Holy Week

The liturgical celebrations which normally would be conducted during this week and next are largely suppressed this week (Holy Week) and next (Octave of Easter).  

Even Solemnities like those of St. Joseph (March 19th), or the Annunciation of the Lord (March 25th) if they had fallen during Holy Week or the Octave of Easter would have been transposed to the days immediately following the completion of the Octave of Easter.


This year there is only one Saint who would have been remembered during the week, Holy Week.  He would have been:


April 13th – St. Martin I, Pope and Martyr


So we leave him for next year and place our attention on Holy Week instead.


The trajectory of Holy Week is as following;


Palm / Passion Sunday (this year, 2025 on April 13th) –  in which we commemorate Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem.


Holy Thursday (this year, 2025 on April 17th) 


     Morning – Chrism Mass – a Mass celebrated in each Diocese at the Cathedral when the Bishop blesses the Liturgical Oils (for the Sick, for Catechumens and the Sacred Chrism used for the Sacraments of Confirmation and Holy Orders).  These oils then are distributed to the various parishes of the Diocese for use during the year.


     Evening – Mass of the Last Supper of the Lord – which recalls the events of the Jesus’ last Supper including his institution of the Eucharist and then the second commandment to Service to one another and those in need, expressed in the Rite of Washing of feet, where the priests begin the right by washing the feet of some of their parishioners, and then this is extended to others (those who have had their feet washed, wash then the feet of other parishioners and so forth).  The Mass, ends with a solemn procession to a location prepared for occasion where the faithful are allowed to adore and pray before the Blessed Sacrament in commemoration of Jesus’ and his his disciples’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane prior to Jesus’ arrest.


Good Friday (this year, 2025 on April 18th) – This is the only day of the year when no Mass is celebrated.  Instead, a liturgy of the Word, including the Song of the Suffering Servant of Yahweh (Isaiah 52-53) as well as the Passion of the Lord from the Gospel of John are Proclaimed.  Following the Homily, the Cross is brought in, in solemn procession and venerated.  Afterwards, previously consecrated hosts are brought to the church, in silence, the Our Father is prayed, and Communion is distributed.  The Liturgy then ends, as it began, in silence.


Since the Middle Ages, it has also been the custom of praying the Stations of the Cross in a solemn fashion, often re-enacting the various moments that the Stations recall.


Holy Saturday (this year, 2025 on April 19th) – At dusk the Congregation gathers outside the church.  A large new, Pascal Candle, representing the Risen Christ as the Light to the World is blessed and brought in solemn procession into the Church.  An extended Liturgy of the Word is celebrated recalling the great events presented in the Bible from the world’s Creation (Genesis 1), the Exodus, the Prophets and finally Jesus’ resurrection before dawn on the first Easter Sunday.  The Liturgy is deemed so important that after the Liturgy of the Word, ending with the Homily (an exhortation by the Homilist to believe in the Gospel proclaimed), adults who have been preparing all year or longer to enter into the Church are baptized and confirmed.  The vigil ends with a solemn celebration of the Eucharist.


Easter Sunday (this year, 2025 on April 20th) – Masses are celebrated over most of the day which follows.  Masses in the Morning recall the discovery of the Jesus’ disciples of the empty tomb.  Masses in the late afternoon and evening recall Jesus meeting two of his disciples leaving Jerusalem on the road to their home in the town of Emmaus. 


These celebrations of Holy Week are indeed ancient.  The liturgies would have been recognizable to its participants since at least the time of St. Gregory the Great in the early 600s:


During the first 300 years of Christianity, the faith was often persecuted, so largely hidden.  After its legalization by Constantine in 318, Christianity could come out of the shadows and about 300 years of experimentation followed, with the liturgical celebrations as well as the liturgical largely standardized then by the time of St. Gregory the Great.


Our faith is indeed about “Eternal Truths” which came to fruition at a specific moment in time (2000 years ago in Jerusalem), and yet continue to play out, and come to fulfillment over the course of time, to our time and beyond.


The events that we commemorate each year during Holy Week took place nearly 2000 years ago and yet we believe they continue to have their effect on us, motivate us, hopefully for the better, even today and beyond.


Happy Holy Week to all!

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