With a new extraordinary opening of the doors of the Basilica of the Holy Sepulchre, the Easter Triduum begins in the heart of the old city of Jerusalem. The memory of Jesus' Last Supper is celebrated here early in the morning, with a small number of celebrants, far apart from each other due to the anti-Coronavirus measures that have been in place for days. Br SALVADOR ROSAS FLORES, ofm President Holy Sepulchre Convent "This is the only big difference: the number of participants. Because the celebrations on Thursday, Friday, Holy Saturday and Resurrection Sunday will always, always be the same. There will be a few of us, of course, but those few - especially the community that lives in this very Holy Place - will be present as it has been during all these centuries - in the name of the Universal Church." The morning prayers sung this year are more than usual because of some changes to the liturgy...then the work of the sacristan makes the beginning of these holy days very noticeable. The color of the vestments changes from purple to white, flowers are added to the altar. Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Apostolic Administrator of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem, said in his homily: "To show the way that leads to the Father, Jesus washes the feet of his own. Every gesture of love, as the foot washing, lived in service, in gratuitous love, will be a gesture of true and infinite life. In these days," continued Mgr. Pizzaballa, "we are struck and wounded in what is most dear to us: our human relationships. And in this strange and painful moment we can perhaps read a call to rethink and purify our family relationships, to restore the domestic church in the light of this Gospel, which shows us in the gesture of the foot washing the way to heal our relationships, the way to go to the Father. After the foot washing has been cancelled, the blessing of the chrism, the oil of the catechumens and the oil of the sick have been postponed...the solemn procession with the Blessed Sacrament remains at the end of the Holy Mass, which goes around the Wayside Shrine of the Sepulchre three times. The interior walls of the Wayside Shrine were covered with cloth and drapes to welcome the Eucharist, which will remain here for an entire day, guarded by a precious silver tabernacle. At the end of the day the prayer of the "Hora Sancta", started from the garden of Gethsemane. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Holy Land Custos "What is the "Hora Sancta"? Let us remember, in the Gospel, that Jesus, after celebrating the Last Supper in the Upper Room together with the Apostles, comes out of the Upper Room, crosses the Cedron Valley and enters this garden, where there were olive trees and an oil mill, where he also retired at other times. He enters this place to pray. The disciples are in a separate place, not far from here. Jesus takes Peter, James and John with him, and to these disciples Jesus asks: "Stay here, keep watch and pray with me." A special prayer this year was reserved for those around the world affected by the Coronavirus pandemic: the sick and their families, doctors and nurses, those in positions of responsibility in society and in the Church. Br FRANCESCO PATTON, ofm Holy Land Custos "Let us pray, in this holy hour, especially to grow in the ability to trust God the Father, knowing that in this hour He is not far from us and has not forgotten us."