Easter Week

CHIMAYO, N.M. - They come in pain and in prayer, seeking cures and a cup of sand from a tiny adobe church called Chimayo. For two centuries, Hispanic and Native American pilgrims have sought help from El Santuario de Chimayo (pronounced CHEE-mah-YOH), located in a mountain hamlet in northern New Mexico. They clutch pictures of sick loved ones, hobble weakly on crutches, and bring stories of hopeless conditions. They leave small slips of paper asking for mercy and miracles, promise to give up drinking and show more compassion, and they light candles in front of images of saints and La Virgen de Guadalupe, patron of the Americas.

St. Joseph's coach Phil Martelli recently ran into a longtime acquaintance, a businessman. The man asked, "How's everything going?" For a moment, Martelli said, he thought about giving an honest assessment, realizing this guy didn't know any details of what Martelli had been hit with lately. Instead, the Hawks coach left it at, "Everything's great. " The reality? "I feel like I've been invited by God to play cards, but he's only given me three cards," Martelli said, sitting in his office on Hawk Hill.

Eastertide is not normally associated with a busy auction schedule, but starting tomorrow there are sales every day of next week. TOMORROW. Tomorrow's sale will begin at 8 a.m. at Miller's Auction on Repaupo Road in Repaupo, N.J., just off Exit 14 of Interstate 295, and will probably last all day. Among the items it will feature are glassware, jewelry, furniture, oriental rugs, paintings and a large number of prints. Inspection is 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. For further information call 609-467-4834.

"It doesn't smash you in the face, but rather causes you to enter into it," said the Rev. Shawn Tracy in describing his music. "There's a mystery there, and you want to explore it yourself. " Father Tracy, an Augustinian priest and a campus minister at Villanova University, is the creator of Sanctuary, a group of 12 men and women - more or less - who perform original "ritual music for prayer and contemplation. " On Wednesday night, to commemorate Holy Week and the events leading up to the celebration of Easter, Sanctuary performed its latest work, The Passion, at St. Thomas of Villanova Church on campus.

Alive with lilies, a display at Longwood Gardens in Kennett Square commemorates the approach of Easter next week. About 1,000 of the flowers were planted. Cole McCourt, 5, of Philadelphia, carries his Easter bunny - who goes by the name of Hoppy - as he checks out the colors of spring.

Now wait a minute. We were off to a very cold fall, right? Just two weeks ago, you could even see a couple of snowflakes flutter from the sky. In fact, some Philadelphians have had their winter coats, scarfs and gloves out of the closet for a while now. But yesterday it was a return to springtime in Philadelphia. The high reached 70 degrees, almost 20 degrees above normal and just two degrees shy of the record set in 1931. It was a beautiful day, sunny and bright.

Two Democratic senators yesterday postponed a planned visit to Israel, Egypt and Jordan because of threats of terrorist attacks on Americans traveling in the Middle East. At the State Department, deputy spokesman Charles Redman said the administration had asked several senators, representatives and congressional staff members to reassess their Easter week travel plans to the Middle East because of the security threat. Sens. J. Bennett Johnson (D., La.) and Gary Hart (D., Colo.

JERUSALEM - Hundreds of Christians streamed through the cobblestone alleyways of Jerusalem's Old City on Friday, hoisting wooden crosses and chanting prayers to mark the crucifixion of Jesus. Throngs of pilgrims walked a traditional Good Friday procession that retraces Jesus' steps along the Via Dolorosa, Latin for the "Way of Suffering. " They followed his 14 stations, saying a prayer at each and ending at the ancient Holy Sepulcher church. Along the route, Franciscan friars in brown robes chanted prayers in Latin and explained the different stations to crowds through a megaphone.

With shillelaghs under their arms and a twinkle in their eyes, Irish from across the region traditionally would honor St. Patrick today with a grand march up Broad Street. Step dancers. Bagpipers. Pennywhistles. "Paddy, Dear" blasting from loudspeakers. Kids in green plastic derbies. Sure, and there'll be none of that today. 'Tis the day for the wearing of palms, not shamrocks. The city's St. Patrick's Day Parade came and went a week ago. Today, Palm Sunday is the start of Holy Week, the most solemn week in the Christian liturgical calendar.