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The most
important week of the year has arrived
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
Palm Sunday
ushers in Holy Week for the Catholic world. Hopefully, you have had a
meaningful Lenten season — rooted in intensified prayer, fasting and
almsgiving — that has included a reception of the sacrament of
reconciliation. Even if you have not lived up to this expectation, Holy
Week offers an opportunity to unite yourself with Christ during the last
days of Lent and the Sacred Triduum.
Parishes
celebrate Palm Sunday in a variety of ways. Some have extended
processions. In others, the procession is minimal, but the proclamation
of the Passion (this year according to St. Matthew) and the distribution
of palms is an integral part of the liturgy. Palm Sunday and its vigil,
of course, mark the beginning of Holy Week.
On Monday,
Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, the Mass Gospel passages focus on
the last days of Jesus’ life. They tell us that Jesus knew the end was
near, that Judas would betray him, and that the other apostles would run
away from him.
The first
Mass readings during these three days are taken from the first three
Suffering Servant Songs found in the Old Testament book of Isaiah. The
Servant Songs are a series of poems written during the Jews’ exile in
Babylon (modern-day Iraq). Like all great poetry, they have various
levels of meaning. Sometimes, they seem to be about the prophet himself,
sometimes about the people as a whole, sometimes about the ideal
Israelite who sums up the past yet leads the people to a new future.
From the earliest New Testament time, believers have seen Jesus as the
embodiment of Isaiah’s Servant of God. During these last days of Jesus’
life, the Church offers us the Servant Songs as kind of a poetic
meditation on the person and mission of Jesus.
Wednesday of
Holy Week is traditionally called “Spy Wednesday” to commemorate the
treachery of Judas. It ends the Lenten Masses that began on Ash
Wednesday.
In the ideal
world, Catholics would bring the Lenten season to a close by
participating in Mass during these three weekdays of Holy Week.
On Tuesday
evening of Holy Week, at 7 p.m., the annual Chrism Mass is celebrated at
the cathedral. It is a genuine celebration of Local Church: bishop,
priests, deacons and laity from all sections of the diocese. During the
Chrism Mass, the oils used in the administration of baptism,
confirmation, holy orders and the anointing of the sick are blessed and
distributed to parish representatives, who return them to their parish
where the oils are received in a special ceremony during Mass the
evening of Holy Thursday. If you have never participated in the Chrism
Mass, it is well worth your consideration. As all Catholics are called
upon to renew their dedication to Jesus Christ and his Church on Easter
by repeating their baptismal promises, during the Chrism Mass priests
ministering in our Local Church, both diocesan and religious, renew
their commitment to their vocation of priestly service.
The “three
days” or Sacred Triduum begin with the evening Mass on Holy Thursday.
It’s known as the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. It commemorates the
institution of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the priesthood and the
gift the Lord Jesus has given to us in the Blessed Sacrament. To the
surprise of some, the Gospel focuses not on these realities, however,
but on the washing of feet.
The most
basic lesson of Jesus’ life in general and of his Passion and death in
particular is that the value of human life depends on giving it away, in
spending it on something other than ourselves. Throughout the years of
his public ministry, Jesus spent his time teaching and healing, walking
the roads of Judea and Galilee, offering his word and his power and his
presence to all comers, friends and enemies alike. It wasn’t the
comfortable life or an easy life. Yet he kept at it because he wanted to
make clear through his life that our worth is not in what we get, but in
what we give. That’s how the Father wanted human beings to live from the
beginning. That’s the lesson human beings need to relearn after
generations of sinfulness and selfishness. That’s what the life of God’s
Incarnate Son was meant to demonstrate.
On the
occasion of the last meal with his followers, Jesus taught his lessons
still again. When he washed the feet of the apostles, it was to get them
to realize one more time that the important thing is to care for others,
rather than to be cared for by them. I have set you an example that you
also should do as I have done (John 13:15), he told them. And then he
taught the lesson of giving in still another way. He gave them himself
under the appearance of bread and wine. He gave them, and each one of
us, himself to be our energy, our motivating force, our life. Jesus’
whole human existence was a process of giving himself away and he summed
it all up at the end when he washed his followers’ feet and gave them
the Eucharist before he went out to make the final gift of his life on
the cross.
The lesson is
a powerful one. The Eucharist is incomplete if we, each one, do not
reach out to the hungry, those who thirst, the stranger, the naked, the
ill, the imprisoned and figuratively wash their feet, that is, make time
for those in need.
There is no
Mass on Good Friday, but the liturgy is powerful. It focuses on the
veneration of the cross. The Passion account according to St. John is
proclaimed, the cross is venerated, holy Communion is distributed. Every
effort should be made to participate in the Good Friday liturgy.
After the
Good Friday liturgy, the Church remains silent and bare. It is a time to
“vigil.” A time of simple watching and waiting. A time to slow down and
savor the saving mysteries of the paschal mystery — the death and
resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Good Friday
is a day of fast and abstinence. Those between the ages of 18 and 60 are
required to limit food intake to one full meal (with two smaller meals,
if required), with no solid food between meals. Those who are age 14 and
over are required to abstain from eating meat. Of course, when health or
the ability to work would be seriously affected, the law of fast and
abstinence does not oblige.
Although only
Good Friday is a required day of fasting and abstinence, we are
encouraged to go the extra mile by keeping what is called the paschal
(Easter) fast. This is an ancient tradition wherein people do not eat
after the Holy Thursday evening liturgy until the reception of holy
Communion at either the Easter Vigil or on Easter Sunday. Few are able
to do this strictly. However, it can be embraced as a time for a more
intense fast, a fast of joy and anticipation, as we await the
celebration of the resurrection. Some writers have compared the paschal
fast to the fasting that takes place on a wedding day when the bride or
groom may be too nervous or anxious to eat or may simply forget to eat
in the midst of all the excitement. If this seems to be a “Mission
Impossible,” there are options to fasting from food. For example, one
might “fast” from television, or computer use, or radios.
The Easter
Vigil celebrated after nightfall on Holy Saturday is the greatest
“feast” in the calendar of the Church. It is during the Easter Vigil
that those who have been preparing for baptism receive that sacrament
along with confirmation and their first Communion, thereby becoming full
members of the Catholic faith community. Depending upon the number of
people received into the Church on that occasion, the Easter Vigil can
consume up to three hours. So, it isn’t for small children. But, it is a
magnificent celebration, one that every Catholic should experience, and
a most fitting conclusion to Holy Week and the Sacred Triduum. |
