This week is Holy Week. This is most Sacred time of the year, because this is the week we memorialize in a special way the Last Supper, the Passion, the Death, and the Resurrection of Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God. That word–memorialize–is not a simple remembering, but a true “making present” of these events. The Holy Week Rites of our Church are some of the oldest and most ancient rites, dating back to before the Great Schism of 1054, even to before Pope Gregory the Great finalized the Roman Canon (Eucharist Prayer I) in the late 500s. We should celebrate the days with extra care, reverence, and solemnity, because this week we remember what it took to free humanity from the slavery of sin and the power of death and to unite Heaven and Earth in the person of Jesus, who is the way, the truth and the life.

THE SACRED PASCHAL TRIDUUM

The entire parish is invited to the liturgies of the Sacred Paschal Triduum on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, and Holy Saturday.

Holy Thursday: We will celebrate the Mass of the Lord’s Supper at 6pm. At this Mass we relive the Last Supper in a particular and special way. Even the Roman Canon notes that this night is different. The consecration of the Host, for example, changes to “On the day before he was to suffer for our salvation and the salvation of all, that is today…” Just as Christ went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray after the Last Supper, we will process to the Altar of Repose in the Adoration Chapel at the end of Mass. After this, Fr. Matt will strip the altars of their ornament and cloths, reminding us that when Christ was arrested, he too was stripped of his garments.

Good Friday: Fasting (ages 18-59) and abstinence (age 14 and up) are required this day. Stations of the Cross are at noon. The Celebration of the Passion of the Lord, perhaps the most ancient and unchanged liturgy in the Roman Catholic Church, will be at 6pm. This day is a day of profound silence, so there is to be no rosary or other public prayer in the Church. (You may always come and pray privately.)

Holy Saturday: Those who are able are encouraged to maintain the fast and abstinence of Good Friday until after the Easter Vigil. On this day, the Church “waits at the Lord’s tomb in prayer and fasting, meditating on his Passion and Death and on his Descent into Hell, and awaiting his Resurrection.” The Easter Vigil will begin with the Blessing of the Easter Fire at 8:30pm.