SUNDAY-FRIDAY

Palm Sunday and Holy Week

EWTN At 4 a.m., live, Sunday, Pope Benedict XVI celebrates Mass in St. Peter’s (re-airs 8 p.m.). At 11 a.m. Monday, Passion of Christ According to St. Francis relates St. Francis of Assisi’s meditations (re-airs 1 p.m. Thursday, 6:30 a.m. Saturday). At 9 a.m. Wednesday, in a Footprints of God two-hour special, “Jesus: The Word Became Flesh,” host Stephen Ray draws on Scripture and Tradition as he traces Jesus’ journeys, including his Way of the Cross. At 11:30 a.m., live, Thursday, the Holy Father celebrates the Solemn Mass of the Lord’s Supper; and at 11 a.m., live, Friday, he presides at the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion.

SUNDAY-TUESDAY, live

NCAA Basketball Finals

ESPN, CBS The first of the Division 1 Women’s Final Four games in St. Louis airs Sunday at 6 p.m. on ESPN, and the second contest follows. The Women’s Championship game is 8:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN. The NCAA Division 1 Men’s Championship game, between the last two survivors of the 64 teams that began the tournament, airs at 9 p.m. Monday on CBS.

TUESDAYS, THURSDAYS

Urgency of Mercy

FAMILYLAND TV Jesus entrusted the Divine Mercy devotion to St. Faustina Kowalska in Poland in the 1930s. This series helps prepare viewers spiritually for this year’s feast of Divine Mercy on April 19. Airs midnight Tuesdays, 10:30 p.m. Thursdays

TUESDAY, 8 p.m.

It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!

ABC In this animated special, the “Peanuts” kids botch an Easter egg hunt until beagle Snoopy comes to their rescue. At 8:30 p.m., in Charlie Brown All Stars, Charlie’s ragtag sandlot baseball players bring kindness and forgiveness out of defeat.

WEDNESDAY, 8 p.m.

Modern Marvels: Icebreakers

HISTORY This show follows Coast Guard icebreakers as they patrol the Great Lakes and the Northwest Passage. Advisory: TV-PG.

THURSDAYS, 10 p.m.

Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People

PBS Tonight is the premiere episode of a four-part weekly series, April 9-30, on the natural history of Appalachia and residents of that area, from the original inhabitants to explorer Hernando de Soto, frontiersmen, the mountain sharpshooters who helped win the American Revolution, miners, and today’s rural poor.

SATURDAY, 7 p.m.

The Ten Commandments

ABC Director Cecil B. DeMille’s 1956 spectacular yet reverent cinema retelling of the Hebrews’ exodus from Egypt starred Charlton Heston as Moses and Yul Brynner as Pharaoh, as well as Yvonne deCarlo, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, and many more. The Parting of the Red Sea and other scenes won the film an Oscar for best special effects.

Dan Engler writes from
Santa Barbara, California.