedoms the First Amendment was designed to protect. Americans are right to reject this kind of viewpoint-based punishment.”

Additionally, the shocking arrests and incarceration of legal residents or guests for committing no crime beyond expressing a particular point of view has begun to eat away at Americans’ confidence that the Trump Administration can be trusted to uphold the First Amendment. From Inauguration day until the FIRE poll this month, a majority of Americans have now lost confidence in the Trump Administration’s respect for our most sacred right of free expression:

Many Americans mistakenly believe government “grants” rights enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and that it grants them to American citizens only. Constitutional scholar Andrew Napolitano dismisses such claims, writing:

We know from the writings of James Madison — who authored the Bill of Rights — that the Founders regarded the freedom of speech as a personal individual natural right. It is also, of course, expressly protected from government interference and reprisal in the First Amendment. The courts have ruled that it protects all persons — no matter their immigration status — who may think as they wish, say what they think, publish what they say, worship or not and associate with whomever they choose.

While many supporters of the Trump Administration are currently applauding the arrest and deportation of legal foreign residents who express political views they do not support, they would do well to keep in mind that the vicissitudes of the American body politic may well soon turn against them and their views, and – particularly given President Trump’s stated intent to begin deporting American citizens as well – once the trap of a precedent is set they may not be able to wiggle out of it.

Indespensible pro-liberty intellectual Jim Bovard expressed it best in a recent article:

What legal perils will pro-freedom protestors face in the coming years if the Ozturk rule is canonized, entitling federal officials to crush any disfavored opinion? Big-spending Democrats may consecrate Modern Monetary Theory and demonize anyone who criticizes the Federal Reserve. I took this ‘Kill the Central Bank’ photo of Ron Paul supporters at a 2008 Capitol Hill event for his presidential campaign. If the same protestors had peacefully carried the same banner within a half mile of the Capitol on January 6, they likely would have been nailed on a bevy of federal charges. Many politicians have made stark their hatred of libertarians and freedom advocates.

As long as anyone is sitting in shackles in a federal detention center simply for writing an op-ed, freedom of speech is not safe for anyone in the United States.

While a trip into the bowels of social media suggests a torch-bearing mob rallying to send those guilty of the “wrongthink” of the day to some El Salvadorian gulag, the good work of the freedom of expression organization FIRE reassures us that cooler heads continue to prevail. However, by no means does that suggest we can afford to let our guard down for a minute. This is not an issue of partisanship, but of principle. The mob – whether left or right – must not be allowed to take over.

Above: The Isenheim Altarpiece (1512-16) by Matthias Grünewald An excerpt from The School of Jesus Crucified. 1. Her sufferings in the Crucifixion of her Son. Never has any mother or pure creature suffered a more painful martyrdom than that endured by Mary in beholding her most beloved Son barbarously crucified under her very eyes. Full of faith…

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Two people have been killed and several others injured after a gunman opened fire on the Florida State University campus

A shooting at Florida State University (FSU) has left two people dead and several injured, including the suspected gunman, who is now in custody, police have said. 

According to FSU Police Chief Jason Trumbower, the two people who died were not students at the university, but the shooter is believed to be a student, AP reports.

Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil identified the suspect as Phoenix Ikner, 20, the son of a local sheriff’s deputy. “Unfortunately, her son had access to one of her weapons,” McNeil said.

According to a law enforcement source cited by CNN, three firearms were recovered: One on the suspect, a shotgun inside the Student Union building on the Tallahassee campus, and another weapon in a nearby vehicle.

The incident reportedly unfolded around midday on Thursday near the Student Union building, prompting a swift lockdown and shelter-in-place orders for students and staff. More than 42,000 students are enrolled at Florida State’s main campus.

Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare has said in a statement that six individuals were hospitalized following the attack. One victim remains in critical condition, while the other five are listed as serious.

BREAKING: The suspect in the FSU shooting is the 20-year-old son of a current sheriff's deputy who had access to one of her weapons, according to Leon County Sheriff Walt McNeil.https://t.co/8qAT5g6qhH pic.twitter.com/PzrK5L9bII

Speaking at the White House, US President Donald Trump said he had been fully briefed on the shooting.

“It’s a horrible thing. It’s horrible that things like this take place,” he said.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis also expressed his condolences.

“Our prayers are with our FSU family and state law enforcement is actively responding,” he wrote on X.

The top US and Russian diplomats have discussed efforts to settle the Ukraine conflict, the Foreign Ministry in Moscow has said

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio held a phone conversation on Thursday.

The two top diplomats focused on the Ukraine conflict and ongoing multilateral contacts on a potential settlement, the Russian Foreign Ministry has stated.

Rubio briefed Lavrov on the meetings between the American delegation and representatives of Ukraine, France, and other European nations held earlier in the day in Paris, the ministry said.

“Lavrov reiterated Moscow’s readiness to continue working together with American colleagues to reliably resolve the root causes of the Ukrainian crisis,” it added.

The US State Department said Rubio conveyed to Lavrov the “same message” he delivered to the Ukrainian and European delegations: That US President Donald Trump and Washington “want this war to end, and have now presented to all parties the outlines of a durable and lasting peace.” 

“The encouraging reception in Paris to the US framework shows that peace is possible if all parties commit to reaching an agreement,” the statement added, without providing further details.

The Paris meetings involved top dignitaries from all sides, with the US delegation led by Rubio and Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, a key official in the talks on resolving the Ukraine conflict. Kiev was represented by Vladimir Zelensky’s head of office, Andrey Yermak, as well as Defense Minister Rustem Umerov.

Zelensky launched a new personal attack on Witkoff, accusing him of spreading “Russian narratives” and effectively siding with Moscow. Speaking at a televised press conference on Thursday, the Ukrainian leader invoked Witkoff’s recent remarks that a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine revolves around “five territories,” the formerly Ukrainian Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, Zaporozhye and Kherson Regions, and Crimea.

“I believe that Mr. Witkoff has adopted the Russian side’s strategy for himself... He is consciously or unconsciously spreading Russian narratives... I do not see him having a mandate to discuss Ukrainian territories,” Zelensky stated.

READ MORE: Zelensky lashes out at Trump envoy

Last week, Witkoff met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg in their third round of direct talks since February. The recognition of the “five territories” is a key to any peace deal, Witkoff told Fox News in an interview earlier this week.

Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in 2014, shortly after it broke away from Ukraine in the aftermath of the Maidan coup. The four other regions became part of Russia in autumn 2022 following referendums.

From Bossuet’s Meditation on the Eucharist:

_________________

Let us read the words of the institution of the Eucharist at the Last Supper in St. Matthew’s Gospel (26:26-28), adding the words of the other sacred authors on the same subject:

Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and when he had given thanks (1 Cor. 11:24), broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). And he took a cup after supper (Luke 22:20), and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you; for this is my blood of the new covenant (Luke 22:20), which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me” (1 Cor. 11:25).

Here is all that we have about the institution, other than that in place of St. Luke’s “given for you,” St. Paul has him say “broken for you” (1 Cor. 11:24 in certain ancient texts). The sense of each is the same. He was handed over to death, struck by blows, pierced with wounds, violently hung from a cross: he was broken. This is the body that Jesus gives to us, the same body that was about to suffer those things and that has now suffered them.

Just one more word on the text. Where the Vulgate translates “my blood, which shall be shed for you” (Luke 22:20, Douay-Rheims), the original reads “which is poured out,” that is, in the present tense. It is the same when he speaks of the means by which he will be captured and put to death: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!” (Matt. 26:24). In that case, he speaks in the present tense because his death has already been resolved upon and planned for the following day. In the other, it is so that at the same time that we receive his body and blood, we might regard his death as present.

Christian: you have seen all of the words that bear upon the establishment of this mystery. What simplicity! What precision in these words! He leaves nothing to be interpreted or commented upon. If there is any commentary to be made upon them at all, it is only to remark that according to the force of the original Greek, we ought to render it thus: “This is my body, my very body; the same body that is given for you. This is my blood, my very blood, the blood of the new covenant; the blood poured out for you in remission of your sins.” The Greek liturgy puts it this way: “What we are given, what is made of this bread and wine, is the very body of Jesus and his very blood.”

There is the commentary we require. What simplicity, what precision, what force do these words have!

If Jesus had wanted to give us a sign, a mere resemblance, he would have known how to tell us. He knew quite well that God had said, when instituting circumcision, “You shall be circumcised in the flesh . . . and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you” (Gen. 17:11). When he proposed metaphors, he knew quite well how to adapt his language so as to be understood without doubt: “I am the door; if any one enters by me, he will be saved” (John 10:9). “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit” (John 15:5). When he made these comparisons and spoke in metaphors, the evangelists said so: “Another parable he put before them” (Matt. 13:24); “he taught them many things in parables” (Mark 4:2). Here, without any introduction, without any qualification, without any explanation, neither before nor after, we are simply told: “Jesus said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body; this is my blood’ ” (Matt. 26:26, 28).

This is what I give to you, and you, what will you do in receiving it? Remember eternally the gift that I gave you that night. Remember that it is I who left it for you and who made this testament, that I left you this Passover, and that I ate it with you before I suffered. If I give you my body as about to be and as having been handed over for you, and my blood as poured out for your sins, in a word, if I give myself to you as a victim, eat it as a victim and remember that this is a promise that it has been sacrificed for you. O my Savior: what simplicity, yet what authority and power there are in your words! “Woman, you are freed from your infirmity” (Luke 13:12); she was healed that instant. “This is my body”; it is his Body. “This is my blood”; it is his Blood. Who can speak in such a manner except the one who holds everything in his hand? Who can make himself be believed except the one to whom to do and to say is the same thing?

My soul, stop here and go no further. Believe as simply, as forcibly as your Savior has spoken, with a submission that corresponds to his authority and power. Once again, he wants to see in your faith the same simplicity with which he has spoken these words. In the ancient rite of Communion, the priest said, “The body of Jesus Christ,” and the faithful responded, “Amen,” or “so it is,” and “The blood of Jesus Christ,” and the faithful responded, “Amen,” “so it is.” All has been accomplished. All has been said. All has been explained. I am silent. I believe. I adore.

Moscow has undertaken diplomatic efforts to secure the release of people being held captive in Gaza

Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked the political wing of Hamas for the release of Russian-Israeli citizen Aleksandr Trufanov, during a meeting with the freed hostage in Moscow on Wednesday.

The Palestinian group freed Trufanov in February as part of a Gaza ceasefire agreement with Israel and following diplomatic efforts by Moscow. Two other hostages were also released at the time.

“Here we have to offer a word of gratitude to the leadership and to the political wing of Hamas for having met us halfway and carried out this humanitarian act,” Putin said as he welcomed Trufanov and the surviving members of his family at the Kremlin.

Trufanov was taken hostage on October 7, 2023 along with his grandmother Irena Tati, mother Elena, and fiancée Sapir Cohen. His father Vitaly Trufanov was killed in the attack. The women were released as part of the Hamas-Israel truce in November 2023. Aleksandr spent 498 days in captivity.

“The fact that you are now free is a result of Russia’s many years of stable relations with the Palestinian people, with the representatives of different organizations,” Putin said, adding that Russia will do whatever is necessary to ensure those still in captivity are freed.

A Hamas delegation visited Moscow in early February, less than two weeks before Trufanov’s release. The group, led by senior official Mousa Abu Marzouk, met with Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov to discuss the ongoing ceasefire in Gaza and related humanitarian issues.

This visit was part of Russia’s ongoing engagement with various parties involved in the Middle East conflict.

The October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel left approximately 1,200 people dead, with around 250 taken hostage. In the past 18 months, over 51,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed amid Israel’s military operation, according to the enclave’s health authorities.

READ MORE: Israeli Army to remain indefinitely in Gaza – defense minister

On Wednesday, Israel proposed a 45-day truce in Gaza to allow hostage releases and potentially begin indirect talks to end the war. Hamas has said it is studying the plan.

Beijing has reportedly slashed purchases of American crude by 90% amid the tariff war

China has been importing record amounts of crude oil from Canada and drastically reducing supplies from the US in light of the trade war with Washington, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday.

Washington and Beijing have implemented a series of reciprocal tariff hikes over the past two months in light of which the latter has slashed purchases of US oil by roughly 90%, according to the outlet. China previously indicated that it would not implement more tariff hikes against US goods but would rather employ alternative ways to retaliate.

Chinese crude imports from a port near Vancouver on Canada’s Pacific coast soared to a record 7.3 million barrels in March and may exceed the figure this month, Bloomberg reported, citing data from London-based global oil and gas cargo tracking firm Vortexa Ltd. Chinese imports of US oil, meanwhile, have fallen to 3 million barrels per month from a peak of 29 million last June, it added.

China’s direct imports of Canadian crude oil had historically been minimal, primarily due to infrastructure constraints. Chinese refineries have mainly sourced crude from the Middle East and Russia.

Roughly 1.7% of China’s total crude imports came from the US last year, according to Chinese customs data, down from 2.5% in 2023.

Nearly all of Canada’s oil is shipped to the US to be processed there or re-exported to Asia. However, the completion last May of the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline, which takes crude to Canada’s Pacific coast, provided the country with an alternative route to export more volumes directly, primarily to Asia, thus reducing its reliance on the US.

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“Given the trade war, it’s unlikely for China to import more US oil,” Bloomberg quoted Wenran Jiang, president of the Canada-China Energy & Environment Forum, as saying. “They are not going to bank on Russian alone or Middle Eastern alone. Anything from Canada will be welcome news.”

China accounted for roughly 5% of US crude oil exports last year, according to ship-tracking data from Kpler.

Russia remains China’s largest supplier of crude oil. Russian shipments to China reached the highest level on record in 2024. The increase in recent years is largely attributable to the discounts being offered on Russian crude. China’s imports of oil from Saudi Arabia, its second-largest supplier, declined by 9% year-on-year in 2024.